X-Men '97 season 2
Season of television series
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The second season of the American animated television series X-Men '97 is based on the Marvel Comics superhero team X-Men. The series is a revival of X-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997), continuing the story of the X-Men. In the season, the X-Men are scattered throughout time—from Ancient Egypt to the far future—and must find their way back to the 1990s to stop Apocalypse. It is produced by Marvel Studios Animation, with Beau DeMayo as head writer and Jake Castorena as supervising director.
- Ray Chase
- Jennifer Hale
- Alison Sealy-Smith
- Cal Dodd
- J. P. Karliak
- Chris Potter
- Holly Chou
- Gui Agustini
- Naoko Mori
- Christopher Barger
- Matthew Waterson
- Lenore Zann
- George Buza
- Adrian Hough
- Ross Marquand
- Isaac Robinson-Smith
- Gil Birmingham
present
| X-Men '97 | |
|---|---|
| Season 2 | |
Promotional poster | |
| Starring |
|
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Disney+ |
| Original release | July 1, 2026 – present |
| Season chronology | |
Ray Chase, Jennifer Hale, Alison Sealy-Smith, Cal Dodd, J. P. Karliak, Lenore Zann, George Buza, Isaac Robinson-Smith, Matthew Waterson, Ross Marquand, and Adrian Hough star as members of the X-Men. Sealy-Smith, Dodd, Zann, Buza, and Hough reprised their roles from the original series. Work on the season began by July 2022, with DeMayo and Castorena returning. Voice recording began by February 2023, writing was completed by March 2024, and animation work was underway by then. DeMayo was fired by Marvel at that time and Matthew Chauncey was hired to replace him as head writer in July. Chauncey oversaw rewrites for the season.
The season premiered on July 1, 2026, on the streaming service Disney+, and will consist of nine episodes. A third season was confirmed in March 2024.[1][2]
Episodes
| No. overall | No. in season | Title [3] | Directed by | Written by | Original release date [3] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1 | "Days of Past Future" | Emmett Yonemura | Brian Ford Sullivan | July 1, 2026 | ||||||
|
Forge creates a time machine and sends Bishop back to 3000 B.C. to the rise of Apocalypse's reign, and himself forward to 3960 A.D, at the height of Apocalypse's power, to retrieve the X-Men. Forge is reunited with Wolverine, Storm, and Morph as well as Cyclops and Jean who have been taking care of Nathan. Cyclops and Jean have not revealed their relation to him to prevent causing a paradox with Cable. Reluctant to return to the 1990s without him, Cyclops and Jean leave Mother Askani's camp. However, they are captured by Apocalypse's forces who wish to use Nathan as a new vessel for Apocalypse's spirit. Mother Askani reveals that she transported the X-Men through time: one group to the future to train Nathan; the others to the past to try to prevent the mutant En Sabah Nur from ever becoming Apocalypse in the first place. After Cyclops and Jean reveal to him that they are his parents, Nathan breaks them free and they escape with the other X-Men's help. Apocalypse's spirit flees to the 1990s to take on the X-Men at their most vulnerable while Nathan merges with Apocalypse's ship's computer, setting him on the path to becoming Cable. In the 1990s, Cable, Psylocke, and Archangel start recruiting for a team to track down Apocalypse. | |||||||||||
| 12 | 2 | "A Force to Be Reckoned With" | Emmett Yonemura | Anthony Sellitti and Mariah Wilson | July 1, 2026 | ||||||
|
In the absence of the X-Men, Valerie Cooper fields a government-sanctioned team of mutants called X-Factor, led by Cable's uncle Havok and consisting of Multiple Man, Strong Guy, Wolfsbane, and Polaris. Cooper uses them to capture runaway mutants. Cable recruits Jubilee and Sunspot into his X-Force team and tracks down one of Apocalypse's Horsemen named War. After Psylocke reads War's mind, Cable orders Archangel to execute him, angering Jubilee. A clue leads X-Force to Emma Frost, who lures the team into a trap set by X-Factor and Jubilee is captured. With the former X-Man Polaris's help, Jubilee escapes and frees the mutant captives held with her. Cable and X-Force rescue her and the mutants, leading them to be branded fugitives by Cooper. In 3960 A.D., Nathan sends Jean, Scott, and the other X-Men back to the 1990s. | |||||||||||
| 13 | 3 | "Rise of Apocalypse" | Chase Conley | Beau DeMayo and JB Ballard | July 1, 2026 | ||||||
| 14 | 4 | Beau DeMayo and Anthony Sellitti | July 8, 2026 | ||||||||
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Part 1 : In ancient Egypt, in 3000 BC, the young mutant En Sabah Nur (who would later become Apocalypse) leads the Sandstormers against Pharaoh Rama-Tut, a ruler who uses futuristic technology to enslave his people. Magneto attempts to impart Xavier's philosophy to Nur, aiming to make him the first X-Man and enable him to rewrite history in favor of mutant coexistence; this goes against Xavier's plans, who fears that Nur is destined to become the villainous Apocalypse. Nur spares the life of Tut's second-in-command General Logos much to the surprise of his followers. Beast, Rogue, and Nightcrawler attempt to build a time machine using the remains of Rama-Tut's soldiers to return to their own time. Nur interrogates Logos, but Logos provokes him by revealing that he was Nur's former master. Before Nur can kill Logos, Magneto intervenes. Xavier enters Logos's mind seeking answers about the pharaoh, but what he sees shocks him: a weapon that will transform Tut into a god located in an ancient temple. Later, Nur and the Sandstormers discover the X-Men's plans involving the technology. Feeling betrayed by Magneto, Nur decapitates Logos and champions the ideology of survival of the fittest. Bishop appears and together, the X-Men defeat the Sandstormers. Before they can travel back to the 1990s, Rama-Tut fires a shot toward the base where the X-Men and Nur are located. Part 2 : Magneto protects the X-Men from the blast, but Nur survives as well. Xavier is able to convince Nur to work together again by revealing their identities. They work together to search for the ancient temple. Rama-Tut warns Xavier telepathically about the ramifications of Nur finding the temple before him. Nonetheless, the group reaches the temple, revealed to house the fallen Celestial Eson in the Ship that would later be Apocalypse's weapon. The inscriptions of the temple reveal Nur's future, and he turns on the X-Men to acquire the Celestial Death Seed. The X-Men fight Nur, but fail to stop him from becoming one with the Death Seed and becoming Apocalypse. Magneto takes the blame and sends them back to the future, but Apocalypse stops Xavier from leaving. While Rama-Tut, revealing himself to be Kang the Conqueror, escapes to the future before Apocalypse launches a black hole at the city. Magneto manages to stop the destruction of the city, but becomes greatly injured and is killed by Apocalypse who chooses to spare Xavier. Bishop returns and retrieves a grieving Xavier. In the 90s, Captain America and Black Widow deliver Wolverine a file on Weapon X. | |||||||||||
| 15 | 5 | "Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs" | Chase Conley | Anthony Sellitti | July 15, 2026 | ||||||
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Wolverine and Morph gather up the former's old hit squad Team X, consisting of Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike, Maverick and Garrison Kane to track down a Weapon X research facility and assassinate Dr. Abraham Cornelius. As they approach, their helicopter is downed by mutated birds and Kane dies in the crash. The rest of the team fend off mutated animals and reach the facility. They find it deserted and in ruins, with Cornelius as the sole survivor, but he soon mutates into an alien insect and summons swarms. The group splits off to restart the power to the facility and secure an escape. Lady Deathstrike questions Morph about their loyalty to Wolverine before they and Sabretooth find footage of the Brood, a hivemind alien species that Cornelius wanted to use to control his test subjects. Wolverine gets infected by the Brood while trying to access an adamantium chamber — his real reason for forming the mission. He kills Maverick and accidentally releases Omega Red. Morph persuades the surviving members to re-bond Wolverine with adamantium, which will also purge his DNA of the Brood. They succeed, and he regains his adamantium claws just in time to defeat Omega Red. The group successfully escapes the facility as it incinerates the Brood; however, Morph and Wolverine's relationship becomes strained. | |||||||||||
| 16 | 6 | "Danger.exe" | Emmett Yonemura | Beau DeMayo and Mariah Wilson and Bailey Moore | July 22, 2026 | ||||||
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As a form of therapy, Xavier relives Magneto's death by the hands of Apocalypse in the Danger Room; however he admits that he may not survive in a world without his friend. As he continues, he discovers that the Danger Room has been exceeding the set safety limits. Meanwhile, Polaris leads X-Factor in disrupting an arms deal. However, her use of excessive force leads Cooper to dismiss her from the team due to bad publicity and she returns to the X-Mansion. Xavier promotes Storm to headmistress and returns to the ruins of Genosha with Cyclops, Jean, and Beast. Polaris helps Bishop with an emergency in the Danger Room, which begins attacking them and a cohort of students. The Danger Room asserts that the X-Men must be ready for even greater threats than before and taunts Polaris with her negative feelings for her father Magneto, which causes her to lose control and hurt the students before Bishop stops her. After taking on a humanoid form, Danger knocks Polaris out and steals a personal X-Jet. At Genosha, she battles Xavier and the X-Men, besting them due to her knowledge of their powers. Polaris and Bishop arrive, with Xavier psychically exposing Polaris to his positive memories of Magneto, supercharging her powers and defeating Danger. Inspired by those memories, Xavier decides to base the X-Men at Genosha by establishing X-Corp, getting around US Government restrictions. Cooper vows to take down X-Corp. In a lab in Athens, Apocalypse resurrects Gambit as one of his Horsemen. | |||||||||||
| 17 | 7 | "Strange Land, Savage Heart" | TBA | TBA | July 29, 2026 | ||||||
| 18 | 8 | "The Dead Man's Hand" | TBA | TBA | August 5, 2026 | ||||||
| 19 | 9 | "Survival of the Fittest" | TBA | TBA | August 12, 2026 | ||||||
Episodes in the season were written by JB Ballard, Beau DeMayo, Bailey Moore, Antony Sellitti, Brian Ford Sullivan, and Mariah Wilson, with Emmett Yonemura and Chase Conley as directors.[4]
Cast and characters
Main
- Ray Chase as Scott Summers / Cyclops[5]
- Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey and Rahne Sinclair / Wolfsbane[5]
- Alison Sealy-Smith as Ororo Munroe / Storm[5]
- Cal Dodd as Logan / Wolverine[5]
- J. P. Karliak as Morph and Reverend William Stryker[5]
- Chris Potter as Nathan Summers / Cable[6]
- Holly Chou as Jubilation Lee / Jubilee[6]
- Gui Agustini as Roberto da Costa / Sunspot[7]
- Naoko Mori as Betsy Braddock / Psylocke[7]
- Christopher Barger as Warren Worthington III / Archangel[7]
- Matthew Waterson as Erik "Magnus" Lehnsherr / Magneto and Eson[5]
- Lenore Zann as Rogue[5]
- George Buza as Dr. Henry "Hank" McCoy / Beast[5]
- Adrian Hough as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler and Guido Carosella / Strong Guy[5]
- Ross Marquand as Professor Charles Xavier[5] and En Sabah Nur / Apocalypse[8]
- Isaac Robinson-Smith as Lucas Bishop[5]
- Gil Birmingham as Forge[5]
Recurring
- Donna Jay Fulks as Trish Tilby
- Rachel Kimsey as Ship / Computer Cube and Danger
- Adetokumboh M'Cormack as En Sabah Nur
- Carolina Ravassa as Lorna Dane / Polaris[6]
- Teddy Sears as Alex Summers / Havok[7]
- Catherine Disher as Dr. Valerie Cooper
- Miatta Ade Lebile as Monet
- Thomas Dekker as Quentin Quire / Kid Omega
Notable guests
- Gates McFadden as Rachel Summers / Mother Askani[7]
- Michael Johnston as young Nathan Summers[9]
- Tony Amendola as Ozymandias
- Zehra Fazal as Emma Frost[a][10]
- Lawrence Bayne as Abraham Kieros / War[11] and Carl Denti
- Michael Dorn as Baal
- Debra Wilson as Candra[b]
- Chris Britton as Logos
- John de Lancie as Rama-Tut / Kang the Conqueror
- Josh Keaton as Steve Rogers / Captain America[12]
- Lake Bell as Natasha Romanova / Black Widow[12]
- Darin De Paul as Graydon Creed Sr. / Sabretooth and Arkady Rossovich / Omega Red[13]
- Erika Ishii as Yuriko Oyama / Lady Deathstrike
- Crispin Freeman as David North / Maverick
- Ben Pronsky as Garrison Kane / Weapon X
- Todd Haberkorn as Dr. Abraham Cornelius
- Adrienne Barbeau as Sister Anne
- Zeno Robinson as Synch
Characters to be introduced in the second season include Mariko,[14] Colossus,[5] Tabitha Smith / Boom-Boom, and Exodus.[15] The team X-Force is also featured, composed of Cable, Jubilee, Sunspot, Archangel and Psylocke.[5] The team X-Factor, created by the government is also featured, composed of Havok, Polaris, Strong Guy, Jamie Madrox / Multiple Man, and Wolfsbane. Former X-Men character Gambit, last seen killed in X-Men '97 season 1, returns as a resurrected Horseman of Apocalypse.
Cameo appearances are made by Dust, Anole, Pixie, the Stepford Cuckoos, Artie Maddicks, Wing, Chamber, Beak, Angel Salvadore, Nature Girl, Maggie, Eye-Boy, the Final Horsemen of Apocalypse (Decimus Furius, Sanjar Javeed, Ichisumi, and Jeb Lee),[16] Doop, Rockslide, Martha Johansson, and Shark-Girl.[17]
Production
Development
X-Men '97, a revival and continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997), was announced by Marvel Studios Animation in November 2021.[18][19] Beau DeMayo was set as head writer and executive producer,[20][21] with Jake Castorena as supervising director and Charley Feldman as supervising producer.[21] The Animated Series producer and director Larry Houston and showrunners Eric and Julia Lewald were consulting on the revival.[21][22] Work on a second season had begun by July 2022.[23][24] Chase Conley and Emmett Yonemura returned as directors from the first season.[25][4]
DeMayo was fired by Marvel Studios in March 2024,[26] following an investigation that led to "egregious" findings.[27] The studio was searching for his replacement by then.[1][2] In June 2024, Marvel told DeMayo that they would be removing his credits from the second season due to violations of his termination agreement;[27] however, DeMayo still received creator, executive producer, and writing credits for the season.[4][28] Matthew Chauncey, a writer on Marvel Studios's first animated series What If...? (2021–2024), was hired in July 2024 to replace DeMayo as head writer of the series moving forward.[29] Houston and the Lewalds were made executive producers starting with the second season,[30] serving alongside Marvel Studios's Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, and Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt, and DeMayo. Castorena was a supervising producer for the season.[4]
Writing
Writing on the second-season finale started by July 2023,[31] and DeMayo had finished writing for the season by the time he was fired in March 2024.[26] Other writers for the season included JB Ballard, Bailey Moore, Antony Sellitti, Brian Ford Sullivan, and Mariah Wilson.[4] The season's scripts had reportedly been revised and rewritten by July 2024, with Chauncey overseeing rewrites.[29]
As teased at the end of the first season, the second season features a storyline centered around the villain Apocalypse,[32] and sees the X-Men scattered throughout time and needing to find their way back to the 1990s:[33] Professor Charles Xavier, Magneto, Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Beast are in Ancient Egypt in 3000 B.C.; Cyclops and Jean Grey are in 3960 A.D. with future versions of their children; Bishop and Forge are in the 1990s, trying to get the X-Men back; and Storm, Wolverine, and Morph are initially unaccounted for. Julia Lewald likened this storyline to when Xavier and Magneto are trapped in the Savage Land in the second season of the original series, and said separating the X-Men allowed them to have fun with specific character groupings. Eric Lewald said the storyline allowed Apocalypse to be explored at different points in his life: his early years as En Sabah Nur in Ancient Egypt, when his path to becoming a villain begins; his attempts to "cull the herd of the weak so that only the strong survive" in the present day; and the far future where "his vision becomes reality, perhaps". Houston said the death of Gambit in the first season would continue to have a big impact in the second, and the character Polaris would have a pivotal character arc that impacts both the X-Men and X-Force.[5]
In September 2024, DeMayo stated that Marvel Studios had removed his planned tenth episode of the season and re-written the rest of the episodes to reflect this change. He explained that in his version of the scripts there had been hints throughout the season leading to the appearance of the character Onslaught in the tenth episode, which also included elements based on the comic book storyline Age of Apocalypse (1995). The episode would have ended with Gambit freeing Bishop from prison in an Age of Apocalypse timeline and the pair escaping from evil Cyclops in a similar scene to the Darth Vader hallway scene at the end of the Star Wars film Rogue One (2016). DeMayo opined that the decision to change his scripts came from directors and executives who believed they "know better than the comics" and added that "Marvel loves shooting themselves in the foot".[34]
Casting and voice recording
Main voice actors returning from the first season include Ray Chase as Scott Summers / Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Ororo Munroe / Storm, Cal Dodd as Logan / Wolverine, J. P. Karliak as Morph, Lenore Zann as Rogue, George Buza as Dr. Henry "Hank" McCoy / Beast, Isaac Robinson-Smith as Lucas Bishop, Matthew Waterson as Erik "Magnus" Lehnsherr / Magneto,[5] Ross Marquand as Professor Charles Xavier and Apocalypse,[5][8] and Adrian Hough as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler.[5]
Lawrence Bayne, who voiced Nathan Summers / Cable in the original series and Carl Denti / X-Cutioner in the first season, also returned for the second season.[35][11] Gil Birmingham also returns as Forge from the first season.[5] Michael Johnston voices a young Nathan Summers.[9] The season's production brief revealed that Carolina Ravassa voices Polaris.[6] DeMayo previously claimed in May 2025 that he had originally cast Neve Campbell in the role due to her status as a "'90s icon" and her amazing work in bringing something new.[36] Josh Keaton returns to voice Steve Rogers / Captain America from the first season, while Lake Bell voices Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow; both voiced different versions of the characters in What If...?.[12]
Dodd revealed in February 2023 that he had started recording for the second season,[37] while Zann had begun recording material for the season in August 2023.[38] By May 2024, she had completed her work on the season except for additional dialogue recording (ADR).[39] Despite the COVID-19 pandemic having less of an impact on the season's production, voice recording continued to take place remotely as with the first season due to many cast members being based in different locations.[40]
Animation and design
Animation was provided by Red Dog Culture House, Tiger Animation and Jam Filled Entertainment.[citation needed] The 2D animation style of the original series was retained, but "slightly modernized" to improve the quality and reflect advances in animation since the 1990s;[41][42] Castorena described the series as "fresh, but familiar".[43] Winderbaum said there was a "code of ethics" they followed to align with the restrictions of the 1990s animation, but they occasionally broke this for dramatic effect.[41] Animatics for the entire season had been created by March 2024.[1]
The season's opening was altered for the second episode to say "X-Force" instead of "X-Men", given the episode was centered on the team.[44] Waterson originally recorded Magneto's death at Apocalypse's hands in the third episode with the former being entirely alone in facing the latter, but the sequence was visually changed later on to have the fight be less nebulous and more direct as well include Professor X in the scene because it was deemed important to have one of Magnet's oldest and closest friends witness his demise.[45] The X-Men wear costumes in the season based on those from Grant Morrison's New X-Men (2001) comics. DeMayo said the decision to change the costumes was based on the story and themes he was focused on for the season, noting that the costumes had "strong ties" to the fictional country Genosha and Morrison's "E Is for Extinction" storyline from New X-Men #115 which was adapted in the first season.[14][46]
Morph's shape-shifting powers allow for cameo appearances by various Marvel characters, such as Thor and Deadpool.[12][5]
Music
In April 2024, Taylor Newton Stewart confirmed that he and John Andrew Grush, known professionally as the Newton Brothers, were returning as composers for the second season. They had not yet begun writing music for it by that point.[47]
The episodes "Days of Past Future" and "Rise of Apocalypse – Part 1" reference Natalie Holt's scores for Loki (2021–2023).[16][48]
Marketing
The season was promoted during Marvel Studios Animation's panel at Disney's D23 convention in August 2024.[49][14] Footage from the season was included in a sizzle reel that was shown at Disney's upfront presentation in May 2025,[50] and more footage was shown at a New York Comic Con panel for Marvel Television and Marvel Animation in October. Winderbaum and the Lewalds promoted the season at that panel.[30] The first trailer was released in May 2026 along with a poster which is based on the cover of Wolverine vol. 1 #1 (1982) by Frank Miller.[51] An episode of the series Marvel Studios: Legends was released on June 24, 2026 on YouTube, centered on Apocalypse using footage from his previous appearance in the original animated series and season one of X-Men '97.[52]
Release
The season premiered on the streaming service Disney+ on July 1, 2026, with its first three episodes. The rest of the nine-episode season will release weekly until August 12.[3] A world premiere event for the season was held at the Tribeca Festival on June 13, 2026.[53]
Reception
Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes calculated that 100% of 28 critics reviews were positive, with an average of rated reviews of 8.60 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads, "This marvelous troupe of heroes returns for a supremely dazzling second season, providing all the entertainment, emotion, and nostalgia that top-tier animation and storytelling can deliver in X-Men '97."[54] Metacritic assigned a weighted average score of 90 out of 100 based on 6 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[55]
Notes
- Emma Frost was voiced by Martha Marion in the previous season.
- Known previously only as the X-Ternal in the original series episode X-Ternally Yours.