X-Men ’97 Season 2 Eps 1-4 review: a high-energy first act

The first season of X-Men ’97 left its successor in a difficult place. After a season of high tension, with the X-Men facing inner conflict and a major attack on their freedom, the team was scattered throughout time, and left to face the pieces of their dissolution.

The first episode of Season 2 picks up immediately in this aftermath, focusing on several different groups of X-Men as they come to terms with a multitude of new and more dangerous circumstances, while the impending arrival of the villainous Apocalypse looms.

Season 2 picks up immediately after the events of the first season

Following the attack on the island nation of Genosha which killed fan-favourite X-Men Gambit, and the crash of mutant refuge Asteroid M, the sentiment around mutants – evolved humans with special abilities – has devolved further in X-Men ’97.

From being feared and distrusted, there is now a larger push to control them, with many being captured by the United States government, and others operating under a strict edict.

Season 2 introduces the B-tier mutant group known as X-Force as a literal mutant police force, led by Magneto’s daughter, Lorna Dane aka Polaris.

It also introduces a new sub-group of young mutants, including Quentin Quire, the Stepford Cuckoos, Nature Girl, Dust, and more, although the quicker pace necessary by having so much packed into these early episodes means many of them are given short-thrift.

With the X-Men scattered to time, X-Men ’97 has a number of threads to follow, and in the few first episodes of this second season (comprising our complete preview), it also means several promising story threads are laid out for a future cascade of dominoes, but that there’s not much time to dwell on them individually.

There are standout moments in lesser plots, particularly in the new X-Men team corralled by Cable, which is a group featuring Jubilee, Sunspot, Psylocke, and Archangel (who long-time X-Men fans will know is a product of Apocalypse’s interference with Angel). They do get chances to shine in short, dazzling battles.

X-Force and Cable’s team get a particularly flashy fight together, with Jubilee getting a notable spotlight.

Wolverine also gets some hard-hitting fights, although his more compelling subplot – that the Adamantium metal has been ripped out of his body, and he’s devolved into a more feral form as a result – is swept over, alongside other more intriguing developments.

These moments are just a small part of the action of the early season, which is more focused on a darker future, and the all-important arrival of Apocalypse, as teased in the first season.

The Apocalypse is nigh

The primary focus of these first episodes is on the mutant groups of Professor Xavier, Magneto, Rogue, Beast, Cable, and Nightcrawler, trapped with a young En Sabah Nur – the future Apocalypse who grapples with a great destiny – and the group of Jean Grey and Cyclops, who are in a future ruled by Apocalypse, where their son Nathan (the future Cable) is also grappling with his own intended destiny, as a hardened mutant warrior.

In most plots of time travel, there is a natural confusion about time and place, and cause and effect. X-Men ’97 does a good job at balancing its timelines by focusing on only two of its main X-Men-featuring strands early on, although this is to the detriment of other compelling plots.

Jean Grey and Cyclops get essential character development here, in the need to mentor Nathan, while preparing him for a harsh future. Their particular trials chart ideas of pre-destiny and letting go, analysing what’s set in stone.

On the other end of the timeline, En Sabah Nur confronts the same questions, as the scattered X-Men attempt to change his fate by twisting fact, and trying to push back against the inevitable.

As X-Men canon would tell you, Apocalypse must be born. The early part of this season focuses on nature and nurture, and whether the future can be rewritten with the knowledge of the past, to a spectacular outcome.

The building blocks for multiple future clashes

By nature, the first episodes of this season are largely concerned with set-up, paving the way for new character introductions that will likely be paid off in future.

But even with the need to rebuild its story, reintroduce characters, and set up new tribulations, this first half of X-Men ’97 doesn’t skimp on the excitement.

There are ample flashy battles here, and one particular skirmish that will have ramifications for the show going forward, depending on how much they lean into Apocalypse’s history, and how his particular, often ill-defined powers work.

As the show has made clear from the start, while it’s largely inspired by X-Men history, it’s also unafraid to dig deeply into canon, and to remix events for a higher purpose. The death of Gambit was one clue in the first season, and the events that swiftly unfold in this opening provide plenty more.

Given established canon, we can make some guesses as to where X-Men ’97 goes next. But the fun is in the journey, what changes are made along the way, and how the show will pay off the many disparate threads established here, while doing justice to its swiftly-growing cast of characters.

The straps are on, and the ride is now ready to exit the station. What follows should be a thrill.

X-Men ’97 Season 2 streams on Disney+ from 1 July.

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