During Christmas time, a mysterious angel is saving lives. Rogue and Cyclops track down Warren Worthington, who is deeply unsure about his mutation.
Tropes included:
- Accidental Kiss: When trying to get a kiss from Kitty at the Christmas party, Kurt ends up kissing Bobby on the cheek since Kitty moved away at the last second.
- As the Good Book Says...:Beast: "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."
Xavier: Shakespeare?
Beast: The Bible. - Batman Gambit: Magneto plays on people's fears of what's different in order to ostracize Angel and leave him susceptible to being recruited. The first part works; the second part not so much, especially when Cyclops and Rogue show up.
- Christmas Episode: Scott and Rogue are the only students left at the mansion during the holidays. The plot involves them chasing rumors of an "angel" (guess who) who's been performing miraculous rescues.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Scott recounts his past to Rogue, including the apparent death of his parents in a plane crash and how he thought Alex was dead for years.
- Disproportionate Retribution: A harmless version. Spyke and his father throw a couple of snowballs at Storm (with poor accuracy). Storm logically responds by creating a small snowstorm to show them why one should never pick a snowball fight with someone who can control the weather.
- Freudian Excuse: Scott is more willing to consider the Angel being an actual one, due to a childhood belief that a guardian angel had someone saved Alex. He admits he gave up thinking that after a while, but then Alex turned out to be alive, after all.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Jean is noticeably displeased that Scott will be spending the break at the mansion with Rogue.
- Hero's First Rescue: This is Angel’s first act of Heroism (that we see). Interestingly, he doesn't rescue someone's kid from the fire, he rescues someone's paraplegic mother.
- Jumped at the Call: Warren just can't ignore seeing people in trouble, even when he doesn't have a mask to shield his identity.
- Kid Amid the Chaos: An apartment building is burning down on Christmas and a teenage girl is desperately trying to get inside and save her mother, crying and screaming since her mom’s in a wheelchair and cannot escape on her own. Luckily, Angel saves the lady and places her gently on a nearby bench, and soon she's reunited with her daughter.
- Montage: The final scene is a series of vignettes showing what the different characters are doing for the holidays: Jean and her family shopping for a Christmas tree, Kitty and her parents lighting a menorah, Kurt reuniting with his adopted parents, Evan having some snowball fun with his parents and Storm, Logan playing pool in a bar, and Xavier and Beast having a toast.
- Shout-Out: A brief glimpse of Warren reading a Daily Bugle newspaper, as well as a Stark Industries building.
- Shout-Out to Shakespeare:
- Single Tear: Rogue sheds one of these when listening to the little girl talk about her Angel.
- Under the Mistletoe: Kurt tries to get a kiss from Kitty by holding up some mistletoe over her. After some playful chasing, he thinks he’s got her on the couch, but he kisses Bobby due to Kitty moving away at the last second.
- Ungrateful Bastard: On the bridge, a little girl got too close to Angel's wings and got knocked into the river. Angel saves her, but Magneto (in civilian clothes) accuses him of deliberately knocking her off the bridge. Enough civilians immediately start condemning Angel and accusing him of other wrongdoing.
