The second season of the American animated television series X-Men '97 is based on the Marvel Comics superhero team X-Men. The series is a revival of X-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997), continuing the story of the X-Men. In the season, the X-Men are scattered throughout time—from Ancient Egypt to the far future—and must find their way back to the 1990s to stop Apocalypse. It was produced by Marvel Studios Animation, with Beau DeMayo as head writer and Jake Castorena as supervising director.
Ray Chase, Jennifer Hale, Alison Sealy-Smith, Cal Dodd, J. P. Karliak, Chris Potter, Holly Chou, Gui Agustini, Naoko Mori, Christopher Barger, Matthew Waterson, Lenore Zann, George Buza, Adrian Hough, Ross Marquand, Isaac Robinson-Smith, Gil Birmingham and Carolina Ravassa star as members of the X-Men and X-Force. Sealy-Smith, Dodd, Zann, Buza, and Hough reprised their roles from the original series. Work on the season began by July 2022, with DeMayo and Castorena returning. Voice recording began by February 2023, writing was completed by March 2024, and animation work was underway by then. DeMayo was fired by Marvel at that time and Matthew Chauncey was hired to replace him as head writer in July. Chauncey oversaw rewrites for the season.
The season premiered on the streaming service Disney+ on July 1, 2026, with its first three episodes. The other six episodes were released weekly until August 12. A third season was confirmed in March 2024. __TOC__
Episodes
Cast and characters
Main
Ray Chase as Scott Summers / Cyclops Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey and Rahne Sinclair / Wolfsbane Alison Sealy-Smith as Ororo Munroe / Storm Cal Dodd as Logan / Wolverine J. P. Karliak as Morph Chris Potter as Nathan Summers / Cable Holly Chou as Jubilation Lee / Jubilee Gui Agustini as Roberto da Costa / Sunspot Naoko Mori as Betsy Braddock / Psylocke Christopher Barger as Warren Worthington III / Archangel Matthew Waterson as Erik "Magnus" Lehnsherr / Magneto and Eson Lenore Zann as Rogue George Buza as Dr. Henry "Hank" McCoy / Beast Adrian Hough as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler and Strong Guy Ross Marquand as Professor Charles Xavier and Apocalypse Isaac Robinson-Smith as Lucas Bishop Gil Birmingham as Forge Carolina Ravassa as Lorna Dane / Polaris
Recurring
Rachel Kimsey as Ship, Danger, and Bella Donna Boudreaux Donna Jay Fulks as Trish Tilby Catherine Disher as Dr. Valerie Cooper Teddy Sears as Alex Summers / Havok Debra Wilson as Candra / X-Ternal
Notable guests
Gates McFadden as Mother Askani Michael Johnston as young Nathan Summers Zehra Fazal as Emma Frost Lawrence Bayne as Abraham Kieros / War and Carl Denti Adetokumboh M'Cormack as En Sabah Nur Chris Britton as Logos John de Lancie as Rama-Tut / Kang Lake Bell as Natasha Romanova / Black Widow Josh Keaton as Steve Rogers / Captain America Todd Haberkorn as Dr. Abraham Cornelius Ben Pronsky as Garrison Kane and Graydon Creed Erika Ishii as Yuriko Oyama / Lady Deathstrike Crispin Freeman as Maverick Darin De Paul as Sabretooth and Omega Red Robert Cait as Piotr "Peter" Rasputin / Colossus Courtenay Taylor as Illyana Rasputin / Magik A. J. LoCascio as Remy LeBeau / Gambit and Bobby LeBeau Ron Rubin as Jamie Madrox / Multiple Man Randall Carpenter as Mystique
Production Development X-Men '97, a revival and continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997), was announced by Marvel Studios Animation in November 2021. Beau DeMayo was set as head writer and executive producer, with Jake Castorena as supervising director and Charley Feldman as supervising producer. The Animated Series producer and director Larry Houston and showrunners Eric and Julia Lewald were consulting on the revival. Work on a second season had begun by July 2022. Chase Conley and Emmett Yonemura returned as directors from the first season.
DeMayo was fired by Marvel Studios in March 2024, following an investigation that led to "egregious" findings. The studio was searching for his replacement by then. In June 2024, Marvel told DeMayo that they would be removing his credits from the second season due to violations of his termination agreement; however, DeMayo still received creator, executive producer, and writing credits for the season. Matthew Chauncey, a writer on Marvel Studios's first animated series What If...? (2021–2024), was hired in July 2024 to replace DeMayo as head writer of the series moving forward. Houston and the Lewalds were made executive producers starting with the second season, serving alongside Marvel Studios's Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, and Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt, and DeMayo. Castorena was a supervising producer for the season.
Writing Writing on the second-season finale started by July 2023, and DeMayo had finished writing for the season by the time he was fired in March 2024. Other writers for the season included JB Ballard, Bailey Moore, Antony Sellitti, Brian Ford Sullivan, and Mariah Wilson. The season's scripts had reportedly been revised and rewritten by July 2024, with Chauncey overseeing rewrites.
As teased at the end of the first season, the second season features a storyline centered around the villain Apocalypse, and sees the X-Men scattered throughout time and needing to find their way back to the 1990s: Professor Charles Xavier, Magneto, Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Beast are in Ancient Egypt in 3000 B.C.; Cyclops and Jean Grey are in 3960 A.D. with future versions of their children; Bishop and Forge are in the 1990s, trying to get the X-Men back; and Storm, Wolverine, and Morph are initially unaccounted for. Julia Lewald likened this storyline to when Xavier and Magneto are trapped in the Savage Land in the second season of the original series, and said separating the X-Men allowed them to have fun with specific character groupings. Eric Lewald said the storyline allowed Apocalypse to be explored at different points in his life: his early years as En Sabah Nur in Ancient Egypt, when his path to becoming a villain begins; his attempts to "cull the herd of the weak so that only the strong survive" in the present day; and the far future where "his vision becomes reality, perhaps". Houston said the death of Gambit in the first season would continue to have a big impact in the second, and the character Polaris would have a pivotal character arc that impacts both the X-Men and X-Force. Rama-Tut, a variant of Kang the Conqueror, makes an appearance in the season despite that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)'s version of the character portrayed by Jonathan Majors was removed from the "Multiverse Saga" following Majors' December 2023 firing. Supervising producer Jake Castorena noted that Rama Tut was always part of the season's script phase since its very early drafts, though he didn't know whether he was included by DeMayo and the writers' room to tie-in with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty before it was retooled into Avengers: Doomsday (2026) because there was always some level of synergy amongst the studios despite the show not being set within the MCU.
In September 2024, DeMayo stated that Marvel Studios had removed his planned tenth episode of the season and re-written the rest of the episodes to reflect this change. He explained that in his version of the scripts there had been hints throughout the season leading to the appearance of the character Onslaught in the tenth episode, which also included elements based on the comic book storyline Age of Apocalypse (1995). The episode would have ended with Gambit freeing Bishop from prison in an Age of Apocalypse timeline and the pair escaping from evil Cyclops in a similar scene to the Darth Vader hallway scene at the end of the Star Wars film Rogue One (2016). DeMayo opined that the decision to change his scripts came from directors and executives who believed they "know better than the comics" and added that "Marvel loves shooting themselves in the foot".
Casting and voice recording Main voice actors returning from the first season include Ray Chase as Scott Summers / Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Ororo Munroe / Storm, Cal Dodd as Logan / Wolverine, J. P. Karliak as Morph, Lenore Zann as Rogue, George Buza as Dr. Henry "Hank" McCoy / Beast, Isaac Robinson-Smith as Lucas Bishop, Matthew Waterson as Erik "Magnus" Lehnsherr / Magneto, Ross Marquand as Professor Charles Xavier and Apocalypse, and Adrian Hough as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler.
Lawrence Bayne, who voiced Nathan Summers / Cable in the original series and Carl Denti / X-Cutioner in the first season, also returned for the second season. Gil Birmingham also returns as Forge from the first season. Michael Johnston voices a young Nathan Summers. The season's production brief revealed that Carolina Ravassa voices Polaris. DeMayo previously claimed in May 2025 that he had originally cast Neve Campbell in the role due to her status as a "'90s icon" and her amazing work in bringing something new. Josh Keaton returns to voice Steve Rogers / Captain America from the first season, while Lake Bell voices Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow; both voiced different versions of the characters in What If...?. Robert Cait and Randall Carpenter reprised their respective roles as Colossus and Mystique from the original series in the season.
Dodd revealed in February 2023 that he had started recording for the second season, while Zann had begun recording material for the season in August 2023. By May 2024, she had completed her work on the season except for additional dialogue recording (ADR). Despite the COVID-19 pandemic having less of an impact on the season's production, voice recording continued to take place remotely as with the first season due to many cast members being based in different locations.
Animation and design Animation was provided by Red Dog Culture House, Tiger Animation and Jam Filled Entertainment. The 2D animation style of the original series was retained, but "slightly modernized" to improve the quality and reflect advances in animation since the 1990s; Castorena described the series as "fresh, but familiar". Winderbaum said there was a "code of ethics" they followed to align with the restrictions of the 1990s animation, but they occasionally broke this for dramatic effect. Animatics for the entire season had been created by March 2024.
The season's opening was altered for the second episode to say "X-Force" instead of "X-Men", given the episode was centered on the team. Waterson originally recorded Magneto's death at Apocalypse's hands in the third episode with the former being entirely alone in facing the latter, but the sequence was visually changed later on to have the fight be less nebulous and more direct as well include Professor X in the scene because it was deemed important to have one of Magnet's oldest and closest friends witness his demise. The X-Men wear costumes in the season based on those from Grant Morrison's New X-Men (2001) comics. DeMayo said the decision to change the costumes was based on the story and themes he was focused on for the season, noting that the costumes had "strong ties" to the fictional country Genosha and Morrison's "E Is for Extinction" storyline from New X-Men #115 which was adapted in the first season.
Morph's shape-shifting powers allow for cameo appearances by various Marvel characters, such as Thor and Deadpool.
Music In April 2024, Taylor Newton Stewart confirmed that he and John Andrew Grush, known professionally as the Newton Brothers, were returning as composers for the second season. They had not yet begun writing music for it by that point. Natalie Holt's scores for Loki (2021–2023) is referenced for Kang's role in the season.
The episode "A Force to Be Reckoned With" features the song Volcano Girls by alternative rock band Veruca Salt. The song was originally released in 1997.