Who is Omega Red in X-Men ’97 Episode 8

X-Men ’97 Episode 8 has been released and this episode brought to us a lot of turning points in the series. However, here we are not going to talk about them but focus on one of the cameos we witnessed in this episode. Episode 8 brought us a brief visual of Omega Red whom we last saw in X-Men: The Animated Series. Now understandably, not a lot of fans are aware of who this character is and in this article, let’s find out who is Omega Red in X-Men ’97.

Spoiler Warning: This post contains spoilers for X-Men ’97 Episode 8: Tolerance is Extinction- Part 1.

Who is Omega Red?

Omega Red made his first appearance in X-Men #4 vol. 2 released in January 1992. He was born in Soviet Russia with the name of Arkady Rossovich. Since a young age, Arkady was allured by bloodshed and used to brutally kill farm animals and later beggars. This led to his family fearing him even before his mutations came to the surface. His mutation gave Omega Red the power to have retractable tentacles using which he could drain any human being of their life force to feed himself and become more powerful, much like a vampire.

Over time, he joined the Russian army and carried out heinous crimes which went unnoticed for a while but once he was caught, he was put into prison. Later on, he was released from captivity to make him join the Soviet Super Soldier Program. Once he was enlisted, his mutation was enhanced further by giving him cybernetic implants made of Carbonadium making him even more lethal. After gaining these enhancements, he was given the alibi of Omega Red.

What Could Be Omega Red’s Role in X-Men ’97

Now since we have talked about who Omega Red is, let us come to what his cameo could mean in X-Men ’97. Throughout the comic books, Omega Red has had an exclusive and hardcore rivalry with Wolverine. In Episode 8 of X-Men ’97, we witnessed the way Wolverine tore through Bastion’s Prime Sentinels, this could lead to Bastion teaming up with another supervillain i.e. Omega Red to take out Wolverine. However, another possibility dictates that this could just be a cameo and we might not see him again.

Whatever it might be, we will find out about it in X-Men ’97 Episode 9 coming out on May 8, 2024.