The Mutant Ages

Remember how frustrated we felt about the "Wolverine vs. Hulk" episode of Wolverine and the X-Men? We didn't know how much worse it could get. This 2009 straight-to-video precursor to the series we just completed is a slog, told out of order and packed with Weapon X flashbacks. Thank goodness Deadpool is in it, or else there would be nothing redeemable about this special at all. Next week's episod...

We finally made it to the series finale of Wolverine and the X-Men, which features 23 jam-packed minutes of Wolverine trying to cross the front lawn of the Hellfire Club mansion. It takes him the entire time to get there, and meanwhile, Sentinels destroy a major American city and the Phoenix inhabits all five Cuckoos and destroys the Sentinels and also tries to re-enter Jean's body. Emma shows up...

We made it to the second part of Wolverine and the X-Men's three-part finale, and this episode is even rougher than the first. Magneto leans in to his baffling decision to slaughter his own people with Sentinels, assuring his kids that this makes sense even though it doesn't. Meanwhile, over at the Hellfire Club mansion, Sebastian Shaw betrays Emma Frost (who could have seen that coming?), and in...

Jean Grey has been kidnapped by the Hellfire Club, which means we get a surprisingly sapphic scene between Emma and Jean in which Emma restores Jean's memories and teaches her about feminism. And by feminism, we mean the Phoenix. Meanwhile, Logan and the rest of the X-Men have to deal with a ridiculous B-plot that takes over the episode involving Pietro kidnapping Senator Kelly for Magneto, then M...

Scott and Jean finally reunite in "Shades of Grey," but this is the X-Men, so one of them has amnesia. Emma Frost helps out with the reunion, but not the amnesia (at least, not until next week's episode). Even though Jean Grey hasn't been on an entire season's worth of episodes of Wolverine and the X-Men, it turns out that she's the most important person in this universe, because the X-Men want he...

Maddy, Ryan, and Todd get together for a review of the first season of She-Hulk starring Tatiana Maslany, but before we can get into that, we need to discuss Cheetos, fried pickles, Hocus Pocus (the first one and the sequel), Hugh Jackman reprising the role of Wolverine for Deadpool 2, and so much more. This episode original appeared as a bonus on our Patreon feed, so if you like what you hear, co...

Gambit is back, mes chers, and even though the circumstances of his return don't make a ton of sense, we can't help but fall in love with him all over again. That's all according to plan for Gambit, who's seducing his way into Magneto's castle on Genosha, despite that the borders are closed (even for mutants). The weakest link on the island is Lorna, who's so naive and sheltered that she doesn't s...

Destroy!! Destroy? Destroy ... destroy. Don't mind us, we're just quoting our favorite new character from Wolverine and the X-Men. He's a Sentinel, but he's not a bad guy, thanks to Polaris and Marrow. Bishop and Xavier don't see Rover as a true member of the post-apocalyptic X-Men, but he proves himself in a heart-wrenching act of sacrifice that allows Xavier to collect more data on what caused t...

Get ready for a deep dive into all of Scott Summers' memories! Luckily we have Emma Frost to accompany us on this journey, as opposed to Xavier, who would delete everything without telling anybody about it. Emma also offers to delete some memories for Scott -- specifically, all memories of Jean, since he's threatening to quit the X-Men due to not being able to get over her. We're pretty sure that...

This is a rare episode that comes with a content warning for parental abuse and self-harm. It's also an episode of Wolverine and the X-Men that made Maddy and Ryan very sad ... but also very impressed by the storytelling on display here. Warren has finally become proud of his mutant self and wants to use his powers to help other mutants (and/or queer people). Unfortunately, his dad doesn't approve...

Maddy and Ryan have finally hit the home stretch of Wolverine and the X-Men, and it's all uphill from here, at least in the sense of our review scores increasing. In "Backlash," the Sentinels become a true threat, and Wolverine admits Kitty was right when she said they should've trashed the robot manufacturing bay rather than attempting to steal data for later. Most of this episode is a long fight...

Maddy and Ryan start looking forward to the X-Men anime while watching Wolverine and the X-Men's very clunky adaptation of Mariko and Logan's romance, as well as the Silver Samurai's rivalry with Logan. Unlike in the comic books and the live-action movie The Wolverine (2013), this version of Mariko has a lot less agency and is mostly treated as an object for two men to fight over. The only good pa...

We head back to the future (again) in "Badlands," another stellar episode of Wolverine and the X-Men where a traumatized Polaris has filled the shoes of her father, Magneto, and rips apart Sentinels while trying to kill Xavier. Ironically, Maddy and Ryan actually like this show's version of Xavier, who seems a lot more human and well-rounded in this episode, as opposed to the selfish, closeted, ri...

Ryan and Maddy open up the listener mailbag once more to talk about Monica Rambeau, whether the Marvel universe should still have banks, villain theme songs, and so much more ... culminating, of course, in another episode of The Mutant Ages: The Comic Book. THE MUTANT AGES VILLAINS ALBUM CAN BE FOUND HERE: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6hSPv3PMxlgYKiY2Nytp0H?si=d7214546e40f4767 Next week's epi...

Wolverine and the X-Men returns to the Mojoverse in "Hunting Grounds," an episode named after Mojo's reality TV show in which the Reavers hunt down mutants for sport. It's like the Hunger Games, or Battle Royale, except Mojo did it first, thank you very much. Kurt and Wanda get abducted by Spiral and forced to participate in the deadly game for Mojo's amusement, and Kurt doesn't want to play along...

Maddy and Ryan face a serious challenge in "Stolen Lives," what may be the worst piece of X-Men fiction we've ever seen in the history of this show. It has a lot in common with the notoriously bad X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie, except replace Silver Fox with Mystique. That's right! On this show, the love of Mystique's life isn't Destiny, as it was on X-Men Evolution. Instead, it's Logan. Because...

The time has come for Rogue and Domino to break up in "Battle Lines," another heart-breaking banger of an episode from Wolverine and the X-Men. If only they were all this good! Maddy sides with Magneto (as usual) on this week's episode, while Ryan deals with his disappointment over his boyfriend Logan's behavior on this show. It's weird to see Wolverine so flustered and out of his depth. Meanwhile...

Come up to Mr. Sinister's lab! See what's on the slab. It's Scott Summers, who's only there because he got tricked ... definitely not because he's second-guessing his sexuality. Jean Grey has been missing for two years, and suddenly Scott feels very guilty that he hasn't been looking for her. Sinister takes advantage of the situation, which isn't difficult to do, because Scott's sanity is quite fr...

Time for a mandatory episode in which Wolverine fights Sabretooth and has nine flashbacks to Weapon X. Nine! Nine flashbacks! We can't do this anymore, Logan. Neither can Hank, who gets a talking-to from Rogue for putting up with Logan's bullshit. Meanwhile, Kitty and Bobby are organizing the X-Mansion library according to how gay each book is, and we'd rather watch an entire episode about that. X...

Magneto has finally achieved his life's dream in founding Genosha, but what exactly does that mean? Kurt tries to figure out his old rival's political motivations, and so do Maddy and Ryan, because Wolverine and the X-Men doesn't make it clear. Meanwhile, Mystique heads to the X-Mansion in disguise and, after messing around and kicking everyone in the face, heads back to Genosha and ensures Kurt's...

Finally, Bishop gets to be cool in "Future X," the ninth episode of Wolverine and the X-Men. Instead of shooting his gun and never hitting a single target, Bishop actually gets to use his powers to take out a ton of Sentinels and rescue Professor X and Cerebro from getting misused and abused by the robot dictators. Even Xavier gets to be kinda bad-ass in this episode, although he still can't seem...

Wolverine and the X-Men gets back on track with "Time Bomb," a more serious episode about the Brotherhood kidnapping the mutant Nitro from the MRD. The weird part is, Nitro turned himself in; his power is that he explodes, but he can't control when it happens, and it harms everybody except him. Sounds like exactly the type of mutant that Charles Xavier would abandon, and that is somehow what happe...

Who put this Avengers episode into our X-Men show? Maddy and Ryan struggle through "Wolverine vs. Hulk," one of the weakest episodes so far in Wolverine and the X-Men. Nick Fury is here, and although he's still Logan's ex-boyfriend, he's apparently regressed into an anti-mutant bigot who is also bad at his job. Meanwhile, the Hulk is also here, and so is... the Wendigo? Sure. Why not! X-Men Spotli...

Maddy and Ryan are witnessing Wolverine and the X-Men go off the rails this week with "X-Calibre," the episode that introduces Nightcrawler and also a ton of other characters who don't need to be there. Somehow, this one episode manages to cram together a storyline about cargo ships mistreating mutants while transporting them to Genosha, plus Nightcrawler acting as a solo vigilante who saves those...

Gambit makes his official entrance on Wolverine and the X-Men in "Thieves' Gambit," and you know he's sexy, mes amis. Maddy and Ryan talk about his voice actor Phil LaMarr, who makes Gambit sound a bit like his performance of Hermes from Futurama. More importantly, this episode features a lot of flirty cat-and-mouse games between Wolverine and Gambit, because Forge developed an anti-mutation colla...