Sorry Master Mold, You’re Old News Now

Remember earlier this morning when X-Men ’97 dropped its first two episodes, and it became immediately apparent that Marvel Studios should just reallocate all of their resources to the animation department so that we can be gifted with even more sparkling treasures in the vein of this mutant soap opera?

I for one remember it all too well, and have since marked Wednesday as my new favorite day of the week in anticipation of seeing how X-Men ’97 develops over the course of its first season. So much has already happened in just under an hour’s worth of television, there’s no telling how these storylines are going to mutate going forward.

Spoilers ahead for X-Men ’97

For the moment, though, we at least know that Master Mold, an anti-mutant superweapon that the X-Men first encountered in the original animated series, is dead in the water once again, but if it came back once, it can come back again. Should that happen, what will the X-Men have to worry about exactly?

Who is Master Mold?

Simply put, Master Mold is a supercomputer designed by the villainous Dr. Bolivar Trask to independently facilitate the rollout of Trask’s Sentinel units—giant robots designed to capture and otherwise incapacitate mutants. Master Mold eventually breaks free of Trask’s control and ups the ante in the siege against mutants, going as far as plotting to replace the brain of Senator Kelly with a computer and coordinating a time travel assassination mission against Charles Xavier, both schemes of which were ultimately thwarted by the X-Men.

In the first episode of X-Men ’97, a weakened model of Master Mold is used by Bolivar Trask to jumpstart his Sentinel plans again, but a premonition from Jean allows the X-Men to intervene well before they pose any real threat to the wider mutant world.

But again, with so many nuances kicking into high gear after just two episodes, it’s safe to assume that this is all we’ll see of Master Mold’s return to the animated X-Men canon. However, this is a comic book show we’re talking about, and with a second season already in development alongside plans for a third season, nothing is off the table.

X-Men ’97 is now streaming on Disney Plus, with new episodes releasing every Wednesday until the season finale on May 15.

(featured image: Disney Plus)