So what does it all mean for the rest of the season?
This X-Men 97 article contains spoilers.
The latest episode, Bright Eyes, continues this tradition.
Like most X-Men characters, Bastion has an incredibly convoluted backstory.
Instead, the combination exited the Siege Perilous in the form of a human, his memory wiped.
Taking the name Sebastion Gilberti, he found himself drawn to anti-Mutant organizations.
Over the years, Bastion has been a constant problem for the X-Men.
He teamed with the cruel Magus of the Techarchy to unleash the techno-organic virus on his enemies.
Late in his life, Bastion began developing artificial mutants, a technologically-derived version mixture of mutant and machine.
But Bastions most deadly project remains Operation: Zero Tolerance.
However, the final moments of Bright Eyes suggest a much bigger connection to Operation: Zero Tolerance.
But when activated, the Prime Sentinels do what all Sentinels do and neutralize mutants.
How did Bastion gain so much power so quickly you ask?
Onslaught
We all know that Professor X and Magneto are the twin poles of the X-Men universe.
But what if they mixed together to become a single bad guy?
Thats exactly what happened withOnslaught.
As you might suspect, things did not go well from there.
And not just because Wolverine ran around without a nose for a while.
But Xavier didnt just destroy Magnetos dark side.
Instead, he took it inside of himself.
By the end of the story, Onslaught had killed boththe Avengersandthe Fantastic Four.
That led to another pseudo-reboot calledHeroes Return, which was largely excellent.
As for the X-Men, Onslaughts rampage caused mutants to become even more feared and hated.
This short summary doesnt do justice to the mess that was theOnslaughtstoryline, of course.
But rather than examine the characters,Onslaughtmade their dark sides into a giant monster who smashes things.
Obviously,X-Men 97isnt following quite the same trajectory.
But Bright Eyes ends with Bastion holding Magneto hostage, delivering an unnerving monologue about mutant submission.
Is Bastion engineering the birth of Onslaught to gain more power?
And does the emergence of Bastion mean that Mister Sinister is now on the sidelines?
And will all of this end with Magneto returning to his evil ways?
We dont know, but we cant wait to see what unfolds over the last few episodes.
X-Men 97 is currently streaming on Disney+.
