#Tolerance is extinction

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X-Men '97 Episode 10 "Tolerance Is Extinction part 3" by Butcher Billy

[blamgranules]

You best pray our children read their textbooks more than their Bibles, for only history could be conned into forgiving us.

[thingsasbarcodes]

X-Men '97 1x10 - Tolerance is Extinction - Part 3

[cryptovalid]

Tolerance is Extinction does not live up to expectations

If you know me, you're aware of how I feel about X-men '97: it's a brilliant upgrade of the original run that deconstructs the politics of Charles Xavier in a nuanced and interesting way. The fifth episode remains the high point of this season though, as the three-part finale does little to surprise and in some ways even reverts the status quo.

Spoilers for Season 1 under the cut

Although the episode was competently executed with some great action scenes and dialogue, I can't help but feel like the most incendiary messages of the show are walked back slowly.

At first, I was excited to find out what Bastion's reason was for keeping Magneto around. Bastion responds to his escape with barely any annoyance, but it is not really explained what his ultimate plan was.

It was also strange to me that both the Wild Sentinel and Trask Prime proved capable of incapicitating and nearly killing multiple X-men by themselves, and neither Bastion nor other primes proved equally dangerous. By rights, E-day should have been the conclusive end of the X-men.

Apart from that, Magneto's long term plans did not make much sense to me, if only because the stakes were so vague. The show seems to suggest that Magneto's actions would permanently end electricity on earth, and nothing else. I wasn't the only one who thought the effects would be worse: the earth's magnetic field protects our atmosphere and deflects radiation: over time, the earth would become uninhabitable without it, even for most mutants.

Is Asteroid M just supposed to take in a couple of mutants at a time? Is it capable of sustaining itself? Is magneto using the situation to leverage political concessions? None of this is clear.

In the end, both Magneto and Bastion are reasoned with. Something that Magneto had previously insisted was impossible. So I feel like the show doesn't really grapple with the fact that Bastion is politically well supported: he's powerful, but both humans and world leaders are more than willing to work with him.

Both Bastion and Magneto ruin their reputation and betray their ideals in the finale, which prevents the writers from having to present their ideals to be taken seriously.

Had Bastion not immediately turned on the world leaders, he would have served his overall goal to turn humans and mutants against each other much better.

Had Magneto talked about his long term plans and how they ultimately served to protect mutants, the X-men would be forced to grapple with the fact that humans have never stopped hating and oppressing mutants because of their heroics, and presumably never will.

I believe these choices make the finale less interesting than they could have been. In my opinion it would be better if it went something like this:

Bastion was always planning to let Magneto escape, knowing he would react in the way he did.

Although he planned to anger Magneto more and release him at the perfect time, he had Sinister implant him with one of his control gems just in case (this will only be revealed in the second act).

The sentinels were intentionally weaker than Trask to avoid martyring the X-men, and in my estimation would only fight the X-men away from the public eye.

After Magneto shuts them down, the sleepers are indistinguishable from normal, dead humans.

This is used as a propaganda tool to blame the X-men for overreacting to a protest. You could have a subplot here about footage not being available in the 90's and how this is why he does this now.

The X-men all depart for Asteroid M to reason with Magneto. They can talk about the stakes more and Magneto explains his plan will save mutants and mocks Xavier's blind optimism.

Then the Avengers arrive and things escalate. We call that the Magneto protocols. Captain America or Iron Man could provoke Erik, and Sinister could activate his failsafe control.

This can result in a hectic melee in which Xavier is fighting to break Magneto's brainwashing, while several people are trying to kill Magneto, including Wolverine. Others, like Rogue, are trying to stop the killing.

Magneto is stabbed and rips the Adamantium from Logan, and Xavier discovers that the only way to break Sinister's hold over Magneto is to erase Erik's trauma. It works in tandem with the brainwashing. Hatred weakens his mind and so forth. And although he loathes to do so, he does do it: Magneto loses his memories and is convinced to restore power. Thus the seed of Onslaught is planted.

Then Prime sentinels attack, with the Avengers showing hesitation at first because they look like mind controlled civilians.

This time they are not holding back. They kill Magneto and Charles. The Primes cause Asteroid M to crash, and they have to work together to evacuate, keep the Asteroid from crashing, and take down Bastion and Sinister, who are in an American facility surrounded by primes. Maybe the Avengers clearly complain about the optics of taking a side politically: they ultimately come around, but it makes the Avengers controversial as well. Bastion will spread the rumor that they are psychically brainwashed.

Sinister activates Cable as well, and Bastion can take his arm after Phoenix manages to free him. Maybe he even kills Cable, or someone else. Given how Gambit died at the hands of his minion, it's fitting that he would prove actually dangerous.

Angered by the death toll, the remaining X-men and the Avengers team up to fight Bastion. He then surrenders. The Avengers want to take him in, but Cyclops kills him. With his dying breath, he taunts Cyclops with the fact that the dream is dead: whether he dies or is spared, anti-mutant opinion will thrive. The Avengers leave, and it's not clear where public opinion will fall.

Sure, this ending doesn't put everyone in the same place as they were, but I think it would be more effective follow-through on the themes of this season. We can set up a more radical approach for the X-men.

If you really want to do the time travel thing, we can have Bastion activate a self-destruct and have them all be missing afterward.

[isagrimorie]

[initial reactions] X-Men 97 1x10 - Tolerance is Extinction, part 3

Damn. X-Men 97 season 1 stuck the landing.

Also, nothing whatsoever in this episode has discouraged me from shipping Charles and Erik. I swear Charles was thisclose to kissing Erik.

But also, Charles Xavier, what a Dick.

I get that it was for the good of Earth and Humanity to fix the magnetic poles but also what a dangerously cold move to enter Magneto’s mind and control him.

It made both of them vulnerable and I’m glad they’re both stuck together in the past. I hope there’s more of a fallout for what Charles did to Erik.

Jean and Scott being in Nathan’s/Cable’s life all along is really great.

And Morph confessed their love for Logan but using Jean’s look because that’s the only way Morph thinks Logan can accept that love. (Also, way over Logan’s feelings for Jean. Let that end please).

I wish Storm had more to do.

Anyway X-Men is constantly everyone facing the consequences of their own actions.

Love the set-up for season 2 with the team scattering across time.

[fionapplespiano]

HIS NAME WAS GAMBIT. REMEMBER IT!

[rrdcooc]

Me rewatching Tolerance Is Extinction, Part 2 (for the third time) - Oh my god, the sky on the Gold Team's mission is gold, and the spacescape for the Blue Team's mission is midnight blue... ;u;

[afaimscorner]

Magneto was right

I could write a whole essay about why the fact that Magneto was right in "X-Men: First Class" made that one into the worst X-Men-Movie ever and why on the other hand the fact that Magneto war right in "X-Men' 97" makes that show into the best Comic Adapation of the last twenty years. But I don't see the need for that. You either get why that's the case or you don't, it is as simple as that.

[theatrical-penguin]

Cameos from Spidey, Doom, Silver Samurai, a very non-MCU Zemo, Omega Red and name-checking Kamar-Taj? Will they actually come into play?

Wolverine had it wrong. Magneto didn’t declare war, he just accepted it had begun.

[thingsasbarcodes]

X-Men '97 1x09 - Tolerance is Extinction - Part 2

[thingsasbarcodes]

X-Men '97 1x08 - Tolerance is Extinction - Part 1

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X-Men '97 Episode 9 "Tolerance Is Extinction-part 2" by Butcher Billy

[cryptovalid]

The politics of Operation Zero Tolerance

If you've followed X-men '97, you know that's it's more than competently executed nostalgia-bait. It's a deconstruction of the original ideological framework of the X-men. I'll be riffing off of the way that Operation Zero Tolerance mirrors real world alt-right ideology and where the show might lead this theme. Spoilers ahead up to episode 8. It's a long one.

So the reflections of the January 6th insurrection, Great Replacement conspiracy and stochastic terrorism are pretty spot on. But what do the Prime candidates actually believe?

Mutants are constantly referred to as 'the next step in human evolution'. This frightens some non-mutants, who see themselves being replaced. Their solution is to subjugate mutants.

I want to focus on some of the ways this doesn't make sense first.

1. Evolution doesn't have well defined 'next steps': every new generation is slightly different from the previous, so that over time new traits will emerge and become common, and others will become less widespread. In the comics, this is not why mutants exist: the are the result of alien tampering with human dna: the Celestials implanted the X-gene in some humans. So 'mutants' are demonstrably just a strain of humanity, and the main reason humans have mutant babies is that their own genes are getting expressed in a new way.

2. No amount of control or violence can stop this. The rate at which mutants appear isn't even dependent on their own reproductive success since most mutants have human parents.

We don't know why more and more mutants are being born now, but OZT will not stop this. It's not even their goal. When they say human being are being 'replaced', they actually mean replaced as the ruling class of the planet. Bastion's 'utopia' doesn't have less mutants being born, just used as slave labor.

This really puts the anxiety of OZT into focus: they want to maintain privilege. They aren't really being 'replaced', any more than older generations are always 'replaced' by younger generations. They are primarily afraid that mutants will render them obsolete in the labor market. But if mutants can be forced to do unpaid labor for their benefit, that doesn't threaten them.

The way this parallels the rhetoric of the alt right is striking. Obviously, the reasons why jobs are moving overseas are different: colonized populations are more exploitable by capital. But the fears are the same: my children are different from me, and if I'm not valued for my labor, I will become poor. Like OZT, the alt right also chooses to enact violence even though it won't solve either of these issues. the MAGA-crowd threatens non-conformity and asserts its dominance to maintain its relative privilege over other groups. This is why it's all culture war stuff. The alt right isn't interested in striking to improve conditions for workers, it will attack immigrants and minorities they perceive as competition. Never the bosses that make the hiring decisions. It's scapegoating.

Even child and slave labor are on the table. Because again, this 'economic anxiety' isn't triggered by other people doing the work, just by other people getting money, care and respect that they feel they are owed.

It's not the solution that matters to OZT or the alt right: it's the catharsis of violence and control. It's interesting that OZT actually has a better point: mutants are inherently better at some jobs, some mutants ARE inherently dangerous. Their anxiety is way more warranted.

And I think that is what makes OZT hit so hard as an allegory: it is a steel man version of every bigot's rhetoric, and it is horrifying.

Where might the show take this theme? I don't think the show will end with the X-men fighting Magneto, as that would undermine the show's thematic support for his ideals. Magneto might be defeated, but that will not be the finale. I think the institutional support for OZT will be the closing statement.

The events of episode 8 will be blamed on the X-men. There's just too many ways that a sleeper that Wolverine cut to ribbons can be spun and Bastion has stated multiple times that he understands the optics of martyring mutants. In my opinion this explains how the primes failed to kill a single X-man, even though Trask could take down the whole team.

This twist will (I think) be used to set up the Avengers as the final threat: the X-men try to reason with Magneto, the Avengers attack him, and maybe Xavier erases Magneto's memory as a prelude to Onslaught.

Onslaught can then lead into Heroes Reborn; when Onslaught threatens to kill the Avengers and Fantastic Four, Franklin Richards creates a parallel universe, where they live out their lives in blissfull ignorance of mutants. I believe this could explain why the MCU does not have mutants: it's the Heroes Reborn Universe (The FF could live in a separate universe).

So how to put a button on OZT? I don't think that they will end as a political force (these ideas will remain relevant in the fiction as in the real world). I think the show will obviously set up a fight with Bastion, but the ideological refutation will have to come from Mrs. Da Costa. She is the poster child of an apathetic liberal, who will only support mutants in fashionable ways. If she ends the series giving up her social status to save her son, perhaps even dying, it will thematically reinforce the need for allies to be traitors of their own privilege.

This ties in with my final speculation. This is a weird one and a reach. We have not seen Roberto Da Costa's father. We also don't know where Bastion's father is (who is essentially Nimrod). Is it possible that they are half-brothers? Emmanuel Da Costa is a prominent anti-mutant member of the Hellfire Club, and it's strange he hasn't shown up yet. Honestly, this could possibly explain why Roberto is so light-skinned. Which I do not want to make excuses for otherwise.

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X-Men '97 Episode 8 "Tolerance Is Extinction-part 1" by Butcher Billy.