X-Men ’97 Season Two Officially Returns With Crucial Lore Reveal

The countdown to X-Men ’97 season 2 begins, and Marvel releases a new piece of information that will likely be key to its plot. Magneto’s mutant faction has been sent to Ancient Egypt in 3000 B.C., where a younger En Sabah Nur presents the X-Men with an unexpected trial. Meanwhile, the deep reaches of the Shi’ar Empire, forgotten Earth enclaves, and returning characters like Polaris will add new layers to the conflict that awaits the time-traveling mutants back home.

X-Men ’97 season 2’s sweeping scale opens the door for iconic powerhouses from the original 1990s animated series to step into much larger roles. Major mutants like Angel and Psylocke, who share a deeply personal history with Apocalypse’s Horseman program, and the time-traveling warriors Bishop and Cable are likely to play significant roles this season. Missing faces like Professor X and the Maximoff Twins, both of whom are reportedly off-world, may also surprise audiences soon.

Before X-Men ’97 season 2 arrives on July 1st, Marvel provides a first glimpse at the animated series’ prelude comic, which begins to set the stage for the show.

X-Men ’97’s Official Comic Prelude Confirms Bastion And Magneto’s Attacks Are Called “E-Day”

X-Men ’97: Season Two #1; Written By Steve Foxe; Art By Salvador Espín & Matt Milla

Marvel’s comic prelude to the upcoming X-Men ’97 season 2 opens with the epilogue to X-Men ’97 season 1, which features a conversation between Bishop and Forge over the fallen and the disappeared mutants. However, the comic adds a key detail: this conversation takes place six months after “E-Day.” E-Day is officially the momentous event that wiped out a significant fraction of the mutant population, courtesy of the chain of events composed of the Genosha massacre, Bastion’s attack, and Magneto’s Asteroid M tragedy in X-Men ’97 season 1’s finale.

E-Day joins an officially recognized list of tragic events in X-Men history. The baseline for mass mutant slaughter was established during the Mutant Massacre, where the Marauders purged the underground Morlock community within the Manhattan tunnels. Decades later, Grant Morrison’s E Is for Extinction saw Cassandra Nova hijack a fleet of Wild Sentinels to execute sixteen million mutants on Genosha, which X-Men ’97 attributes to Mother Mold and Bastion. This was followed by House of M‘s M-Day, which saw Scarlet Witch wipe out 99% of the world’s mutants. Now, X-Men ’97 mirrors M-Day with E-Day.

E-Day Will Be Essential To X-Men ’97 Season 2

E-Day Is The Centerpiece Of The X-Men The Animated Series Universe

X-Men ’97 season 2 is set to navigate the harrowing geopolitical vacuum left by the animated continuity’s version of E-Day. This devastating milestone strikes a population already deeply traumatized by the Genosha massacre and Bastion’s first direct battle with the X-Men. With the world believing the X-Men perished in the upper atmosphere, the civilian world realizes that Charles Xavier’s dream has been violently blotted out. Back in the present-day 1990s, the X-Men’s absence may trigger an aggressive rise in extreme anti-mutant legislation and global hysteria.

Militant factions like the Friends of Humanity and government opportunists may capitalize on mutants’ defenselessness and try to push mutant integration backward. Concurrently, the remaining mutant community may be divided by Magneto’s final stand. With major mutants scattered across disparate timelines, the ones left behind in the present must cobble together an underground resistance without their traditional leaders. This ideological fragmentation will likely catalyze the rise of a highly aggressive, reactionary defensive front. New and returning factions like X-Factor or a desperate, leaderless Brotherhood may emerge to fill the void.

What do you expect from X-Men ’97 season 2?

X-Men ’97 Season 2 #1 is available June 3 from Marvel Comics.

Release Date

March 20, 2024

Network

Disney+

Directors

Jake Castorena, Emi Yonemura, Chase Conley

Writers

Charlie Feldman, Anthony Sellitti, Beau DeMayo, JB Ballard