MarvelMarvelThe second season of the revived series explores the past, present and future of a familiar mutant nemesis.
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Daniel ChinJuly 1, 15:38 UTC • 5 minutes
Even though the first season X-Men ’97 came out to great fanfare when it was released in 2024 and exceeded all expectations. The revival marked the continuation X-Men: The Animated Series more than 25 years after the bittersweet conclusion of the original 76-episode series. The 1990s Saturday morning cartoon was a huge hit that paved the way for mutants to flourish in mainstream popularity and eventually to the big screen. And decades later, X-Men ’97 honored its heritage by further refining the material.
Featuring superb storytelling and dynamic animation, X-Men ’97 set a new standard for Marvel animation. The series is based on what worked in X-Men: TAS and brought fresh ideas and a sophisticated attention to intense, emotional storylines that flowed into each other. Episode five, “Remember This,” was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program and remains one of the best television episodes Marvel Studios has ever produced. And after two years of waiting X-Men ’97 returns for a second season that builds on the series’ early success and features a bigger, bolder story.
The second season, which premiered Wednesday over three episodes, picks up after the dramatic finale of the first season, in which the X-Men prevented Asteroid M from crashing into Earth and wiping out all life on the planet, but then the mutants were separated in time and space. One group goes to the distant, doomed future, and the other to the ancient past. And although they are separated by many millennia, both teams of X-Men face the same formidable villain who is the main antagonist of the season: Apocalypse.
X-Men: TAS The fourth season, which aired from 1995 to 1996, featured extensive use of Apocalypse, the first mutant. The four-episode arc “Beyond Good and Evil” was intended to be the series’ final run of episodes until Fox Kids ordered a fifth season on short notice and with a smaller budget. The show was produced before Marvel Comics established the villain’s exact origin story. Rise of the Apocalypsewhich ran from late 1996 to early 1997, so there was less source material available for showrunner Eric Lewald and his writers to use to flesh out the character’s backstory. But season 4 X-Men: TAS eventually inspired one of the most popular X-Men Comic book events of all time: Age of Apocalypse.
More about X-Men 97
More about X-Men 97
“When (Lewald) created the story ‘The Price of One Man,’ Marvel liked it so much that they went ahead with it, and it inspired Age of Apocalypse“, X-Men: TAS director and X-Men ’97 executive producer Larry Huston told Marvel in 2020. “I was able to take over Age of Apocalypse develops and includes them in Eric’s stories. So, here’s your chance to see the characters they created (for the comics).
At the moment of full circle, X-Men ’97 is currently adapting elements from Age of Apocalypseas well as other comic book storylines released since then (including the reveal of Apocalypse’s origins). There is a symbiotic relationship between comic books and their animated (or live-action) adaptations. X-Men ’97 is a prime example of how well this dynamic can work.
While 2016 X-Men: Apocalypse struggled to bring Oscar Isaac’s almighty Apocalypse to life on the big screen, X-Men ’97 takes a clever approach to reintroducing the villain in an environment that better suits him. Sent back in time, the X-Men, including Professor Xavier and Magneto, arrive in Ancient Egypt in 3000 BC, just in time to witness the mutant known as En Sabah Nur transform into Apocalypse. Meanwhile, another group (featuring Cyclops and Jean Gray) is stranded in the Atlantic Basin in the 40th century as Apocalypse and his followers turn the world into a wasteland.
Episode 1, “Days of Future Past”, focuses on the 40th century timeline, in which Cyclops and Jean are reunited with their son Nathan. Along with Wolverine, Storm and Morph, these X-Men have been summoned to an era where young Nathan is being groomed to become Cable, a time-traveling hero who will confront the evil Apocalypse. Episode 3 is the first half of a two-part series. Apocalypse Rising device; Xavier, Magneto, Rogue, Nightcrawler and the Beast meet Noor before he dedicated his life to reshaping the world in his image. In a classic time travel gambit, they are faced with the opportunity to end the threat of the Apocalypse before it even begins – and it’s no surprise that Xavier and Magneto have opposing opinions on how to deal with it. While the X-Men don’t know why or how at the start of the season, both of these groups find themselves at turning points in Apocalypse’s life and must be careful with every decision placed before them.
But the season also focuses on a third era: the ’90s. Episode 2, “A Force to Be Reckoned with,” follows the team members who are left behind in the present day as the conflict between humans and mutants continues to escalate. After Forge and Bishop split up to save their lost friends in the timestream, Jubilee and Sunspot lost their purpose. So, a fully formed Cable recruits teenagers into his ruthless secret paramilitary team: X-Force. Featuring X-Force and X-Factor, a faction of mutants aligned with the American government, this portion of the show focuses on how a divided world moves forward without the X-Men—and how the remaining mutants choose to honor the team’s legacy. Both of these other X-Groups have a long history in the comics, and even with characters like Psylocke and Archangel joining them, X-Men ’97 is still just starting to dive into the vast roster of mutants.
Each of the three introductory parts narrows the focus to one timeline, allowing X-Men ’97 focus on individual characters and their relationships with each other over the course of 30-minute episodes. With more room to refocus audiences on specific and different eras, the show wisely allows the abundance of rich material to shine at a steady and even pace. These three periods represent dark times for humanity and mutants and come with their own individual conflicts. X-Men ’97 sets the stakes for each era, the series creates a collective image of the Apocalypse. With time travel, the Apocalypse, and the clash of opposing ideologies, the series reached its peak. X-Men territory – and he implements his vision flawlessly.
The generous three-episode premiere kicks off the nine-episode season. X-Men ’97 came back with a bang. It continues to combine masterful storytelling with slick action sequences while consciously expanding its scope, making use of decades of source material without getting too greedy and spreading it all out at once. The series hasn’t taken a step back, and if this season is anything like the previous one, X-Men ’97The apocalyptic story only gets better from here on out.
Daniel Chin
Daniel writes about television, film, and various sports topics that typically involve the New York Knicks. He frequently covers an endless loop of content about superheroes and other areas of nerd culture and fandom. He is based in Brooklyn.