Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
As we’ve already seen in the previous episodes of Fox’s The Gifted, this Marvel Comics TV drama really loves diving into deep end of X-Men continuity. While the show may star prominent comic book characters like Polaris and Blink, it’s also brought lesser-known heroes like Sage and Dreamer to primetime TV. In my 25 years of X-Men fandom, I never thought I’d see a TV drama where Ahab was the main villain, but here we are. The Mutant Underground’s struggle continued this week in episode three of The Gifted, a chapter that included what sure sounded like a big X-Men Easter egg–but it sadly isn’t!
In the episode, Strucker matriarch Caitlyn (Amy Acker) seeks information from her well-connected brother that she believes could help out the Underground. Not wanting their mother to go on this dangerous mission solo, mutant siblings Lauren (Natalie Alyn Lind) and Andy (Percy Hynes White) tag along as bodyguards. After reaching their relative’s home in Buckhead, the teens enjoy some downtime with their cousin playing video games. That’s when the cousin, totally aware of Andy’s destructive telekinetic abilities, christens him “De-Struckto” (“Get it, it’s like ‘Strucker’?”). It sure sounds like Andy Strucker has his codename, and this plays out like an Easter egg for longtime X-fans.
The thing is, it’s not.
Bummer alert: there is no character named Destructo in the X-Men universe, and not even the larger Marvel universe. The closest thing is a Destructo-Ray, which was used in one Iron Man adventure 50 years ago. This moment sounds like a big deal, but it isn’t.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of character development to be found in this episode, especially when it comes to Andy “De-Struckto” Strucker. As pointed out in my deep dive into The Gifted’s X-continuity, the last name “Strucker” is a very specific shout out to a Marvel Comics family that bears very little resemblance to the wholesome bunch we see on TV every week. In the comics, the von Strucker twins are the bratty billionaire children of a Nazi supervillain, and there’s basically nothing redeeming about them. They use the joint codename Fenris and would pop up in X-stories every now and again, usually scheming in swimsuits while drinking champagne on a yacht. They were horrible.
The Strucker family is nowhere near as horrible, even if Reed Strucker (Stephen Moyer) is a guy that prosecuted mutants on behalf of the government. He’s starting to come around! The latest episode, though, tapped into more of teen Andy’s rage–rage that could be setting him up for a supervillain-style fall. For one thing, he no longer feels a need to play by society’s rules. When his family needs money for a cab to his uncle’s place, he offers to use his powers on an ATM and de-escalates down to parking meters after seeing the disapproval on his mother’s face. He justifies these thoughts by shouting “Normal is gone! Normal doesn’t exist anymore!”
Later in the episode, he loses his temper when a mob of angry suburban dads surround his uncle’s house, looking for mutants to attack. Andy’s quickly learning the hardships of being a mutant, and he’s not taking it in the same stride as his sister Lauren.
While there’s no Destructo or De-Struckto in the comics, there is an Andreas von Strucker, and Andy seems to be turning into him more and more with each episode.
The Gifted airs on Monday nights on Fox.
