TV Review: ‘X-Men ‘97’ Season 2

Premiering on Disney+ July 1st is season 2 of the popular animated series ‘X-Men ‘97’, which is a continuation of the classic 1990’s cartoon, ‘X-Men: The Animated Series’.The series features the voice work of Ray Chase as Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, J.

​Premiering on Disney+ July 1st is season 2 of the popular animated series ‘X-Men ‘97’, which is a continuation of the classic 1990’s cartoon, ‘X-Men: The Animated Series’.The series features the voice work of Ray Chase as Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, J.   

Premiering on Disney+ July 1st is season 2 of the popular animated series ‘X-Men ‘97’, which is a continuation of the classic 1990’s cartoon, ‘X-Men: The Animated Series’.

The series features the voice work of Ray Chase as Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, J.P. Karliak as Morph, Lenore Zann as Rogue, George Buza as Beast, Matthew Waterson as Magneto, Isaac Robinson-Smith as Bishop, Gil Birmingham as Forge, and Ross Marquand as Professor X and Apocalypse.

Related Article: Supervising Producer and Head Director Jake Castorena Talks ‘X-Men ’97’

Initial Thoughts

Season 1 of ‘X-Men ‘97’ premiered in 2024 and delivered the continuation of the original 90’s series that middle-age fans who grew up on the cartoon had been waiting decades for. Season 2 returns with just as much 90’s nostalgia and mutant fun as the first season, but also offers a more complex time traveling story that features the X-Men and other mutants going up against Apocalypse.

Story and Animation

Season 1 ended on a cliffhanger with the X-Men getting spilt up across time. A team consisting of Scott, Jean, Wolverine, Morph and Storm are sent to the future to protect a young Nathan Summers, who will eventually grow up to be Cable. While Professor X, Magneto, Beast, Rogue and Nightcrawler are sent to ancient Egypt to befriend En Sabah Nur before he can become Apocalypse.

With the X-Men missing in time, Bishop travels to the past and Forge travels to the future to find their friends. Back in the 1990s, without an X-Men team to protect the country, the US government sanctions their own team of mutants called X-Factor. Believing Apocalypse has returned to the 90’s, Cable soon arrives and recruits Jubilee and Sunspot, who were left behind, for his new team called X-Force, who disagree with the way X-Factor is rounding up mutants.

For this review, Moviefone was only given access to the first four episodes of the nine-episode season, which are very well done and continue the quality presented in the first season. The animation style once again is superb and modernizes the classic Saturday morning cartoon look. The time-traveling story over the first four episodes is complex and can be confusing for first time viewers but remains entertaining throughout.

With the X-Men spilt up, fans will have to wait till future episodes to see the full team together on screen again, but the different team-ups are still fun to watch and gives the series an opportunity to dig into some interesting themes and really explore the core characters.

New and Returning Characters

The premiere episode explores Scott and Jean’s relationship with their son Nathan, who will eventually grow up to be Cable and is destined to stop Apocalypse. Young Nathan is struggling with his destiny and his parents are struggling with the pressure they are putting on him and they will ultimately have to make a heartbreaking decision.

The first episode also reunites Forge and Storm and continues the relationship that was developed last season. Storm also gets a chance to explore the range of her powers and discovers she is stronger than she ever dreamed she could be.

Jubilee, a character that is criminally underused, really gets a chance to shine in episode 2 and has a very fun team-up with Cable. She also has a very cool scene with Emma Frost, and one of the best fight sequences in the history of the show.

It’s fun watching Professor X and Magneto working together, and always great seeing them have a conflict and then overcome their differences. But Apocalypse is at the heart of this story, and the series does a great job of retelling his origin and humanizing him in a way that we have never seen before.

While the first four episodes feature lots of great X-Men cameos including Emma Frost, Psylocke, Archangel and Polaris, we don’t get a lot of screen time with fan-favorite Wolverine. Rogue, Morph, and Nightcrawler don’t have a lot to do either, but I assume they will get more attention in later episodes.

Final Thoughts

‘X-Men ‘97’ continues to deliver the fun action and colorful style of the original 90’s series while leaving time for complex storylines and deep character exploration. Season 2’s time traveling adventure is classic weird X-Men fun and features a roster of Marvel’s best mutant characters.

Fans of the series and the X-Men in general should be pleased with season 2 and the way it naturally progresses the storylines from the previous season, answering questions, and asking new ones.

‘X-Men ‘97’ receives a score of 90 out of 100.

What is the plot of ‘X-Men ‘97’ Season 2?

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.

Who is in the cast of ‘X-Men ‘97’ Season 2?

Ray Chase as Scott Summers / CyclopsJennifer Hale as Jean GreyAlison Sealy-Smith as Ororo Munroe / StormCal Dodd as Logan / WolverineJ. P. Karliak as MorphLenore Zann as RogueGeorge Buza as Dr. Henry “Hank” McCoy / BeastIsaac Robinson-Smith as Lucas BishopMatthew Waterson as Erik “Magnus” Lehnsherr / MagnetoRoss Marquand as Professor Charles Xavier and ApocalypseAdrian Hough as Kurt Wagner / NightcrawlerGil Birmingham as ForgeMichael Johnston as young Nathan Summers

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