#Val Cooper

[sergessuperbsanctum]

This line is spot on! The writing on this show has been top tier.

[starkdirewolflove]

Latest episode of X-Men ‘97, wow.

Omg there was so much going on in that episode can’t believe it was only 36 minutes.

Love square of Jean, Scott. Madelyne and Logan. Love triangle of Magneto, Rogue and Gambit, relationship drama galore.

I find it really amusing that Emma Frost has a front row seat to the drama with Jean, Madelyne and Scott like her own personal telenovela. Love that Madelyne has been forging her own path and becoming a part of the council of Genosha.

There’s a reporter doing a documentary about the X-Men and Xavier’s school. I’m a bit confused about Roberto being there. When we first meet him he’s a young rich party boy, heir to a wealthy Brazilian family that can just take a private jet wherever he wants to go and is ashamed and afraid of people, particularly his mother learning he’s a mutant so he leaves after episode one. Then he’s just always at the mansion hanging around with Jubilee and he’s in this documentary about a mutant school. Is he out to his family as a mutant or does he not care who knows anymore? I feel like this should’ve been addressed at some point.

Things are still really rocky with Scott and Jean, I can understand why he blew up at the reporter, she was being really invasive about his personal life and calling him a liar about having a son. And who was that doctor to make any statement about the birth? The bigot refused medical help to a woman in labour. But then he goes and has his psychic affair with Madelyne, dick move. And he’s been doing this since she left while shutting Jean out then turns everything around on her. Like Jean has been traumatised by what Sinister did to her. She doesn’t know how long he had her abducted, what he did while she was his prisoner, her mind is all messed up and on top of that her husband had a baby with her clone who had completely stolen her life (not Madelyne’s fault, this was 100% Sinister’s evil plan) and the only one who is actually supportive and understanding of her pain is Logan, no wonder she kissed him. Good on Logan for not trying to make the kiss into a big deal, Jean and Scott are married and he respects that even though he’s in love with her. The betrayal from Scott was even worse for Jean because their psychic connection has always been sacred between the two of them and her anchor when the Phoenix was overwhelming her and then he disregards all that because he’s in love with Madelyne too supposedly. Like I get their shared grief over having to give up their baby, it doesn’t give him a free pass to cheat on his wife.

Gambit was such a gentleman throughout the whole Rogue and Magento stuff, even though it was breaking his heart to see her with another man he respected her choice, didn’t try to blame or shame her about it and said they can be friends still. Rogue had a really rough time this episode. From the start of this season I felt uncomfortable with this Rogue and Magento pairing but when she explained their history to Gambit it was even worse because it just sounded like grooming and made Magento a creepy sexual predator. So Rogue ran away from home as a teenager after the trauma of putting the first boy she kissed in a coma and being rejected by her dad, gets taken in by Mystique who gets her to use her powers as part of her mutant terrorist group then brings this vulnerable teenage girl who is afraid to touch anyone to a middle aged man to help her control her powers and instead of doing that he fills her head with his ideologies and because he can touch her without it hurting either of them they become lovers. 🤢🤮 so creepy. Magento leverages the council of Genosha that he will only lead them if he can take Rogue as his “Queen” or co leader to the public, so she feels backed into a corner after seeing how amazing things on Genosha were for mutants now. Then after that amazing dance scene she realises that Gambit is the man she truly loves and what they have is more meaningful and goes beyond being able to touch and she chooses her swamp rat only to lose them both by the end of the episode.

The attack on Genosha was brutal but it was so amazingly done. Cable traveling back through time to try and warn everyone about the attack even though it goes against the rules of time travel, seeing Madelyn for a moment, her recognising him as her son by his eyes and him calling her “mom” as he got pulled back through time. The music, the chaos and panic you could literally feel through the screen, Magneto’s holocaust flashbacks, the Morlocks being trapped and thinking no one was coming to save them, Nightcrawler almost dying saving Rogue and Magneto.

Rogue and Gambit were the ultimate power couple fighting their way to the Morlocks, a better dance than the one she had with Magneto. Magneto saving Rogue and Gambit while he tried to shelter the Morlocks from the sentinel blast, so tragic. Then Gambit saves Rogue from getting herself killed by attacking the sentinel in a rage, takes it on by himself to save everyone and destroys it but sacrificing his own life in the process 😭.

The tragedy is they foreshadowed this in the first episode when Jean/Madelyne went into Trask’s mind and then both Jean and Madelyne got a psychic premonition of the attack just before it happened but were unable to do anything to stop it.

When the dust settles at the end you see the X-Men witness the aftermath of the attack, the few surviving mutants gather around the crater where Rogue is cradling Remy’s body. She’s finally able to touch him but only because he’s dead. “Sugah. I can’t feel you.” 💔

That killed me at the end, was so shocked that they killed Magneto and Gambit within minutes of each other. I know they probably won’t be dead forever but fuck that was brutal.

I know next week’s episode is gonna be Storm centric so we’ll probably have to wait 2 weeks to see what happens with the rest of the X-Men and hopefully by then Storm is ready to rejoin the team. There was a moment in the Genosha attack where Val Cooper is helping evacuate mutants to the gardens and she looks back at the sentinels and there’s this look in her eye that made me wonder is she Val Cooper or Mystique in disguise? We haven’t seen Mystique in the show so far but what if she’s been there all along? Maybe she was afraid of being exposed as an imposter by the sentinels because they’d know she’s not human.

[brokenstar28]

Tolerance is Extinction Part 1

"Y'know, in Genosha, I felt a lot of things. Pain, grief, admiration for those who fought, despite the odds. But you know what the oddest thing was? No one seemed shocked or surprised. Not even me. Yes, I was scared, but really, I just had the most profound sense of deja vu. As if past, present and future didn't matter and never had. Because we always end up in the same ugly place. Thing is, Magneto knows us better than Charles ever did. Knows we know better. That most of us experience tragedies like Genosha as a bit of deja vu before getting on with our day. But the scariest thing about Genosha wasn't the death or the chaos. It was a thought. The only sane thought you can have when being chased by giant robots that were built to crush you.

Magneto was right."

-Val Cooper, X-Men 97' Ep 8

Honestly I just think that speech resonates what is going on everywhere in anyone's life. Besides the superheroes and mutants, besides the politics and arguments over who is right and wrong. The fact that Cooper said "We" and "Us" because it is not just mutants, it is everyone, and that fact, that thought, seems to be scarier than anything else at the moment.

The fact that they finally showed us Magnetos Holocaust tattoos, that this is not the first time that this horror has happened to him.

Anyways, great episode, guys.

[movietimegirl]

I knew she there was something with her! Come on!

[x-men97]

i think they’d be a hot throuple idec

[merry-mutants]

Forge by Sam Johnstone

instagram.com/nightshift_sam

[edrake]

X-Men ‘97 Episode 8 *spoilers ahead*

[nami-art]

Jean and Val Cooper ship

Request from @anonnim

[wwprice1]

Vintage Joe Quesada X-Factor art!

[waitingforthet]

This comic is, as is usual for Wednesday’s comics, chosen by my Patrons. Speaking of…

Check my Patreon out if you’d like to support the comic, even a little bit helps. Or just to check out the reward tiers, there’s some neat bonus stuff and I tried to make them fun: https://www.patreon.com/waitingforthet

[sonofcoulson]

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 3

Episode 3

"Banshee":

Freedom Force have tracked Sean Cassidy to Camp Lehigh. They arrive at the gates and demand entry as they are harbouring a wanted mutant. Peggy does not recognise their authority leading to a standoff between the two sets of agents. Peggy orders her agents not to fire first. She keeps all those with superpowers inside so as not to stoke tension.

Unbeknownst to her, a shrunken Hank Pym has snuck out and is investigating the enemy convoy parked outside the gates. He disables the weapons of the combatants in the first van causing much confusion, especially as he has also disabled their radios.

A S.H.I.E.L.D. tower guard by the gate sees agents pouring out of two vans with a third following swiftly after. Peggy knows exactly what is happening…

Peggy: Pym! What the hell do you think you're doing! Get back here right now! We do not want to give them the excuse to-

Hank (having entered the 5th van): Peggy, I know what I'm doing.

P: Do you? If you get captured they can bloody well keep you!

H: Uh, the agents in this van are unarmed and they're all wearing power dampeners.

P: …Hank, get out of there.

Forge switches one power dampener off and radios that Dukes is ready and the other ‘hounds’ are on standby.

Hank retreats, but his Pym Tech fails as he runs towards the gate. The Freedom Force agents open fire. He is able to shrink before he gets hurt but the damage is done. Gunfire is exchanged between the two agencies and the agents with disabled weapons and radios are re-equipping. Peggy is livid.

Fred Dukes, the first ‘hound’, emerges from the fifth van and is sent to the gate as he has superhuman durability and can repel the bullets. This is a young, fit Dukes, before he becomes ‘Blob’. He uses his super strength to wrench the gates off and Freedom Force swarm the base.

As Freedom Force technically fired first she orders Jacqui and Brian to slow down the advancing horde. Angel Salvadore and Sean Cassidy offer to go with them…Peggy agrees but gives them an alternate route to the hangar and the mk II Quinjet. Says they'll retreat to Muir Island, if Dr. MacTaggert will have them. Sean assures them she will.

Pym returns and tries to apologise. Peggy tells him to save it, she'll deal with him later. Pym is ordered to supervise the concealment of ‘sensitive’ tech, including his own.

Peggy calls the President to see if she can get a reprieve.

James Braddock goes to prep the Quinjet for escape.

Howard begins to barricade with some volunteers. The non-combat staff are told to evacuate through the warren of tunnels running under the base, including Howard's heavily pregnant wife, Maria.

Cassidy, Salvadore and the Falsworth twins enter the fray and are making fairly short work of the Freedom Force agents. But they grind to a halt against Dukes as he swats away their normal attacks. They realise they need to work together. Jacqui flames on to obscure his vision and Brian sucker punches him in soft tissue (eyeball). Dazed, he is unable to brush Angel Salvadore away and she spits hardening goo on his face so he can't breathe. Cassidy sonic screams him hard, direct in the face, and Dukes is down. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents begin to retake the upper level.

Peggy gets off the phone and informs them that Nixon told her that his hands are tied. She then asks Pym how many others there were in the 5th van…

Simultaneously, Henry Peter Gyrich confirms that the other ‘hounds’ should be released. Forge deactivates more collars in the 5th van.

The hounds are all dressed in black combat gear with slight variations.

One of them (Avalanche) touches the ground by the van, causing the ground by our heroes to rumble and crack. This breaks the hard goo on Dukes’ face. The hounds approach the team as Dukes remains prone on the ground recovering his breath.

Our team group together. Jacqui lays down a wall of fire to keep them out.

Another hound (Stonewall) walks straight through as he has turned himself to stone. Angel goos him before he can grab Jacqui but he starts to crack it with his stone hands. One hound (Toad) leaps over the fire and dropkicks Spitfire to the ground.

Brian starts toward her but is caught by a blow from another hound (Crimson Commando) who also has super strength.

The hounds battle the S.H.I.E.L.D. squad, who just about manage to hold their own, even when Dukes recovers, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. troopers are managing to keep Freedom Force out of the underground part of the base.

Gyrich calls for the last hound.

Out of the 5th van he steps and begins to charge his chest plate. Cassidy and Salvadore recognise him, even under his helmet and armour, as Alex Summers (aka Havok). They scream for everybody to fall back.

When the blast comes the three flying heroes manage to get out of the way, and some of the hounds too. But Brian, Fred Dukes and several troops from both sides are caught in it.

Peggy, hearing all this, calls on everyone to retreat. Troopers are to get to their nearest safe house and the supers to the hanger where the Quinjet is prepped and waiting. Jaqcui drags her brother to his feet. But they are obstructed by another hound (Super Sabre) who has super speed.

Cassidy warns everyone to cover their ears and lets out the loudest, widest ranging scream he's ever produced. With the enemy stunned and Brian up and they make haste to safety.

Havok is charging up another shot for the Quinjet but deliberately misses after Forge instructs him to let them go. This was at Gyrich's request. He knows where they're going and wants an excuse to follow them there.

When Gyrich leaves the channel, Forge is livid that they had Havok fire on their own men. Val understands Forge's anger but says the must achieve their objective no matter the cost.

Forge says the cost is rising and wonders where Gyrich will draw the line.

We see a shot of the team landing and disembarking on Muir Island while Moira McTaggart looks on.

We also see that Pym stayed, as he didn't want anyone to find his stuff and has enough Pym Particles to keep himself hidden.

We cut to Mystique, collared, in a cell. A guard lets Evangaline Whedon in. She sits. Pointedly she does not turn on the tape recorder. She puts a small medical kit on the table, unzips it and puts a syringe next to it.

Evangaline: Miss Darkhölme. How are they treating you?

Mystique: 

E: They've sent me here to administer your medication.

M: 

E: I believe this was your job.

M: You know what it does?

E: They explained it. It is deeply unethical. 

M: And yet here you are…

E: I didn't have a choice, just like you didn't have a choice.

M: There's always a choice.

E (momentarily thrown by Mystique's assertion): …They seem to have given up any pretense that we have rights in this place.

M: Isn't that why they brought you here? Mutant rights?

E: They brought me in to avoid a prisoner revolt. To give these mutants the illusion of due process, of a proper government department.

M: The truth! I wasn't expecting that from you.

E: What were you expecting Miss Darkhölme?

M: You have singularly failed to stand up to Gyrich or even Cooper. What about the rights of those prisoners? What about a fair trial?

E: You helped to capture all of those prisoners. Some of whom were former colleagues of yours. So don't try and lecture me about mutant rights.

M: So Cooper finally told the team about my past…you need a mutant to catch a mutant, right?

Has she told them about Irene Adler?

E: Yes. That made sense. Her predictions were a little too good.

M: Did she tell them about Forge?

E: Forge is a…

M: Yes. He just doesn't know it yet.

Did she tell them about you?

E (momentarily thrown again): …Me? What about me?

M: That you're one of us.

E: Is this…Did Cooper put you up to this?

M: I think that was my response.

E: To whom?

M: …Can I really trust you, Evangeline? 

E: You noticed that I didn't turn the tape recorder on? Gyrich's going to string me up for that.

M: Maybe you want to trick me into giving you my co-conspirators and escape plans to feed back to Cooper.

E: …I just want to go home, Raven…You want an affidavit? 

M: …Okay…If I'm vague on the details…then there's nothing to report back…

First, you need to decide what you're going to do with that medication.

E: …

M: I told you, there's always a choice. It has to be your decision. 

E: Some choice…

M: And then, when the time comes, you will need to use your power to help everyone escape.

E: …I can’t…

M: You can, Evangeline.

E: I killed someone the last time it happened.

M: I heard they had it coming.

E: …

M: It was you or them, right?

E: …I did a lot of damage too.

M: We're kind of counting on that.

E: Raven, I completely lost control.

M: You may have more control than you think. You just need practice.

E: …No…I…

M: Just a fingernail, a hand…an arm…start small.

E: Does everyone escape?

M: Unclear. But you give us the best chance of success.

E: That sounds like Irene talking.

M: No. No names. Not yet.

E: How will I know when the time comes?

M: Oh, you'll know.

M (Looking at the syringe, then at Evangeline): So…what's it going to be?

Aaand scene

[starkdirewolflove]

X-Men ‘97

I had recently rewatched the original series so when it was hinted that the two part story One Man’s Worth would be a clue/tie in for the three part finale I knew it was gonna be about Nimrod and time travel shenanigans. When Fitzroy kills Xavier it creates the dystopian timeline where the X-Men never existed and Magneto is mutantkinds leader and greatest hero, Bishop and Shard take dystopia Storm and Wolverine to the 50’s to stop the assassination of Xavier, fail then go to the future and travel back to stop Fitzroy again only they are being targeted by the Nimrod sentinel who is sent to make sure Xavier dies and humanity can live as the dominant species. The second time around goes better since they are just able to stop Xavier dying and seemingly destroy Nimrod. The dystopia timeline gets erased, Bishop gets lost in the timeline on the way back but eventually links up with the X-Men in their fight against Apocalypse in the Beyond Good and Evil arc. Now with Bastion’s backstory being revealed in Tolerance is Extinction Part One it shows that Nimrod wasn’t really destroyed he fused onto the janitor at Xavier’s university who was married to the waitress at the diner Xavier and the others were at and they turned out to be Bastion’s parents and he was conceived to be the first human/sentinel hybrid and grow up to destroy mutants.

So basically everything that is happening is Bishop’s fault cos his future is so shit he keeps travelling back to the past (90’s present) to make things better for himself but every time he does he makes things worse for the present timeline, his future timeline and even Cable’s time even further in the future.

Also I was a bit disappointed Val Cooper wasn’t actually Mystique in disguise, she was just a two faced bitch that was working for the bad guys all along while pretending to be an ally to the X-Men then got scared when she got caught in the crossfire of a genocidal attack. I think her releasing Magneto played into Bastion’s plan because he knows Magneto is gonna go nuclear on humanity after Genosha and seeing all the world leaders that backed up Bastion’s plan while he was being held hostage and every mutant on the planet is gonna follow Magneto now. Even Val Cooper agrees that Magneto Was Right.

[sebeth]

Who Could Have Done This?

[xmenshitposts]

Original under cut

[x-men97]

can anybody hear me

[souurcitrus]

Resquest from @annonim :]