X-MEN '97 Season 2 Trailer Unleashes Apocalypse, New Mutant Teams, and a Bigger Battle Ahead
Marvel Television has dropped a brand-new trailer and poster for X-Men '97 Season 2, and it offers fans a much better look at what awaits the beloved mutant heroes when the animated series returns next month.
After an incredible first season that captured the spirit of the classic X-Men: The Animated Series while pushing the story into exciting new territory, Season 2 looks ready to raise the stakes even higher.
The latest footage teases a massive roster of heroes and villains, introduces some fan-favorite mutant characters, and gives us a closer look at the looming threat of Apocalypse.
The trailer puts the spotlight back on familiar X-Men icons including Storm, Rogue, Wolverine, and Cyclops. At the same time, it highlights several mutants who are set to play major roles in the upcoming season, including Wolfsbane, Polaris, Strong Guy, and Archangel.
These characters appear to be forming the foundations of the X-Factor and X-Force teams, expanding the mutant world in a big way.
Of course, one of the biggest takeaways from the trailer is Apocalypse himself, and everything points to him becoming the central threat of the season.
Season 1 ended with the X-Men defeating Bastion and stopping Asteroid M from crashing into Earth. However, victory came at a cost. The team found themselves scattered across different points in time, with some members encountering a younger En Sabah Nur long before he would become Apocalypse.
The finale also strongly hinted that Apocalypse may begin assembling his Horsemen, and many fans are already speculating that Gambit could return from the dead as one of them.
The official synopsis for the new season reads: "X-Men ’97 Season 2 continues with the heroic mutant team of X-Men, divided and thrown across different eras in time as they struggle to navigate their return home. Meanwhile, back in the 1990s, suspicious foes and new strains of mutant intolerance are on the rise in the wake of the X-Men’s absence."
Marvel still hasn't officially announced the new cast members joining the series, but there’s a rumor that Neve Campbell will be voicing Polaris, while Michael Johnston recently revealed on Instagram that he will provide the voice of Nathan Summers.
While fans are eagerly awaiting Season 2, it sounds like Marvel is already thinking much further ahead. Executive producer Larry Houston recently shared an encouraging update with Entertainment Weekly, confirming that the creative team is already deep into future seasons and that the wait between installments should be much shorter moving forward.
Houston explained: "They want everyone to know it's only gonna be a year now between seasons, not two-and-a-quarter years. It's gonna be a year until the next one and a year until the next one [after that]. They are on schedule now."
He continued: "One of the reasons they're on schedule is we've gone over, given notes on, responded to not only all the scripts for season 3, all the animatics for season 3, we are in season 4 giving script notes. So that's how deep they are into the development."
That's great news for fans who don't want to endure another lengthy gap between seasons. It also shows just how much confidence Marvel has in the series after the overwhelmingly positive response to its debut season.
The second season will consist of nine episodes and features a returning voice cast that includes Ross Marquand as Professor X, Matthew Waterson as Magneto, Ray Chase as Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, Lenore Zann as Rogue, and George Buza as Beast.
Between the time-travel storyline, the arrival of new mutant teams, and Apocalypse preparing to make his move, Season 2 looks like it's shaping up to be another awesome chapter in the X-Men saga. If the trailer is any indication, the X-Men are heading into one of their toughest battles yet.
X-Men '97 Season 2 premieres on Disney+ on July 1.