‘X-Men ’97’ Season 2 Review: Brutal Beginnings Improve The Story

Nearly two years after the release of the first season of the X-Men: The Animated Series revival, X-Men ’97, Marvel Animation is back for a follow-up to that cliffhanger. We left off with the series with the X-Men displaced through time and facing Apocalypse and his Horsemen. That’s a big thing to leave on, with such a giant time gap, rivalling The Walking Dead‘s infamous Season 6 finale that left the fate of fan-favourite characters up in the air for months. For me, I don’t have quite the same attachment to the series, but since I somewhat liked the freshman instalment, I was interested in where this season took the story.

X-Men ’97 tells the story of the X-Men, a group of superpowered individuals whose powers are triggered by an adolescent mutation. As a team, they fight dangerous foes, and often each other, as drama is a key part of the X-Men’s story.

In Season 2, the story “continues with the heroic mutant team of X-Men, divided and thrown across different eras in time as they struggle to navigate their return home. Meanwhile, back in the 1990s, suspicious foes and new strains of mutant intolerance are on the rise in the wake of the X-Men’s absence.”

I watched four episodes of the series, though I do wish all nine were provided to give a fuller perspective of the season.

I think the story is the clear strong point here; with the X-Men forcibly disbanded, the clock is ticking to save them, and that creates some interesting plot beats, especially revolving around Nathan Summers (Michael Johnston) and his ascension into becoming Cable, the bane of Apocalypse.

There are some great moments in the last episode, where the morality of a key decision is grappled with and is a clear highlight to the series. The result of this decision is a deep-cutting cliffhanger, part of the reason why I think the whole season being provided was needed for a rounded perspective, because as good as these first four episodes were, the remaining five could very well be fumbled.

In fact, I like the story decisions here so much, including an X-Force-centric episode, that I think it’s much better overall than the first season, with far less focus on the abysmal Rogue-Magneto cuckoldery and more focus on the familial relationships between Jean, Scott, and Nathan, as well as the friendship between Charles and Erik.

On the flip side, this many characters means a lot of them do not get enough screentime. Last season, too much emphasis was placed on the wrong characters (the Storm x Forge relationship was an incredible bore). Here, that emphasis is removed, but brings a new problem with it, what are those characters still doing in the show? With such a short runtime, a cast this big seems pointless, as it unwillingly underdevelops certain characters such as Morph, Bishop, Forge, and so on and so forth.

Unlike the 2016 film, X-Men: Apocalypse, Apocalypse is actually a solid villain here, with great gravitas, a very threatening vibe, and even some great action. I am very interested in seeing where he goes from here.

I think X-Men ’97‘s first few episodes are a vast improvement on its predecessor, but come across as overstuffed with characters, despite its relatively straightforward plotlines.

X-Men ’97 stars 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, Ross Marquand as Professor Charles Xavier and Apocalypse, Adrian Hough as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler, Gil Birmingham as Forge, and Michael Johnston as young Nathan Summers.

The series debuts on Disney+ on July 1, 2026.

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