X-Men '97 season 2 is almost upon us, and we can definitely expect another high-stakes, heartbreaking, and action-packed season.
After the X-Men were left stranded across time at the end of season 1, a new threat was introduced: Apocalypse. The ultra-powerful mutant is robotic in appearance but god-like in his abilities, to the point where it almost hits immortality. How did we get here? Well, a lot happened in X-Men '97 season 1. And, if you don't have time to go back and watch all 10 episodes, we've made a handy-dandy list of the most important things to know before diving into season 2.
Scroll on down for the five biggest things to remember before watching X-Men '97 season 2, but be warned: there are massive spoilers for X-Men '97 season 1 below.
1. The X-Men are stuck in three different timelines
And it's all because of Magneto. It's also why everyone on Earth thinks that the X-Men are either dead or missing. At the end of X-Men '97 season 1, Magneto manages to wipe out all of the Prime Sentinels (while killing thousands of people in the process) and retreats to his little mutant haven, an orbital space station known as Asteroid M. Bastion, still yet to be defeated, decides to crash Asteroid M into the earth... which would effectively blow up the planet. Xavier manages to help Magneto launch the asteroid into space, but it still explodes, and presumably takes the X-Men with it.
A six-month fast-forward shows us that Bishop and Forge are still in 1997, but Nightcrawler, Beast, Xavier, Magneto, and Rogue are sent to somewhere in Ancient Egypt circa 3000 B.C., while Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, and Morph are sent to a dystopian future circa 3960 A.D. X-Men '97 season 2 picks up right where season 1 left off.
2. Scott and Jean sent their son Nathan into the future because of his condition
In the X-Men '97 season 1 finale, when Cyclops and Jean are sent to the future, they meet a mystic mutant named Mother Askani, who is leading a desolate planet of hopeless people. This also just so happens to be the same future that their son, Nathan, was sent to as an infant. Shortly after he was born, Sinister injected him with a techno-organic virus with the intention of making him immortal, but it ended up almost killing him.
Realizing that there is no cure on Earth, they send him into the future with Bishop in the hopes that they can find a timeline with a cure. In the finale, Nathan is a teenager and seems pretty healthy... though we know that his cyborg-esque mutation remains, given that he eventually becomes the X-Men hero known as Cable. It's Cable who appears in X-Men '97 season 1 episode 5 and tries to warn them about Bastion's genocidal attack on Genosha.
It's important to remember that Nathan eventually becomes Cable, though it's a little confusing that Cyclops and Jean go into the future and encounter a teenage Nathan, rather than an adult Cable – meaning they've entered an alternate timeline of sorts.
3. Gambit died in the Battle of Genosha
I'm still not over it, but Gambit died during the Battle of Genosha in X-Men '97 season 1 episode 5. He throws Rogue out of harm's way before launching himself at Master Mold, the most powerful of the Prime Sentinels, which explodes and takes Gambit with it. Because of Marvel Cinematic Universe rules (though X-Men '97 is not canon to the main Earth-616 storyline), a lot of us sat and waited for him to miraculously return someway or another... but he still, sadly, seems pretty dead.
A popular theory among fans is that the show will take a page out of the comics and see Gambit brought back from the dead to become one of Apocalypse's Four Horsemen. The X-Men '97 season 1 post-credits scene gives this further credibility, with the final moments of the season seeing Apocalypse pick up one of Gambit's playing cards in present-day (1997) Genosha.
X-Men '97 season 2 episode 8 is titled, 'The Dead Man's Hand,' and I'm pretty sure that's a reference to Gambit... so we'll just have to wait and see.
4. Magneto pulled the adamantium out of Wolverine
Though Wolverine seems alive and well in the X-Men '97 season 2 trailer, it's important to remember that he was on his deathbed when the first season ended. In case you forgot, X-Men '97 began with the X-Men and the world assuming that Xavier had died as a result of Gyrich's assassination attempt (which happened in the series finale of X-Men: The Animated Series, which aired on TV in, you guessed it, 1997). In his last will and testament, Xavier leaves the X-Men and the X-Mansion to Magneto, which causes a rift amongst the entire group.
Magneto tries his best to be an upstanding citizen, but is captured by Bastion. It's Dr. Cooper who finds Magneto and unleashes him, figuring that he's the only being powerful enough to kill Bastion and the Prime Sentinels. She's right, but it destroys most of the world in the process. After Magneto flees to Asteroid M, Xavier, alive and well after hiding out on an alien planet, finds him and tries to get into his mind. Magneto retaliates by almost killing Xavier, which prompts Wolverine to attack. Magneto then uses his freaky-deaky magnet powers to rip all of the adamantium from Wolverine's skeleton, leaving him in a half-dead, feral state where he can really only use his bone claws. X-Men '97 season 2 episode 5, titled 'Weapon X, Lies, and DVDS,' will likely focus on Wolverine.
5. The future where Apocalypse reigns is inevitable
I can't tell you exactly why this is important to remember, other than that Apocalypse is the primary focus of X-Men '97 season 2, but you'll just have to trust me on this one. In the X-Men '97 season 1 finale, we meet not one, but two versions of Apocalypse. In Ancient Egypt, where Xavier, Magneto, Rogue, and Nightcrawler are trapped, they encounter a mutant named En Sabah Nur. En Sabah Nur is the birth name of Apocalypse, and this particular timeline is one where he hasn't transformed into a supervillain just yet. We see Apocalypse in his present-day form in the post-credits scene, when he picks Gambit's playing card up off the ground.
In the season 2 trailer, Apocalypse makes it clear that his mission is to destroy the X-Men... in every timeline. It's important to note that he more or less can't be killed, which is what makes his reign of terror inevitable throughout time.
X-Men '97 season 2 hits Disney Plus on July 1, with the first three episodes in tow. For more, check out our X-Men '97 season 2 review, and never miss an episode with our X-Men '97 season 2 release schedule.
