Helmed by Matthew Chauncey, X-Men ’97 Season 2 follows the X-Men who are scattered across different eras in time—from Ancient Egypt to the far future—and must find their way back to the 1990s to stop the ancient tyrant Apocalypse (Ross Marquand), who emerges as a primary threat where he seeks to once again enforce a brutal “survival of the fittest” reality where only the strongest humans and mutants endure.
The first season of this revival of the beloved 90s animated series ended up being a phenomenal success that featured amazing performances, epic story arcs, upgraded animation, and much more. After loving the first season so much, I was very excited to see where the story would go next after such an insane finale that leads the X-Men straight into reuniting with a returning foe that they frequently clashed with in the past. After several weeks of wild arcs and crazy twists, X-Men ’97 Season 2 ends up being a solid continuation of the revival that is darker, bolder, and packed full of emotional power that hits hard in unexpected ways. While not nearly as perfect as the previous season, it was still an awesome season that was incredibly well done and mostly maintains the high bar of quality established before with its handling of characters, story arcs, themes, and animation. It also wasn’t afraid to make even bolder decisions than the original series, making for a much more unpredictable and mature, higher-stakes season that I loved very much from start to end even with its slight faults.
One of the first things that remains consistent with this revival in its second outing is the performances from both returning cast members and newcomers that beautifully bring these fantastic characters to life. There are a lot of characters this season focuses on, but each character does manage to have their own moments to shine and some of them do end up standing out more than others. Ray Chase, Jennifer Hale, and Chris Potter deliver truly fantastic performances in their reprisals of Cyclops, Jean, and Cable, respectively, as they are all tragically trapped in a journey defined by fate and destiny across timelines. Most of the X-Men can never truly get a chance of peace in this universe, but it’s clear that the Summers family definitely has one of the worst situations, as they are always so close to achieving happiness together only for it to be stripped away from them by events that are completely outside their control.
Lenore Zann delivers a truly fantastic and heartbreaking performance as Rogue this season, who is still coming to terms with the death of Gambit last season. While she isn’t as heavily focused on this season compared to the previous, she still manages to have her own time to shine as the arc she endures this season takes her to truly unexpected places and feels like an emotional rollercoaster that makes us more connected to her.
Supporting her throughout her journey is none other than her pure-hearted brother Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler, who ends up being one of the surprise MVPs of this season mainly due to the stellar writing he is given and the phenomenal performance he is given by Adrian Hough. Adrian Hough has voiced the character ever since the original 90s animated series, but his performance in this season might be the best in his entire run as the character with the amount of beautiful emotion he puts in with his voice performance. With everything Nightcrawler has endured in his life up to this point, the fact he’s been able to retain a pure heart and faith in humanity makes him a truly admirable member of the X-Men that shines brightly this season.
Ross Marquand and Matthew Waterson wonderfully reprise Charles Xavier and Magneto, respectively, as they both end up taking rather shocking paths this season as a result of the return of Apocalypse. They are both trying to come to terms with the fallout of the events of last season that they blame themselves for, while also trying to rekindle their friendship in hopes of building a better future for mutants, but their vastly different approaches to doing so keep putting them at odds, leading to deadly consequences that affect both of them greatly. I love that Ross Marquand was able to get more time this season as Xavier, really cementing his portrayal of the character as one of the best and living up to the legacy of Cedric Smith from the original series.
Wolverine, reprised by Cal Dodd, has a bit more of a role compared to last season, where we see him struggle with his identity and the burden he chooses to carry. Despite being a member of the X-Men family, he still considers himself mainly an outsider who isn’t afraid to get his claws bloody no matter what it costs him, which is honestly tragic, as he definitely deserves better than what he’s been through in the many years he’s been living.
Making her debut in this revival series with a larger, expanded role compared to her appearance in the original series is Lorna Dana aka Polaris, played by Carolina Ravassa, who is another daughter of Magneto that has directly inherited similar magnetism-manipulating powers. Polaris is initially introduced as a member of a government-sanctioned team of mutants known as X-Factor, who are tasked with tracking, rounding up, and imprisoning young or displaced mutants as well as serving as a bureaucratic and moral foil to the more independent X-Men. However, she begins to see the glaring flaws of the team she has chosen to be a part of and is struggling to come to terms with the burden of being Magneto’s daughter, which leads her to want to join the X-Men, who welcome her openly and don’t judge her based on her heritage. It was honestly great to see a lesser-known character like Polaris get such a huge role and a wonderfully written arc in this season that is more than likely going to gain her a lot more fans than she has had before. Carolina Ravassa does a beautiful job bringing her to life with her performance, making her another favorite standout of mine.
The main threat to the X-Men in this season is the return of one of their greatest recurring villains from the original series, Apocalypse. Apocalypse has always been like a cockroach to the X-Men in the sense that he’s never easy to get rid of even after they defeated him multiple times. He always comes back with some new insane plan to conquer mutants and humans with his archaic “survival of the fittest” vision, but in this revival his personality, motives, and story are fleshed out way more than in the original animated series, which in turn leads to perhaps the most terrifying depiction of the iconic villain we have had in a very long time. We get a reintroduction to Apocalypse in Ancient Egypt as En Sabah Nur, voiced by Adetokumboh M’Cormack, who is a young mutant that is traumatized and shaped by the ancient conflicts of his time, leading him to view himself as the rightful apex ruler tasked with reshaping the natural order of the Earth. When he learns of what he is destined to become through ancient prophecies, interactions with celestial technology, and the accidental intrusion of the time-displaced X-Men, he ends up becoming a merciless monster that feels way more menacing and powerful compared to before.
This continues on in the 90s, where a now older Apocalypse, voiced by Ross Marquand, seeks to purge the weak through global conflict and secure a viable, powerful physical vessel to sustain his immortal existence, and he is willing to do anything to achieve his goal, making him even more dangerous than before. The darker and more mature tone of this revival series really allowed the writers to vastly improve Apocalypse as a character and I actually found myself loving him way more as a compelling villain here than he was in the original series, where he was menacing but not as layered compared to other villains in the series like Magneto. The voice performances from both Adetokumboh M’Cormack and Ross Marquand also gave the character a much more powerful voice. Despite the immense upgrade to the character, there does end up being one issue involving him, which is that he isn’t as focused on as much throughout all of the season as he should have been. Yes, he is very present in the first half of the season and in the final two episodes but in the middle he ends up being almost forgotten in favor of developing other characters in smaller plot threads. A bit more focus on Apocalypse I feel could have improved the season’s story as a whole and given us a lot more of him since he was truly amazing when he was the main focus of the story.
This season’s narrative manages to mostly maintain the strong writing, themes, arcs, and balance of characters from the previous season, while simultaneously including in some new things this season, such as new characters, teams, and arcs based on comics. The soap opera drama elements do return and once again are executed brilliantly without being extremely cheesy, alongside the highly relevant political and moral commentary that really hits harder due to recent events going on in our own world currently. The season does have much darker turns and twists for certain characters that were very bold to take, including a number of shocking deaths that felt emotionally devastating and permanent towards the characters and story going forward. While there is at least one resurrection given to a character who died in the previous season, it does come at a great cost to the characters this season, and it doesn’t take away from the impact it left last season. Other deaths that occur in this season feel much more permanent compared to before so it really feels like the stakes are extremely high for this season.
But this season isn’t entirely doom and gloom, as it does include some beautiful themes about hope, faith, and optimism even in the darkest of times, which is a very welcome message given the current state of the world right now. Now, despite all the great things this season does offer, there was definitely a feeling of something missing from it in several areas that it made it feel a bit less cohesive compared to the first season. I feel like a few more episodes, or at least longer episodes, were needed to further flesh out some characters that needed further development, including Apocalypse, who didn’t get as much time as he should have despite being the looming threat of the season. A bit more meat on the bones could have made this season on par with the previous season rather than feel a little lesser. Despite these hindrances to the season as a whole, it does manage to conclude on a strong note with an emotional roller coaster of a finale that has a very heartbreaking ending that may seem sudden for most but was beautifully built over the course of this season, leading to a beautiful payoff even when it is sad.
Once again, the animation is truly beautiful and stunning in every frame, still retaining the old-school visual and technical charm of the original series while simultaneously adding more improvements and additions. It commits to primarily using 2D animation for a majority of the season, but there are a few instances of 3D animation thrown in for select sequences that were incredibly well done, and they highly enhanced these sequences. The breathtaking cinematography of the first season returns in full force for this second season, featuring some truly gorgeous and haunting frames that leave a lasting impact.
But the biggest change the animation has in this season is actually with action, which shockingly ends up being more violent and graphic than expected. With the original 90s series being aimed strictly for younger audiences, it never really went to darker territory when it came to the action, so X-Men ’97 Season 1 stepped things up by making it more intense and a bit more brutal, given that the show had to grow up along with the audience. Season 2 decided to step things up even further by featuring even more violent action as well as heavy usage of blood and gore that took some parts of this season into R-rated territory. This increase in brutality isn’t being used for shock value but mainly to further establish the darker tone and higher stakes this season has with its story, therefore making certain moments hit way harder on an emotional level.
The same applies to the music by the Newton Brothers, who once again deliver an incredible score that is beautiful and energetic in some places while being majestic and somber in others. The music amplifies the emotions of the series in different ways knowing when and where to make it hit most.
Despite some small faults, X-Men ’97’s second outing was still a strong season that lived up to most of its expectations, while also delivering some fantastic surprises that were done exceptionally well. The post-credit scene of the finale sets up a much more grounded but highly dangerous and relevant threat for the X-Men and other mutants to deal with next season and I truly can’t wait to see what comes next for these characters and their story going forward, as long the quality is maintained and improved. I’m going to give X-Men ’97 Season 2 an A = 97.
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