The first season of X-Men ’97 concluded this week on Disney+. The series, which follows on from the animated series X-Men from the 1990s, met with a huge success with fans of the Marvel universe. But then, how does this first season prepare the ground for the second?
x-men ’97: the surprise!
Released a few weeks ago on Disney+, X-Men ’97 was unanimously accepted. among fans of the Marvel. universe The show, developed by Beau DeMayoturned out to be be a visual and narrative success. Very faithful to the comics, the series has above all succeeded in achieving recreate the atmosphere of the original series while modernizing its aesthetic approach and themes. It's exciting, full of surprises and technically impeccable.
The first season of X-Men ’97ended this week with an exceptional twist. Those who have not yet seen the outcome of the series are invited to do so. Stop reading this paragraph here otherwise you will be spoiled. Still there? Well the first season of X-Men ’97 ends with the mutants being scattered across the time continuum. Malicia, Le Fauve, Charles Xavier, Diablo and Magneto find themselves next to each other. the time of Ancient Egypt and crosses the path of Apocalypse,while Scott and Jean are sent to an inhospitable future in 3960 A.D. As for Wolverine, Tornado and Morph, they are missing. Forge and Bishop will team up to reunite the X-Men team in the present.
What about season 2?
Since At the end of the series, Beau DeMayo is questioned. by the American media on the continuation of the series. To Entertainment Weekly, the showrunner declared: that:
All roads lead to Apocalypse. I mean, that's normal. It's most often either Sinister, Magneto, or Apocalypse the big bad guy.
Brad Winderbaum, the director of Marvel Animation, returned to the introduction of Apocalypse to the end of this first season of X-Men ’97 :
It was always part of Beau DeMayo's plans to bring Apocalypse back to life. at a given moment. But season 1 was always going to be dictated by the presences of Magento and Sinister, until then. the arrival of Bastion, the nasty surprise. Apocalypse was never an option for this season 1, but has always been an option for this season 1, but has always been an option for this season 1, but has always been in plans for the sequel.
Apocalypse is an iconic supervillain from the comics. It is considered as the first mutant of creation. Main antagonist of the film X-Men: Apocalypse, the latter was also released. at the center of the X-Men and seriesX-Men: Evolution. We even see the character again in the post-credits scene of the series. The latter stands in front of the grave of Gambit, which suggests that the terrible supervillain will bring Remy Lebeau back to life. life to make him one of his 4 horsemen.
Jack Castorena, one of the producers of the series, expanded on this sequence post-credits:
Nothing happens by accident. Everything is meticulously calculated, including this sequence.
Focus on the two different timelines
Besides Apocalypse, season 2 of X-Men ’97 will take its audience to the next level. through different timelines. Brad Winderbaum and Beau DeMayo were influenced by Star Trek: Picard, notably by the third season on which they worked. It was Star Trek in particular that pushed the the two men at send Scott and Jean into the future, as Brad Winderbaum explains.
I looked at Star Trek: The Next Generation by reading X-Men comics. The stories were very similar. It is therefore poetic for us to introduce Mother Askani.
In this timeline, Jean and Scott come face to face with her. nose with a younger version of Cable. As for; Mother Askani, it is in reality about by Rachel Summers, the daughter of Scott and Jean in another temporality. But in the comics, she takes the name Mother Askani of the Askani Clan, a group dedicated to &àgrave; preserving Xavier's vision in a future timeline where Apocalypse has extinguished all hope.
A conclusion which suggests in which direction season 2 of X-Men ’97 will go. The two timelines will be closely linked, and the X-Men present in Egypt should logically have an impact on the era in which Jean and Scott find themselves. >. Above all, the Summers family will be largely highlighted in season 2. Brad Winderbaum has in fact insisted on this. on this notion of family:
The family dynamic, whether it's that of the Summers, or the relationship between Malicia and Diablo, will be at the center of season 2. We will constantly explore it.
X- Men ’97was renewed for a second, but also a third season. It must be said that Beau DeMayo's show was a success. highly regarded on the Disney+ platform. The broadcast reached 4 million views during its first 5 days of operation. It is currently one of the most watched animated series in the catalog. Brad Winderbaum looked back on this impressive success and how he's approaching the future:
It's a lot of pressure, for us and for the studio. We are in the process of carving out the narrative arc for the second season. We find our plans for the future. It’s exciting and we learned a lot of lessons.
Beau DeMayo, however, gave up on the game. adventure and will not return as showrunner for the other seasons. But Brad Winderbaum is not worried and has things in hand:
We will have a new head writer for season 3. We will honor Beau's ideas for the second season.
No release dates yet though.