In putting to rest any doubt regarding the intention of the seemingly ambiguous scene, former X-Men ’97 showrunner Beau DeMayo has confirmed that during his attempt to provide emotional support for the wounded mutant berserker in the series’ first season finale, Morph was, in fact, confessing his love for Wolverine.
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For those who haven’t tuned into the revival series – and according to the numbers, that may be most of you – the scene in question takes place during the tenth and final episode of its first season, Tolerance Is Extinction – Part 3.
Therein, after receiving word that Bastion is fast approaching their current location of Asteroid M with intent of ripping the space base from the sky and smashing it down upon the heads of Earth’s inhabitants, the titular team soon find themselves rushing to intercept him before he can make his plan a reality.
However, realizing that Wolverine needs someone to protect his mangled body as it attempts to heal from having the adamantium ripped from his skeleton by Magneto just moments prior, Morph elects to sit out the approaching final battle in order to stand wounded teammate.
Unfortunately for the X-Men, though they’re able to defeat the Human-Sentinel hybrid himself, his plan is still set in to motion courtesy by President Kelly, whose attempt to eliminate the threat of Asteroid M via missile strike only serves to knock it out of orbit and send it careening towards the planet below.
Finding themselves the last line of defense against the absolute extinction of all life on Earth, the team then moves to try and stop Asteroid M’s descent by unleashing the full might of their combined powers against it – all the while fully understanding that should their efforts be successful, they will most likely result in the destruction of the base, and thus their deaths.
Faced with the very real possibility that his time may be at an end, while his teammates fight to save the world, the team’s resident shapeshifter comes to terms with the fact that he may be staring down his very last chance to come clean regarding his feelings for Wolverine.
Using his powers to take on the appearance of Jean Grey, the team’s resident shapeshifter proceeds to admit to his comatose teammate, “She can’t say it, but I can. I love you Logan. Stay with me.”
Notably, thanks to Morph’s being transformed at the time, the scene’s implications were initially considered ambiguous, with some speculating that he took Jean’s appearance in order to give him a ‘shield’ behind which to offer his confession, while others argued that he did so simply to up his chances of waking Wolverine.
But this ambiguity would not last long, as shortly after the episode’s premiere on May 15th, the aforementioned DeMayo took to his personal Twitter account to positively confirm that, “Yes, Morph was confessing romantic feelings for Logan.”
Met with the assertion from a fan, “Ahhh damn, I should’ve known once he brought those beers and turned into Sabretooth” – a moment seen at the conclusion of the season’s second episode, Mutant Liberation Begins – the former showrunner implied that this scene was a hint to Morph’s feelings, admitting, “Yep. That wasn’t an accident.”
At current, all ten episodes of X-Men ’97’s first season are now streaming on Disney Plus.
The season has also been renewed for a second season, though production on it has yet to commence.
