Hello, my friends. We’re already a third of the way through, but we still have much more to explore as we dig into another entry of…
So far in this series, Japan has seen an Armored Avenger work to create free energy for all while fighting an evil organization who specializes in robotic creatures while our favorite Canucklehead fought the country’s top crime boss in order to win back his true love. Now, he’s fighting alongside a certain uncanny team as we now reach the series known as…
The third entry of this series first debuted on Japan’s Animax channel from April 1 to July 10, 2011 before America eventually got it on G4 from October 21, 2011 to January 6, 2012. Afterwards, it was released on DVD on April 24, 2012. What sort of crisis awaits our heroes in this world that “hates and fears them”? Let’s dive in and find out.
We begin Episode 1 “The Return” on a pre-title scene as our team finds themselves within the wrath of a former teammate named Jean Grey (voiced by Jennifer Hale, reprising her role from “Wolverine & The X-Men”) as she’s become the all-powerful being known as Phoenix.
While Ororo Munroe a.k.a. Storm (voiced by Danielle Nicolet), Henry “Hank” McCoy a.k.a. Beast (voiced by Fred Tatasciore, reprising his role from “Wolverine & The X-Men) and James Howlett a.k.a. Logan a.k.a. Wolverine (voiced by Steven Blum, reprising his role from “Hulk vs. Wolverine” and “Wolverine & The X-Men) proceed to strike, dodge and slice their way through the oncoming debris…
…their field leader Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops (voiced by Scott Porter) is calling to his sweetheart Jean in order to have her regain control over herself.
During the ruckus, Beast contacts Prof. Charles Xavier (voiced by Cam Clarke) and informs him that Jean has gotten out of control. Overseeing the battle via Cerebro, Charles believes that a group called the Inner Circle is responsible for corrupting her.
With the threat of her going supernova and wiping her teammates out growing by the second, Cyclops rushes towards her and tries to help Jean regain control. However, Phoenix responds by lifting him into the air and begins to attack him with her telekinesis. Meanwhile, members of the Inner Circle watch the chaos from afar.
Just then, Scott suddenly finds himself in a psychic plane as Jean informs him that she’s gained enough control over herself and asks for him to kill her. However, Cyclops refuses and begs her to regain command over herself. Just then, he notices someone controlling Jean from afar as he recognizes her as Emma Frost (voiced by Ali Hillis of Naruto fame). With her lover unwilling to give her a mercy kill, Jean proceeds to sacrifice herself as she perishes in a bright explosion.
In the rainy aftermath, the X-Men stand over Jean Grey’s grave as Cyclops holds her necklace in her hand. Distraught with grief, he proceeds to yell out towards the heavens.
And so, the scene ends with the Inner Circle’s leader hiding out from afar as he grins with devilish delight.
Following the opening title sequence, we cut to a year later at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning in Westchester County, New York. We learn from Charles’ narration that his school was meant to teach young mutants and serve as a safe haven from the “fear of persecution”. It also turns out that the X-Men, who once fought to help bridge peaceful co-existion between mutants and humanity, have disbanded following the Phoenix Incident.
We then discover Charles as he stops by the memorial slab made in honor of the late Jean Grey.
He then slips into a dream where he’s comforting a group of young mutants who are all crying. He promises them that even though they’re all scared, he’ll give them the protection they need.
Just then, he notices a boy who’s crying. As Charles tries to comfort the young lad, he suddenly notices that he can’t read his thoughts. He tries to reach out to the boy, but is unable to. As he wakes up, Xavier realizes that he’s had this dream before as snow begins to fall onto his compound.
Meanwhile, a young girl is getting pursued by a small group of robots. After getting shot with a dart, it turns out that she’s a mutant as she displays her powers.
Following the reveal of the person behind the hunt, the scene ends with the dart injecting the girl with a tranquilizer as she falls down and becomes unconscious, allowing her pursuers to capture her.
We then cut to a week later at the Xavier Institute where Charles has received a call and gets informed about the recent abduction. With a new crisis for his team to take care of, he lights up the mansion’s sub-level and sends out a call to reassemble.
Elsewhere in the world, a cruise ship is in danger of being attacked by a gang of pirates. Fortunately, one of the passengers happens to be Storm who quickly takes care of the sea ruffians by summoning a blizzard and freezes them in their tracks.
As the passengers cheer their approval of her saving their lives, she then gets the call to reassemble as she becomes eager to rejoin her teammates.
We then cut to the site of the X-Men’s last battle as Scott has spent the past year mourning over Jean’s death. Despite getting the call, he doesn’t answer it.
Over at a university, Beast is teaching his class about how a squid’s intelligence can be made to equal that of the average human and beyond. After placing a microphone into the tank, he suddenly get the call as he excuses himself from his lecture. After getting informed that the squid will continue his lesson, the students burst out in laughter.
At that moment, they’re suddenly silenced when the microphone picks up the squid’s intelligent voice as the scene ends with it casually continuing the lecture.
Over at an airport (where we get a double Easter Egg about a flight to “Madripoor” departing through Gate “X-23”), Logan has been stopped at the metal detector due to his Adamantium skeleton. Despite assuring security that he doesn’t have anything in his pockets (due to already having discarded everything he has on him during multiple passes), the female guard keeps insisting him to empty them. As such, he shows off his claws as proof. Just then, he gets the call as he tells the guard that he won’t be taking his previously intended flight after all as he prepares to head back to New York.
Later, Charles is delighted to see Ororo, Hank and James arriving back at the Xavier Institute. However, Storm notices that Scott hasn’t come back as Charles informs her and her teammates that Cyclops isn’t “quite ready to return”.
Once inside, Xavier informs his team about the abduction in Northern Japan (known as the Tohoku region). He informs his squad that a girl named Hisako Ichiki (voiced by Stephanie Sheh) was kidnapped and that she’s also a mutant, since her powers began to develop when she was young. Even though the X-Gene is genetically in her family, she was born to human parents. When Logan asks why they can’t just let the local police handle the case, Charles explains that every single person who investigated has wound up dead. According to a piece of information from Hisako’s dad, there’s been a surge of mutant activity in the area. For some reason however, Cerebro is unable to pick up any sign of mutant life there. As such, Xavier instructs his team to head off to Japan and find the missing girl. From there, the scene ends with Ororo saying that they’ll go take care of the situation, but they’re not the same without Scott.
While Storm and Wolverine head out to convince Cyclops into rejoining the team…
…Beast checks over Cerebro and tells Charles that he couldn’t find anything wrong with it. In addition, Xavier says that the Tohoku region is the only part of Japan that’s getting blocked for some reason. As Hank theorizes that someone maybe cloaking that area, Charles feels that this is somehow connected to Hisako’s kidnapping. From there, the scene ends with McCoy questioning whether it was a good idea for Logan to get Scott back since the two of them have a rocky history, to which Xavier assures him that Ororo was sent alongside James.
Meanwhile, Cyclops is unwilling to rejoin the X-Men since Jean’s existence was what helped him fight. Storm informs him that they’re only trying to find a missing girl, but Wolverine begins to agitate Scott by saying that he’s become enveloped in his own self-loathing. This irritates Cyclops enough for him to shoot Logan with his optic blast.
James recovers and gets his claws out while his Healing Factor cures him of his recent damage. Before he can engage Scott, Ororo steps in to stop their meaningless brawl. She then tells Cyclops that he has to rejoin the X-Men, since they’re the only ones who can save the missing girl and it’s what “Jean would have wanted”. After letting Scott know that he knows where to find them, Ororo and Logan take their leave.
That night, Cyclops thinks back to a peaceful time from his past where he shared a tender moment with Jean. In it, she tells Scott that in comparison to the stars, they must live their lives to the fullest since they’re very brief. With the sun rising over the area and the thought ringing in his head, he’s rediscovered his purpose.
Later at the Xavier Institute, the X-Men are prepping the Blackbird Jet for launch as they’re about to head out on their mission. Just then, Wolverine’s heightened sense of smell picks up the presence of a familiar figure. They soon discover that Cyclops has rejoined them and is ready for their objective.
And so, Episode 1 ends with Charles watching from afar as the X-Men depart for Japan.
We open Episode 2 “U-Men” in an underground base where certain individuals have picked up our heroes approaching Japanese airspace through their sensors. As such, they prepare their robots to engage them.
Back on the Blackbird, the X-Men have arrived in the Tohoku region and are closing in on their ultimate destination. Now that they’re closer to the blacked-out region, Beast uses his tablet to serve as their personal Cerebro and scan for any mutant activity. However, the results are the same as it’s unable to pick anything up.
We then have a quick scene where Sublime (voiced by Troy Baker) contacts his boss, who turns out to be the leader of the Inner Circle, in order to let him know that the X-Men are arriving and that he’ll make sure that they’re taken care of.
Afterwards, the X-Men arrive at the Ichiki household as Mr. & Mrs. Ichiki (voiced by Michael Sinterniklaas & Laura Bailey) show them where their daughter was abducted. It turns out that they normally drive their child to school, but their car broke down on that fateful day. They considered keeping her home, but a vital test was too important to skip. So, they let her take the school bus. After school however, the bus dropped her off earlier than expected, so she had to walk back to her house. From there, Sublime and his robots would proceed to kidnap her. As the X-Men would find out, this isn’t the first time that a mutant has suddenly disappeared in the area.
Back at the house, Mr. Ichiki explains that at least 12 mutants (most likely more) have vanished. However, those families are too afraid to file a Missing Person Report to their local authorities since they’ll feel ostracized by the community for having a mutant living among them. Not only that, the surrounding area has become very bigoted towards mutants over the past few years. As Mrs. Ichiki answers a phone call, our heroes wonder if there’s any anti-mutant groups that operate nearby as Wolverine suggests the U-Men, since he’s heard of some notable sightings throughout the country. Just then, Mrs. Ichiki arrives back and delivers more bad news. She says that Mr. Fujiwara’s grandson (who’s also a mutant) is missing. He works at their local store and he disappeared while making a delivery.
As such, Cyclops will take Wolverine and ask the boy’s employer while Beast and Storm talk to his family.
Later, Scott and Logan meet the lad’s boss and confirms that the young boy works for him. However, it turns out that he was actually abducted weeks ago when he was making a delivery towards a resident over in the mountain range. After he tells them that he’s heard rumors about the kid being a mutant and that he wouldn’t have hired the lad if that was the case, Cyclops displays just enough anger towards him while Wolverine gets his claws out. Fortunately, Scott gets him under control as they proceed to head out towards the mountains. During the ride up, Cyclops thinks about the seemingly never-ending prejudice towards mutants and once again remembers Jean’s death.
At that moment, Scott contacts Hank & Ororo and tells them to meet up at the foot of the mountain. Beast then tells him that the kid’s disappearance wasn’t reported to Mr. & Mrs. Ichiki by his grandfather. It turns out that the Fujiwara’s were so ashamed of their son being a mutant that they hoped to keep his condition a secret and that whoever called the Ichiki folk about the disappearance is unknown.
Just as Cyclops believes that the mysterious phone caller has set them up, he and Wolverine are proven right as a large flying craft appears in the sky and starts firing at them.
From there, Scott turns his motorcycle around and unleashes a barrage of mini-missiles onto the opposing craft.
Not only did it withstand the blasts, but it also sends out its army of U-Men androids in order to engage our heroes. Unbeknownst to them, one of the opposing robots has activated its camera for the U-Men to see from their base. From there, they proceed to fire at Cyclops and Wolverine.
Meanwhile, Beast and Storm find themselves getting pursued by another group of U-Men androids. Fortunately, Hank manages to sideswipe one of their pursuers in order for it to take out another oncoming robot. As the chase makes its way onto the ice, the hunting androids also have a camera to display for the U-Men.
While Cyclops and Wolverine manage to both blast and slice their firing foes to pieces…
…Storm summons a ice wall to rise up. Two of the androids get destroyed, but the remaining foe turns around and retreats.
Afterwards, Ororo takes to the skies and proceeds to follow the escaping robot.
With the main flying craft blasted out of the sky, Cyclops and Wolverine continue to shoot and slice the opposing androids. As he continues to fire away, Scott gets caught up in his thoughts as he ponders how no mutant will ever be safe as long as the U-Men are still around. Suddenly, he gets shot off of his motorcycle as a robot stands over him and prepares to finish him off. Fortunately, Logan comes to the rescue and slashes the robotic foe to oblivion. Afterwards, he scolds his field leader for not being “calm and steady”.
From there, Cyclops fires his concussive blast onto the remaining batch of approaching androids.
Meanwhile, the lone remaining android has made it back to the U-Men’s base by the time the sun starts to set. Storm notices that the tunnel that the robot escaped into is covered by a hologram as she then discovers that it’s adjacent to a desolate building before flying off to regroup.
After a quick scene where Wolverine reminds Cyclops to not get mentally off-track…
…we cut to the U-Men where their fallen androids provided them with information about our heroes’ powers as Kick (voiced by Dave Wittenberg of Digimon, Naruto and .hack fame) prepares to take what they’ve just learned in order to ultimately combat the X-Men.
Back at the Xavier Institute, Charles gets contacted by Beast and is informed that the U-Men are behind Hisako’s kidnapping. Professor X tells Hank that the U-Men harvest mutant organs in order to have their powers and abilities replicated. From there, Beast tells Charles that Storm has found their base and they’re on their way to meet up with Cyclops and Wolverine.
With a hunch in where he thinks his X-Men are heading, he decides to contact the Sasaki Institute. However, the phone number is discontinued since the building has since been closed.
A short time later, the X-Men make their way into the abandoned building, which turns out to be a desolate and rundown medical facility. Just then, they get approached by a crawling figure who’s moaning in pain. It turns out the be the missing delivery boy as Cyclops approaches him and tries to let him know that things are going to be OK.
Unfortunately, the boy mutates into a gigantic and grotesque monster. In his mind, Scott compares this to when Jean Grey lost control and transformed into the destructive Phoenix. Unaware that he’s getting attacked, Cyclops gets saved by Wolverine who jumps in to fight the creature.
Scott tells Logan not to hurt it since he’s just a boy, but Storm and Beast disagree. In fact, Hank takes out a pair of high-tech glasses and scans the creature. He confirms to Cyclops that the boy’s genetic structure has become badly damaged and is unable to be saved. After Scott’s personal distraction gets him smacked by the creature, Storm strikes back with her lightning.
However, she becomes exhausted from the constant exertion of her powers. This allows the being to grab her as Beast jumps in and attack it in order to rescue his teammate. However, he gets punched back as a result.
Fortunately, Wolverine manages to trip the monster up and gives Cyclops the opportunity to finish it off. However, Scott starts to hesitate as Logan yells at him to take the shot.
Ultimately, Cyclops proceeds to fire his optic blast as the creature is finally defeated.
After transforming back into his previous mutated form, the boy tells Scott that he had to take the kill shot. Afterwards, he informs the X-Men that there’s still others within the building and that there’s still time to save them. From there, the boy gives into his painfully, mutilated body and dies.
Shortly afterwards, Wolverine steps in and punches Cyclops. He berates his field leader for getting distracted and that Jean would’ve been disappointed with Scott’s constant groveling. From there, they head out to try and find the remaining captured mutants.
Our heroes ultimately make it to the central hub where they find Hisako sleeping within a chamber. However, Episode 2 ends with the X-Men discovering that Emma Frost is also among the captured mutants.
As we begin Episode 3 “Armor”, Cyclops explains to his teammates that Emma, the Inner Circle’s “White Queen”, was behind Jean’s death during their final fight. Storm wonders how that’s possible since they never saw her there, but Wolverine believes him. He says that because Emma’s a telepath, she mentally caused Jean to kill herself. As such, he gets out his claws and prepares to kill her in her sleep. However, Scott stops him and says that their first priority is rescuing the young girl.
After Beast opens their pods, Emma Frost wakes up while the U-Men watch over our heroes through their security camera. Kick wants to unleash an attack, but Sublime keeps up his order of data collecting since they don’t want to get surprised by an ability that they didn’t do research on. After Kick is reminded that Wolverine is responsible for the crippled condition that he’s currently in, he ultimately agrees.
Back in the central hub, the X-Men confront Emma about her possibly being behind Jean’s death. However, she says that she didn’t do it and that she’s not part of the Inner Circle anymore. When Beast asks Emma what made her quit, she says that she was a different person when she initially joined. Eventually, she couldn’t live up to Mastermind’s standards and ultimately left.
Just then, Hisako wakes up to Emma’s company. After she wearily walks over to her, Beast senses that the two of them have known each other for a while. As Emma explains, it turns out that Hisako’s parents hired her to be the girl’s personal tutor and help her with her mutant powers once they fully emerge during her puberty. Emma also explains that her parents did try to call the Xavier Institute for help, but the school was shut down since it was in the middle of the X-Men’s yearlong disbandment.
As such, they ultimately contacted Emma to help their daughter out. She goes on to explain that she once ran her own mutant academy, which she went back to after quitting the Inner Circle. After Hisako’s parents got in touch with her, Emma taught the girl via telepathy and over the internet. During a flashback, she tells Hisako that she’s planning on coming to Japan in order to finally meet her.
However, Emma’s plans changed once she was informed that Hisako was kidnapped. Once she flew over, she couldn’t get in mental contact with the girl (confirming with Beast that the area is in “a telepathic dead zone”) and was ultimately captured by the U-Men. Even though Cyclops doesn’t think that she would’ve been subdued that easily, Emma says that she was attacked by cyborgs and her telepathy doesn’t work on them. Also, getting herself caught would help her reach the young girl.
After she fully explains her situation, Emma lets Hisako know that the X-Men are a trustworthy group.
After a quick scene where the U-Men continue their data research, despite Kick wanting to unleash their attack…
…we cut back to our heroes where despite Emma’s explanation, Cyclops still has his doubts about her. Despite that, the X-Men prepare to help Hisako reunite with her parents.
Just then, they’re confronted by a large group of androids. As such, Storm (who’s still weary from their recent fight) stands back to guard Emma & Hisako while Beast, Cyclops and Wolverine proceed to engage their robotic foes.
Meanwhile, Storm hides out alongside Emma and Hisako. At that moment, Ms. Frost tells the young girl that the time for hiding is over and that it’s no longer “somebody else’s fight”.
Back at the Xavier Institute, Charles fires up Cerebro and tries to scan the Tohoku region. All that he’s able to get is an image of the same boy from his dreams, but also a vague glimpse of a familiar woman. Afterwards, he gets blocked out as the scene ends with him wondering if the familiar boy from before has a connection with someone named “Yui”.
Back with our heroes, they manage to finish off the androids. As they attempt to escape, Beast wonders if their robotic foes were more concerned with analyzing them instead of actually combating them. From there, Wolverine slices at a grate and creates an exit path for our heroes to go through.
Back with the U-Men, their scanners have lost track of the X-Men since they’re not using the normal hallways. From there, Kick decides to head out and combat them.
We then have a quick scene where Emma’s telepathy has fully re-emerged from the drugs that were used to suppress it as she senses a nearby enemy, confirming with Beast’s hunch that the U-Men were analyzing them while they were using their powers.
Afterwards, our heroes arrive in a grotesque operating room. Just then, Kick shows up and explains that the nearby tanks are used to store the various mutant organs.
He then proceeds to attack our heroes as he launches a hand at Cyclops and pins him to the wall in a way where he can’t reach his visor to fire his concussive blast. Wolverine tries to attack, but Kick traps him in an electromagnetic plane. Beast tries to lunge at his foe, but he gets smacked away.
Storm prepares to engage their foe, but Kick tells her that she’s still battle-weary from recent events, to which Ororo reluctantly agrees and disengages. Emma tries using her telepathy, but Kick is able to resist as he prepares to harm Hisako.
Fortunately, Beast managed to reach Cyclops and helps him fire his optic blast, severely injuring their foe and freeing Wolverine in the process.
Before the X-Men can get their chance to escape, Kick quickly recovers and preps to go after Hisako. As such, Emma decides to sacrifice herself to order to protect the girl while Kick lunges at them.
At that moment, Hisako steps in to protect her mentor as she envelops herself in a psionic armor and catches Kick by surprise (due to her never displaying her special abilites at great lengths in front of the U-Men) as she fends him off.
Kick fires back in retaliation, but his shots have no effect on her (except add onto her psionic armor) as Hisako uses her power to punch him with enough destructive force and eradicate him from existence.
Shortly afterwards however, a massive surge of psionic energy erupts from within as she loses control over herself. Emma explains that she’s not properly trained in handling this level of power before attempting to get Hisako under control.
Seeing this as a parallel to what ultimately happened to Jean, Cyclops steps in and tells her that she’s the one who controls her own ability and not the other way around. However, Hisako ends up smacking him away. Fortunately, he gets up and still tries to convince her to regain command of her powers.
Before she uncontrollably harms Scott again, Emma finally steps in and telepathically tells her to “believe” in herself as Hisako manages to calm down and regain control.
As Ms. Frost congratulates her student in a tearful embrace, Wolverine, Storm and Beast become fully-convinced that Emma wasn’t behind Jean’s death. However, Cyclops is still not willing to give her his complete trust.
Meanwhile, with the base compromised, Sublime is forced to abandon the facility and flies away.
Meanwhile, the X-Men proceed to free the captured mutants as Beast contacts Charles and informs him of the successful rescue mission. With the police arriving to help out, the young mutants are placed on a bus in order to get carried back to their families.
Just then however, it’s revealed that Kick managed to survive his explosive demise as Episode 3 ends with him attempting one last kill shot on Hisako while Emma steps in to withstand the blast.
As Ms. Frost prepares to receive Kick’s surprise blast to open up Episode 4 “Transformation”, not only does she withstand the surprise attack, but she and everyone around her are stunned to discover that she’s developed a secondary mutation in the process. From there, she uses her newfound power to guard her allies from another of their foe’s blasts.
Kick then unleashes a barrage of laser fire to distract the X-Men while he goes after the rescued mutants on the bus. Fortunately, Hisako activates her psionic armor and beats him up. From there, Cyclops and Wolverine deliver the finishing blow as Scott hits Kick with his concussive blast while Logan makes the final cut, putting him down once and for all.
After the battle, Emma transforms back into her original body. Beast takes out his high-tech glasses and scans her, saying that it’s not uncommon for mutants to develop new powers as they grow up and these abilities can emerge during times of “emotional stress or anxiety”, but he doesn’t rule out the U-Men’s experimentations on her as a possible reason for her new ability coming to fruition.
With the morning sun shining brightly across the land, the X-Men arrive back at the Ichiki household as Hisako happily reunites with her parents. She’s also tearfully greeted by her human friend named Kyoko (also voiced by Laura Bailey).
As Mr. & Mrs. Ichiki, Hisako and Kyoko prepare a celebratory lunch for our heroes, Beast exclaims that he wants to take Emma back to the Xavier Institute since it contains the necessary equipment he needs to run some proper tests on her. Cyclops opposes the idea, due to his lingering doubts as he believes that she telepathically blocked Cerebro from scanning the area. Emma counters his argument by saying that she’s not interested in hiding mutants and that there’s no telepath on the planet that can possibly jam Cerebro’s system. As such, she agrees to go back with the X-Men if the tests can help prove her innocence to Scott.
After Hisako overhears their conversation and learns that Emma won’t be able to stay with her as originally planned, she decides to join the X-Men on their flight back to America, since she’s just starting to get the hang of her powers. Afterwards, Ms. Frost asks Mr. & Mrs. Ichiki for their permission to let her go with the X-Men. As such, they ultimately agree.
Later, the X-Men, Emma & Hisako take their leave and and begin their trek back to the Xavier Institute.
Not too long into the flight however are the X-Men suddenly confronted by an unidentifiable creature. As it starts to punch the cockpit window, Wolverine heads out to take care of it.
Before the monster can completely punch through the window, Logan manages to reach it as the two of them proceed to fight while “Another Day of Battles” (the end credits song to “Wolverine”) plays on in the score. The two combatants fight on top of the Blackbird before they continue their brawl in the nighttime skies. Eventually, Logan manages to break free and deliver a knockout slash within the clouds as he captures the creature and brings it back inside the Blackbird.
Shortly afterwards, Beast looks over the fallen creature as Emma remembers seeing it within the U-Men’s labs. Wolverine mentions how his foe couldn’t effectively control its powers. Exactly like the doomed delivery boy, he was imprisoned by the U-Men while they twisted him with their experiments. Hisako asks Hank if he’ll be able to save the tortured mutant, to which Beast informs her that he’ll do everything in his power to try once they reach his labs.
Later, the X-Men arrive back at the Xavier Institute as Charles greets Emma and Hisako to his school. Afterwards, Beast proceeds to work on saving the badly-mutated boy. Just as everyone starts to head out and get some rest, the boy starts screaming in agony and pain. Unfortunately, his mutilated body breaks down and dies.
A short time later, the X-Men meet up in the break room as Cyclops believes that Emma and the Inner Circle are somehow connected with the U-Men’s experiments. Ms. Frost shoots his argument down since A. She’s already left the Inner Circle, B. They don’t butcher mutants and C. They have no operations within Japan. Storm agrees with her since the Inner Circle disbanded following the battle that cost Jean her life. Just then, Beast arrives and shares the results from his examination over the deceased boy’s corpse. It turns out that he suffered from a virus that attacks the mutant genome, causing his power to surge uncontrollably throughout his system. From there, Hank asks Emma to come with him in order to conduct her examination.
While Beast proceeds to begin his thorough medical observations on Ms. Frost…
…the rest of the team proceed to relax in the recreation room. They’re then approached by Charles who tells them that despite their recent venture, Cerebro is still unable to scan for mutants within the Tohoku region.
Later, Xavier find Hisako waiting outside for the end of Emma’s examination. He asks her if she’s familiar with the Sasaki Academy, to which she says that she may have heard of it before as a child, but she’s unsure.
Sometime afterwards, Beast and Emma come out of the examination room. Hank tells Hisako that despite some inconsistencies involving Ms. Frost’s secondary ability, she’s 100% healthy.
We then have a quick scene in Xavier’s office to close out Episode 4 where Charles tells Beast that despite rescuing Hisako and stopping the U-Men, the X-Men have some tall tasks awaiting them, since a mysterious virus and a blacked-out Northern Japan still have to be dealt with.
As we open Episode 5 “Power”, Hisako finds herself going up against a Sentinel. She tries to get away, but the gigantic automaton fires its arms out and grabs her despite the psionic armor. After carrying her up to its face, it proceeds to fire a powerful beam from its mouth as Hisako gets hit and falls down towards the deep crevasse.
Fortunately, it turns out that this was just a training exercise in the Danger Room. Emma reminds Hisako that she’s still getting used to her powers, but Cyclops’ stern leadership kicks in as he criticizes Ms. Frost for not helping her pupil have complete control over her abilities sooner. After he mentions that putting off her training will ultimately see her siding with a “morally-questionable crowd”, Hisako chastises him for constantly belittling her mentor and demands him to apologize to Emma. However, Scott says that Ms. Frost isn’t a member of the X-Men and that she’s still new to the team as he takes his leave.
Meanwhile, Charles and Beast discuss how despite being captured by the U-Men, Emma has no signs of the mysterious virus within her. As for the mutants who were also initially taken prisoner, Xavier has Hank prepare an anti-viral drug to combat the newfound disease. Once the antidote is made, Charles will send the X-Men back to the Tohoku region in order to finally take care of the current situation.
After a quick scene where Cyclops is in his bedroom looking over Jean’s necklace and a bedside picture of her…
…we cut to a team meeting where Charles officially makes Hisako a junior member of the X-Men. He also offers Emma the opportunity to join the team as well. Still showing his suspicion towards her, Scott still doubts her about Jean’s death and wants Xavier to mentally scan her mind in order to make sure that she’s being truthful. However, Emma refuses to share her private thoughts.
Meanwhile, Beast and Hisako work on creating the anti-viral serum. She asks why Cyclops has been so judgmental of her and Emma. Hanks responds with the fact that Scott is still emotionally wounded and that she should give him some time in order for him to “find his way”.
Back at the meeting, Charles states that he’s not going to read Emma’s thoughts if she doesn’t allow him to before officially making her a member of the X-Men. After stating that he wants Xavier to remember this day when Ms. Frost ultimately betrays them, Cyclops takes his leave. Afterwards, Wolverine lets her know that the X-Men believe her story as Storm wonders who else could have possibly been behind Jean’s death. Emma says that it’s possibly the Inner Circle’s leader, Mastermind, since he’s a skilled illusionist. Ororo then brings the fact that they haven’t seen him since that fateful battle, while Charles mentions how despite the Inner Circle having ceased all activities as well, it’s possible that Mastermind is biding his time in order to unleash a more sinister plan.
At the same time, Cyclops arrives at the lab and informs Hisako and Beast that Emma has been given membership to the X-Men while she’s been given a junior membership. Afterwards, Scott tells her that it’s time for her to continue with her training.
Over in the Danger Room, Cyclops tells Hisako that she’ll be fighting him for this training exercise. His reasoning is that there’s no risk when combating against imaginary foes and if there’s no danger, she’ll always be holding back.
With Logan, Ororo and Emma watching from afar, the training begins as both participants will be engaging on the Blackbird while it’s up in the air (but without the fierce winds that would force them off, of course). However, she’s reluctant to fight her own teammate.
Despite that, Cyclops doesn’t give her that choice as he starts firing his optic blasts towards her.
Hisako proceeds to run around the Blackbird as she tries to dodge the oncoming concussive blasts while still refusing to fight back, despite Scott reminding her that he’s not holding back. Meanwhile, Wolverine and Storm feel like their field leader is taking the training too far. Just as Ororo prepares to shut the simulation down, Emma tells her not to interfere since her pupil still hasn’t unleashed her true potential.
With Hisako trapped on the nose of the plane, Cyclops tells her that if she doesn’t get control over her powers, then she’ll end up as an eventual victim. As such, she activates her psionic armor and withstands his constant optic blasts.
Before long, she starts fighting back and manages to score several hits on Cyclops with each passing second. Just then however, she starts to lose control over her powers. Scott tells her to clear her mind and focus as hard as she can in order to master her ability.
Just then, it dawns on Wolverine and Storm that this exercise is meant to help Hisako from going down the same self-destructive path that Jean ended up on. As such, she finally manages to control her power, bringing the training session to an end.
Despite a successful result, Hisako finds no joy in it since she feels that her own ability is making a monster out of her as he tearfully runs out of the Danger Room.
Shortly after she makes her way towards the outside balcony, she’s met up by Storm who gives a brief demonstration of her power by summoning a blizzard before making it dissipate. Afterwards, Ororo tells Hisako that she didn’t know what to do when she first got her powers, but that Charles teached her how to “know her own heart” in addition to controlling her ability. Storm also says the X-Men are meant to bridge the heartfelt relationships between mutants & humans and that if Hisako denies her own power, then she’ll never become the person that she’s meant to be.
Just then, Emma joins them and tells her pupil that Cyclops wants her to maintain control over her own ability. Despite a convincing speech about being brave despite knowing that she’s a mutant, Hisako doesn’t feel like she’ll ever be as strong-willed as the rest of the X-Men. As such, Emma asks her pupil to follow her.
A short time later, it turns out that Ms. Frost is going to let Charles scan her mind and that she wants to display everything he sees to his teammates. As such, Xavier begins to read Emma’s thoughts, displaying various points in her life where she developed her telepathy. Eventually, it was during one of her birthday parties that she caught the attention of the Inner Circle’s leader, Jason Wyngarde a.k.a. Mastermind (voiced by Travis Willingham) who manages to have her join his sinister group.
After one fateful event where she was made to use her telepathy in order to force a man into signing his assets over to the Inner Circle, only to unintentionally have his life spiral out of control towards his own demise, Emma tells Jason that she’s leaving his group.
The last projection shows her when she decided to go back to teaching young mutants. It turns out that the day she met a mutant boy on a swing set was also the same day that the X-Men were in the fateful battle where Jean sacrificed herself, proving that she was nowhere near the fierce confrontation.
With her troubled past made clear, Emma tells Hisako that she’s made her mistakes but she also changed for the better and that she’s confident that her pupil will improve as well. A tearful Hisako then tells her mentor that she’ll do her best in making the X-Men proud of her.
Afterwards, Cyclops tells Emma that he was wrong to doubt her and that he finally has her complete trust.
We then cut to the X-Men preparing for their newest mission: With their batch of anti-viral serums, they must head back to the Tohoku region and treat the previously-captured mutants. Just then, Hisako and Emma emerge in their new outfits as the junior member decides to go by her new codename: “Armor.” With the entire team gathered, they get informed about a valley within a remote mountainous area of Northern Japan that’s hosting a large amount of mutant activity. Hopefully, they’ll discover why Cerebro is unable to scan the area and what’s causing the virus to infect mutants. As the team heads out, Emma quickly asks Charles about someone that came into his minds during the recent mental scan named “Sasaki”. However, Xavier doesn’t talk about her as Ms. Frost heads out. And so, Episode 5 ends with the X-Men beginning their flight towards Japan as Charles thinks about all of the various oversea obstacles that he hopes his team can overcome.
We begin Episode 6 “Conflict” with Sublime contacting Mastermind about the X-Men arriving back in Japan. Jason tells him to keep their foes busy until “the others arrive” as the scene ends with him talking out loud about needing a little more time until “everything I need” is ready.
Meanwhile, the X-Men arrive at the Ichiki household as Hisako shows off her new outfit to her parents and Kyoko. After Emma and company express their approval towards her own growth under their watch, Beast says that he’s more than ready to heal the abductees. Just then, Mr. Ichiki says that there were a few incidents that have recently popped up. From the fish and trees dying near the local river to a bridge getting mysteriously destroyed, it’s unknown as to what’s causing these unusual disasters. While Beast takes care of the vaccinations, Storm and Wolverine will head out to the river while Cyclops, Emma and Armor will investigate the bridge.
As Hank (with Kyoko assisting him) begins to administer his vaccine to the U-Men abductees…
…Wolverine and Storm ride out to examine the river. With the stream initially looking healthy, Logan’s heightend sense of smell picks up something foul upstream: Sulfur.
