X-Men '97 (2024) s02e03 Episode Script
Rise of Apocalypse – Part I
1
[Magneto] Previously on X-Men
I looked for months.
I couldn't find a trace of them.
- The X-Men are dead.
- [Bishop chuckles]
Luckily this ain't our first time
at "The X-Men are dead" rodeo.
But it's less a question about where,
and more when.
[Nightcrawler] What is the saying?
"We are not in Kansas"?
[Jean Grey] Dang asteroid exploded,
now we're here.
[Magneto] Enough!
Perhaps our recently rescued friend
holds the answers to our location.
What is your name?
My name
is En Sabah Nur.
[opening theme music playing]
[Wolverine] So much for "home sweet home."
Bishop and I had a plan.
Collect you all
and meet here at this exact point in time.
But they're not back.
And the signals on their time bands
are dead.
[somber music playing]
Then we go after them.
We have no way to pinpoint where they are.
And the longer they're gone,
the more chances there are for
the entire time stream to be rewritten.
Mother Askani sent them to stop the rise
of Apocalypse from ever coming to pass.
If we cannot reach them,
we must hope they succeed.
[dramatic music playing]
It comes as a heavy burden
to be the first of your kind.
I may have abilities,
but they do not change the fact
that people like me
are only privileged to dream of survival.
That is a story told by oppressors
who need for you to fear them.
When in truth, it is they who fear you
and what you could become.
And what is that?
With my guidance, a god among insects.
You speak of power to a man born a slave.
A conquest of a cruel pharaoh
from a foreign land.
Yes, but it is only through struggle
that one comes to understand
the true value of power.
[dramatic music swelling]
[Candra] Pharaoh, the Sandstormers.
They approach the city,
led by the abomination
they call En Sabah Nur.
En Sabah Nur.
I suppose it was only a matter of time.
- General Logos.
- Yes, sire?
Redirect my forces to the front walls.
Nur cannot live to challenge me
for the temple or the power I seek.
[slaves grunting]
[both grunting]
[slave grunting]
[elephant bellowing]
Halt the work and prepare for battle.
En Sabah Nur rides
with his army of Sandstormers.
They will try to sway you
with their cries of freedom
but remember who holds your chains.
Your one true ruler,
your pharaoh, Rama-Tut.
[horn blaring]
- [Sandstomers grunting]
- [Sandstomer] Ya!
[dramatic music playing]
You were just a broken child
when I found you in the desert.
Now look at you.
Not just a survivor but a leader.
[Nur] Soon our desert winds
will sing the song
of our people's freedom.
I promise.
[Magneto] Quite the view,
isn't it, Charles?
We are trapped 5,000 years
before our time.
And you risk our fates on a mutant
who cannot be trusted.
Your students said the same of me
when you left me your school.
The Pharaoh's technology
is clearly from the future,
perhaps even from a time beyond ours.
It could help us return home.
If we trust En Sabah Nur.
His name is Apocalypse.
Bringer of Chaos.
Lord of Destruction.
The X-Men's most diabolical foe.
An immortal madman known
for crushing his enemies,
not capturing them.
Not in this era.
Not today.
Here he is still the first mutant.
Magnus, Nur does not know
who we really are or when we are from.
And yet he trusts me.
Can you not do the same,
after everything we've been through?
We were born slaves.
Shackled before we could walk.
Beaten before we could fight.
But men like us shall kneel no longer.
We will survive.
For we belong to the future.
And the future belongs to the strong.
[yelling] Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
[horn blaring]
[Sandstomers yelling]
[grunting]
- [horse whinnies]
- [Sandstomers screaming]
[grunting]
Baal!
[Sandstomers grunting]
[chuckles] Desert rat.
[dramatic music playing]
I suppose perseverance
is the virtue of a slave.
[snaps fingers]
[elephant bellowing]
[Nur grunting]
[grimacing]
[dramatic music playing]
[panting]
[Sandstomers] Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
Come now. Seize his head.
[Sandstormers] Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest
We take him alive.
Send the team
to recover the fallen Androids.
Then leave Nur to me.
I promise I will see our X-Men
safely home, old friend.
Delivery for the good Dr. McCoy.
Fresh from En Sabah Nur's battle.
[sighs] Had everything
but the kitchen sink
thrown at us the past few months.
What are the odds
this bucket of spare junk
will actually get us home?
Were you seen?
Oh, Professor, ye of little faith.
Not a soul saw me.
Although in an ancient Egypt
of murderous robots,
I would imagine a demon lurking among them
would hardly come as a surprise.
Beast, I punched in
the last of your coordinates.
She's ready to go.
[Beast] Pray this time
the machine works to take us home.
[electricity buzzing]
[gasps] Oh!
Ah!
Blast these machines!
May as well be a cat pawing
at a ball of yarn.
Hank, self-flagellation helps no one.
You have done your best.
I just don't have enough power.
How can the Pharaoh's technology
be so frightfully advanced
yet also incredibly primeval?
Perhaps mere mortals were not meant
to tame forces such as time.
[sighs] Then I fear praying to the gods
may soon be our only option.
For the power to create
a stable temporal displacement field
can only be described as cosmic.
Magneto believes General Logos
may be able to provide the insight we need
to adapt the Pharaoh's technology.
Assuming En Sabah Nur
doesn't kill him first.
Our fates now rest on an alliance
between our oldest adversary,
and our most merciless one.
Talk about faith, no?
[dramatic music playing]
[Nur] Before you came into my life,
these men only saw me as a monster.
But with your counsel,
they no longer fear me.
They follow me.
Though I must confess,
every part of me still
longs to crush this insect.
Only a coward feels mighty
when stepping on ants.
[Nur] Baal would disagree vehemently.
With the sentiment or with me?
[Nur] Let us just say
he has never been one
to offer outsiders his trust.
Sparing Logos was the right decision.
As mutants,
we must resist our darkest impulses
if we're ever to save humanity
from itself.
[Charles] Apologies.
Your plan to extract vital intelligence
from the Pharaoh's general
is to have Apocalypse ask him nicely?
I thought "nicely" was
how the X-Men preferred to do things.
Professor, we're wasting time.
Just pull the information
out of his dang head.
Using my powers on him
increases the risk of us
altering the past here.
Perhaps we are already fate's puppets.
Is it not more than a coincidence
that the Professor's extraordinary gifts
are the perfect solution
to our predicament?
In either case, removing us from this era
as quickly as possible
is in everyone's best interest.
I fear to consider
what disturbances we could unleash
if someone were to learn the truth.
[Nur] Peaceful greetings, fellow mutants.
Greetings and congratulations, Nur.
You honor me, Charles. Today's victory
belongs to all around this table.
So many nights as a boy,
an outcast amongst slaves.
Glaring up at the stars,
cursing, praying. Why?
In whose image was I made?
Never in a million moons dared I dream
of meeting others like me.
Dreams help us survive.
Perhaps even more than blades and arrows.
I have never seen an enemy
quake before a dream.
Nor seen a dream lay siege to a fortress
such as the Pharaoh's capital.
- Baal, be gentle.
- Gentle?
The men whisper, Soul Son.
We could have torn through every wall
in that city today
but you stopped after one.
Out of fear of facing the Pharaoh.
You do not yet understand his army
enough to vanquish it.
How many of these same men would die
at the hands of his machines?
How many are fit to survive?
Silence, both of you!
We all share in Egypt's future.
Your new friends.
Their ambitions for you are so very small.
When I freed you from the camp,
I promised you the world.
Magnus says I have a destiny.
I can do more than just conquer the world.
I can save it.
You have until tomorrow's moon
to get the answers you seek.
Then I take the head of Logos,
your destiny or not.
[children laughing]
You told Nur we see a destiny for him?
[sighs] I can explain, Charles.
This is what your interest
has been in him all along.
Not to help us find a way home
but to coerce him into embracing my dream
of mutant-human harmony.
What if a mutant with Apocalypse's power
had championed your dream
5,000 years before you did?
Not merely the first mutant.
The first X-Man.
A chance to rewrite all of history
in our favor.
The risks of altering time on that scale
without humanity's consent
Please. Mankind has long authored history.
The result?
Countless volumes of trite barbarism.
Every new chapter scrolled in blood.
Each generation plagiarizing the prior.
From these Sandstormers to the cowards
who sponsored Bastion's
smiting of Genosha.
[Charles] Genosha
was not your fault, Magnus.
No, it was ours.
I brought mutants there.
Helped make it a nation.
For you.
My intention was to inspire.
Yes, inspire me to be like you.
But I am not. No one is.
Help me, Charles,
and your X-Men will return to a world
far beyond our wildest dreams.
One where your dream
has finally come true.
For our sake and the world's,
I do hope it's possible
for Nur's rage to be contained.
I say again, tell us the secrets
of the Pharaoh's technology
and your life will be spared.
[Logos chuckling]
Oh, you have grown.
You're not the wailing gray pup
with crooked lips any more,
left by his mother to bake in the sand.
You truly don't remember?
You were so young
and the years so painful.
You will answer me!
Took a moment, but I'd never forget
the disfigured face
of Rama-Tut's favorite slave.
You?
You are
Your first master who put you
in your pharaoh's chains.
[Nur grunting]
You are not your past, En Sabah Nur.
You are our future.
You want me to let this dog live?
I do.
[groans] I leave him to you, then.
[Logos laughing]
You laugh at our mercy?
You and your desert vermin can continue
your rebellion all you want.
The Pharaoh is on the precipice
of a discovery
that will make his current army
look like playthings.
What?
A lost temple of divine beings
from the stars.
Blessed with the means to turn
our mortal Pharaoh into a god himself.
Magnus.
This could be
the power we need to get home.
You will tell us about this temple.
I do not cower before
the Sandstormers' abomination.
You expect me to fear you?
You leave me no choice.
Do not resist me.
I will know it all in time.
[dramatic music playing]
[gasps]
Surrender your mind to me.
Show me the location
of this temple of the star gods.
[grunting]
[yelling]
[gasps] Ah! Ah!
[grunts]
[yelling]
[Voice] I am the tide that carries
all to the Rocks of the Eternal Shore.
Crash against them and be broken.
[Charles grunting]
Everything everywhere
finds their way here, the end.
I can sense you.
Whoever you are, reveal yourself.
[Voice] In time, all will see.
He is where the end begins.
- Begins.
- [Charles yelling]
It's me. Charles, it's me.
[gasps]
I searched Logos's mind.
And he only knew but pieces
of the lost temple's location.
And I am not sure
we should wish to know it either.
A presence called me from it.
Grand, offensive.
Unlike any I've encountered.
It will not tolerate us
finding this place.
Do not worry, old friend.
Whatever forces await,
we shall face them together.
Your treasure hunt is over.
As is your treachery.
[dramatic music playing]
Magnus, what is the meaning of this?
Lift the wool from your eyes, Nur.
This so-called prophet has lied to you.
He hides their true intent.
They hoard the very machines
we seek to destroy.
You are using them to build something.
A weapon for yourself?
Nur, give me a chance to explain.
[Nur] You have deceived me.
Your own.
I'm sorry, Nur.
- [Logos panting]
- Lies are weapons of the weak.
Nur, please, no!
- [blood splattering]
- [Nur chuckling]
He was not fit to survive.
[yelling] Destroy them!
[Sandstomers grunting]
It seems we are not alone.
[Sandstomer grunting]
- [Sandstomer grunting]
- [Sandstomer yelling]
- Ugh!
- Baal, no!
[growling, yelling]
[tracker beeping]
En Sabah Nur.
You thought you could hide.
But I found you.
Time to deplete the reserves.
[Nur grunting]
Well, I'll be! Bishop!
Gratitude later.
We got to get you back home now
before he comes to.
What of the others?
Have they returned to our time?
Long story.
But Forge is on top of it.
[Pharaoh] Let us see
who is more fit to survive.
The slave or the conqueror?
Magnus, I fear that the time
to redeem Nur has passed.
Save it for the history books.
Time to get the hell out of this place.
We need you back in the 1990s.
[citizens screaming]
[Nur] Our fight is not done! [Yelling]
[explosion]
[laughing maniacally]
[Magneto] Previously on X-Men
I looked for months.
I couldn't find a trace of them.
- The X-Men are dead.
- [Bishop chuckles]
Luckily this ain't our first time
at "The X-Men are dead" rodeo.
But it's less a question about where,
and more when.
[Nightcrawler] What is the saying?
"We are not in Kansas"?
[Jean Grey] Dang asteroid exploded,
now we're here.
[Magneto] Enough!
Perhaps our recently rescued friend
holds the answers to our location.
What is your name?
My name
is En Sabah Nur.
[opening theme music playing]
[Wolverine] So much for "home sweet home."
Bishop and I had a plan.
Collect you all
and meet here at this exact point in time.
But they're not back.
And the signals on their time bands
are dead.
[somber music playing]
Then we go after them.
We have no way to pinpoint where they are.
And the longer they're gone,
the more chances there are for
the entire time stream to be rewritten.
Mother Askani sent them to stop the rise
of Apocalypse from ever coming to pass.
If we cannot reach them,
we must hope they succeed.
[dramatic music playing]
It comes as a heavy burden
to be the first of your kind.
I may have abilities,
but they do not change the fact
that people like me
are only privileged to dream of survival.
That is a story told by oppressors
who need for you to fear them.
When in truth, it is they who fear you
and what you could become.
And what is that?
With my guidance, a god among insects.
You speak of power to a man born a slave.
A conquest of a cruel pharaoh
from a foreign land.
Yes, but it is only through struggle
that one comes to understand
the true value of power.
[dramatic music swelling]
[Candra] Pharaoh, the Sandstormers.
They approach the city,
led by the abomination
they call En Sabah Nur.
En Sabah Nur.
I suppose it was only a matter of time.
- General Logos.
- Yes, sire?
Redirect my forces to the front walls.
Nur cannot live to challenge me
for the temple or the power I seek.
[slaves grunting]
[both grunting]
[slave grunting]
[elephant bellowing]
Halt the work and prepare for battle.
En Sabah Nur rides
with his army of Sandstormers.
They will try to sway you
with their cries of freedom
but remember who holds your chains.
Your one true ruler,
your pharaoh, Rama-Tut.
[horn blaring]
- [Sandstomers grunting]
- [Sandstomer] Ya!
[dramatic music playing]
You were just a broken child
when I found you in the desert.
Now look at you.
Not just a survivor but a leader.
[Nur] Soon our desert winds
will sing the song
of our people's freedom.
I promise.
[Magneto] Quite the view,
isn't it, Charles?
We are trapped 5,000 years
before our time.
And you risk our fates on a mutant
who cannot be trusted.
Your students said the same of me
when you left me your school.
The Pharaoh's technology
is clearly from the future,
perhaps even from a time beyond ours.
It could help us return home.
If we trust En Sabah Nur.
His name is Apocalypse.
Bringer of Chaos.
Lord of Destruction.
The X-Men's most diabolical foe.
An immortal madman known
for crushing his enemies,
not capturing them.
Not in this era.
Not today.
Here he is still the first mutant.
Magnus, Nur does not know
who we really are or when we are from.
And yet he trusts me.
Can you not do the same,
after everything we've been through?
We were born slaves.
Shackled before we could walk.
Beaten before we could fight.
But men like us shall kneel no longer.
We will survive.
For we belong to the future.
And the future belongs to the strong.
[yelling] Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
[horn blaring]
[Sandstomers yelling]
[grunting]
- [horse whinnies]
- [Sandstomers screaming]
[grunting]
Baal!
[Sandstomers grunting]
[chuckles] Desert rat.
[dramatic music playing]
I suppose perseverance
is the virtue of a slave.
[snaps fingers]
[elephant bellowing]
[Nur grunting]
[grimacing]
[dramatic music playing]
[panting]
[Sandstomers] Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
Come now. Seize his head.
[Sandstormers] Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest!
Survival of the fittest
We take him alive.
Send the team
to recover the fallen Androids.
Then leave Nur to me.
I promise I will see our X-Men
safely home, old friend.
Delivery for the good Dr. McCoy.
Fresh from En Sabah Nur's battle.
[sighs] Had everything
but the kitchen sink
thrown at us the past few months.
What are the odds
this bucket of spare junk
will actually get us home?
Were you seen?
Oh, Professor, ye of little faith.
Not a soul saw me.
Although in an ancient Egypt
of murderous robots,
I would imagine a demon lurking among them
would hardly come as a surprise.
Beast, I punched in
the last of your coordinates.
She's ready to go.
[Beast] Pray this time
the machine works to take us home.
[electricity buzzing]
[gasps] Oh!
Ah!
Blast these machines!
May as well be a cat pawing
at a ball of yarn.
Hank, self-flagellation helps no one.
You have done your best.
I just don't have enough power.
How can the Pharaoh's technology
be so frightfully advanced
yet also incredibly primeval?
Perhaps mere mortals were not meant
to tame forces such as time.
[sighs] Then I fear praying to the gods
may soon be our only option.
For the power to create
a stable temporal displacement field
can only be described as cosmic.
Magneto believes General Logos
may be able to provide the insight we need
to adapt the Pharaoh's technology.
Assuming En Sabah Nur
doesn't kill him first.
Our fates now rest on an alliance
between our oldest adversary,
and our most merciless one.
Talk about faith, no?
[dramatic music playing]
[Nur] Before you came into my life,
these men only saw me as a monster.
But with your counsel,
they no longer fear me.
They follow me.
Though I must confess,
every part of me still
longs to crush this insect.
Only a coward feels mighty
when stepping on ants.
[Nur] Baal would disagree vehemently.
With the sentiment or with me?
[Nur] Let us just say
he has never been one
to offer outsiders his trust.
Sparing Logos was the right decision.
As mutants,
we must resist our darkest impulses
if we're ever to save humanity
from itself.
[Charles] Apologies.
Your plan to extract vital intelligence
from the Pharaoh's general
is to have Apocalypse ask him nicely?
I thought "nicely" was
how the X-Men preferred to do things.
Professor, we're wasting time.
Just pull the information
out of his dang head.
Using my powers on him
increases the risk of us
altering the past here.
Perhaps we are already fate's puppets.
Is it not more than a coincidence
that the Professor's extraordinary gifts
are the perfect solution
to our predicament?
In either case, removing us from this era
as quickly as possible
is in everyone's best interest.
I fear to consider
what disturbances we could unleash
if someone were to learn the truth.
[Nur] Peaceful greetings, fellow mutants.
Greetings and congratulations, Nur.
You honor me, Charles. Today's victory
belongs to all around this table.
So many nights as a boy,
an outcast amongst slaves.
Glaring up at the stars,
cursing, praying. Why?
In whose image was I made?
Never in a million moons dared I dream
of meeting others like me.
Dreams help us survive.
Perhaps even more than blades and arrows.
I have never seen an enemy
quake before a dream.
Nor seen a dream lay siege to a fortress
such as the Pharaoh's capital.
- Baal, be gentle.
- Gentle?
The men whisper, Soul Son.
We could have torn through every wall
in that city today
but you stopped after one.
Out of fear of facing the Pharaoh.
You do not yet understand his army
enough to vanquish it.
How many of these same men would die
at the hands of his machines?
How many are fit to survive?
Silence, both of you!
We all share in Egypt's future.
Your new friends.
Their ambitions for you are so very small.
When I freed you from the camp,
I promised you the world.
Magnus says I have a destiny.
I can do more than just conquer the world.
I can save it.
You have until tomorrow's moon
to get the answers you seek.
Then I take the head of Logos,
your destiny or not.
[children laughing]
You told Nur we see a destiny for him?
[sighs] I can explain, Charles.
This is what your interest
has been in him all along.
Not to help us find a way home
but to coerce him into embracing my dream
of mutant-human harmony.
What if a mutant with Apocalypse's power
had championed your dream
5,000 years before you did?
Not merely the first mutant.
The first X-Man.
A chance to rewrite all of history
in our favor.
The risks of altering time on that scale
without humanity's consent
Please. Mankind has long authored history.
The result?
Countless volumes of trite barbarism.
Every new chapter scrolled in blood.
Each generation plagiarizing the prior.
From these Sandstormers to the cowards
who sponsored Bastion's
smiting of Genosha.
[Charles] Genosha
was not your fault, Magnus.
No, it was ours.
I brought mutants there.
Helped make it a nation.
For you.
My intention was to inspire.
Yes, inspire me to be like you.
But I am not. No one is.
Help me, Charles,
and your X-Men will return to a world
far beyond our wildest dreams.
One where your dream
has finally come true.
For our sake and the world's,
I do hope it's possible
for Nur's rage to be contained.
I say again, tell us the secrets
of the Pharaoh's technology
and your life will be spared.
[Logos chuckling]
Oh, you have grown.
You're not the wailing gray pup
with crooked lips any more,
left by his mother to bake in the sand.
You truly don't remember?
You were so young
and the years so painful.
You will answer me!
Took a moment, but I'd never forget
the disfigured face
of Rama-Tut's favorite slave.
You?
You are
Your first master who put you
in your pharaoh's chains.
[Nur grunting]
You are not your past, En Sabah Nur.
You are our future.
You want me to let this dog live?
I do.
[groans] I leave him to you, then.
[Logos laughing]
You laugh at our mercy?
You and your desert vermin can continue
your rebellion all you want.
The Pharaoh is on the precipice
of a discovery
that will make his current army
look like playthings.
What?
A lost temple of divine beings
from the stars.
Blessed with the means to turn
our mortal Pharaoh into a god himself.
Magnus.
This could be
the power we need to get home.
You will tell us about this temple.
I do not cower before
the Sandstormers' abomination.
You expect me to fear you?
You leave me no choice.
Do not resist me.
I will know it all in time.
[dramatic music playing]
[gasps]
Surrender your mind to me.
Show me the location
of this temple of the star gods.
[grunting]
[yelling]
[gasps] Ah! Ah!
[grunts]
[yelling]
[Voice] I am the tide that carries
all to the Rocks of the Eternal Shore.
Crash against them and be broken.
[Charles grunting]
Everything everywhere
finds their way here, the end.
I can sense you.
Whoever you are, reveal yourself.
[Voice] In time, all will see.
He is where the end begins.
- Begins.
- [Charles yelling]
It's me. Charles, it's me.
[gasps]
I searched Logos's mind.
And he only knew but pieces
of the lost temple's location.
And I am not sure
we should wish to know it either.
A presence called me from it.
Grand, offensive.
Unlike any I've encountered.
It will not tolerate us
finding this place.
Do not worry, old friend.
Whatever forces await,
we shall face them together.
Your treasure hunt is over.
As is your treachery.
[dramatic music playing]
Magnus, what is the meaning of this?
Lift the wool from your eyes, Nur.
This so-called prophet has lied to you.
He hides their true intent.
They hoard the very machines
we seek to destroy.
You are using them to build something.
A weapon for yourself?
Nur, give me a chance to explain.
[Nur] You have deceived me.
Your own.
I'm sorry, Nur.
- [Logos panting]
- Lies are weapons of the weak.
Nur, please, no!
- [blood splattering]
- [Nur chuckling]
He was not fit to survive.
[yelling] Destroy them!
[Sandstomers grunting]
It seems we are not alone.
[Sandstomer grunting]
- [Sandstomer grunting]
- [Sandstomer yelling]
- Ugh!
- Baal, no!
[growling, yelling]
[tracker beeping]
En Sabah Nur.
You thought you could hide.
But I found you.
Time to deplete the reserves.
[Nur grunting]
Well, I'll be! Bishop!
Gratitude later.
We got to get you back home now
before he comes to.
What of the others?
Have they returned to our time?
Long story.
But Forge is on top of it.
[Pharaoh] Let us see
who is more fit to survive.
The slave or the conqueror?
Magnus, I fear that the time
to redeem Nur has passed.
Save it for the history books.
Time to get the hell out of this place.
We need you back in the 1990s.
[citizens screaming]
[Nur] Our fight is not done! [Yelling]
[explosion]
[laughing maniacally]