“X-Men ’97” Season 2 doesn’t pull any punches. The team hasn’t had time to recover from the death of Gambit (A.J. LoCascio) and the rest of the victims of the Genosha massacre; now Apocalypse (Ross Marquand) has dealt another devastating blow in Episode 4, “The Rise of Apocalypse Part II.”
At the end of Episode 4, Apocalypse grabs Magneto, raises the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants’ founder in the air, and uses his Celestial armor to completely vaporize the ex-villain in front of Professor Xavier (Marquand). Only Magneto’s helmet remains. It’s arguably one of the most heartbreaking “X-Men” scenes ever put to the screen.
Back in Season 1, Magneto appears to perish in Genosha, then shows up alive two episodes later — so, maybe this is all another swerve. However, the amount of time “X-Men ’97” gives the scene and the wailing anguish of Professor X make this most recent death of Magneto resonate like it could be the real deal.
It’s an interesting reversal of the time that Magneto kills Apocalypse at the end of the “Age of Apocalypse” alternate timeline event in 1995. In “X-Men: Omega” #1, Magneto uses the iron in Apocalypse’s blood to tear the big blue meanie in half. Afterwards, Magneto laments: “We were the mightiest of our race, Apocalypse, suppose we’d been on the same side. What a world that would have been…”
For Magneto, death isn’t usually the end of the story….
Having first appeared in 1963, Magneto has died numerous times in the comics’ mainstream continuity. For one example: Uranos the Undying, Thanos’ great-uncle, literally rips Magneto’s heart out during a battle on Mars in “X-Men: Red” #5 (2022). To address this issue, the Master of Magnetism manipulates the iron in his blood to keep it flowing and himself alive.
“My foes always thought me heartless. You merely made that literal,” quips the mutant sometimes called Erik Magnus Lehnsherr in “A.X.E.: Judgement Day” #4 before he defeats Uranos, then collapses and expires from the effort. Following these events, Storm embarks on a journey to mutant purgatory to bring her onetime adversary back to life in the aptly named 2024 series “Resurrection of Magneto.”
Even if it’s a while before we see him again on “X-Men ’97,” if Magneto can bounce back after a violent separation from one of his major organs, it’ll take more than a zap from Apocalypse’s laser arm to keep him off the board permanently.
