X-Men '97 (2024) s02e01 Episode Script

1
[Jean] Previously on X-Men
[Nightcrawler] Memories are merely
dim images echoing with emotion.
Does it matter
if you heard his first cries,
if you remember how it felt to hear them?
- Look, he has your eyes.
- [chuckles softly]
That's my boy, Nathan Summers.
[Nightcrawler] Blood is blood.
Family is a choice.
To let go of the past
and simply be family.
I'll tell you, those legends
really didn't do my folks justice.
The day you were born,
your mother told me you had my eyes.
I love you, son.
[Bishop] Something or someone
yanked our friends through time.
- Are you okay?
- We're not alone.
My name is Jean Grey.
You may call me Mother Askani.
[Nathan] I sense no need to be afraid.
[Mother Askani] Nathan, come.
Nathan?
[Theme music playing]
[Trish Tilby] Months after
the X-Men's disappearance,
the school they once called home
sits in ruins.
A former sanctuary for young mutants,
now the haunting wreckage
of a shattered dream.
- [Bishop sighs]
- Also in other news
[Bishop] Ever since
the X-Men disappeared,
your present starts to look
more like my future every day.
[Forge] A dash of optimism
wouldn't hurt, Bishop.
Haven't even tested this damn thing.
You confirmed the lock on their locations?
Since they went missing, there have
been ripples in the time stream.
I've been able to track the deviations
back to two different points in time.
Ancient Egypt, 3000 BCE,
and the 40th century.
We're looking at two of the darkest ages
for humanity.
And they both have one thing in common.
Apocalypse.
The dawn of his first reign
and the ultimate height of his power.
And I thought inventing time travel
was gonna be the hard part.
I'll take the past.
- Figure your heart's set on the future?
- [Forge] Mmm-hmm.
First jump's pretty rough.
Breathe. Relax.
Go with time's tide.
Bishop, this device spits
in the face of time.
You can apologize to it later.
We got to get the X-Men back to the '90s.
[grunts]
[Cyber-Hound] Surrender, mutant,
or face the wrath
of our Lord and Savior, Apocalypse.
[Forge groans]
I shoulda gone to the past.
- [grunts]
- [groans]
[grunting]
[groaning]
[gasps softly]
[machinery whirring]
[Cyber-Hound grunts]
[yells]
[grunting, growling]
Phew! To quote my dear friend,
"Oh, my stars and garters."
- [Forge chuckles]
- Save the yuk-yuks.
Got to get moving,
before another round of those tin cans
gets a bead on our location.
[gasps softly] Daniel?
- [Forge chuckles]
- What mighty winds have brought you here?
Plenty of tricks up my sleeve, honey.
Including round-trip tickets back home
for the whole team.
- [Storm sighs]
- What?
I don't like that face.
Lot's gone down since Asteroid M.
[Cyclops] It's my fault.
I sent Nathan here in the first place
for a better future.
But look around.
The least I can do is be
a part of his life for a few moments.
Do some good.
You see, Forge, there's no harm
in us tagging along.
Jean, I understand.
But we have no idea
who or what sent you through time.
Whatever it was,
it chose to send you all
to pivotal moments in Apocalypse's life.
Now, what if they sent you to stop Cable
from becoming the soldier he needs to be?
And what if we were sent here
to make him the soldier
that will defeat Apocalypse?
We're almost at the Askani
base of operations.
At least give us the day to say goodbye.
Fine. You get one day.
Then we're out of here.
Before we break the whole damn timeline.
[ominous screams echoing]
[desperate voices pleading indistinctly]
[Apocalypse] You disturb my regeneration.
Lord Apocalypse,
I come with good news.
We have located
a potential new vessel for you.
A body that will ensure
you need never endure
the pain of regeneration again.
Who?
Who is this new vessel?
He is a telepath.
A young boy the Askani aim
to make their savior.
Then bring him to me.
Take my Horsemen.
Do what must be done
to recover this child.
[Jean, telepathically] Learn to control it
so it doesn't control you.
[Nathan] But I don't understand.
How can you use your mind
to command the virus?
It doesn't even hurt much anymore.
[Jean] Telekinesis is all about focus.
So long as you keep on your training,
you'll be able to focus
through the pain too.
Hard to believe
that some sick kid fighting an illness
is supposed to grow up
to fight Apocalypse.
Believe me, kid, that's exactly
why you're the one who will.
You've been fighting
for every second of your life, Nathan.
Since the day you were born.
That's what Mother Askani
always says, but
I don't know.
[Cyclops] What?
Nothing.
Nathan.
- There's
- [Morph] Hey, hey.
We found a baseball
in the latest supply run.
Figure Nathan
may want to do something else
with his techno cooties arm.
Can I, please?
[Cyclops] Go. Have some fun.
- [Sentimental music playing]
- [chuckles]
Sometimes I worry Mother Askani
cooked up this prophecy
to make him feel better.
"You're not an orphan
with an incurable robot virus,"
"you're destined to save the world."
Don't know if the weight of the world
being put on your shoulders
makes a kid feel better, Scott.
Gives what he's lost
and what he will lose a purpose.
We have to tell him who we are.
Finally say hello.
Just to hit him with goodbye?
We can't risk disrupting the timeline.
Screw any timeline that won't let a son
be with his parents.
Maybe we should just take him with us.
Forge would never let us.
And the Askani would kill us if we tried.
Not if their mother tells them not to.
Go to her.
Go to Mother Askani and make her see.
[Mother Askani] Bright morrow.
What brings you forth?
I wanted to thank you for taking me
and my friends in these past few months.
We Askani have a saying.
"Thanks for today. Please for tomorrow."
Yes, I've heard it.
You believe fate must be embraced.
And you wrestle with such a burden?
No, not me.
You.
[Mother Askani]
You're here about Nathan's prophecy.
[Cyclops] Is it true?
You think I deceive
a desperate group of refugees
for the sake of what?
Authoring fairy tales?
Authoring hope.
This prophecy, where did it come from?
Who wrote it?
All that is known is a child was born
on the day of spring
who would end That Which Shall Survive
and shatter
the Rocks of the Eternal Shore,
the cradle of Apocalypse's power,
giving rise to his end.
Nathan kill Apocalypse?
He's just a boy.
Not just a boy.
Do not defy time.
Your season is summer, his is spring.
Separate, but together,
you both can help abate winter.
Enough riddles.
Who are you really?
[Mother Askani] These answers you seek
do not serve Nathan,
or his destiny.
What then?
After he fulfills his grand destiny?
Then it ends.
[Cyclops] That's not good enough for me.
None escape the whims of time.
I just don't understand how you,
of all people,
with your respect
for the natural order of things,
could tamper with the ti
I will not apologize for giving a parent
a chance to say goodbye to their child.
I know more about building satellites
than raising kids.
Been nothing but a rodeo since we met.
We never really got a chance to sit down
and figure out how this is gonna work.
How what will work?
A man of science,
a woman of faith, dating.
Um, you lovebirds seen Nathan?
We were supposed to play catch,
but then he grabbed the baseball
and ran off with Scott and Jean.
Maybe he doesn't get
you're supposed to throw it back.
- They wouldn't.
- They didn't.
Hey, what's going on?
[Cyclops] Just keep moving.
We'll explain later.
[Jean, telepathically] Is this crazy?
Are we really doing this?
Raising Nathan on our own?
What happens to Cable?
[Cyclops] I don't trust her, Jean.
We can't bet Nathan's fate
in a game of timeline poker.
Hey, I can hear your minds.
Who's Cable?
- [Dramatic music playing]
- [Jean gasps]
[both grunting]
[screams in pain]
- [drum beating]
- [Cyclops groan]
[Jean screams]
[groans]
Apocalypse was,
Apocalypse is,
and now, through you, young one,
Apocalypse always will be.
The sooner you learn that,
the quicker you will be free.
[sniffs] Good on the Summers.
Gave them hell before they were taken.
This is not how things
were supposed to come to pass.
I warned them
not to try to defy their fate.
Then perhaps they didn't.
You say yourself
no one can escape the whims of time.
Perhaps this was always meant to be
a step in Nathan's journey.
[Mother Askani] Hmm
According to the prophecy,
the one destined to destroy Apocalypse
will rise from the cradle
that birthed his power.
An ancient craft that came from the stars,
forged by beings some would call gods.
We've seen this bucket 'a junk before.
This is Ship.
In our time, Apocalypse
used it as a weapon.
And foolishly, Apocalypse's slave train
is delivering Nathan to it as we speak.
They will be taken to his citadel,
an impenetrable rampart
that seals off Apocalypse and his slaves
from the rest of the planet.
If that train crosses the gate
before we can reach it,
we'll never be able to get inside.
So where are we buying tickets?
This train's running on
ionized Maglev tech,
pushing well past Mach three.
Even if we could catch up,
trying to jump onto something
moving faster than a bullet
would not be pretty.
Post-apocalyptic roadkill.
Yeah, no thank you.
If we could get this old craft airborne,
it's possible
I could Jerry-rig the engines
to slingshot us there.
But I'd need a hell of a lot more power.
Proceed with your preparations.
You shall have the power you seek.
Got a spare supernova lying around here
that I don't know about?
Not exactly.
Mother Askani,
the lives of my friends rest upon
these cryptic insinuations.
Speak plainly.
What is this power you plan to summon?
You.
You will conjure a solar storm.
Its flares will provide the cosmic energy
necessary to power our engines.
I control the weather, not the cosmos.
What makes you think
I can do such a thing?
I have seen you wield them before
in my timeline.
I'm sorry?
I hail from a hell that would
make you call this one heaven.
But even in the darkest timeline,
you never relent,
and lead the resistance toward the light.
It's why I brought you here.
You brought us through time?
How? Why?
You have your gifts, I have mine.
Seeing through time,
untangling the threads of destiny,
in search of one that could end this war.
And when I saw the X-Men
were fated to die,
I saved you.
Pulling you through time so that
you might save the world from Apocalypse.
One team to the future,
to train Nathan into the soldier
he must become.
And another to the past,
to try to thwart the mutant
called En Sabah Nur
from ever becoming Apocalypse
in the first place.
I hoped, perhaps,
if I could rewrite his destiny,
we might finally be able to stop him.
But we will never get the chance
if Apocalypse claims Nathan.
[Jean] Focus.
Focus like I showed you.
Guide the virus up your arm
into the inhibitor collar.
- [groans] It hurts!
- I know, sweetie.
I know.
But don't fight the pain, embrace it.
Feel your arm, the virus,
your powers growing as you push harder.
[groans] I'm too weak.
You are powerful, Nathan. Trust us.
You have to believe in yourself.
Believe in myself? Why?
- Because you're
- Special? A miracle?
That's what you were gonna say, wasn't it?
Why didn't they keep me?
Tell me, why did my parents let me go?
Miracles are miracles
'cause they're not supposed to be.
Though same thing's true
about a mistake.
There'll be days
when you're lonely or scared,
when you ask yourself why we did this.
Was something wrong?
[Cyclops] But you are perfect, my son.
Know that in our time here,
we've thought about you endlessly.
How your voice would sound.
[Jean] Your laugher.
Your eyes.
[Cyclops] We love you so much, Nathan.
We owe you nothing
but the best possible future.
And that is one without us in it.
I remember.
I How?
What I'll tell you now is that
your mother's psychic power is unrivalled
and my optic blasts unstoppable,
and you are our son.
Dig deep and be our son, Nathan Summers.
[yelling forcefully]
[Cyclops] Solid work.
Next, get to the control panel before
[Cyber-Hound]
Surrender, mutants. Stand down.
We need to get to the front
and stop this train.
[Forge] Got the engines
rigged for power up.
Now we just need to get her in the air.
Leave that to me.
[Dramatic music playing]
We've got lift-off.
Ororo, that means you're up.
Flames of the sun,
source of all creation,
I summon a tempest of fire and light
whose flares ignite the spark of hope
in darkness
and blaze our trail to end Apocalypse.
For we are the dawn
that breaks his night!
By the goddess.
- [Cyber-Hound grunts]
- [Cyclops yells]
[grunts]
[Ozymandias] Fools!
Who are you to stand against
that which is eternal?
In our time, we're called the X-Men.
Arctic winds, freeze their icy hearts.
- [grunts]
- [screams]
[growls]
[both straining]
[grunts angrily]
[Forge] We've got Nathan secured,
Mother Askani.
Time to jump ship.
No, our mission is complete
but Nathan's is not.
Hold on!
Let destiny knock.
[Ozymandias] My Lord, we must flee.
Our defenses have been breached.
The X-Men.
There is no force they will not defy
to protect one of their own.
Even time itself.
Then what can we do?
I must strike them
at their most vulnerable.
The 1990s.
The fate of the X-Men is sealed.
Are you hurt? You okay?
Stop fussin', Dad.
I'm fine, I promise.
[voices chattering indistinctly
in distance]
[man] We're free. We're free!
[Nathan] But what about them?
[Cyclops] Good men
don't seek leadership, son.
- They're summoned to it.
- [exhales softly]
[crowd murmuring indistinctly]
[Mother Askani] Nathan?
I just
What if I'm not ready?
I know that it may feel uneasy, child.
Your future uncertain,
the weight of your destiny heavy.
But it is your choice and only yours
to become who you wish to be.
[Ship] Finally, you have come.
Nathan "Dayspring" Summers.
You no doubt have many questions.
And it is my privilege
to help you find answers.
How?
[Ship] By walking with you.
Growing up, everybody told me
I was born to kill Apocalypse.
But every time I think I've buried him,
the bastard finds a new age
to crawl out of.
The future I was raised in,
the reign of Apocalypse,
this is when it all begins.
And the only ones left to stop it are us.
I managed to pick up a trail
of the last of his Horsemen.
Intel indicates he's a bit of a handful.
So what's our next move, boss?
Recruitment.
[Theme music playing]