Entertainment
X-Men ‘97 Is Getting The Worst Villain Of The Comics
By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated
Part of what makes X-Men ‘97 so fun is that it mixes and matches some of the greatest X-Men comics of yesteryear. In Season 1, for example, we got a mix of classic storylines like “The Trial of Magneto,” “Fatal Attractions,” the attack on Genosha, and more. Season 2 just dropped, and we’re already getting fun remixes of stories like The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix and The Rise of Apocalypse. For the most part, all of these comic stories have something in common: they are more or less beloved by the fandom.
Now, however, the most recent episode of X-Men ‘97 seems to be setting up an adaptation of a very controversial comic book storyline. There are spoilers here, so if you haven’t already watched “The Rise of Apocalypse, Part II,” this is your last chance to do so without knowing what happens! With that said, here we go: while the exact setup differs from the comics, the most recent episode’s shocking death of Magneto is seemingly setting up the arrival of Onslaught. Who or what is Onslaught, you ask? In short, it’s a supervillain that possesses Xavier, and he was the catalyst for one of the dumbest X-Men stories ever created!
Birth Of A New Supervillain
In X-Men ‘97 Season 1, we see Magneto’s full fury unleashed. He strips the adamantium off Wolverine’s bones and tries to launch an apocalyptic electromagnetic pulse at the planet, intent on wiping out humanity. To stop this, Professor Xavier had to go into his old friend’s mind and control his magnetic powers to reverse the damage. In the comics, things went down slightly differently: Magneto successfully unleashed an EMP, albeit a smaller one. After he ripped the adamantium out of Wolverine, Xavier didn’t take control of Magneto’s powers; instead, he simply shut down the supervillain’s mind, leaving him in a coma.
Three years later, the comics revealed something startling. When Xavier shut down Magneto’s mind, he absorbed some of its evil, and this got mixed up with much of the professor’s own repressed dark side. This created a malevolent psionic entity named Onslaught that initially hid inside Xavier’s brain. Eventually, it got out and wreaked so much havoc that the greatest heroes in the world had to team up to stop it. While some of this might sound cool on paper, it led to some of the worst Marvel comics of the ‘90s. Now, unfortunately, it looks like X-Men ‘97 is about to bring this controversial villain into the show.
You Wouldn’t Like Him When He’s Angry
The primary ingredients for Onslaught were revealed in X-Men ‘97 Season 1. Xavier had to make extensive contact with Magneto’s mind to stop the EMP, giving him plenty of time to absorb much of his friend’s negative energy. Now, Season 2 has added a potential catalyst: the death of Magneto. When Apocalypse kills the Master of Magnetism (but not before Xavier makes mental contact with his friend, one last time), we see how Xavier is racked with grief and rage. In the comics, the Onslaught identity emerged due to Xavier’s anger at humanity’s treatment of mutants. Now, his best friend getting brutally murdered right in front of him in X-Men ‘97 has created a more compelling reason for the professor to let his crazy out.
Now, why did fans hate the Onslaught story in the comics so much? For one thing, it was weird seeing Xavier basically become a supervillain, especially for a reason as silly as “touched minds with a supervillain,” something he had done countless times before. Also, the writers just kept adding new powers until Onslaught was basically an evil god. The whole thing became a clusterf*ck of a crossover in which a bunch of heroes had to sacrifice themselves, all so Marvel could create Heroes Reborn … a kindasorta reboot so crappy that all anyone remembers from it is Rob Liefield unleashing the single worst drawing of Captain America the world has ever seen.
Fans had plenty of other issues with Onslaught and his big crossover story, including the fact that it was used to resolve a major mystery from the ‘80s comics (who betrays the X-Men in the future?) in the worst possible way. Now, it seems this villain is destined to pop up in X-Men ‘97, possibly as the only force that can defeat Apocalypse. If that happens, though, it would likely be setting Onslaught up as the Big Bad of Season 3. I’ll do my best to keep that from happening, though. Does anybody have Bishop’s number? Because changing the future has never been more important!
Entertainment
How to watch Japan vs. Ireland in the 2026 Nations Championship online for free
TL;DR: Watch Japan vs. Ireland in the 2026 Nations Championship for free on ITVX. Access this free live stream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
It’s week two of the 2026 Nations Championship, and we’re getting another stack of northern vs. southern hemisphere fixtures.
Both Japan and Ireland scored wins last week and will enter this weekend’s contest with some momentum. Japan scored the bigger win last week, beating Italy 27-10, but arguably had easier competition. Ireland finished with a two-point lead over the formidable Australia. But which team will keep the momentum going?
If you’re interested in watching the 2026 Nations Championship from anywhere in the world, we’ve got all the information you need.
When is Japan vs. Ireland?
Japan vs. Ireland in the 2026 Nations Championship kicks off at 11:10 a.m. BST on July 11. This fixture takes place at the McDonald Jones Stadium, Australia.
How to watch Japan vs. Ireland for free
Japan vs. Ireland in the 2026 Nations Championship is available to live stream for free on ITVX.
Mashable Top Stories
ITVX is geo-restricted to the UK, but anyone can secure access with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the UK, meaning you can livestream the 2026 Nations Championship for free from anywhere in the world.
Livestream Japan vs. Ireland in the 2026 Nations Championship for free by following these simple steps:
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Sign up for a streaming-friendly VPN (we recommend ExpressVPN)
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Download the app to your device of choice
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Open up the app and connect to a server in the UK
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Visit ITVX
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Watch Japan vs. Ireland for free from anywhere in the world
$12.99 only at ExpressVPN
The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but they do tend to offer generous money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch the 2026 Nations Championship without committing your cash. This is obviously not a long-term strategy, but it gives you enough time to stream multiple weekends before recovering your investment.
ExpressVPN’s regular 30-day money-back guarantee is not available for any subscriptions purchased during the FIFA World Cup between June 10 and July 11. ExpressVPN remains our top pick for sport, but you will need to pay the monthly rate until that offer comes back into play. Alternatively, Proton VPN still offers that all-important money-back guarantee.
What is the best VPN for ITVX?
ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on ITVX, for a number of reasons:
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Servers in 105 countries
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Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
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Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure
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Fast connection speeds free from throttling
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Up to 10 simultaneous connections
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30-day money-back guarantee (after FIFA World Cup)
A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and usually offers a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99.
Live stream the 2026 Nations Championship for free with ExpressVPN.
Entertainment
The Very Adult Space Sci-Fi Killed By Hollywood And Buried By Its Own Name
By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Modern sci-fi owes a lot to the 1967 one-season wonder, The Prisoner, a surreal masterpiece that left the viewer wondering what the hero did to be trapped in such a bizarre seaside village, why he was trapped, and how he’d get out. Referring to its hero as only Number Six, The Prisoner’s influence can be felt in countless other series, but one of the best to pull from it aired on the SyFy channel for three seasons, from 2015 through 2017: Dark Matter.
Six strangers wake up on a spaceship with no memory of who they are or how they got there. They use the order they woke up in for names and start working together to solve the mystery. Unlike The Prisoner, they eventually figure everything out, but once they have all the answers, the questions are changed.
Dark Matter Opens With A Twist
Dark Matter opens up with a dark, beat-up ship as one by one, the six passengers, four men, one woman (The Rookie’s Melissa O’Neil), and a teenage girl, wake up, each with no memory of who they are. On the ship designated Raza, they find a cache of weapons and an android, and learn that the last destination was a mining colony where the workers need protection from the Ferrous Corporation. On any other sci-fi series, this would be a no-brainer, except the first big twist of the series is revealed at the end of the pilot: the passengers are the bad guys.
Learning from the android that all of them are wanted criminals, except for Number Five, puts the recovered cache in a new light. They stole it from the group contracted to help the miners, and it’s up to them to kill the miners. It’s the first of many, many twists that Dark Matter throws at viewers during its three seasons, and as far as even the Season 1 reveals go, it’s fairly tame.
The question remains: who wiped their memories, and why? For as long as that goes unanswered, the crew is left wondering, who can they trust? Who knows more than they are letting on?
The Prisoner Influence Goes Beyond The Pilot
The universe of Dark Matter is small, as far as sci-fi universes go, with the story placing more emphasis on the characters themselves than any universe-shattering conflict. It has that too, but watching the group of bad guys grapple with their past actions, develop into better people, or fail to become better and embrace being the villain of someone else’s story, drives the story forward more than a hunt for a technological MacGuffin.
The Prisoner was significantly smaller in scale, while Dark Matter lets the passengers out into the world, and yet, they can’t escape their past. From the pilot to the final episode, who they were will always define them.
Had the Patrick McGoohan classic series been allowed to continue, that was what was going to come next. Number Six would journey across the world but always remain under close watch, control, and unable to escape his fate as a prisoner.
Dark Matter And Stargate Share The Same Creative DNA
Dark Matter is heavily influenced by another sci-fi series: Stargate. The series was created by Joseph Mallozzi, one of the most prolific writers for the other Star franchise, contributing to SG-1, Atlantis, Universe, and the upcoming Amazon series. If you’ve seen the back half of SG-1, you’ll feel right at home in the world of Dark Matter.
Like Stargate, Dark Matter was also treated unfairly by SyFy, which picked up the series but didn’t develop it, relegating it to the network’s lower-priority original programming in terms of budgets and marketing.
There’s a good chance you haven’t ever watched the series, or even heard about it. Those who have given it a chance, though, have fallen in love with the ragtag crew.
A Sleeper Hit Streaming For Free
Finding Dark Matter is both easy and surprisingly difficult. It’s streaming for free on the CW website, but try to find anything about it, and you’ll wander into the 2024 Apple TV series, Dark Matter.
It’s such a common problem that even the Reddit for the SyFy series has been overtaken by fans of the new series. Like “Redemption” or “Rise of,” it’s time for the words “Dark Matter” to be retired from Hollywood for a few decades.
Once you find it, you’ll enjoy Dark Matter. Yes, there are a lot of plot holes explained away by the memory wipe, but there are also a lot of expertly crafted character development and further twists to the story. For better or for worse, this is the type of sci-fi we always need more of: a crew, a spaceship, and morally dubious missions that may or may not save the day.
Entertainment
Get a free month of streaming on Fox One with this BOGO deal
BUY ONE GET ONE FREE: Through July 19, when you sign up for a month of Fox One for $19.99, you’ll get a second month for free. That means you’ll keep $20 in your pocket and get two full months of streaming live sports and beyond.
$19.99 for 2 months (save $19.99)
Watching live sports is one of the most frustrating things about the streaming era. Well, that and how often we see price increases. But Fox One, the direct to consumer streaming service Fox launched last year, has made things a bit easier for sports fans.
For a limited time, you can get a month of the streaming service for free.
Through July 19, when you sign up for a month of Fox One for its usual $19.99 per month, you’ll get a second month for free. That’s two months of streaming for the price of one, saving you $19.99.
If you want to tune into the final matches of the FIFA World Cup 2026, this is the best way to do so in the U.S.
Mashable Deals
Fox is America’s home for the World Cup, so if you haven’t signed up yet, there’s still time. Previously, the only way to watch live Fox channels without cable was through a pay TV provider like YouTube TV or Fubo, which cost upwards of $90 per month. Now, Fox One is the one-stop shop for the entire Fox TV portfolio, allowing you to tune into live local Fox stations, Fox Sports, FS1, and FS2. And $19.99 certainly beats paying $90.
Once the World Cup has wrapped up, you’ll have access to select NFL games (including preseason), live Fox TV shows, Big Ten college football games, local news and weather, and so much more. If you don’t want to stick around after the two-month promo period, be sure to cancel before your subscription auto-renews for the following month.
D-backs manager Torey Lovullo ejected for arguing balk call
Nneka Ogwumike, Rae Burrell guide Sparks to victory over Fever
