X-Men the Animated Series Season 4 Episodes Ranked
21. Secrets, Not Long Buried (Episode 7): This was a Cyclops focused episode. He’s really the only X-Men in this episode. The concept of the episode felt a bit like The Magnificent Seven. That was interesting to me, it was something different for this show. However, this is a stand alone episode. This episode has to set up and resolve a conflict in 20 minutes, it’s not enough time. If they made this two part episode it probably would have worked. But as one 20 minute long episode, it felt a bit rushed.
20. Nightcrawler (Episode 8): This was an episode that had a different flavor and vibe to it. It feels different from other episodes of the show. It takes place in a different country where Wolverine, Rogue, and Gambit meet these monks with Nightcrawler there. The faith of the monks are present all over this episode, it brings a new energy to the episode. I feel like this episode has a similar problem to episode seven, it’s trying to resolve and create a conflict all in one episode. I rank this above episode seven because I liked the specific elements of it more. Plus Nightcrawler is a cool character.
19. The Juggernaut Returns (Episode 1): An episode of two halves, one half of an episode that I really liked the other half was not as good. On the positive side, I really liked how this episode focused on Professor X and Juggernaut. We see their childhood and how they were as children. They humanized Juggernaut without diminishing him or making less intimidating. On the other hand, the villain of the episode wasn’t very good. The fact that he wanted the crystal so girls would like him, that didn’t work for me. It’s the laziest way to go about this. Half of the episode was good, the other half meh.
18. Xavier Remembers (Episode 5): An episode that continues the ideas explored in the previous two episodes. Those episodes explored ideas of the X-Men fighting for themselves but not fighting for their rights. This episode creates a villain that makes us dive into Xavier’s past where we understand why he formed the X-Men. How did that decision come to be? They do some very cool stuff with it, that’s memorable and they provide some cool imagery to happen. However, I don’t think the ideas of the episode are also good as a whole. I feel like this episode had the pieces to be higher on this list. But it just didn’t fully come together as well as I might have hoped.
17. Courage (Episode 6): It was nice to see Morph back again, they do some interesting stuff with him coming back. You have a journey for Morph in the episode as he’s worried about being unstable and not being able to control what he does. There’s something very interesting with that, it shows that the show has a lot of long formed storytelling going on in here. At the same time, it’s weird that in season four of the show, his “death” happened at the end of episode one of season one and it’s still not resolved. It loses some of the emotional weight of it when it feels like “ok, why are we still doing this?”
16. Bloodlines (Episode 14): This episode had a lot of moving pieces inside of it. We get the return of Nightcrawler where he’s looking for Mystique aka his mom. We understand Nightcrawler’s origins a bit more because of it. We get the twist that Nightcrawler and Rogue are step-siblings. Graydon Creed returns in here, he’s the main villain of the episode. While all of the pieces were very interesting, I think it was trying to balance a bit too much. It wasn’t bad, it didn’t bother me the way it did with other episodes. But I think they crammed a bit too many ideas into one episode.
15. Weapon X, Lies, and Videotapes (Episode 16): Very much continuing the ideas from the previous episodes. Wolverine heads back to Canada to figure out what’s going on with him. They adapt the Weapon X storyline here, we get glimpses and images of that happening. We meet some of Wolverine’s old friends. It’s nice to see our X-Men’s lives before joining the team. For whatever reason, this episode didn’t work for me as well as some of the other episodes exploring similar ideas. There’s a lot of good stuff in here, but the package as a whole isn’t as intersting.
14. Proteus: Part 1 (Episode 11): At first glance I thought this episode was going to be a throwaway and pointless episode. They actually do a lot with this episode that makes it a solid and interesting episode. We get a lot of time with Moira McTaggart, we learn more about her relationship with Charles. We got some twists and turns with her that made enough sense to me. I don’t think they spent enough time with the title character and his father. They’re such important parts to the arc, but the “villain” was the least interesting part of the episode.
13. Proteus: Part 2 (Episode 12): This is a context where I think the ending and how they wrapped things up was better than the set-up. This episode fixed my issues with part one. They made Proteus and the father more sympathetic. They focused more on them so they felt more fleshed out. With what Proteus did to Wolverine in part one, it affects him as a character. We see Wolverine being vulnerable, he’s not the strong fearless person we always see him as. Those elements, those moments I thought worked really well.
12. A Deal With the Devil (Episode 2): There were a lot of elements about this episode that I liked. They brought back Omega Red, the set up they have for the episode builds some mystery for what’s going on. The threat that he poses is global where he’s launching missiles to destroy the world. They flesh out and develop the rivalry between Wolverine and Omega Red. It’s one that you care about and you want to see Wolverine defeat him. They use Beast and Rogue in some nice ways in the finale of the episode. This isn’t a great episode, but it’s one that I had a pretty good time with.
11. Have Yourself A Morlock Little Christmas (Episode 17): It’s always fun when a tv show is able to do a Christmas themed episode. Where one of our characters is doubting Christmas and by the end learns the true meaning of Christmas. They did it very cleverly here by tying it into Wolverine’s character arc. He’s always been this grumpy guy, it’s no surprise he doesn’t like Christmas. Tying The Morlocks back into the picture was a nice touch. They were presented as villains to begin with, but we learn they aren’t villains they were just trying to help. It’s a solid version of a Christmas themed episode.
10. Sanctuary: Part 2 (Episode 4): An episode that does have a pretty big scope to the entire thing. Our villains of the episode provide a threat to the entire world and you feel the danger of it. They created a villain that is more villainous than Magneto, so you sympathize with Magneto more. But they don’t do it in a way that diminishes Magneto as a character. I love the little moments of humor here where Wolverine makes a sarcastic comment about the Rogue and Gambit romantic relationship. They even find a way to end this episode on a cliffhanger that sets up Apocalypse’s role in the season.
9. Sanctuary: Part 1 (Episode 3): I thought this episode was exploring a lot of interesting ideas. We get the return of Magneto where he’s continuing his goal for mutant rights. This causes our X-Men to realize they’ve been fighting to save their lives and the lives of others. But they haven’t been fighting for their rights and if they were, the world would be different. This leads Professor X, Beast, and Gambit to help Magneto. This episode focuses a lot on Magneto, since Magneto is a great villain that’s fine by me. We learn a little bit more information about Professor X’s backstory. The episode is both provoking and has interesting ideas.
8. Beyond Good and Evil: Part 3 (Episode 20): This episode started to bring the different elements together. Obviously, part two brought together the Bishop and X-Men stuff. But this episode brings in the Cable stuff so it has all of these different layers to it and what’s going on. The final third of the episode has big action going on and you feel how big of a threat Apocalypse is. His Four Horsemen are very quickly defeating the X-Men. It ends on a note and cliffhanger that perfectly sets up the finale. It delivered on the stuff that I appreciated about this story arc.
7. Beyond Good and Evil: Part 2 (Episode 19): Part one established the story and the threat of this arc. So this episode can just expand on the things setup and progress the story forward. They build out Apocalypse as a threat, we got more of the time travel aspects with Cable and his own. They manage to tie in different characters like Magneto and Mystique into what’s going on with Apocalypse and what his plan is. Most importantly, they do a great job of making the threat feel urgent. You feel Apocalypse’s threat in what’s goin on, I think that’s very important for this episode.
6. Lotus and the Steel (Episode 15): I thought this episode did some really nice character work for Wolverine. The episode explores how Wolverine is scared of himself, he feels unsafe around people because he’s afraid he’ll lash at them. While Wolverine is very clearly being portrayed as this big tough guy you see that he’s care and he has a heart. This takes Wolverine to Japan and kind of does that The Magnificent Seven with Wolverine. Silver Samurai is a solid villain to throw in here. So overall, this was a really solid episode. I just appreciated the character work for it. And how it continues from plot lines in the previous two episodes.
5. Beyond Good and Evil: Part 4 (Episode 21): The epic conclusion to the season and the story arc. They did a lot with this episode and it had a lot of elements that I really liked. They give Magneto a character arc. They set him up as working with Apocalypse, but once he learns Apocalypse’s plan he turns to the X-Men and helps them. I appreciated that, they really do give Magneto a character arc. As I was watching the episode, I realized that Apocalypse’s plan is very simple and generic. But they add in time travel and period pieces that it makes it more interesting and exciting to watch. On paper, this episode looks very generic but they do a lot to make it stand out.
4. Family Ties (Episode 13): Maybe part of the reason why I loved this episode was because of the characters involved. It’s easy to forget that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were mutants in the comics and the children of Magneto. That’s obviously not the direction the MCU took things. Getting to see a more comic accurate version of those characters was fun for me. I think they made The High Evolutionary a solid villain in a 20 minute long episode. They fleshed out the characters nicely, we understand the tension between the twins and Magneto. So all around, there was a lot of solid elements about this episode that worked for me.
3. Beyond Good and Evil: Part 1 (Episode 18): What I appreciated and loved about this episode is right out of the gate it establishes the threat of the episode. It’s so impressive how they were able to tie together the time travel elements with Cable and Bishop and Apocalypse. They make it flow, they have it back to events earlier in the season. I thought all of that was handled so well. Even when you have the episode focus on Cyclops and Jean Grey’s wedding. You see them during peacetime, but we know something bad is about to happen. All in all, a really good episode that I thoroughly enjoyed.
2. One Man’s Worth: Part 2 (Episode 10): An episode that really builds off from where part one left off. Episode one established the conflict and the threat. In a lot of ways, this episode has a better ticking clock. It’s more urgent what our heroes have to do in here. They do a little bit of Back to the Future: Part II in here, that’s always fun. The episode does come to a nice conclusion in the end, it’s satisfying to this two episode arc. What holds it back, I didn’t think the villains were super interesting. They weren’t bad, they more or less just felt there to me.
1. One Man’s Worth: Part 1 (Episode 9): It’s always fun when they have a time travel episode in the season. It’s always fun to see an alternate reality of a timeline we know. This one does some interesting stuff with that, it explores the idea of what would happen if Charles Xavier was killed in the 50s and never formed the X-Men. It’s this interesting idea and the episode plays that out well. It’s interesting to see an alternate timeline where Wolverine and Storm are married. Just in general, these types of fun time travel episodes are enjoyable. Time travel, no matter the genre, is fun!
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