Maddy, Ryan, and Todd dive in to the first half of Dark Phoenix (2019), which is significantly better than the second half of the movie. Despite being the lowest-rated X-Men film in the 20th Century Fox version of the franchise, Dark Phoenix has some good scenes and strong portrayals of Jean, Scott, and Xavier. When the movie sticks with the character drama  unfolding between these three characters, it's a strong story. Unfortunately, it's weighed down by the addition of the D'Bari aliens and the shadows left behind by the exclusion of the Hellfire Club from the entire Phoenix storyline.

Next week's episode: Dark Phoenix (2019), Part 2

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E-mail us your feedback at themutantages@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter at TheMutantAges, MIDImyers and RyanPagella. Our guest Todd Harper is on Twitter as well at @drtoddharper.

If you like what you hear, please consider supporting us via patreon.com/themutantages. Thanks!

Dark Phoenix (2019), Part 1

Maddy and Ryan convene for the double-header premiere episodes of X-Men '97, which just may be the best-ever X-Men adaptation in our lifetimes, as well as the emotional pinnacle of this podcast's run up to this point. We analyze every single frame and line of dialogue in both episodes, and perhaps the only problem with that is for some reason we called X-Cutioner by the wrong name (X-Terminator) about half the time. We were just too excited and/or distracted by the fact that Wolverine and Morph are canonically banging on this show. And have you seen that photo of Xavier and Magneto cuddling??? We aren't over it, or really anything else that happens on this episode.

X-Men spotlights (yes, plural!): Valerie Cooper and X-Cutioner

Next week's episode: "Fire Made Flesh," X-Men '97

E-mail us your feedback at themutantages@gmail.com or follow us on social media at TheMutantAges, MIDImyers and RyanPagella. If you like what you hear, please consider supporting us via patreon.com/themutantages. Thanks!

"To Me, My X-Men" + "Mutant Liberation Begins," X-Men '97

Madelyne Pryor has quite the complicated backstory in Marvel Comics, and it's fascinating to see how X-Men '97 chose to shorten and adapt her story. A lot of the changes really work, but the whole episode moves so damn fast that Maddy and Ryan can only conclude that this should have been a two-parter. The Goblin Queen deserved more time to cook!! Perhaps the real star of this episode is Morph, whose relationship with Wolverine has gotten very emotionally confusing for seemingly both of them. Wow!

X-Men Spotlight: Madelyne Pryor

Next week's episode: "Motendo/Lifedeath Part 1" X-Men '97

E-mail us your feedback at themutantages@gmail.com or follow us on social media at TheMutantAges, MIDImyers and RyanPagella. If you like what you hear, please consider supporting us via patreon.com/themutantages. Thanks!

"Fire Made Flesh," X-Men '97

Ryan and Maddy have hit the first episode of X-Men '97 that they don't completely adore, and it's got a lot to do with the representation of Mojo in this episode. But also, as the world's number one Jubilee fan, Ryan has a lot of thoughts on the writing of Jubilee in this episode and not all of them are positive. We're both not sure what to make of the speedy rendition of Lifedeath that happens in the last couple minutes of this episode. We'll just have to wait for "Lifedeath Part 2" in order to find out where that plotline's heading...

X-Men Spotlight: Sunspot AKA Roberto de Costa

The X2 blooper reel (this is actually a relevant link to the episode lol): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7Ghbo8DIyY

Next week's episode: "Remember It," X-Men '97

E-mail us your feedback at themutantages@gmail.com or follow us on social media at TheMutantAges, MIDImyers and RyanPagella. If you like what you hear, please consider supporting us via patreon.com/themutantages. Thanks!

"Motendo/Lifedeath Part 1," X-Men '97

Now more than ever, Ryan and Maddy are warning all of you about spoilers in this week's review of X-Men '97. You really need to see "Remember It" for yourself in order to understand why, but be warned that it's an absolutely devastating watch, especially when it comes to the queer metaphor in the mutants' story. This is an episode about Genosha, and if you've read the comics, you have some idea of what the means, but the X-Men '97 rendition merges multiple comic book storylines into a heartbreaking masterpiece.

X-Men Spotlight: Trish Tilby

Next week's episode: "Lifedeath Part 2," X-Men '97

E-mail us your feedback at themutantages@gmail.com or follow us on social media at TheMutantAges, MIDImyers and RyanPagella. If you like what you hear, please consider supporting us via patreon.com/themutantages. Thanks!

"Remember It," X-Men '97

Ryan and Maddy were expecting "Lifedeath Part 2" to fit what its title suggests, but instead, this isn't so much an episode about Storm and Forge as it is an episode about Lilandra and Xavier. Our least favorite Professor is considering whether he should return to Earth or erase all of his memories of it so he can get married to Lilandra, and we all know which one he'll choose, even before he gets a vision of what happened to Genosha. The Storm/Forge storyline is wonderful, but there's not enough of it. What's with the pacing on this show???

X-Men Spotlights: The Adversary and Deathbird

Next week's episode: "Bright Eyes," X-Men '97

E-mail us your feedback at themutantages@gmail.com or follow us on social media at TheMutantAges, MIDImyers and RyanPagella. If you like what you hear, please consider supporting us via patreon.com/themutantages. Thanks!

"Lifedeath Part 2," X-Men '97

X-Men '97 gets back on track again with "Bright Eyes," an incredible episode about Rogue having a well-deserved mental breakdown in the wake of "Remember It." We get some actual closure in the form of Gambit's funeral and the various characters' reactions to it, then Rogue wrecking shop at a military base and then at Gyrich's mysterious holding facility. The big reveal, which came as a relief but not necessarily a surprise to us, is that Bastion is the one pulling the strings — and Mr. Sinister is just coming along for the ride, except he's being a predictably judgmental bitch about it all. We can't wait to see whatever his ulterior motive turns out to be.

(In this episode, we talk about the X-Men: Zero Tolerance trade paperback, which is worth reading for background and is comprised of Generation X #27, X-Force #67–69, X-Men #65–70, Wolverine #115–118, Cable #45–47, and X-Man #30.)

X-Men Spotlight: Bastion

Next week's episode: "Tolerance Is Extinction Part 1," X-Men '97

E-mail us your feedback at themutantages@gmail.com or follow us on social media at TheMutantAges, MIDImyers and RyanPagella. If you like what you hear, please consider supporting us via patreon.com/themutantages. Thanks!

"Bright Eyes," X-Men '97

The first episode in X-Men '97's three-part finale has its ups and downs. The ups: Bastion's Prime Sentinels are here and they're straight out of a horror movie, evocative and cool. Trish Tilby is one of them! Kurt Wagner is also here and he's got three swords (one for his tail). The downs: Storm still isn't back yet, Rogue is asleep (for some reason?), and Jubilee isn't acting like herself. Bastion's Prime Sentinels are a metaphor for radicalization but it's not clear how the process actually works (are people opting in to the procedure? then why didn't Trask know he was one?). And why is Mister Sinister here at all? And, wait, why are Baron Zemo and Doctor Doom here? This show is moving so fast, and even when we slow down and take notes on every single line and plot point, it still doesn't quite make sense... but hey, it's not over yet!

Next week's episode: "Tolerance Is Extinction Part 2," X-Men '97

E-mail us your feedback at themutantages@gmail.com or follow us on social media at TheMutantAges, MIDImyers and RyanPagella. If you like what you hear, please consider supporting us via patreon.com/themutantages. Thanks!

"Tolerance is Extinction Part 1," X-Men '97

Maddy and Ryan analyze "Tolerance Is Extinction Part 2," in which Magneto has some truly epic monologues, but a plan that makes no sense. What did Magneto do to planet Earth, exactly, in "Part 1" of this trilogy? Whatever it is, it's going to cause the world to end in 12 hours, unless Magneto reverses course. He's chosen to return to Asteroid M, but he doesn't seem to care that much about convincing all of the rest of mutantkind to join him in creating a new nation, and instead seems fine with letting both mutants and humans die on a destroyed planet. Would Magneto really do that? Maddy and Ryan say hell no. By the way, the rest of this episode is about fighting Bastion and Mr. Sinister, but that stuff doesn't make any sense either, which is a bit odd since those two were supposed to be the Big Bads this season.

Next week's episode: "Tolerance Is Extinction Part 3," X-Men '97

E-mail us your feedback at themutantages@gmail.com or follow us on social media at TheMutantAges, MIDImyers and RyanPagella. If you like what you hear, please consider supporting us via patreon.com/themutantages. Thanks!

"Tolerance is Extinction Part 2," X-Men '97

Maddy and Ryan settle in for the somewhat anticlimactic ending to X-Men '97, featuring a confusing death scene for Bastion and a lot of leftover questions about what exactly was going on. Magneto's earth-destroying plan from "Part 2" remains unexplained, although his storyline with Xavier is the strongest (and creepiest) part of this finale. The best part of the episode is its ending, which sets up a promising start for season two, although we aren't sure how excited to feel given the whirlwind of season one. If only this show weren't in such a rush and spent more time on its characters' motivations, because the character drama was always its strongest element.

Next episode: We're not sure! Either a wrap-up episode or Listener Mail depending on what we feel up for doing next.

E-mail us your feedback at themutantages@gmail.com or follow us on social media at TheMutantAges, MIDImyers and RyanPagella. If you like what you hear, please consider supporting us via patreon.com/themutantages. Thanks!

"Tolerance Is Extinction Part 3," X-Men '97

Maddy and Ryan invite Todd onto the show for a debrief about X-Men '97 and a massive mailbag from listeners with questions about X-Men '97. If we could rewrite the show, what would we have done? Why didn't Morph get a real arc? And where was Storm? All of this and more on a super-long listener mail episode that (sadly) doesn't even contain The Mutant Ages: The Comic Book at the end. Given we spent 2.5 hours answering mail, though, that's probably for the best.

Next episode: The Gifted? Who knows!! We're taking the rest of June off. Happy Pride month to us and you.

E-mail us your feedback at themutantages@gmail.com or follow us on social media at TheMutantAges, MIDImyers and RyanPagella. If you like what you hear, please consider supporting us via patreon.com/themutantages. Thanks!

Listener Mail, June 2024

Maddy Myers and Ryan Pagella review and break down the queer subtext of every X-Men cartoon/tv show/movie/game/book EVER. And maybe date Wolverine.

E-Mail: themutantages@gmail.com
Discord server: https://discordapp.com/invite/VJ5P5ZH
Voicemail: ‪(508) 319-1668‬

Dark Phoenix (2019), Part 1

The Mutant Ages

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