What the History of X-Men: The Animated Series Means for X-Men '97

As hard as this might be to accept for some, X-Men: The Animated Series was canceled almost thirty years ago, long enough for the concept of "the Saturday morning cartoon" to become entombed in memory. Kids have access to colorful superhero adventures on a level their parents could only dream of when they were — gulp, sob — younger, yet streaming has also enabled the nostalgia machine to operate in perpetuity, keeping the animated artifacts of yesteryear in circulation.

Today? It's cartoons on tap; Saturdays no longer required (though still appreciated). But streamers require a constant flood of content to keep the tykes, not to mention their cartoon-devouring folks, engaged and/or happy. So it's really no surprise that Disney+ greenlit X-Men '97, a sequel series meant to pick up where X-Men left off: it's branded content from a recognized property, fondly recalled by those who now make the financial choices about which streamers cross their household's high-definition threshold.

For Disney, it's a potential ratings win; for Marvel Studios, which has taken the long way around introducing its Merry Mutants in live action, it's a slight release of pressure. For fans of a series that was, for a time, the longest-running superhero animated series on TV, it's an opportunity to see their favorite characters in new adventures — the modern television ideal of fan appeasement and corporate maneuvering.

X-Men '97 might be the streaming event for older fans of the Fox Kids series and a foundational series for the young ones coming up today intrigued by the colorful characters, laser action, and topical mutant strife that has long defined Charles Xavier's X-Men both as a cartoon and a comic book parable. Outside of the comics that gave them life (for now, anyway), Xavier's dream of a peaceful co-existence between mutants and humans exists exclusively on Disney+, nostalgia, at first blush, seemingly powering its stores. But looks can be misleading.

The saga of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Storm, Rogue, Gambit, Beast, Jubilee, and Morph has changed in ways even Professor X wasn't prepared for, and our lives have changed — evolved, even — since X-Men: The Animated Series aired on Saturday mornings. Time will tell whether the X-Men's big return to ’90s glory will be praised as a victory lap or dismissed as a rose-tinted throwback, and with showrunner Beau DeMayo’s recent (and sudden) departure from the show, a new X-factor has arisen that may affect its future. For now, here's everything we currently know about X-Men '97, which premieres March 20 with two episodes, followed by weekly releases.

Where Did X-Men: The Animated Series Leave Off Again?

Oh, nowhere special — just a paradigm-shifting X-event tossed off as a single episode. In the Season 5 finale, "Graduation Day," Professor X, headmaster of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters and leader of the X-Men, is attacked by the anti-mutant maniac Henry Gyrich. Thrust into a strange limbo between psychic life and physical death, the Professor was taken into space by his intergalactic quasi-love interest, the Majestrix Lilandra of the Shi'ar Empire, leaving his mutant students to fight for Xavier's dream in a world that hates and fears them.

Their new headmaster? Seemingly, it's Magneto, Xavier's old friend and longtime enemy, who once fought for mutant liberation through extreme and grandiose means. Judging by the X-Men '97, it seems Magneto's set aside his plans — and Genosha, the mutant-populated island he rules over — to support his friend Xavier during this tragedy. A crisis awaits the X-Men; thanks to Gyrich's actions, relations between mutants and humans are worse than ever. Will Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, and the other altruistic X-Men begin to see the world through Magneto's extreme view? Time will tell.

What Else Should I Remember From Season 5?

Among the breadcrumbs left behind by X-Men Season 5, there's Project: Wideawake, a covert military group established in "Hidden Agendas" as the next big governmental headache for the X-Men; Cannonball, the teenage mutant who can turn his body into a rocket and, in the comics, is a founding member of The New Mutants; Apocalypse, the mutant tyrant, has escaped his astral prison and inhabited the body of mutant zealot Fabian Cortez; and then there's Bishop and Cable, two time-traveling mutants who will have a larger impact on the series going forward in different ways. (Bishop appears to have become a full-time X-Man in the present day, and Cable, Cyclops and Jean's future son, makes a subtle appearance in the trailer.)

Then there's the not-insignificant matter of Mister Sinister, whose murderous origins were finally revealed in the standalone episode "Descent." Given the chaotic Season 4 four-parter "Beyond Good and Evil," where every onscreen X-character ever appeared in what sure seemed like the series finale, getting Sinister's backstory in the truncated fifth season felt superfluous at the time. With X-Men '97 showrunner Beau DeMayo (The Witcher) — who’s since departed the series — confirming that Mister Sinister will return as a major series antagonist, the episode now functions like a grim precursor for Sinister's future plans. (Without spoiling much, the episode goes back to Victorian London and involves Jack the Ripper. Yes, really.)

Also, lest we forget, Charles Xavier is still out there, comatose, in Shi'ar space.

Will I Need to Watch X-Men: The Animated Series to "Get" X-Men '97?

Spare a thought for the intrepid young viewers who ventured into X-Men: The Animated Series on Halloween 1992 without years of film and television planting the concept of superhero teams in their heads via cultural osmosis. In a lore-heavy series like X-Men, the kids needed a guide. "Maybe the most original decision we made was to add Jubilee to the lineup," Mark Edens, the head writer for XTAS, told Inverse in 2022. "She was chosen very consciously as the stand-in for the audience. Most people hadn't heard of the X-Men, so we needed someone who, like the audience, didn't know who the X-Men were."

X-Men '97 seems to feature no such character. Jubilee, the teenage orphan whose capture by the mutant-hunting Sentinels kicks off the original series, has since become an established X-Man in her own right. As this is ostensibly X-Men: The Animated Series Season 6, it's a safe bet Jubilee's growth as a teammate remains, even if her neon-draped mallrat design still marks her as the X-Men's new kid on the block. It's possible that Morph, the shapeshifting mutant who perished in the premiere episode only to be resurrected by Mister Sinister, might serve as fresh eyes for new/lapsed viewers as he returns to duty as a full-time X-Man.

The smart advice is to play catch-up with X-Men: The Animated Series; watching the first four episodes of Season 1 ("Night of the Sentinels, Parts I & II," "Enter Magneto," and "Deadly Reunions," all among its best episodes) coupled with the Season 5 finale "Graduation Day," should be sufficient. (It also might be worthwhile to watch the "Phoenix" and "Dark Phoenix" sagas featured in Season 3.) For those perhaps rightfully worried about missing out on the bigger X-picture, every episode of XTAS is currently available on Disney+.

How Many Episodes Are in X-Men '97?

The series has 10 episodes, tied with Season 5 for the shortest season in the XTAS saga, with a second season currently in production. For now, the series has an umbrella rating of TV-PG.

Who Is in the Cast of X-Men '97?

This will almost be a full-blown X-Men reunion. Among those in the XTAS cast to reprise their original roles are Cal Dodd as Wolverine, Lenore Zann as Rogue, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm/Ororo Munroe, George Buza as Beast/Dr. Hank McCoy, and Chris Britton will feature as the series's main villain, Mister Sinister. Adrian Hough will return as the blue-skinned teleporter Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, though his character has been upgraded to full-time X-Men status alongside Bishop, now voiced by Isaac Robinson-Smith (Hamster & Gretel).

Seasoned X-heads should know that Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Jubilee have been recast. Some of these changes are due to the years that have passed since XTAS (Norm Spencer and David Hemblen, the original voices of Cyclops and Magneto, respectively, died in 2020) and to better represent the diversity of the characters in the show. Joining Robinson-Smith in the main cast are Ray Chase (Final Fantasy XV) as Cyclops/Scott Summers, Jennifer Hale (Metal Gear Solid, Green Lantern: The Animated Series) as Jean Grey, AJ LoCascio (Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai) will voice Gambit/Remy LeBeau, Holly Chou (Blue Eye Samurai) takes over as Jubilee/Jubilation Lee, and JP Karliak (Trolls: TrollsTopia) portrays Morph.

IMDb lists vocal mimic Ross Marquand (The Walking Dead) as Professor X in case there is any remaining doubt that Charles Xavier will be left adrift during this new season. Matthew Waterson (Castlevania) joins the cast as Magneto/Erik Lehnsherr. New voices rounding out the main cast are Gil Birmingham (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), who voices Forge/Daniel Lone Eagle, and Eric Bauza becomes legion as the robotic voice of the Sentinels. Gui Agustini was reportedly cast (to some controversy) as Sunspot/Roberto Da Costa, though his official IMDb page no longer lists X-Men '97 in his credits.

Chris Potter, who originally voiced Gambit in the first four seasons, is credited as "Nathan Summers/Cable." Intriguingly, the first Cable, Lawrence Bayne, will voice hilariously named nemesis, The X-Cutioner. Ron Rubin, the former Morph, gets promoted to the role of President Robert Kelly.

There are more surprises in the cast list for X-Men '97. Theo James (the Divergent series) will voice an unspecified role, with DeMayo, who worked with James on the Netflix movie The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, stating that he will feature as "a fan-favorite character." (It's worth noting here that fan favorites Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost of the Hellfire Club will return in X-Men '97.) Catherine Disher, the original Jean Grey, will return in a reportedly antagonistic role as Dr. Valerie Cooper, a government liaison to the White House. Alyson Court, once Jubilee, will also enjoy a darker turn as Abscissa, who appears to share a name with a grimmer alternate future version of the spritely X-Man from the comics.

So What’s Going on With Beau DeMayo?

On March 12, The Hollywood Reporter broke the exclusive that DeMayo, showrunner and head writer for X-Men '97, had been quietly removed from the show’s production. Representatives for DeMayo and Marvel have not provided a reason for this decision, nor is there any information about the nature of his firing. (There are grumblings online that his free Only Fans account, which has been public since at least 2022, might have been a sticking point for the prudish Disney corporation, but that remains speculation at this juncture.)

As Season 1 is days away from release, DeMayo’s stunning departure shouldn’t affect the series at first. We may not feel the effects of his absence until at least Season 3 (Season 2 is currently wrapping voiceover work), which THR says DeMayo was only in the early stages of planning with his fellow writers. All that’s left now is to see what DeMayo brought to X-Men '97, to see if his vision for Marvel’s mutants transcended the nostalgic trappings of a cash-in revival or leaned into them. However the overall quality shakes out, it’s clear Marvel feels comfortable going ahead with the project without DeMayo’s involvement.

What New Comic Stories Can X-Men '97 Adapt?

One fun aspect of the original series was its yen for adapting major X-storylines from the comics, sometimes even inspiring them during production. (As was the case with Season 4's "One Man's Worth," a two-part saga that was so exciting for Marvel that its comics bullpen began work turning it into the celebrated "Age of Apocalypse" event series.) It's perhaps most famous for faithfully adapting the "Phoenix" and "Dark Phoenix" sagas, with show teammates Rogue, Gambit, and Jubilee slotted in for comics characters Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Banshee.

Judging by the trailer, X-Men '97 may not be happy sticking to the confines of the time in which it is based. A fluttering newspaper seen in the Season 1 trailer hints at a "Hellfire Gala," introduced in Jonathan Hickman's recent "House of X/Powers of X" run (also known as "The Krakoan Era"). Without spoiling things for folks who don't read comics, it's safe to say Magneto and his mutant island of Genosha might play a larger role in the future.

There's also "Inferno," the 1989 Marvel crossover event that seems perfect for the return of Mister Sinister, Cyclops and Jean Grey's most despised foe. Considering how Jean survived "The Dark Phoenix Saga" and was not replaced by a leatherbound clone with an affinity for goblins (er, look it up), certain things would have to be moved around for "Inferno" to make sense in the context of the animated universe. Xavier's near-death experience could trigger "Onslaught," a Marvel Universe-decimating event that, in theory, could expand the scope of this animated series in unprecedented ways. (Let's just say XTAS has always been bashful about engaging with the wider Marvel U. Could that change?)

How Will X-Men '97 Change With the Times?

That remains to be seen. It will be interesting to see how Xavier's pacifistic dream of co-existence changes in the eyes of his X-Men after witnessing the violence he suffered for offering an open hand. More interesting will be seeing how our ever-evolving worldview of equality and justice affects this already progressive cartoon series, especially now that adults and children alike are more attuned to the world's many injustices. The X-Men seek the means to be more effective in their fight for mutant rights, so what does that mean in 2024? "Every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward," Patrick Stewart said in 2000's X-Men. For X-Men '97, that evolutionary — or revolutionary — window has narrowed considerably.

Jarrod Jones is a freelance writer currently settled in Chicago. He reads lots (and lots) of comics and, as a result, is kind of a dunderhead.