X-Men '97 Episode 8 has been released and this episode brought us many turning points in the series. But here we will not talk about them but focus on one of the cameos we witnessed in this episode. Episode 8 gave us a brief glimpse of Omega Red last seen in X-Men: The Animated Series. It is understandable that not many fans are aware of who this character is and in this article we will find out who is Omega Red in X-Men '97.

Spoiler alert: This post contains spoilers for X-Men '97 Episode 8: Tolerance is Extinction – Part 1.

Omega Red made his first appearance in X-Men #4 vol. 2 was released in January 1992. He was born in Soviet Russia with the name Arkady Rossovich. From a young age Arkady was attracted to bloodshed and used to brutally kill domestic 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 with which he could drain any human of their life force to feed himself and become more powerful, much like a vampire.

In time he joined the Russian army and committed heinous crimes which went unnoticed for a while but once caught he was put in jail. He was later released from captivity to have him join the Soviet super soldier program. Once recruited, his mutation was further enhanced by giving him cybernetic implants made of Carbonadium which made him even more lethal. After receiving these enhancements, he was alibied by Omega Red.