The Trial of Magneto
The next few shots of protests, UN soldiers, and Magneto at the UN—set under voiceover from Cyclops (Ray Chase, replacing Norm Spencer) and Storm (the returning Alison Sealy-Smith) contemplating the X-Men’s place as the inheritors of Xavier’s dream—all set the stage for X-Men ‘97’s adaptation of an all-timer comics arc: the Trial of Magneto.
Running in Uncanny X-Men in 1985, the storyline saw Magneto put on trial for crimes against humanity after he was captured by the former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (now Freedom Force, a U.S. government task force formed as part of a plea deal between Mystique and Val Cooper—the latter of which we know is appearing in the show thanks to art shown at San Diego Comic-Con in 2022). He’s defended by Gabrielle Haller and Charles Xavier—but the trial ends preemptively when it’s attacked by Andrea and Andreas Von Strucker, and disrupted furthermore ending with the original inspiration for the aforementioned “Graduation Day,” with a seemingly dying Xavier leaving Earth for medical aid on the Shiar homeworld.
