I love this show. I was counting the days, hours and minutes for the second season, and I liked it. The first half of the season was amazing, it was the best depiction of Apocalypse in any media outside the comics. They did justice to him, Kang, and so many characters. But just talking in terms of the finale, I think that Apocalypse from the movie was more menacing in that last fight. 

Maybe it's nostalgia? Idk, honestly I don't think so, since I think that this season it's still WAY WAY better than that movie. But here's Aunt Petunia's favorite nephew: While comparing both final battles, what X-Men 97 did perfectly was the mutant civil war. In the movie we really don't care about the fight between the characters. Pietro didn't tell anything to Magneto, so their scene was pointless. The only other fight that had "some weight" it's the rivalry between Archangel and Kurt. Props to Olivia Munn tho, she was Absolute Cinema in every scene.

 On the other hand, in the show we actually care for most of the cast (besides X-Factor). We had a cool X-Force episode, so we like them, but still we obviously don't want them to kill Remy. We kinda understand Cable, he had two episodes to show us that weight on his shoulders from the mission that he has. We care when he fights his parents. Even if I don't like the portrayal of X-Factor, I like that Polaris fights her former teammates. Wolverine and Morph fight side by side against Warren and Psylocke, both pairings make sense. Jubilee fighting Havok (who took her prisoner in episode 2) was cool. It was also very nice watching Forge and Storm together. Beast actually makes one thing that isn't getting blasted immediately. And Rogue and Kurt's bond is great. 

But here's what I actually didn't liked. Apocalypse was supposed to be the big bad of this season. If we compare both finales, in S1, Bastion had episodes 7,8,9 and 10 all for himself. While in this season, Apocalypse got literally less than 5 minutes in the last episode (go check it, it was from minute 19 to 24). We can count the rest of the episode if you guys want it, and maybe the episode 8, but it still was way less than Bastion's screen time in the finale. 

So, I cannot help but compare it to the movie final battle. After the X-Men defeat the horsemen, we actually have a fight with the final boss. First, the psychic battle with Charles, and then it took Cyclops, Storm, Magneto and Jean with the Phoenix Force to defeat him. In episode 9, it was a quick fight with Rogue. I'm a huge Rogue fan, but that fight what kinda underwhelming, and her external design gave huge "What If" vibes, same goes for Apocalypse in Gambit's body. The only cool thing was the scythe, really nice touch. 

Do you guys had similar thoughts? I'm open to debate this, please take in consideration that I'm just a little pixel on the internet, so be respectful if you disagree. 

Final Battle