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X-Men ’97 Season 2 Review
Image Credit: Marvel Animation
Loading...The long wait is finally over. Marvel’s Merry Band of Mutants finally returns for another season in X-Men ’97. Season 2 picks up not long after where the first season left off. The X-Men have been flung across time, and the search begins to bring them back to the 1990s.
“Days of Past Future” picks up with the group of X-Men flung into the far future, as Cyclops (Ray Chase) and Jean Grey (Jennifer Hale) find themselves in a dystopian future, ravaged by the rule of the mutant tyrant Apocalypse (Ross Marquand). However, they also encounter the younger version of their son, Nathan Summers, the boy destined to become the militant time-traveling mutant, Cable (Chris Potter).
Meanwhile, the other X-Men, including Professor Xavier (Marquand again), Magneto (Matthew Waterson), Beast (George Buza), Rogue (Lenore Zann), and Nightcrawler (Adrian Hough) are stranded in the distant past of ancient Egypt in 3,000 BC, where they encounter the world’s first mutant, En Sabah Nur (Adetokumboh M’Cormack), who will one day become one of the X-Men’s most deadly adversaries, Apocalypse.
During the first four episodes, it becomes clearer why the X-Men were sent across different ends of the timestream, as well as who sent them there. Unfortunately, things have grown far worse for mutants in 1997 in the wake of Magneto’s actions in the previous season and the X-Men’s disappearance. That leads some familiar faces to band together to form a new team against a rising threat.
The first season of X-Men ’97 was a jaw-dropping, epic revival that exceptionally built off the previous saga established in the classic 1990s X-Men: The Animated Series. The last season mashed up some great storylines from the comics, such as “E Is for Extinction” and “Operation Zero Tolerance,” albeit with Bastion subbing out for Cassandra Nova.
Season 2 remixes elements of The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix and The Rise of Apocalypse in an interesting way that complements previous events, much like previous seasons of the classic series. So far, the new episodes re-establish Apocalypse as the X-Men’s primary threat, along with offering new details of his backstory.
The past storyline also interestingly depicts Apocalypse before he becomes a deranged despot with a god complex. It’s fascinating to see Apocalypse at a point in his journey when he still has a sense of morality, wanting to liberate his people from tyrants. It creates an intriguing moral dilemma for the X-Men: How should they attempt to deal with the individual destined to become one of their worst enemies?
Much like the first season, the series excellently portrays the journey of Scott Summers, and he and Jean finally gain an opportunity to emotionally connect with their son Nathan. It’s intriguing how the origins of Cable and Apocalypse are both connected and on opposite ends of the spectrum, as they are juxtaposed across the first four episodes.
The first four episodes clarify why they were screened for reviews, as they run like the completion of a smaller chapter of a larger story arc. However, there is one fun type of standalone episode that will excite longtime fans.
It’s hard to avoid talking about X-Men ’97 without addressing the very public and well-documented fallout between Marvel Studios and series creator and showrunner Beau DeMayo. DeMayo was fired from the series shortly before the first season premiered, after already completing work on Season 2.
The writer and producer also claimed that Marvel was stripping his credits from Season, and it was later alleged he was fired from the series over “egregious misconduct.” While it’s still unclear exactly what took place behind the scenes, DeMayo’s credits remain in Season 2.
He’s also still credited as an executive producer and a writer of multiple episodes. If his credits are removed, or significant changes were made in the latter half of the season, that does not yet appear to be the case, at least for the initial group of episodes.
One thing that has changed significantly in Season 2’s production crew is that Eric and Julia Lewald, the showrunners of the original series, and Larry Houston, one of the show’s original directors, were promoted from consulting producers to executive producers for Season 2. Whatever changes were made in the transition of the production team are not yet clear.
Obviously, the Lewalds and Houston know the characters and the comics very well, so they act as excellent torchbearers and guiding lights for the franchise.
However, there’s no noticeable drop in quality, either in terms of animation or writing. Season 2 still runs fairly consistently compared to the first season, and the first four episodes mostly feel like the natural next steps in the storytelling.
Something else that’s exciting in Season 2 is the amazing opening animation, which is essentially customized for each episode. Viewers will definitely not want to skip the opening sequence, as the animators built each one for the individual episode, with some great Easter eggs and variations that are simply eXcellent.
One noticeable flaw is that, at times, the appearance of certain characters comes off as slightly disconnected from when they were last seen, either in X-Men: The Animated Series or even X-Men ’97, for that matter. Archangel in particular suffers from this issue, but it’s a problem that goes back to the original 1990s series, when he clearly wasn’t set up as an original member of the X-Men or one of Professor Xavier’s students. However, the series later retroactively reveals Angel/Warren Worthington as one of the original X-Men. So, it’s a longstanding issue.
Similarly, in X-Men ’97 Season 1, Storm seemingly had no recollection of Forge, despite both of them being present when he helped save the team from the Phalanx in “The Phalanx Covenant.” Seriously, Storm doesn’t remember how Forge basically saved the X-Men and the entire world in that storyline?
Ultimately, those are small potatoes for what looks to be a harrowing and action-packed season so far. The animators also create some amazing visuals in the first four episodes, setting a high bar for episodic traditional animation. If X-Men ’97 manages to stick the landing for the rest of the season, it should easily surpass the first.
Where To Watch X-Men ’97 Season 2
X-Men ’97 Season 2 debuts with three episodes on Disney+ on July 1. Season 2 will consist of nine episodes, with new episodes dropping on Wednesday nights.
The first season, plus the entire original X-Men: The Animated Series, is also streaming now on Disney+.
