X-Men ’97: How Are Bastion and Nimrod Connected?

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for X-Men ’97 Season 1, Episode 8, “Tolerance Is Extinction – Part 1.”

X-Men ’97 Season 1’s latest episode, “Tolerance Is Extinction – Part 1,” reveals Bastion’s secret origin – and uber-powerful Sentinel Nimrod is a big part of it. So, how are Bastion and Nimrod connected, exactly?

Related: Will There Be an X-Men ’97 Season 2?

Bastion and Nimrod’s Connection in X-Men ’97, Explained

“Tolerance Is Extinction – Part 1” does a pretty decent job covering Bastion’s backstory. That said, viewers less with X-Men ’97‘s precursor, X-Men: The Animated Series, may get a bit confused by the Nimrod of it all. So, to recap, Nimrod is a highly advanced Sentinel from the future, who travels to 1959 to assassinate Professor X in X-Men: The Animated Series Season 4. He fails, leaving a fragment of himself behind that – as shown in X-Men ’97 – later infects Bastion’s dad, Richard Gilberti. As a result, Bastion (originally named “Sebastion”) is born a human/machine hybrid.

Related: X-Men ’97: Why Does Valerie Cooper Free Magneto?

Years later, l’il Bastion discovers he can communicate with machines, making him feel like an outcast. Ironically, his experiences are similar to those of the mutants his grown-up self is so intent on exterminating. And later, when the X-Men defeat Master Mold in X-Men: The Animated Series Season 1, the mobile Sentinel factory uploads its AI consciousness into the Nimrod part of Bastion’s brain. As Jean Grey puts it in “Tolerance Is Extinction – Part 1,” Bastion is “descended of every Sentinel, from Master Mold to Nimrod – mutated, evolved.”

Are Bastion and Nimrod Connected in Marvel’s X-Men Comics?

Yep, only it’s a lot more complicated. In the comics, Master Mold and Nimrod fuse together while the latter is hanging out in the then-present day, disguised as a human construction worker. This Master Mold/Nimrod composite being subsequently goes head-to-head with the X-Men, who shove it through the Siege Perilous: a magical portal to the multiverse. The Siege Perilous is more than just a doorway, though. It also transforms those who pass through it, leaving them with a new body and no memories on the other side. So it is with Master Mold/Nimrod, who emerges as the newly created Bastion.

Related: X-Men ’97: Why Couldn’t Cable Prevent the Genosha Massacre?

Now half-human, half-Sentinel, the amnesiac Bastion winds up adopted by a nice lady named Rose Gilberti. Assuming the identity of Sebastion Gilberti and believing himself human, Bastion poses little threat – until he’s exposed to anti-mutant rhetoric. This triggers his dormant programming, and before too long, his US government-backed Operation: Zero Tolerance strike force is up and running. As the head of OZT, Bastion oversees the Prime Sentinel program – one of many Sentinel-related projects that pave the way for Nimrod’s eventual creation.

X-Men ’97 is now streaming on Disney+, with new episodes dropping Wednesdays.