The following contains major spoilers for X-Men '97 Season 1, Episode 7, "Bright Eyes," now streaming on Disney+.

When it comes to villains in X-Men '97, the series is pulling no punches. It has already introduced an even scarier version of Mojo. Not to mention, Mister Sinister is back in the mix. Master Mold and the Sentinels were given major upgrades that led to the massacre on Genosha.

X-Men '97 Episode 7, "Bright Eyes," continues to raise the stakes by introducing two terrifying new forces at once. These are Bastion and Operation: Zero Tolerance. Given their history in Marvel's Earth-616 universe, fans can expect to see these new villains unleash a new round of death and destruction down the line.

Who is Marvel's Bastion?

Bastion is one of Marvel's most formidable villains. He loves killing mutants, which is all due to his cybernetic nature. Bastion wasn't human. He thought he was Sebastion Gilberti, but he was created after a mission where the X-Men passed through the mystical Siege Perilous. He was actually a fusion of a Master Mold and the futuristic Sentinel Nimrod from another reality. He came through the portal and was raised by a woman named Rose. While she was kind, his hateful directive activated when he saw mankind warring with mutants.

Since then, Bastion has embraced his dark side as a hybrid monster. His powers include superhuman strength, energy projection, flight and the ability to control other Sentinels. He honed his craft as a technopath that came off like what Master Mold and Nimrod tried to be: the ultimate robotic leader. Bastion would work with the likes of Graydon Creed, Henry Gyrich, Bolivar Trask and other despots to destroy mutants.

In time, he was beheaded. However, he was rescued by the Purifiers and reassembled for wars such as X-Men: Second Coming and Messiah Complex. In the wake of those battles, Bastion has stayed true to his goal. Even after becoming infected with the transmode virus, he kept the hunt going. It's why, to this day, many consider him one of the X-Men's deadliest enemies.

What is Marvel's Operation: Zero Tolerance?

Early on in his career, Bastion rose through the ranks in the U.S. Government and assembled an international anti-mutant strike force called Operation: Zero Tolerance (OZT) in a 1997 crossover event. Gambit and Phoenix tried to sneak into a meeting, but Phoenix couldn't read Bastion's mind to glean his true intentions. Bastion also sensed they were mutants, teasing how powerful he was. After the Onslaught event, Bastion confined Professor Xavier in an OZT facility. He also stole Xavier's files, boosting his own knowledge on how to take the X-Men down.

Bastion proved to be very cutthroat when he killed politicians, media members and kidnapped mutants like Jubilee to experiment on. As part of his vision, Bastion created the human-sentinel hybrids known as the Prime Sentinels, very much molded after himself and the sentient AI that Nimrod represented. Luckily, Senator Kelly and mutant sympathizers would shut the program down and use S.H.I.E.L.D.'s help to bring Bastion to justice. Still, Bastion inspired groups like Friends of Humanity to keep spreading anti-mutant sentiment.

What is Bastion's Endgame In X-Men '97?

X-Men '97 Episode 7 introduces Bastion late in the narrative. He is seen colluding with Mister Sinister, admitting he had a hand in the Genosha massacre. He admires his own work after turning Trask into a Prime Sentinel and having him cause chaos fighting the X-Men. Sinister is angry that the heroes won, but Bastion doesn't mind. He has collected data to improve the next line of Sentinels. It seems like he will be unleashing more very soon, hence why Jean Grey, Madelyne Pryor (due to their psychic powers) and Rogue (after absorbing Trask's memories) all witnessed visions of these new robots in the future.

This explains why X-Men '97's Cable is back, too. Bastion is the "he" that he warned Madelyne about before she died on Genosha. It hints X-Men '97 will be jumping to the past and future to show Bastion's creation, what the Sentinels did in Cable's timeline and which people the mutants have to be wary of in the future. It may even be that Sinister had a hand in creating Bastion in the present. Sentinel did capture Trask for Bastion to work on, so this is a deadly alliance to keep an eye on. As for Bastion's origin, one subtle clue lies with evidence found in a picture in Forge's room.

It looks like Forge worked with Bastion for the government. This might hint at where Bastion got his ideas from, given that Forge is a technological genius. This creates an organic route for more conflict and drama in Storm and Forge's romance. Not only did Forge's gun de-power Storm, but he appears to have had a hand in Bastion's formative years and the ideas seeded out about controlling and curbing the mutant population. One thing's for sure: Bastion will be a force to be reckoned with. He has soldiers around wearing OZT tags and rocking dangerous artillery.

His Prime Sentinels are also literal walking bombs. If they are hidden in society, once they drop their disguises, they can destroy places and even goad the public into thinking mutants did the damage. With Bastion also holding X-Men '97's Magneto as a prisoner, it feels like he is going to turn Magneto into a bomb as well. He joked that he was making his biggest "masterpiece" yet. It would be darkly ironic if he controlled Magneto and transformed the former X-Men leader into a weapon and pawn. The gloves are off as Bastion and OZT aim to do what other mutant haters couldn't: annihilate and prove what total extinction really means.

Who Voices Bastion in X-Men '97?

With such a horrifying enemy coming to light, and in such an intimidating fashion, X-Men '97 has sought out a brilliant, popular actor to voice Bastion. This is none other than Theo James. He is famous for the Divergent movies, but he also made waves on television with HBO's White Lotus and Netflix's The Gentlemen. In the animation field, James voiced Vesemir in The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, and Hector in Netflix's Castlevania series.

James always brings range and pathos to these roles. It's why fans are even more invested to hear what he has to offer as Bastion. James has that powerful British voice, giving Bastion an aristocratic flair. He sounds even more arrogant than Sinister as he speaks about their supremacy. Ultimately, his sly, low voice is already teasing a lot more bloodshed to come as he cleverly hides out in the lab and in the shadows.

X-Men '97 streams Wednesdays on Disney+.