REVIEW: ‘X-Men ’97’ Season 2 Is Off To A Fun And Dynamic Start

There’s a lot going down in the first three episodes of X-Men ’97 Season 2. And I mean, a lot, a lot. Casual fans (hello) who believe they’re well-versed in the X-Men lore—ready yourselves for a challenge. Because as the series follows up on the bombastic Season 1 finale, it reintroduces us to the characters and their current respective timelines with little fanfare and a whole lot of lore drop. 

Not to say that casual fans should stay away. X-Men ’97 Season 2 continues to prove that it’s, for the most part, Marvel’s greatest, most consistent, and narratively challenging piece of work they’ve put out in ages, as their cinematic ventures continue to deliver diminishing returns. With original creator Beau DeMayo as head writer for Season 2 and Jake Castorena as supervising director, the confidence and tone is cohesive and engaging as we’re hurdled through time and space. 

At the end of Season 1, the members of the X-Men, while facing certain doom following an immense battle with Bastion, were scattered across time. Cyclops (Ray Chase) and Jean (Jennifer Hale) are sent to the future in order to train their son, Nathan (Michael Johnston), who will become Cable (Chris Potter), so that he might be able to fight against humanity’s greatest threat, Apocalypse.

Rogue (Lenore Zann), Nightcrawler (Adrian Hough), Beast (George Buza), Xavier (Ross Marquand), and Magneto (Matthew Waterson) travel to the past, to Ancient Egypt, to try and stop a young Apocalypse, then known as En Sabah Nur (Adetokumboh M’Cormack), from becoming the titan, immortal force of evil. 

X-Men ’97 Season 2 doesn’t hold our hand as it plunges us into the narrative deep end. 

Meanwhile, Jubilee (Holly Chou) and Sunspot (Gui Agustini) are left adrift, in a holding pattern, at least at the start, in the ’90s. That is, until an adult Cable appears, recruiting a team that includes Psylocke (Naoko Mori) and Archangel (Christopher Barger) as a means to track down Apocalypse in the current timeline as well. 

With a premiere titled “Days of Past Future,” there’s no shying away from who the big bad of X-Men ’97 Season 2 will be. The bigger mystery is whether or not the series can deliver a version of a character we’ve seen before in a manner that, like other characters in the series, is elevated to a fresh take without moving him too far from the villain we’ve known. 

That balancing act is part of what made Season 1 so effective. Of the core group, we’ve seen these characters a lot in pop culture over the past quarter century. Wolverine has, somewhat unfortunately, become synonymous with Hugh Jackman’s face and mutton chops. And the performances from James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart have informed many of us who don’t read the comics on how Professor Charles Xavier should behave.

In their mission to stop Apocalypse, the X-Men face mounting pressures. 

One of the best surprises of Season 1 was how the show upends those expectations, be it through Magneto getting one of the best storylines that highlights his grey morality or how Rogue processes her grief without being condemned for it. Morph, a throwaway character in the source material, whose seeming affection for Wolverine challenges how we typically view the latter character and his link to seeming hyper-masculine, heteronormative tendencies. 

X-Men ’97 continues to demonstrate its ability to play with existing characters to deepen our affection for them while also clearly having fun with the dense roster of heroes, antiheroes, and villains. The premiere is the weakest of the three episodes, if only because it boils the story down to the smallest group of characters. But even then, the drama between Jean and Cyclops, the struggle and relief at seeing their son again, and the melodrama it elicits are among the story’s driving forces. It is, first and foremost, about families, regardless of how they’re formed. 

But it does set us up for the rest of the season, as it’s through the premiere and Mother Askani that we learn how the X-Men were pulled apart. With the ability to see through time, she transported the group to different points in history in order to devise a plan to stop Apocalypse’s ruinous rampage.

The best part of the entire episode, though, goes to Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith), who, in pure Goddess stature, learns that her powers go beyond the realm of earthbound weather. She can also control cosmic storms and solar winds. The animation does right by the sequence, elevating her abilities with showstopping grandeur. 

Episodes 1 and 3 present great ideas but struggle a little with pacing. 

Similarly, the voyage to the past hits a lull but is much more engaging on the whole, due to the ensemble. Magneto is such a rich character—especially in this adaptation—and it makes his plight clear: He tries creating a new future by convincing En Sabah Nur to become the first member of the X-Men.

The storyline plays with familiar thematic elements such as the ways in which oppression stifles and incites further violence. Seeing Xavier and Magneto use their own competing methodologies and similar ideals to appeal to a man trying to rise above a ruler who enslaves his people is an intriguing thread to pull at. 

But it’s the second episode, “A Force to Be Reckoned With,” that best finds the magic of the series. This is thanks to some truly spectacular action sequences. While there are still some uncanny valley elements to the character designs, particularly in how their faces move, the action is superb. This is clear in Episode 1 when Scott uses his powers to both attack others and to move himself around. In Season 2 Episode 2, it’s showcased through a lot of hand-to-hand combat and aerial attacks that lavish color onto the screen. 

The introduction of X-Force and X-Factor injects X-Men ’97 Season 2 with more energy.

Considering Jubilee and Sunspot were two of the least interesting characters in Season 1, it’s nice to see that Season 2 is giving them more time to develop outside of the usual X-Men lineup. The two working with the X-Force and against the X-Factor helps showcase the way Jubilee and Sunspot are different from the two groups and from each other. Jubilee has been a part of the X-Men team for a while now, and under Xavier’s tutelage even longer. She, of course, will have issues with Cable deciding to kill one of their attackers. 

But really, it comes down to the cool factor. The characters on the X-Force are simply fun. They’re a little edgier and a little messier—a group cobbled together in a last-ditch effort to maintain stability while the main heroes are away. Their and X-Factor’s designs show a lot of personality and add depth to the ways these characters serve as foils to the main heroes. It allows characters like Psylocke real moments to shine and dynamic sequences that highlight her athleticism. 

X-Men ’97 Season 2 wastes no time in pushing us into the drama and heightened stakes as the heroes face off against their greatest threat to date. With some fantastic action sequences, strong characterization largely missing in the current-day MCU, and the right amount of weaponized nostalgia, the series remains a fun throwback energized by genuinely strong plotting. 

X-Men ’97 Season 2 Episodes 1-3 are available now on Disney+.