X-Men '97


X-Men '97 is an American animated television series created by Beau DeMayo for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the X-Men. It is a revival of X-Men: The Animated Series produced by Marvel Studios Animation, and continues the story of the X-Men from the earlier series. DeMayo was head writer for the first two seasons and Matthew Chauncey took over for the third, with Jake Castorena as supervising director.
Ray Chase, Jennifer Hale, Alison Sealy-Smith, Cal Dodd, J. P. Karliak, Lenore Zann, George Buza, A. J. LoCascio, Holly Chou, Isaac Robinson-Smith, Matthew Waterson, Ross Marquand, and Adrian Hough star as members of the X-Men. Sealy-Smith, Dodd, Zann, Buza, and Hough reprised their roles from the original series, as did Christopher Britton. Original series stars Catherine Disher, Chris Potter, Alyson Court, Lawrence Bayne, and Ron Rubin returned to voice new characters.
The revival was first discussed in June 2019 and formally announced in November 2021, with DeMayo and Castorena attached. It is the first X-Men project from Marvel Studios since the company Acquisition of [21st Century Fox by Disney|regained the film and television rights to the characters]. Animation was provided by Studio Mir and Tiger Animation, and is a modernized version of the original series' style. Original producers Eric Lewald, Julia Lewald, and Larry Houston returned to consult on the revival and were made executive producers with the second season. Chase Conley and Emi Yonemura also directed episodes. DeMayo was fired as head writer in March 2024 and Chauncey was hired to replace him that July.
X-Men '97 premiered on March 20, 2024, with its first two episodes. The rest of the ten-episode first season was released weekly until May 15. It received critical acclaim and various accolades. The second season is scheduled to premiere in mid-2026, and the third season is in production.

Premise

X-Men '97 continues the story of X-Men: The Animated Series. In both series, mutants are people born with superhuman abilities that generally manifest during puberty. The X-Men are a team of mutant superheroes founded by Professor Charles Xavier to protect mutants and humans alike. At the end of The Animated Series, Xavier nearly dies in an assassination attempt and is taken to space to be healed by the alien Shi'ar Empire. X-Men '97 begins a year later and sees the X-Men facing new challenges without Xavier, under the leadership of their former adversary Magneto. As with the original series, X-Men '97 combines action, soap opera-style drama, and exploration of serious topics.

Episodes

Season 1 (2024)

Season 2

Work on a second season began by July 2022. Initial head writer Beau DeMayo had finished writing for the season by the time he was fired in March 2024. Voice recording for the season had begun by February 2023, and animatics for the entire season had been created by March 2024. The season is set to premiere in mid-2026.

Season 3

A third season was in development by the end of March 2024. Voice recording started a year later, and animatics for most of the season were created by October 2025. The season is expected to be released a year after the second.

Cast and characters

Main

The mutant field leader of the X-Men whose eyes emit powerful beams of concussive energy. Cyclops is prepared to lead the X-Men after the loss of Charles Xavier, before Magneto takes that role. Chase replaces Cyclops's original voice actor Norm Spencer, who died in 2020. Chase had not seen the original series when he auditioned, and was provided clips and references for the character's voice to base his performance on. After being cast, he watched the original series and listened to interviews of Spencer.
A powerful telepathic and telekinetic mutant who is married to Cyclops, and was once the host of the cosmic entity Phoenix Force. Her relationship with Cyclops is complicated by Wolverine's feelings for her. Hale, who previously voiced the character in other Marvel media, replaces original series voice actress Catherine Disher, and based her performance on Disher's voice.
A mutant metamorph who can change their voice and appearance to that of any person. Morph's base design is updated from the original series to be "pale, hairless, and blankly-featured" similar to the version of the character seen in the "Age of Apocalypse" comic book storyline and the Exiles comic book. Morph identifies as non-binary, but the series does not explicitly use that term as it was not common in the 1990s. Characters that Morph shape-shifts into in the first season include Xavier, Jean Grey, Archangel, Blob, Lady Deathstryke, Colossus, Psylocke, Sabretooth, Spiral, Illyana Rasputina / Magik / Darkchylde, Quicksilver, Juggernaut, Hulk, Mister Sinister, Sauron, and Mister Fantastic. Karliak replaces Morph's original voice actor Ron Rubin.
A mutant who absorbs the memories, powers, and energy of those she touches. The series reveals that Rogue had a secret romantic relationship with Magneto when she was younger, causing friction in her current relationship with Gambit. Zann reprises her role from the original series.
A mutant and former thief who can charge objects with explosive kinetic energy, including his signature playing cards. Gambit's actions in the early episodes—including wearing a crop top and taking his shirt off, and his relationship with Rogue—were intended to endear the audience to him before his death at the end of the fifth episode. LoCascio replaces Gambit's original voice actor Chris Potter.
The youngest member of the X-Men who can create firework-like explosions. Chou replaces Jubilee's original voice actor Alyson Court, who previously said she would not reprise the role and would prefer that an Asian-American actor take it. Court instead voices Abscissa.
A powerful mutant who controls magnetism. Magneto is given control of the X-Men in the last will and testament of Charles Xavier. Waterson replaces Magneto's original voice actor David Hemblen, who died in 2020.
The founder of the X-Men who was taken to space to be healed by the Shi'ar Empire following an assassination attempt. Marquand replaces Xavier's original voice actor Cedric Smith. Coincidentally, both actors previously provided the voice for Marvel villain Red Skull in different projects.
A Catholic, blue mutant with teleporting abilities and prehensile hands and feet. Hough reprises his role from the original series in X-Men '97, which includes the character's playfulness from the comics.

Development

Announcement and first season

Larry Houston, the producer and director of X-Men: The Animated Series, said in June 2019 that he and that series' creative team were discussing a potential revival with Disney. They wanted to continue the story from where the original series ended. Disney subsidiary Marvel Studios was developing their first animated series, What If...?, and executives began discussing what their next animated project could be. The first idea considered was a revival of X-Men: The Animated Series, which was suggested by Brad Winderbaum. The head of streaming, television, and animation at Marvel Studios, Winderbaum was a fan of the series, and said several filmmakers who had met with Marvel Studios in the past had cited that series as a touchstone. In November 2020, Beau DeMayo was asked to present a pitch for the revival after working as a writer for Marvel Studios' live-action Disney+ miniseries Moon Knight. Jeff Trammell also presented a pitch for the revival, but his desire to create an original story rather than continue the narrative from X-Men: The Animated Series led to Marvel Studios suggesting he present a pitch for their Spider-Man animated series, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, instead.
By June 2021, Marvel Studios Animation was developing a slate of at least three series in addition to What If...? that, as of August 2021, were in various stages of development and not expected to be released until 2023. In November, one of these was announced to be X-Men '97, a revival and continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series. Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt, VP of animation at Marvel Studios, said many of the people involved with the revival were fans of the 1990s series and "knew " what the continuation should be. DeMayo was announced as head writer and executive producer, with Jake Castorena as supervising director and Charley Feldman as supervising producer. Houston and the original series' showrunners, Eric and Julia Lewald, were consulting on the revival, assisting with any "red flags" that arose and suggesting things they would like to see. The trio were contacted by Winderbaum shortly after the revival series entered development, and were excited that Marvel chose to make a direct continuation of their series. The Lewalds attributed Disney and Marvel Studios' decision to fast-track the revival to the success of the original series streaming on Disney+ and the release of the book X-Men: The Art and Making of The Animated Series. Castorena, Chase Conley, and Emi Yonemura directed episodes of the first season. Marvel Studios' Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, and Victoria Alonso also served as executive producers.
The series was the first X-Men project from Marvel Studios since they regained the film and television rights to the characters from 20th Century Fox, which put more pressure on DeMayo to get the project right in addition to wanting to respect the original series. X-Men '97 is not set in the Sacred Timeline of Marvel Studios' shared universe, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though Feige did consider integrating the series with the MCU during development. Instead, X-Men '97 shares continuity with the original series and several other animated Marvel series that were released in the 1990s, including Iron Man, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, The Incredible Hulk, and Silver Surfer ; within Marvel Comics' multiverse, X-Men: The Animated Series exists on Earth-92131. Winderbaum said X-Men '97 would continue the original series' tradition of featuring crossover cameo appearances from the other 1990s series. During Marvel Studios Animation's panel at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con, X-Men '97 and the studio's other animated series were described as being part of the "Marvel Animated Multiverse", and Winderbaum said there was potential to connect the series with other MCU properties using the MCU's multiverse.

Firing of DeMayo and further seasons

Work on a second season had begun by July 2022, with Conley and Yonemura returning as directors. By March 2024, DeMayo had finished writing for the season, and had begun discussing ideas for a potential third season when he was fired by Marvel Studios ahead of the series' premiere. He was not involved in further promotion for the series and missed its red carpet premiere, which The Hollywood Reporter said was unusual for someone working on a Marvel Studios project, "even if they've been shuffled to the side" or replaced by other creatives. Marvel said DeMayo had been fired after an investigation that led to "egregious" findings, which reportedly involved sexual misconduct. An agreement made following DeMayo's exit allowed him to still tweet about the series. Winderbaum praised DeMayo's work on the series and said his departure would not negatively affect work on the third season, which was in development by the end of the month and remained on track to meet its production schedule. The studio was searching for DeMayo's replacement by then.
In June 2024, after DeMayo posted gay pride-themed X-Men fan art on his Instagram account, Marvel told him they would be removing his credits from the second season because of the post. This decision was reportedly based on multiple instances that Marvel viewed as violations of DeMayo's termination agreement, in addition to the fan art post. DeMayo said the breaches of his termination agreement were posts that he had made about the first season while it was being released, along with him participating in a screening of the series at a bar. His lawyer Bryan Freedman said the agreement included "illegal unconscionable items". DeMayo released a video in which he denied reports of his own egregious misconduct and accused crew members and Marvel executives of "egregious prejudicial misconduct" against him, saying others had weaponized his identity as a gay Black man to undermine his work. He listed a series of concerns about crew and executives who worked on the series, and also suggested that his role on the second season had been "aggressively marginalized" before his firing due to concerns that he had expressed about the workplace culture of Marvel's Blade |in-development film] Blade while he was working on that project. Matthew Chauncey, a writer on What If...?, was hired in July to write and executive produce the third season, replacing DeMayo. The scripts for the second season had reportedly been revised and rewritten by then, with Chauncey overseeing the rewrites.
Houston and the Lewalds were made executive producers starting with the second season. In February 2025, Winderbaum said the season would be released in 2026, more than a year after the first. He said X-Men '97 and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man were the studio's top priorities for "get to a place where we can reliably have very strong seasons every year", and in October he said future seasons would be released annually "for a number of years". He confirmed that the third season was in production and said discussions about potential fourth and fifth seasons had begun. Winderbaum also addressed questions about future seasons living up to the first season without DeMayo's involvement, saying the rest of the creative team—directors, writers, producers, and cast—remained mostly the same, Houston and the Lewalds continued to be closely involved, and he believed the revival worked because "everyone that works on the show knows that original series inside and out... the second season feels very much a worthy successor to the first season".

Writing

The series' bible was written by April 2022, and confirms that—as with the original series and the comic books—the revival's central ethos is the X-Men are allegories for people who face prejudice and discrimination. Eric Lewald described X-Men '97 as an extension of the original series that the Marvel Studios team had made their own, while Vasquez-Eberhardt said the original series "embraced action, soap opera and serious topics", and the revival would do the same. DeMayo wanted to honor the original series while bringing it into the modern world, hoping to retain its earnestness, emotional sincerity, and focus on found family while updating the social commentary to reflect contemporary society. The new series explores whether Professor Charles Xavier's dream of mutant/human co-existence and his focus on empathy are still relevant to modern audiences, with DeMayo feeling that issues of social acceptance had become more complicated since the 1990s.
The revival begins a year after the loss of Xavier during the original series' finale. The main antagonists for the first season are the returning Mister Sinister and the Sentinels, along with new villain Bastion. As with the original series, various comic book storylines were adapted for the revival. The Animated Series was primarily influenced by Chris Claremont's run on the comics from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, and X-Men '97 continues to adapt stories from that era as well as elements from later in the 1990s and into Grant Morrison's early 2000s run. The second season features a storyline centered around the villain Apocalypse, and sees the X-Men being scattered throughout time and needing to find their way back to the 1990s from different points in the past and future. DeMayo's original plan for the series was to rotate the central characters each season, with Gambit planned to be the focal character of DeMayo's third season.

Casting

Starring in the first season are 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, A. J. LoCascio as Remy LeBeau / Gambit, Holly Chou as Jubilation Lee / Jubilee, Isaac Robinson-Smith as Lucas Bishop, Matthew Waterson as Erik "Magnus" Lehnsherr / Magneto, Ross Marquand as Professor Charles Xavier, and Adrian Hough as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler. Sealy-Smith, Dodd, Zann, Buza, and Hough reprised their roles from the original series, as did Christopher Britton as Mister Sinister. Original series stars Catherine Disher, Chris Potter, Alyson Court, Lawrence Bayne, and Ron Rubin returned to voice new characters.
Returning for the second season are Hale, Dodd, Zann, and Marquand, as well as Bayne.

Animation and design

Animation was provided by Studio Mir and Tiger Animation. 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's pitch for the job of supervising director was to make the series "fresh, but familiar", and he said it needed to be "the show we remember, but it has to be in 4K". Houston advised the animation team on how the original series was made, and the storyboard artists reviewed the original to inform their composition, editing, and cinematography decisions. 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 such as during key action sequences. A VHS-inspired effect was applied to the animation to make it appear more like 1990s television. 3D animation was used to lay out scenes and create more complicated vehicles and ships, but the animation team drew over this in 2D to maintain the series' art style.
The opening title sequence of The Animated Series was recreated with updated animation for the revival. Houston worked with episodic directors Conley and Yonemura to recreate the title sequence based on Houston's original storyboards. DeMayo said the costumes chosen for each character indicated which comic book storylines were being adapted by the series. Lead character designer Amelia Vidal retained the design concepts from the original series along with the style and aesthetics of the X-Men comic books of the 1970s to the 1990s. Any changes from those were made to either better serve the story or to assist with the technical side of the animation. Castorena said mutant powers were used in unique ways to convey their emotions, and his goal was to use mutant powers in ways that had not been seen before. Morph's shape-shifting powers allow for cameo appearances of other mutants.

Music

One of Feige's stipulations for reviving X-Men: The Animated Series was ensuring Marvel Studios was able to use that series' theme song, which was composed by Ron Wasserman. Wasserman composed the theme while under contract with producer Haim Saban, giving legal ownership of the song to Saban. Following legal battles over the use of the theme, Marvel Studios paid a large sum to secure the rights to it in 2022. This was done on the condition that it be re-recorded for future projects and credited to the original series' music executives, Saban and Shuki Levy. Wasserman was set to meet with Marvel about his involvement in the revival by early 2022, but John Andrew Grush and Taylor Newton Stewart—known professionally as the Newton Brothers—were announced to be the composers for X-Men '97 that July.
The Newton Brothers were hired while Marvel was still in the process of securing the rights for the original theme. On revisiting the original series, the composers realized that the music did not match with their childhood memories and many of the original synthesizer sounds would now sound dated to modern audiences. They chose to modernize the score with an orchestra, choir, and some modern synthesizers. However, they felt the theme song should remain more true to the original style, to not "ruin the nostalgic vibes" and embrace the sincerity of the original series. They produced eight different versions of the theme, each with a different amount of orchestral music versus synthesizer music, before settling on the final version. The main melody is played on a synthesizer and an electric guitar, the latter performed by Nili Brosh. The X-Men '97 version of the theme, credited to Saban and Levy, was first heard in the MCU film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and then the series Ms. Marvel when those projects referenced mutants.
The X-Men '97 version of the main theme was released by Marvel Music and Hollywood Records as a digital single on March 20, 2024. A full soundtrack album for the first season was released on May 24.

Release

X-Men '97 premiered on Disney+ on March 20, 2024, with its first two episodes. The rest of the ten-episode first season was released weekly until May 15. The season was originally scheduled for release in late 2023. It aired on Disney's cable channel FXX from June 30 to July 4, 2025. The second season is scheduled to premiere in mid-2026. Winderbaum said in October 2025 that future seasons would be released annually "for a number of years".

Reception

Viewership

Disney announced that the first two episodes had 4 million views worldwide in the five days following their release, marking the biggest first-season premiere for a full-length animated series on the service since the first season of What If...? in 2021. The company announced that the first-season finale was watched by 3.5 million views globally during its first five days, which was similarly the biggest season finale for a full-length animated series on the streaming service since the first season of ''What If...?''

Critical response

The first season received critical acclaim, was called "Marvel's best release in years", and was praised for its nostalgic animation, "smart writing, and captivating action sequences". Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes calculated that 99% of 79 critics reviews were positive, with an average rating of 8.9 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Pulling off the x-traordinary feat of staying true to its beloved predecessor while charting a path forward for the franchise, X-Men '97 is simply x-cellent." Metacritic assigned a weighted average score of 82 out of 100 based on 14 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

Accolades

AwardDate of ceremonyCategoryRecipientResult
ACE Eddie AwardsAmerican Cinema Editors Awards 2025|Best Edited Animated SeriesMichelle McMillan Won
Annie Awards52nd Annie Awards|Outstanding Achievement for Character Design in an Animated Television / Broadcast ProductionAmelia Vidal Nomitated
Astra TV Awards4th Astra TV Awards|Best Animated Series or TV MovieX-Men '97Won
Astra TV Awards4th Astra TV Awards|Best Voice-Over PerformanceJennifer HaleNomitated
Astra TV Awards4th Astra TV Awards|Best Voice-Over PerformanceLenore ZannNomitated
Astra TV Awards4th Astra TV Awards|Best Voice-Over PerformanceMatthew WatersonNomitated
Black Reel TV AwardsBlack Reel Awards of 2024|Outstanding Drama SeriesBeau DeMayoNomitated
Black Reel TV AwardsBlack Reel Awards of 2024|Outstanding Directing in a Drama SeriesChase Conley Nomitated
Black Reel TV AwardsBlack Reel Awards of 2024|Outstanding Writing in a Drama SeriesBeau DeMayo Won
Critics' Choice Television Awards30th Critics' Choice Awards|Best Animated SeriesX-Men '97Won
Dorian TV AwardsBest Animated ShowX-Men '97Won
Golden Reel AwardsGolden Reel Awards 2024|Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Broadcast AnimationJonathan Greber, Kyrsten Mate, Jonathon Stevens, David Acord, Cameron Barker, and Jeremy Molod Nomitated
Golden Trailer AwardsGolden Trailer Awards#2024|Best TeaserX-Men '97 "A New Age"Nomitated
Gotham TV Awards1st Gotham TV Awards|Breakthrough Drama SeriesBeau DeMayo, Victoria Alonso, Louis D'Esposito, Kevin Feige, and Brad WinderbaumNomitated
Harvey AwardsBest Adaptation from Comic Book/Graphic NovelX-Men '97Won
Hollywood Professional Association AwardsOutstanding Visual Effects – Animated Episode or Series SeasonChris Graf, Dan McNaughton, Husain Untoro, Quentin Cordonnier, and Andrew StadlerWon
Primetime [Creative Arts Emmy Awards]76th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards|Outstanding Animated ProgramBeau DeMayo, Victoria Alonso, Louis D'Esposito, Kevin Feige, Brad Winderbaum, Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt, Jake Castorena, Charley Feldman, Danielle Costa, Sean Gantka, Meredith Layne, Sang Hyouk Bang, Yun Mo Sung, and Emi Yonemura Nomitated
Saturn Awards52nd Saturn Awards|Best Animated Series on TelevisionX-Men '97Nomitated
TCA Awards40th TCA Awards|Outstanding New ProgramX-Men '97Nomitated
TCA Awards40th TCA Awards|Outstanding Achievement in Family ProgrammingX-Men '97Nomitated
Venice TV AwardsVenice TV Awards#Gold Winners 2024 Venice TV Award|AnimationX-Men '97Nomitated

Documentary special

In February 2021, the documentary series Marvel Studios: Assembled was announced. The specials go behind the scenes of the Marvel Studios films and television series with cast members and additional creatives. The special for this series, "The Making of X-Men '97, features cast members from the original series and X-Men '97, and explores the origins of the original series. It was released on Disney+ on May 22, 2024.