As one of the most prominent and engaging Marvel Television projects of 2024, X-Men ‘97 not only brought the nostalgia and action that made the original series so remarkable, but also continuously pushed the boundaries and crafted emotional, well-crafted stories. The close of season one left the X-Men scattered across time, some in the past with a young En Sabah Nur, the future Apocalypse, and some in the future with a child version of Cable. This setup, reminiscent of the classic storyline Age of Apocalypse, which was partially explored in the original animated series, has sparked speculation among fans. Could X-Men '97 Season 2 be gearing up for an adaptation of Ages of Apocalypse?

The classic anthology series was brought to life during the event The Twelve. Warping multiple realities to gain the power of these fabled Twelve, Apocalypse created warped reality versions of several heroes across the universe. With season 2 looking to expand upon Apocalypse and his relation to the mutants as a whole, X-Men ‘97 could see the mutants exploring more and more of the Marvel multiverse through an adaption of a story that brought the Marvel mutants into the 21st century. This potential expansion of the Marvel multiverse is a thrilling prospect for fans, promising a rich and diverse storyline in X-Men '97 Season 2.

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The Twelve and Ages of Apocalypse, Explained

Apocalypse began these warped realities after starting the event known as The Twelve. At first, appearing as lost journals and diaries from the future-seeing mutant Destiny, The Twelve were thought to be twelve powerful beings who could stop Apocalypse once and for all. However, Apocalypse’s Horsemen would abduct these twelve beings, including one of the shapeshifting Skrulls, to bring them to Apocalypse. The true nature of the prophecy was a ruse planted by Apocalypse to gather these twelve individuals for his ascension into a powerful being that could rival the power of the Celestials, which many Marvel fans will recognize from The Eternals.

Intending to merge himself with the body of Nate Gray (X-Man), Cyclops pushes Nate out of the way and merges with Apocalypse, resulting in the power the villain needed failing to be delivered. This led to the X-Men villain creating these warped realities, trapping the heroes so that he could absorb the Twelve’s power and complete his transformation. However, the heroes would break out of these Ages of Apocalypse and instead force Apocalypse to flee until Jean Gray and the time-traveling mutant Cable tracked him down and ripped his astral form out of Cyclops for good, ending the threat.

Could Season 2 Adapt This Famous Storyline?

After defeating the villainous Bastion, the X-Men saved the world by sacrificing themselves to stop Operation Zero Tolerance. They disappeared in the aftermath, leaving Bishop and Forge alone to determine where the X-Men had gone. While Apocalypse returned to the dead land of Genosha to mourn the mutant’s loss (hinting at Gambit’s rise back to life as the Horsemen Death), an after-credits scene showed Cyclops and Jean waking up in the future, where the Clan Askani Leader Rachel Summers and her people found them, along with a young child-version of Cyclops’s son Cable. Meanwhile, Xavier, Rogue, Magneto, Beast, and Nightcrawler landed in Ancient Egypt, where they met a young version of En Sabah Nur before he became Magneto. With Wolverine, Morph, and Storm missing in action, could they have been flung to other realities?

Perhaps Apocalypse isn’t directly involved in these alternate realities but instead uses the chaos for his needs. Bastion’s demise at the end of Season 1 could have torn apart his near-robotic body, causing several holes in reality to open and scattering the X-Men to the winds. The lost X-Men who didn’t appear could also become Horsemen for Apocalypse, or could be part of The Twelve Apocalypse needs to gather to rise to power and gain the Celestial power he needs. While season 1 of the series saw the X-Men as a group facing their most personal challenges yet, season 2 looks to at least start with the heroes scattered and on their own, which would fit in perfectly with the elements of Ages of Apocalypse that made this story stand out.

Including other heroes in one form or another, from the Avengers, Fantastic Four, or Spider-Man, would also make sense here, as the finale not only showed these heroes facing the threat of Bastion as well, but their appearance in the Ages of Apocalypse story could show altered reality versions of these infamous heroes. The need to expand upon the long and storied history of Apocalypse and his impact on both history and the mutants would make these two particular storylines perfect for season 2. X-Men ‘97 is already looking to build upon the fan hype and critically acclaimed storylines that season 1 brought to life. With Apocalypse being one of the X-Men’s greatest foes throughout their history, adapting this storyline from the same era of time that the show takes place in would be a significant evolution of the X-Men’s collective and personal stories.

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X-Men '97

The animated X-Men team returns in the Disney Plus reboot, X-Men '97. With Professor X gone, Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean Grey, and the rest of the mutants find themselves under the leadership of Magneto and facing a new threat. X-Men '97 is the first project under the newly created Marvel Animation banner.