X-Men Finally Solves a 33-Year-Old Mystery — and Changes the Meaning of an Iconic TV Episode

X-Ternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

X-Men '97 breaks the rules of what a series revival can be thanks to a very unique set of circumstances. This is a direct continuation of the beloved 1990s X-Men: The Animated Series, but it's also working with the benefit of nearly three decades of X-Men comics that releases between the original cartoon and now. That means X-Men '97's writers can cherry pick the best plotlines and characters from 29 years of story development, while avoiding any pitfalls. It also means the series can circle back to major unresolved threads from The Animated Series with the gift of new information. (It's kind of like if there were 15 years of Scrubs comics that the Hulu revival could reference for ideas.)

Earlier this season, that meant a more nuanced portrayal of Cable than we ever got in X-Men: The Animated Series, and in the latest episode of X-Men '97 season 2, we learn a lot more about a minor villain who's mystified fans for years.

Meet the X-Ternal

X-Men '97 season 2 episode 7 heads to the Louisiana bayou, where a resurrected (and very evil) Gambit has returned home to gather power. Early in the episode, he attacks the X-Men and kidnaps Rogue as part of a plot to marry her. Of course, the wedding takes place in a swamp, which is where we encounter the X-Ternal.

The X-Ternal originally appeared in a 1993 episode of X-Men: The Animated Series fittingly titled "X-Ternally Yours," which focused on Gambit's origins as a member of a powerful Louisiana thieves guild. In that episode, we learn that the various guilds get their powers from a mysterious being known as the X-Ternal in exchange for a tithe offered to her every 10 years. The episode largely focuses on how the guilds try to trick each other into not giving the X-Ternal a tithe, which would mean they get punished instead of receiving additional power.

That's about all we learned about the X-Ternal at the time, although the comics contained far more information, as per usual.

The X-Men and the Externals

One year earlier, the Externals were introduced in the 1992 comic X-Force #10 by Rob Liefeld, Fabian Nicieza, and Mark Pacella. They were a group of evil mutants with incredible powers, including immortality, and they all seemed to play a role in Apocalypse's evil plans.

The Externals also share a psychic connection and can all tell when one of them dies, which is only possible by destroying their heart. Eventually, the X-Men comics revealed that Apocalypse is also technically an External and created some, if not all, of the rest of them.

Also, and this part isn't that important but is kind of fun, each External represents a concept like despair, fortitude, ferocity, wisdom, etc. The X-Ternal, whose actual name is Candra, represents the concept of guile. (And, of course, Apocalypse represents evolution. That's his whole thing.)

The Externals pop up every so often in the comics, but mostly for Apocalypse-related stories. However, the most interesting thing about them is probably Candra's connection to Gambit, which brings us back to X-Men '97.

The X-Ternal finally gets a fitting X-Men backstory

Earlier in X-Men '97 season 2, we actually got a glimpse of Candra during the plotline set in Ancient Egypt. There, she served Pharaoh Rama-Tut (aka, Kang the Conqueror) as a priestess. She's never directly named in those episodes, but the credits list the character as Candra.

In episode 4, when Apocalypse seizes power and Kang flees to somewhere else in the timeline, he gives Candra a final piece of advice: "Your destiny starts today," he says, adding that Apocalypse "can only be challenged by a force that is External."

Get it?

Anyway, fast forward to episode 7, and we finally learn what happened to Candra after Kang dipped. Through a flashback, we see that she served Apocalypse as a priestess and maybe also as a romantic partner. He even granted her powers via a glowing gem that she still possesses in the show's present timeline. Eventually, Candra betrayed Apocalypse, and that was the end of that. She then traveled to America and became the swamp goddess we know and love.

It's a touching backstory for a character who's always been pretty two-dimensional in both the comics and the original Animated Series. In other words, the story of the X-Ternal is just another example of the way X-Men '97 fuses the original cartoon with a deep knowledge of the comics to create something truly special.

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X-Men '97 is streaming on Disney Plus.