The animated revival of X-Men: The Animated Series was announced back in November 2021. Retitled X-Men ’97, the new series hitting Disney+ promises to continue the story of the original cartoon. This is the first official X-Men or mutant-related project since the company acquired 20th Century Fox.
While the live-action X-Men have been teased in the MCU project Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Ms. Marvel, so far, X-Men ’97 is the only official X-Men project in development.
X-Men: The Animated Series originally aired from 1992-1997 on the Fox Kids Network. Cal Dodd, Lenore Zann, George Buza, Adrian Hough, Christopher Britton, Catherine Disher, Chris Potter, Alison Sealy-Smith and Alyson Court are all set to reprise their roles. Marvel Studios’ animation division promised to deliver more X-Men ’97 updates at San Diego Comic-Con, and it happened.
During the San Diego Comic-Con panel, Marvel Studios Animation announced that the first season of X-Men ’97 would be released in fall 2023 and that the second season had been given the green light.
The studio also officially revealed the line-up for Disney+’s X-Men ’97 sequel. These include Rogue, Gambit, Wolverine, Jubilee, Cyclops, Storm, Jean Grey, and Beast. Even more X-Men are featured with Nightcrawler, Cable, Bishop, Morph, Forge, and Sunspot joining the fray.
A roster of X-Men ’97 villains is also featured, including Sebastian Shaw, Emma Frost, Callisto, Val Cooper, and Mister Sinister. Also a close-up of Magneto, the leader of the X-Men in the upcoming series, was revealed.
X-Men ’97 achieved a lot with just one series. It will introduce the X-Men via Disney+ to modern-day Marvel fans, provide fans with the long-awaited successor to X-Men: The Animated Series and help grow Marvel Studios’ animation division.
With specific plans for the MCU to kick off its own live-action X-Men story, the revamped animated series may play a bigger role in the multiverse saga than expected.
