X-Men ’97 Season 2 Review – The MCU Should Be Taking Notes

The first season of X-Men ’97 ended on a cliffhanger, and Marvel Studios made viewers sweat for over two years before providing resolution. For those who don’t remember, the X-Men were displaced in time, with various members stuck in the past and others in the future. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out it would be up to time-travel specialists Bishop (voiced by Isaac Robinson-Smith), Forge (Gil Birmingham), and Cable (Chris Potter) to find a way to bring back the Children of the Atom to their original timeline.

As expected, the first part of X-Men ’97 Season 2 picks up where we left off, as viewers encounter the mutants in the past, present, and future. Also, this isn’t a spoiler, since it’s all in the marketing: the main villain is Apocalypse (Ross Marquand). And as teased in the season finale, the X-Men will meet him in his form as En Sabah Nur before he became a genocidal maniac, which allows for several what-if storytelling possibilities. The show pulls the trigger on going full sci-fi in this aspect, embracing time-travel logic and the ramifications of how it can create ripples in time – both good and bad – while also questioning whether fate has already been predetermined.

X-Men ’97 Season 2 wastes no time in getting the ball rolling either. There’s no time for filler or slow-burn pacing here, as each episode moves the plot forward significantly, while also affording time for a multitude of characters to appear. For those who have followed all the various X-teams throughout the ages, there will be cheers and fist pumps when the second episode airs – it’s a gushing love letter to the franchise’s ’90s era.

Like the previous season, the series boasts a fearlessness in its storytelling, never being afraid of going for the jugular. Events continue to feel meaningful and impactful. Unlike many superhero shows where there’s no difference between stakes and steaks, X-Men ’97 doesn’t fake out the audience for quick, cheap reactions. Every decision made by the characters has consequences, which are felt down the line and create new narrative paths.

What the show continues to do right is that it refuses to play the greatest hits. It isn’t only relying on the original core characters from X-Men: The Animated Series, or staying stuck in the same storytelling mode from the past; instead, it’s pulling from the vast history of Marvel’s mutants, utilizing the various characters and arcs available. Impressively, this never feels overwhelming – unlike the comics that lost the plot a long time ago and only make sense to five people on the planet. To this day, this show and its predecessor provide the most definitive and comprehensive version of the X-Men, and that’s saying something.

Seasons 3 and 4 have already been confirmed, and production is underway. What remains to be seen, though, is what the animated series will be like without original showrunner Beau Mayo’s influence. Mayo was fired by Marvel Studios in 2024, but he had already completed work on X-Men ’97 Season 2. Honestly, it feels like the same creative vision is intact here, though it’s claimed that new head writer Matthew Chauncey oversaw rewrites, so who knows – everybody lies in Hollywood.

Either way, X-Men ’97 Season 2 maintains the same quality as before. This season features only nine episodes, and so much already happens in those four, leaving one to wonder how much more drama lies ahead. One thing’s certain, though: if X-Men ’97 continues to be this good, the live-action version of the characters in the MCU will have a lot to live up to.

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