Before we reunite with a handful of original X-Men film series actors in December 2026’s Avengers Doomsday, X-Men ’97 Season 2 will deliver the next chapter of this superhero saga that began in the ‘90s with X-Men: The Animated Series. Specific plot details are naturally still being kept secret so as to not spoil fans with a Disney+ subscription. That said, Ross Marquand, who voices several roles in X-Men ’97, shared how Season 2 will be “very, very dark,” and his statement reminded me of my favorite Season 1 episode, “Remember It.”
Along with chiefly voicing Professor X in Season 1, Ross Marquand also voiced Apocalypse, who was one of the main baddies in X-Men: The Animated Series and cameoed at the end of “Tolerance is Extinction Part 3.” During a Walking Dead panel at FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention moderated by Collider, Marquand (who played Aaron in the AMC series) mentioned that the next season of X-Men ’97 will be “very dark” and have “a lot of scenes” of him as Apocalypse, then said:
[I'm] amazed Disney greenlit it because it’s so dark. It’s very, very dark. A lot of people die, and so many people don’t talk about it. Just being honest.
A quote like that instantly reminds me of “Remember It,” the Emmy-nominated fifth episode of Season 1, which saw Master Mold and its army of Sentinels killing thousands of mutants in Genosha. Though it was later revealed that Magneto survived the massacre, the same can’t be said for Gambit, who sacrificed his life to destroy Master Mold. However, since Season 1 ended with a tease of Apocalypse picking up a playing card in the ruins of Genosha, I think it’s safe to assume Remy LeBeau will be resurrected under less than ideal circumstances.
So apparently X-Men ’97 Season 2 will have an even higher body count than Season 1 did, and this time, characters can be killed off across three time periods. In the Season 1 finale, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Beast, Xavier and Magneto were sent to Ancient Egypt in 3000 B.C., where they met a young En Sabah Nur, a.k.a. the future Apocalypse. Cyclops and Jean Grey were sent to 3960 A.D., where they crossed paths with Mother Aksani (voiced by Gates McFadden) and a young Nathan Summers. Wolverine, Storm and Morph’s whereabouts remain unknown.
Meanwhile, Jubilee, Sunspot, Forge and Bishop still active in this show’s present day, although it looks like the latter two will soon embark to rescue the time-displaced X-Men. However, if Apocalypse is assembling a new group of Four Horsemen to serve him, Gambit included, then expect a lot of casualties. Depending on when the X-Men in Ancient Egypt and 3960 A.D. return, Jubilee and Sunspot may need to assemble a new group of allies to help them combat Apocalypse’s reign of terror.
If the deaths coming in X-Men ’97 Season 2 can replicate the same kind of status quo-shaking energy we got from the events of “Remember It,” then I’ll be pleased. Until then, we’ll continue sharing updates on what to expect from the next batch of episodes and when exactly they’ll premiere on the upcoming Marvel TV shows schedule.
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