‘X-Men ‘97’ Ignites “Inferno” with Nightmarish Horror Episode Scarier Than Anything Else on Disney+

X-Men ’97’s two-episode premiere on Disney+ reminded millions of viewers of at least one thing: this show can juggle genres and tones like no other. You want superhero action? Done. You want Days of Our Lives with superpowers? On it. Howsabout hard-hitting political allegories? No problemo. But what about full-blown body horror? I’m talking some John Carpenter/David Cronenberg gross out visuals that are absolutely going to stay with you forever? Excuse me, this is a cartoon starring superheroes on Disney+. Look elsewhere, please.

Oh, wait — nope, X-Men ’97 Episode 3, “Fire Made Flesh,” absolutely goes there, and you’re never going to look at the X-Men the same way again.

Obviously this is where the series was headed after last week’s shocking double Jean reveal. If you read the comics, then you know that the arrival of a Jean Grey doppelgänger means the arrival of fire, demons, and dangerous levels of underboob. Ignite the inferno, bitch, because Madelyne Pryor is here!

This is what “Fire Made Flesh” had to live up to — a storyline wherein it’s revealed that Cyclops married and had a child with a clone of Jean Grey, and wherein that revelation sends said clone into a hellish tailspin that unleashes all sorts of grotesque insanity upon the X-Men. And holy hell did the episode deliver.

Yes, that is Gambit’s worst fear — Rogue and Magneto, embracing, touching skin to skin, and melting into each other in a sexy, goopy embrace.

There’s Jubilee and new quasi-recruit Roberto Da Costa just hanging out, watching TV like teens did in 1997. Except, uh, the cast of Dawson’s Creek didn’t turn into monsters and crawl out of the TV set, violently morphing and coughing up your mom’s face so she could scold you.

And yeah, that’s Morph, walking in on Wolverine in the shower — which, excuse me, there’s absolutely a homoerotic undertone to Wolverine and Morph’s relationship now — and being surprised with a nightmare.

The nightmare is Mr. Sinister but I wanted to grab that screenshot because this is some classic, homoerotic monster movie horror if ever I saw it.

So, hey, everyone involved with X-Men ’97: What the actual fuck? Need I remind everyone of the grossest, most horrific moments of the original series? There was zombie Carol Danvers attacking Rogue’s psyche.

There was the Spirit Drinker, a neon green, two-legged, one-eyed, dog-shaped energy monster who conjured up the essences of its victims to taunt the living.

And then there was the absolutely reviled episode “Love In Vain,” which took the most vicious, horrific, and disgusting storyline from the comics — “The Brood Saga” — and turned it into… this.

You could tell me that’s a lost episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I would believe you.

Aside from just being incredibly gross, though, these nightmarish moments are an example of how much X-Men ’97 has leveled up. There’s even a direct comparison to make, as both the original and new series show Mr. Sinister’s acidic, bubbling, also neon green insides after being blasted by Cyclops.

I’m not here to rag on the original series’ animation, because it absolutely worked at the time, but none of those moments of X-horror will stick with me the way Roberto’s encounter with his monster mom will.

I’d even go so far as to say that, compared to the “Inferno” storyline that it is adapting, X-Men ’97 went way harder than it had any reason to. Like, in the comics, Daredevil fought a possessed vacuum cleaner and demonic mailboxes ran amuck throughout New York City.

In X-Men ’97, this happens:

I’m not mad about it! I’m terrified of it, and too many of these visuals have been burned into my brain, but I’m not mad about it. This just goes to show you that there’s no genre that X-Men ’97 can’t do! Next week: Bridgerton with mutants? Oh wait — the X-Men done been there!