“X-Men ’97” premiered on Disney+ on March 20, 2024, and its last episode aired on August 12, 2026. Two seasons. Nineteen episodes. That is a short life for a show that carried so much weight.
Marvel Studios Animation built it as a revival of “X-Men: The Animated Series” (1992–1997), and it continues that story rather than rebooting it. Beau DeMayo created the series and served as head writer for the first two seasons. Matthew Chauncey took over for the third, which is not among the two seasons described here. Jake Castorena is supervising director.
The show is good. It is also the most confident thing Marvel Studios has put its name on in animation, and the reason is simple: it knows exactly what it is.
Trailer, via Marvel Entertainment.
Magneto Runs the School
The premise picks up a year after “The Animated Series” ended. Professor Charles Xavier nearly dies in an assassination attempt and is taken to space to be healed by the alien Shi’ar Empire. In his absence, the X-Men answer to Magneto — their former adversary, now their leader.
That is a real idea, not a costume change. Mutants are people born with superhuman abilities that generally manifest during puberty. The X-Men are a team of mutant superheroes founded by Xavier to protect mutants and humans alike. Handing that team to the man who spent years arguing humans would never accept them is the kind of choice a revival should make.
Season one pits the team against Bastion and his new Sentinel program, which targets mutants. Xavier eventually returns to help. The conflict ends with the X-Men scattered through time, from Ancient Egypt to the far future. Season two is the road back to the 1990s, and the obstacle is Apocalypse.
As with the original series, “X-Men ’97” mixes action, soap opera-style drama, and serious topics. It does not treat those three things as separate modes.
The Cast Returns, and Then Some
Alison Sealy-Smith, Cal Dodd, Lenore Zann, George Buza, and Adrian Hough all reprised their roles from the original series. Christopher Britton came back as Mister Sinister.
Original series stars Catherine Disher, Chris Potter, Alyson Court, Lawrence Bayne, and Ron Rubin returned to voice new characters. That is the right way to honor a legacy: keep the people, change the parts.
The starring cast across the run:
- 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
- Adrian Hough as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler
For season two, Potter, Gui Agustini, and Gil Birmingham were promoted to the starring cast. Naoko Mori, Christopher Barger, and Carolina Ravassa joined. Hale, Dodd, Zann, and Marquand returned, as did Bayne.
What the Schedule Actually Looked Like
The idea of a revival came up in June 2019. It was announced for real in November 2021, with DeMayo and Castorena on board for season one. Marvel Studios had regained the film and television rights to the characters, and this was its first X-Men project since that happened.
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| First discussed | June 2019 |
| Formally announced | November 2021 |
| Series premiere | March 20, 2024 |
| Last episode aired | August 12, 2026 |
Animation came from Studio Mir and Tiger Animation, in a modernized version of the original look. That look matters more than it sounds. The revival’s visual debt to the 1992 series is the whole point of the exercise.
Two seasons and nineteen episodes is lean. It also means almost nothing is filler.
Where It Stands
The published critical score is 8.2/10, with a Metacritic mark of 82/100. That number is fair, and it is fair for a reason that has little to do with nostalgia.
What works is the structure. Revivals usually fail in one of two ways: they either worship the original so hard they forget to tell a story, or they throw it out and alienate the people who came. “X-Men ’97” does neither. It keeps the continuity — Xavier in space, the Shi’ar, the team’s history — and then uses that continuity to put the characters somewhere genuinely uncomfortable. Magneto leading the X-Men is not a stunt. It is a test of everything Xavier built.
The time-scattering in the season one finale is the riskiest move here. Sending the team from Ancient Egypt to the far future could easily become an excuse for disconnected adventures. Season two’s job — getting them back to the 1990s to stop Apocalypse — gives that sprawl a direction. Whether a third season under Chauncey holds that line is the open question.
The weaker part is the scope. Two seasons is not much room for a cast this size. Morph, Bishop, Jubilee, and Nightcrawler all get moments, but the show’s attention keeps returning to the same core. That is a reasonable trade for a tight story. It is still a trade.
The voice cast is the show’s steadiest asset. Sealy-Smith, Dodd, Zann, Buza, and Hough sliding back into roles they originated decades ago gives the revival a spine that a recast would not have. Bringing Disher, Potter, Court, Bayne, and Rubin back as different characters is a smarter move than benching them.
This is not a show that needed to justify its existence with a gimmick. It needed to justify it with a story, and it has one.
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