X-Men ’97 is finally here, and with the original five-season legacy series setting the bar high for doing the X-Men the proper justice, things couldn’t have started out on a better foot.
At hardly any point in the two-episode X-Men ’97 premiere was the soul of the eponymous mutant team unrealized, with the familial banter and teamwork, influx of heroes and villains old and new, and a deep commitment to those timeless X-Men themes effortlessly sending ’97 to the ranks of Marvel Studios’ best.
Among said villains is X-Cutioner. New to the screen but old to the pulp, he’s already been responsible for the most tragic turning point of ’97 thus far, and while Magneto seems to have shown him the door, his place in an X-Men story has way too much potential to be shelved already.
So, what’s X-Cutioner’s deal?
Who is X-Cutioner?
X-Cutioner is the alias of former FBI agent Carl Denti, who makes it his life’s mission to kill any mutant that kills a human first, hence why he made a break for Magneto’s trial in the second episode.
During that same episode, Denti attempted to shoot Magneto with a radiation rifle that would have sapped the new X-Men leader of his mutant abilities, but Storm took the hit instead, causing her weather manipulation abilities to be seemingly permanently nullified. In other words, Denti is a human who effectively took out an Omega-level mutant, and that’s a very big deal.
To say that Denti occupies a precariously complex position in the theatre of mutant-human relations would be an understatement, and with X-Men ’97 going the whole nine yards and then some in bringing its allegorical roots to life, the ceiling of this show’s storytelling potential would for sure go up a few levels by keeping Denti waiting in the wings.
X-Men ’97 is now streaming on Disney Plus, with new episodes releasing every Wednesday until the season finale on May 15.
(featured image: Disney Plus)
