It’s official; this is X-Men ’97‘s world and we’re all just living in it. It is the true One Above All, it is alpha and omega, it is the dark sun of Heaven and Earth, and it is absolutely gobsmacking that Marvel Studios isn’t doing more to promote it.
Indeed, as far as high-stakes encounters go, few have a foundation of poignant emotional beats quite as abundant as the battle of Genosha. Gambit, Magneto, and Rogue did everything they could to protect the country’s mutant citizens from the Godzilla-like rampage of the Wild Sentinel. And that’s just part of the sheer display of ascendency in X-Men ’97‘s midpoint episode, “Remember It.”
But what was it about the newest member of the United Nations that drew such monstrous ire from the robotic tyrant?
What is Genosha?
In the ’97 canon, Genosha is an island nation created by villains Bolivar Trask, Cameron Hodge, and Henry Peter Gyrich. The trio lured mutants there with the promise of a prejudice-free vacation, only to enslave them for free labor in the construction of Sentinels. Magneto, the X-Men, and others would go on to free these mutants. Genosha would later be remodeled as a homeland for mutants, complete with its own infrastructure, economy, and culture, as we saw in episode five’s opening moments before the Wild Sentinel’s attack.
As previously mentioned, the episode saw Genosha become an officially recognized member of the United Nations, with Magneto selected by Genosha’s ruling council as the country’s equivalent of the president. This was, of course, before the Wild Sentinel came along and complicated everything.
The fallout of that devastating attack has seeped into the minds of X-Men and viewers alike. Genosha may now be primarily associated with the darkest day in the history of mutant-human relations. And that’s to say nothing of what lies ahead for our heroes at the X-Mansion.
(featured image: Disney+)
