There is a palpable tension running through Impact, a deliberate choice by the storytellers to maintain the momentum from the previous episode. There is no time to breathe – Apocalypse has risen, and the world is already changing. While the New Mutants train in relative normalcy and the Brotherhood mock Mystique’s petrified form with juvenile humour, the episode’s emotional core lies in Wanda and Kurt. Wanda, shaped by her own fractured relationship with Magneto and the absence of her mother, recognizes Kurt’s longing for connection. Her decision to relinquish Mystique’s statue is not just an act of kindness – it is an unspoken acknowledgment of shared loss.
Kurt’s pleas to Rogue, though not explicitly religious, carry the weight of forgiveness and redemption – concepts deeply tied to his faith in the comics. He believes in second chances, in the possibility of salvation, even for someone as flawed as Mystique. But Rogue, hardened by betrayal, refuses to grant it. Her final act – shattering Mystique’s statue – is a rejection of that philosophy, a refusal to let sentimentality override her pain.
Magneto’s arrival in Mexico is marked by uncertainty. He does not hesitate, does not strategize – he simply acts. His assault on the force field is methodical, escalating in desperation. First, his metal sphere, repurposed as a weapon. Then the army’s tanks. Then satellites from orbit. This is not just Magneto’s usual show of force – it is fear. He understands the stakes. Apocalypse is not merely a threat to mutants but to the entire world, and for the first time in this series, Magneto is truly afraid.
The episode also plays into a classic television trope – the new Big Bad arrives and effortlessly dismantles the major villains of previous seasons. Apocalypse’s swift, brutal takedown of Magneto serves two purposes: it establishes his overwhelming power and forces the heroes into an uneasy alliance. The message is clear – Apocalypse is beyond any single force’s ability to stop. If the X-Men, the Brotherhood, and the remnants of Magneto’s Acolytes cannot find common ground, they will all fall…
The world is still reeling from Apocalypse’s emergence, his presence altering reality in ways no one can fully comprehend. Deep in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, an ancient Mayan pyramid – once untouched by time – undergoes a startling transformation. Its stone walls shift, revealing sleek, alien technology beneath the surface. A shimmering force field surrounds the structure, impenetrable to all who dare approach. The X-Men, granted permission by the government, prepare to investigate, but they aren’t the only ones drawn to the mystery.
Magneto’s Acolytes are scouring the Egyptian ruins for any trace of Apocalypse’s location. Their search leads them deep into the catacombs of an Egyptian temple, where they hope to uncover some remnant of his power or a clue to his whereabouts. But the temple offers no answers – only silence. Tensions rise as Magneto, growing impatient, turns his fury on Colossus, threatening him when the search yields nothing.
Meanwhile, Mystique’s petrified form is passed from one faction to another. Initially left in the care of the Brotherhood, her fate remains uncertain until Nightcrawler, desperate to save his mother, appeals to Wanda Maximoff. Moved by his plea, Wanda relinquishes the statue, allowing Kurt to take Mystique into his care.
Determined to restore her, Kurt seeks out Agatha Harkness, hoping that her mystical expertise can undo Apocalypse’s cruel punishment. Agatha examines the statue and delivers a grim truth – only Rogue has the ability to absorb the necessary power to bring Mystique back. Kurt begs his sister to help, but Rogue, still bitter over Mystique’s betrayals, refuses. Instead, in a final act of defiance, she pushes the statue off a cliff, watching as it shatters upon the rocks below. Nightcrawler collapses in anguish, devastated by the loss.
Back in Mexico, Magneto launches an assault on Apocalypse’s temple, determined to challenge the ancient mutant’s dominance. But Apocalypse is prepared. With a single, devastating blast, he strikes Magneto down. The X-Men witness the attack, but they are too late to intervene. Magneto vanishes in the explosion, his fate unknown. Xavier, usually composed, is left speechless, horrified at the thought that Erik has been lost forever.
As the X-Men regroup, they realize that the battle against Apocalypse is far from over. His influence continues to spread, reshaping the world in ways they cannot yet understand. And with Magneto presumed dead and Mystique shattered, the cost of this war is already proving to be unbearable.
While not outright stated, as Beast surmised in Ascension (Part 2), the technology powering Apocalypse’s impenetrable dome is Celestial in nature, just as his technology from the comics. The pictograms and symbols are also indicative of the Egyptian pyramid opening scene in X-Men: Apocalypse.
The New Mutants are playing basketball to wind down – a regular X-Men past time since X-Men #4 (1992) and also featured in the X-Men ’97 episode To Me, My X-Men.
The close relationship between Wolverine and Rogue, while having it’s basis in a storyline from Uncanny X-Men #173, is more recently inspired by the original 2000 X-Men movie.
Unlike most iterations of the franchise, at the time, this was the only version of the franchise to include the idea that Rogue and Kurt are adopted step-siblings. They weren’t raised together in the comics either, but after the events of Mystique and Destiny’s wedding, they’ve finally started to treat each other as such.
As seen in other episodes, the Bayville Brotherhood Boarding House that the Brotherhood crash in, was established in 1963, the year the X-Men comic book debuted.
Agatha Harkness, seen in The HeX Factor returns. In this series she has her original comic book appearance from Fantastic Four #94. In recent adaptions, the characters has rejuvenated to become younger, as seen in Marvel Studios’ Agatha All Along.
Magneto threatens Colossus’ family – the first hint that Peter is being coerced to be with the Acolytes. Colossus’ family, of course, includes the disc-stepping magic-wielding Illyana Rasputin, see onscreen in The New Mutants.
Magneto has been presumed dead many times in multiple versions of the franchise: movie wise, whilst not killed, he is depowered in X-Men: The Last Stand. In the original X-Men animated series, he was thought dead in Sanctuary (Part 2) and twice again in X-Men ’97, first by Sentinel fire in Remember It and then when Asteroid M is destroyed in Tolerance is Extinction (Part 3). In the comics, both New X-Men #150 and X-Men #3 end with his supposed death, only for Magneto to return, sometimes just months later!
X-Cess Minutiae 
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