Episode 5 of X-Men '97, titled “Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs,” brings the parasitic alien race known as the Brood into sharp focus, intricately linking them to Wolverine’s ongoing mission to reclaim his adamantium skeleton. The episode sees Wolverine leading a team of fellow Weapon X test subjects, along with Morph, to a facility run by Doctor Cornelius, the scientist responsible for Wolverine's metallic enhancements. Their objective is to eliminate Cornelius, but they uncover a far more insidious threat: the Brood.
Cornelius, dissatisfied with his mind-wiping technology, had turned his attention to controlling the Brood, an alien hive mind. This experiment spiraled out of control, resulting in the infection of Cornelius, his staff, and the surrounding wildlife. The Brood, originating from Marvel Comics, share a striking resemblance to the xenomorphs from the film Alien. They reproduce by infecting sentient beings, implanting eggs that mutate the host and seize control of their minds. Their ability to inherit the host's powers, particularly mutant abilities, makes them an exceptionally dangerous foe for the X-Men.
The X-Men '97 episode pays homage to James Cameron's 1986 film Aliens, even featuring direct quotes. It also echoes a 1988 issue of The Uncanny X-Men where the Brood attempted to conquer Earth using infected mutants, a scenario that even saw Wolverine infected before his healing factor purged the parasite. The Brood were created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum, first appearing in The Uncanny X-Men #155 in 1982 as servants of Deathbird.
X-Men '97 creatively merges the Brood storyline with the restoration of Wolverine's adamantium skeleton, which was forcibly removed by Magneto in the season one finale. In the comics, Wolverine endured six years without his adamantium before Apocalypse ultimately restored it, making him his Horseman Death. The animated series presents a more immediate solution: Wolverine deliberately sought out Cornelius's facility because his experiments revealed that the Brood could not survive adamantium implantation. When Wolverine himself becomes infected and transformed into a Brood, Morph lures him into an adamantium chamber, a process that ultimately purges the alien influence and fully restores his skeleton.
Cleansing Wolverine of the Brood infestation also effectively neutralized the alien threat, as the Brood are a hive mind, and their infestation was linked to their leader. While the Brood have historically been a persistent antagonist for characters like the X-Men, Captain Marvel, and the Hulk in Marvel comics, their presence in X-Men '97 appears to be concluded for the current season. The series is available for streaming on Disney Plus.