| X-Men '97 | |
|---|---|
| Season 2 | |
| Starring | |
| Release | |
| Original network | Disney+ |
| Season chronology | |
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 and must find their way back to the 1990s while facing Apocalypse. It is produced by Marvel Studios Animation, with Beau DeMayo as head writer and Jake Castorena as supervising director.
Jennifer Hale, Cal Dodd, Lenore Zann, and Ross Marquand star as members of the X-Men. Dodd and Zann 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 is scheduled to premiere in mid-2026 on the streaming service Disney+. A third season was confirmed in March 2024. [1] [2]
Returning characters from the first season include Erik "Magnus" Lehnsherr / Magneto, Scott Summers / Cyclops, Ororo Munroe / Storm, and Forge. [8] Characters to be introduced in the second season include Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike, Havok, Mariko, Polaris, and Danger. [9]
X-Men '97 , a revival and continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997), was announced by Marvel Studios Animation in November 2021. [10] [11] Beau DeMayo was set as head writer and executive producer, [12] [13] with Jake Castorena as supervising director and Charley Feldman as supervising producer. [13] The Animated Series producer and director Larry Houston and showrunners Eric and Julia Lewald were consulting on the revival. [13] [14] Work on a second season had begun by July 2022. [15] [16] Chase Conley and Emi-Emmett Yonemura returned as directors from the first season. [17] DeMayo was fired by Marvel Studios in March 2024, [18] following an investigation that led to "egregious" findings. [19] 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. [19] 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. [20] Houston and the Lewalds were made executive producers starting with the second season. [21]
Writing on the second-season finale started by July 2023, [22] and DeMayo had finished writing for the season by the time he was fired in March 2024. [18] The season's scripts had reportedly been revised and rewritten by that July, with Chauncey overseeing the rewrites. [20] As teased at the end of the first season, the second season features a storyline centered around the villain Apocalypse, [23] and sees the X-Men being scattered throughout time and needing to find their way back to the 1990s from different points in the past and future. [24] 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". [25] Actor Ross Marquand described the overhauled season as "very, very dark" due to the amount of character deaths occurring throughout the story. [6]
Cal Dodd, who reprised his role as Logan / Wolverine from the original series in the first season, revealed in February 2023 that he had started recording for the second season. [4] Lenore Zann, who returned from the original series as Rogue, stated in August 2023 that she had begun recording material for the season as well. [5] By May 2024, she had completed her work on the season except for additional dialogue recording (ADR). [26] 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. [27] [7] Jennifer Hale confirmed in April 2025 that she would reprise her role as Jean Grey from the first season, [3] and Ross Marquand confirmed in September that he would again voice Apocalypse after the first-season finale. [6] 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. [28]
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; [29] [30] Castorena described the series as "fresh, but familiar". [31] 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. [29] Animatics for the entire season had been created by March 2024. [1] 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. [9] [32]
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 but they had not yet begun writing music for it. [33]
The season was promoted during Marvel Studios Animation's panel at Disney's D23 convention in August 2024. [34] [9] Footage from the season was included in a sizzle reel that was shown at Disney's upfront presentation in May 2025, [35] 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. [21]
The season is scheduled to premiere in mid-2026 on the streaming service Disney+. [24]