For many millennials, X-Men: The Animated Series was the first introduction to Marvel characters and storytelling. The catchy theme song and cool powers caught our imagination, and the show ran for five seasons. And next year, they’re coming back via new episodes on Disney+.
X-Men ’97 will land on the Disney streaming service in 2023, followed by Season 2 sometime after that. The story will continue the adventures of X-Men: The Animated Series. Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean Gray, Storm, Jubilee, Gambit, Rogue, and Beast are all along for the ride. Magneto, however, will be leading them this time around. Of course, other mutants will appear, too. Announced characters include time travelers Cable and Bishop, as well as Morph and the teleporting mutant Nightcrawler. The heroes will face off against the Hellfire Club–the one that the Stranger Things D&D crew named itself after–which includes Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw. Mr. Sinster will be there, too. The series will sport the same overall look as the original series, though with more modern animation.
Mutants have been absent from the MCU since its inception, but this summer brought us two big moments that clue us into how close the X-Men’s live-action return could be–beware spoilers for Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and the Ms. Marvel finale. The Doctor Strange sequel took the titular sorcerer to a variety of different versions of the multiverse; in one of them, he met Professor X, played once again by Patrick Stewart. However, this time around the character sported the green suit and yellow hoverchair of the X-Men animated series. And then in the final moments of Ms. Marvel, her friend Bruno revealed to her that she has a genetic mutation. Mutation and mutant are words that Marvel does not use lightly–they even once used the classification to win a lawsuit about action figure tariffs. In other words, take heed.
Alongside the announcement of X-Men ’97, Marvel also announced three additional animated projects: What If…? Season 2, Marvel Zombies, and Spider-Man: Freshman Year, the latter of which will feature Charlie Cox as Daredevil.
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