As Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler) adapts to his new home at the Xavier Institute, Mystique attempts to spy on the facility with a young boy who has toad-like powers.

Note: First appearance of Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean Grey, Prof. Charles Xavier, Storm, Nightcrawler, Toad, Mystique, Sabretooth (Only a brief view), Paul, Duncan Matthews and Magneto.

Kitty Pryde discovers her mutant abilities of phasing through solid matter. Xavier sends Jean Grey on a mission to recruit her as one of the X-Men, only to find out that she has already been won over by Lance Alvers, otherwise known as the mutant Avalanche with the ability to cause earthquakes and tremors.

Note: First appearance of Shadowcat & Avalanche. Also the first time that Wolverine fights his rival, Sabretooth.

When Rogue accidentally triggers her mutant ability by absorbing a local boy's memories, strengths, and abilities via mere skin contact, the X-Men head off to Caldecott County, Mississippi to recruit her. However, Mystique isn't willing to let her out of her sights because she wants her daughter to become one of them, so she and Destiny get to Rogue first to convince her that X-Men are hunting her down.

Note: First appearance of Rogue & Destiny.

Fred Dukes (Blob), a former sideshow entertainer from Texas, gets enlisted by Mystique into Bayville High. But his short temper and blubbery girth prevents him from making any necessary friends. He does get some help from Jean Grey in finding his way around the school, but things take a turn for the worse when he mistakes this for romantic love.

Note: First appearance of Blob.

Evan Daniels, Ororo Munroe/Storm's nephew, is exhibiting his mutant ability of projecting a multiple of boned spikes and projectiles. Despite knowing his mutant abilities, Evan's initially refuses to join the X-Men. However, when former basketball teammate Pietro Maximoff (Quicksilver) continually steals money from him (along with getting him in trouble), Evan accepts the offer in an attempt to take his former friend down.

Note: First appearances of Spyke & Quicksilver.

One day, Kurt's childish behavior clashes with Scott's dead seriousness once too often. Later, Kurt (in his true form) accidentally activates a device which transfers him to a parallel dimension. There, he meets Forge, who had been trapped there since the late seventies, and together, they devise a plan to break out and return to their normal dimension. Things get complicated when the other X-Men discover the device and the Brotherhood then tries to steal it from them.

Note: First appearance of Forge.

Scott Summers/Cyclops and Jean Grey prepare for their geology club excursion, but Mystique has different plans in mind, replacing Jean with Rogue in an attempt to put further distance between her and the X-Men. In the end, Rogue finds out about Mystique's plans and finally joins the X-Men.

For extra credit, Spyke films the current events in his life. However, his project takes a turn for the worse when Sabretooth uses the video camera to find out where the Xavier Institute is in order to hunt down his rival, Wolverine.

The X-Men and the Brotherhood battle each other in a summer camp, but must cooperate when a large and unstoppable mutant named Cain Marko (Juggernaut) threatens both Charles Xavier and Mystique.

Note: First appearance of Juggernaut.

Rogue has nightmares about Kurt being abducted and experimented on (as a baby) by a dark figure (Magneto). It turns out that when she absorbed Kurt's memory, prior to her mother's (Mystique's) plan to keep her away from the X-Men, she also absorbed many more memories allowing the X-Men to find out that Mystique is Kurt's mother. However, Magneto finds out about all this and orders the Brotherhood to stop Mystique before she tells Nightcrawler all of his past.

Wolverine's tortured origin comes back to haunt him as he finds out that a wild monster ravaged Mount McKenna. He goes into the Canadian wilderness to find the beastly creature. He runs into not only his archrival Sabretooth, but the doctor who gave him his adamantium skeleton and adamantium claws. It turns out that the scientist still plans to use Wolverine to carry out his Weapon X animal program by brainwashing him with a microchip that was implanted into Logan's brain a long time ago. It's up to Shadowcat and Nightcrawler to save the day before the mind-controlled Wolverine and Sabretooth destroy them both.

Scott is reunited with his younger brother Alex, who is recruited by Magneto to join him as the X-Men are forced to fight the Brotherhood for a place in Magneto's sanctuary.

Note: First appearance of Havok.

Magneto holds multiple battles to find out which mutants are "worthy" of joining him on Asteroid M. The "winners" are abducted by force and offered a place in the Cauldron, where Magneto offers to greatly strengthen and increase their mutant abilities to their full and maximum potential despite Professor X telling them that it will alter their mind and body.

The Brotherhood (minus Mystique) gatecrash the girls' championship soccer match (in which Jean's team is taking part) and threaten to expose mutantkind to the world.

Note: First appearance of the New Mutants (Iceman, Cannonball, Magma, Jubilee, Berzerker, Sunspot, Boom Boom, Wolfsbane and Multiple Man) and Risty. The DVD has a deleted scene where Avalanche is nearly killed by pushing Shadowcat away from a falling, burning mascot statue and she phases him out of the rubble. This event, along with the two becoming lab partners in the next episode, leads to the show's subplot of Lance and Kitty dating (much to their teams' disapproval).

Jean Grey suddenly loses control of both her strong telepathic and telekinetic abilities. And the only one who can stop her psionic abilities from further going haywire is Rogue.

Note: Foreshadowing of the all-powerful Phoenix Force entity deep within Jean's subconscious mind.

Boom Boom romantically flirts with Nightcrawler, and then gets a visit from her criminal father who wants her to commit a crime for him.

While Professor X has to mend Juggernaut's stasis cell, the younger X-Men trick Cyclops and Jean Grey into leaving the Mansion in order to have a party. Note: First appearance of Arcade. Also in this episode, Risty is revealed to be Mystique.

Error: Just after Webber gains access to the Cerebro computer, part of the Cerebro screen appears in front of Risty for a second.

Dr. Hank McCoy has no strength left to fight his bestial mutation, which forces him to be a violent and angry Beast.

Note: Introduction of Beast's mutant form.

Alex gets caught in a riptide while surfing using a surf board fitted with a webcam. Scott goes out to rescue him, but a huge storm threatens both their lives.

Storm is tormented by Hungan, an evil African shaman who wants to steal her weather-controlling/manipulating abilities and use them to take over Africa.

Lance Alvers (Avalanche) wants to join the X-Men in order to be closer to Kitty. However, he has trouble fitting in and, after antagonizing Scott, becomes the prime suspect for several recent joyrides committed by some cocky New Mutants.

During Christmas time, a mysterious angel is saving lives. Rogue and Cyclops track down Warren Worthington, who is deeply unsure about his mutation.

Note First appearance of Angel.

A mysterious hypnotist named Mesmero kidnaps some of the X-Men (Jean Grey, Spyke, Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde) and brainwashes them into committing crimes for him.

Note: First appearance of Mesmero. Foreshadowing of Apocalypse and opening his first gate.

The Bayville High Sadie Hawkins dance arrives, and everybody is scrambling for dates. While this is going on, Forge constructs a device to greatly strengthen and magnify Nightcrawler's teleportation abilities to the point where he teleport across much longer and greater distances, however the demonic creatures he encounters while passing through a separate dimension during his teleporting, manage to escape through open portals Nightcrawler leaves behind.^[4]

Note: First appearance of Amanda Sefton.

In order to help a depressive Beast out of his slump, Kitty arranges a field trip with the younger X-Men (Spyke, Sunspot, Wolfsbane, Iceman). However, hunters catch Beast, thinking him to be Bigfoot.

The female X-Men are fed up with playing second fiddle, and form a vigilante crime-fighting group called the Bayville Sirens.

Nick Fury informs Wolverine that Magneto has stolen a device once used to create the super-soldier Captain America. Wolverine, Rogue (who knows the location, having absorbed Magneto's memories in "On Angel's Wings") and Nightcrawler (whose teleporting capabilities are able to get him inside Magneto's base) go to recover it.

Note: First appearance of Nick Fury. Guest appearance by Captain America.

Mystique returns to the Brotherhood with a mentally unstable, but immensely strong and powerful mutant named Wanda Maximoff, much to the horror of her twin brother Pietro.^[4]

Note: First appearance of Scarlet Witch and Agatha Harkness.

Error: Close to the beginning, Lance's voice comes out of Pietro's mouth.

Anti-mutants activist Bolivar Trask abducts Wolverine and introduces him to his newest invention, the Sentinels. Meanwhile, Magneto wants to provoke an all-out war between humans and mutants, and summons his Acolytes to create mayhem.^[4]

Note: First appearance of the Acolytes (Gambit, Pyro, Colossus, Psylocke), the Sentinels, and Bolivar Trask.

The X-Men are shocked when Professor X teams them up with the Brotherhood to stop Magneto, but then, a shocking twist reveals that nothing was as it seemed to be.^[4]

Error: Gambit's eyes are white with a reddish-brown iris like everyone else's eyes, instead of his usual black on red with a black pupil.

The remaining X-Men and Brotherhood members go to Area 51 to rescue their captive members. They team up with the Brotherhood and Nick Fury points them in the right direction, they save the others, but Cyclops leaves Mystique behind.^[8]

Note: First appearance of Caliban

While Storm and Beast step in front of the Senate to try curbing the rampant anti-mutant crowd, the rest of the X-Men have to stop Juggernaut, who has been unleashed by Mystique and is threatening to destroy a dam.^[8]

Despite rescuing Professor X, the bigotry towards mutants still exists as our heroes return to Bayville High, scorned and verbally abused by their human classmates, including their mutant-hating Principal Edward Kelly. Also, the School Board decides whether or not to allow mutants to attend school. However, Kelly enlists Duncan to team up with the Brotherhood (Avalanche, Toad, & Blob) to ensure a permanent mutant ban.^[8]

Note: Lance and Kitty's relationship becomes troubled during the fight in the school parking lot, where they realize that their romantic relationship will not work out as long as they're on different, opposing teams. Also Jean Grey and Duncan's platonic relationship ends.

Wanda wants to find out where her father Magneto is, so she enlists Caliban for help. She then goes to her brother Quicksilver for info. When he refuses, Wanda delivers him to the police. When the Brotherhood tries to break him out of a prison transport (as part of Magneto's offer from Gambit), Rogue and Shadowcat appear to break up their rescue operation.

Note: This is the first episode in which Gambit refers to Rogue as "cherie" (French for "cherished one" or "darling")^[8]

Jean is about to confess her strong and deep mutual romantic love to Scott when Mystique (who managed to escape from Area 51 and is out for revenge) abducts Scott and abandons him in the desert in Mexico without his ruby quartz glasses. Jean, who has vivid telepathic visions of him in peril, tracks him down, but Mystique is determined to kill them both.^[8]

Note: Scott and Jean's platonic relationship grows to an even closer and deeper romantic relationship after this episode.

Spyke joins a skateboarding contest sponsored by "Pow-R 8" soda. However, Pow-R 8 is harmful to mutants, and when Spyke drinks a swig, his mutation greatly advances, poisons, and disfigures him seriously. He is saved by the Morlocks, and in the end, Spyke joins them.^[8]

Note: First appearance of the Morlocks.

Wanda tracks down Magneto to his Acolyte headquarters in a nearby ski resort. Meanwhile, Kurt is spending time with Amanda Sefton and meeting her parents. In a bid to win Wanda's affections, Toad steals Nightcrawler's image inducer (thereby blowing his cover in front of the Sefton household) and pursues Wanda, followed by an angry Kurt. However, when Wanda gets abducted by Magneto and is brainwashed by Mastermind into believing her father was a kind and giving man (erasing her memory of the asylum she was sent to), the two team up to rescue her.^[8]

Note: First appearance of Mastermind and Margali Szardos.

Rogue witnesses her infatuated crush, Scott, date Jean. She is consoled by her British friend, Risty, but when she accidentally touches and absorbs everything from her at a concert, she finds out that she was Mystique all along in disguise. Absorbing Mystique's power, Rogue's alter-egos from inside that she has absorbed in the past, use the shape-shifting ability she accidentally borrowed from Mystique to break free from Rogue's inner self, fighting to take control over her body and mind. Thinking everybody hates her, Rogue's latent multiple personality disorder breaks through and she loses her sanity. The X-Men have to stop their friend and colleague, who has all of their mutant abilities combined and in the verge of burning herself out.^[8]

Note: This episode reveals that Mystique adopted Rogue when she was only four years old.

Angel spots Gambit stealing a mysterious artifact, but when he tries to stop him, Mesmero fights him off. When the Acolytes want to steal another artifact, the X-Men fight them and discover there is a bigger plan happening. Soon both teams face a spider-like being which is virtually unstoppable. Magneto and The Acolytes destroy the spider-like creature. However, it was actually a guardian to prevent Apocalypse's release and now that it is destroyed, the second gate will open.

Note: In this episode the X-Men team that goes up against the spider is the original team from the comics (Cyclops, Beast, Jean Grey, Iceman, and Angel).

Taking a break from superhero duty, the X-Men (without Rogue and Berzerker) take a pleasure cruise. But Magma becomes violently ill, literally suffering from earth withdrawal. When Boom Boom and Iceman take her to an island, she accidentally triggers a volcano. When the volcano threatens to explode again, Magma dives into its heart to silence it once and for all.^[8]

Note: Originally aired out of order.

A mysterious female assassin terrorizes the X-Mansion, knocking out the X-Men one by one. Wolverine finds out that it is his clone, created by Dr. Deborah Risman and raised without love by HYDRA, and she wants to kill him because she holds him responsible for her miserable life. Wolverine and X-23, as she is called, square off in a battle that Wolverine does not want to win.^[8]

Note: Inaugural debut of X-23. First appearance of Dr. Deborah Risman.

Rogue falls under the mind control of Mesmero and is used as a weapon to absorb the mutant powers of every member of the X-Man, the Brotherhood of Mutants and the Acolytes. The three factions reluctantly cooperate and find out that Mesmero wants Rogue to give all of her stolen powers to Apocalypse to awaken him.^[8]

Note: Gambit's eyes change from red on black to brown on white at 17:18.

The X-Men, the Brotherhood of Mutants and the Acolytes track Apocalypse to Egypt, but fail to prevent him from coming back to life. Mankind is now in terrible danger.^[8]

A strange phenomenon occurs in the wake of Apocalypse: A jungle-covered Mayan pyramid takes on a technological appearance and an impenetrable force shield surrounds it, even down into the ground underneath. The X-Men receive permission from the government there to study the base. However, Magneto, in an act of revenge, makes an attack upon it. Meanwhile, Nightcrawler tries to revive his mother Mystique who is still trapped in stone, much to the dismay of Rogue.

Note: First appearance of Apocalypse in powered up mutant form.

Wanda accidentally causes an accident on the subway, and by helping the civilians the Brotherhood improve their Image. In order to boost their reputation, the Brotherhood decide to stage accidents and then rescue the bystanders. The plan starts out as a success, until a staged accident runs out of hand.

After being kidnapped by Omega Red, Wolverine manages to escape to a nearby forest. There he finds his clone, X-23, on a personal mission to destroy the person responsible for creating her: Madame Hydra. Now, the two team up to take on Hydra and destroy the Hydra base. Meanwhile, Cyclops and Jean Grey try to teach the New Mutants much more advanced ways of using their mutant abilities.

Note: First appearance of Madame Hydra, Omega Red & Gauntlet.

Charles Xavier's son David has been seemingly abducted. Charles, Storm, Cyclops, & Jean Grey track him down in Scotland, and it turns out that he suffers from multiply identity disorder, and that his hidden malicious personality, (born out of his hatred and agony for his father and his evil will), called Lucas, is overwhelming him. Meanwhile, Kitty and Kurt have some not so good adventures while they're ill with the flu, as Kurt teleports involuntarily as he sneezes in his sleep.

Note: First appearance of Legion consisting of David's horrible, dark self Lucas; his scared, wickedly afflicted self Ian; and his own good, kind self.

Spyke makes his return, having turned into an angry vigilante who protects the Morlocks. He is unafraid to go in public with his disfiguring mutation, causing panic in his environment, especially since the extreme prejudice against mutants is on the rise. Anti-mutantists Duncan Matthews and his friends go and hunt Spyke down, and they even stumble upon a small boy named Dorian Leech. Also, in a foreshadow towards the eventual fight against Apocalypse, Nick Fury of SHIELD releases Bolivar Trask and orders him to build new improved Sentinels.

Note: First appearance of Leech.

Gambit kidnaps Rogue but claims he's trying to help her forget what she did to Mystique, a deed which has left her feeling guilty. But actually Gambit's just using her to help him find his adopted father who has been kidnapped. The X-Men notice Rogue's missing, and Wolverine goes on a hunt to search for her.

Kitty meets Danielle Moonstar and they quickly become friends. But she wakes up the next morning and realizes that she (seemingly) dreamed everything up. Strangely, it appears that Kitty's dreams had a deeper meaning, leading into a race-against-time search as she tries to find her new best friend.

Note: First appearance of Danielle Moonstar

Apocalypse plans to turn all humans with the dormant X-gene into mutants, while killing those who aren't strong enough. He has turned Magneto, Professor X, Storm, and Mystique into his Four Horsemen, and has covered the world with a network of energy pyramids to stage his plan.

Note: Professor X wields what appears to be a psionic scythe while battling the X-Men as a Horseman of Apocalypse, demonstrating incredibly strong psionic abilities similar to those of Psylocke.

In order to prevent all humans from being turned into mutants, the X-Men, the Brotherhood of Mutants, S.H.I.E.L.D., the Acolytes, Angel, Spyke, Havok and the New Mutants all join forces to save humanity from the ambitions of Apocalypse. Rogue defeats Apocalypse at the last minute by borrowing Leech's ability to cancel other mutant abilities. She stops the pyramids' energy and closes his case with Apocalypse still inside. Wolverine helps, sending him back through time. In the end, Professor Xavier shares his visions of the future while he was under Apocalypse's mind control:

• The discrimination and persecution of mutants continues
• Magneto as teacher of the New Mutants
• The Brotherhood working for S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Jean eventually gets possessed by the almighty Phoenix Force; becoming the Dark Phoenix.