X-Men 97 season 2: what we know about the hit Marvel show's return on Disney Plus

It sounds like it'll be a while before X-Men 97 season 2 debuts on Disney Plus. Just three months after its predecessor's finale, the animated series' return is one of the most anticipated among Marvel's fanbase – and with good reason. Frankly, it's one of the best things – if not the best thing – that the comic giant has made since Avengers: Endgame, so we certainly can't wait for its arrival.

Alas, we'll have to do just that, because X-Men 97's second season won't be here for some time yet. To find out why, you'll have to read through this guide. Rest assured, if you do, you'll learn even more interesting things about the Marvel Phase 5 TV series' next outing, including its confirmed cast, potential storylines, and other exciting news and updates. Full spoilers follow for X-Men 97 season 1. Additionally, potential season 2 spoilers are also discussed, so proceed at your own risk.

X-Men 97 season 2 release date: what we know

Marvel hasn't confirmed when the X-Men's latest animated series will return on Disney Plus, aka one of the world's best streaming services. However, speaking during the Marvel Animation panel at D23 Expo 2024, the studio's Head of TV and Streaming Brad Winderbaum said every in-development animated series will release sometime in the next 12 to 18 months (per The Direct). As long as there aren't any production setbacks, X-Men 97 season 2 could launch any time between August 2025 and February 2026.

So, when do we think one of the best Disney Plus shows will return? According to The Hollywood Reporter (THR), season 2's scripts were completed before X-Men 97's showrunner Beau DeMayo parted ways with Marvel ahead of season 1's debut in March. 

Two months later, Winderbaum explained to IGN that they were "halfway through" development, too, before telling the Official Marvel Podcast in July (as reported by TechRadar) that the team was "well on our way to creating something that hits the heights of the first season", so it sounds like there's still plenty of work to be done.

Based on the above, then, we predict that X-Men 97's sophomore season won't debut until early 2026. Sure, production might have wrapped by this time next year but, with many other Marvel TV shows also waiting for official Disney Plus release dates – Ironheart, Marvel Zombies, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and What If...? season 3 to name just four – there are plenty of other projects vying for launch date approval. Some of them are further ahead in their development cycle than X-Men 97 season 2, too, so we're likely to see them before the subject of this guide.

X-Men 97 season 2 trailer: is there one?

No, there isn't – and we won't get one until closer to launch. We'll update this section once one is released.

X-Men 97 season 2 cast: likely and rumored

Full spoilers follow for X-Men 97 season 1.

Here's who we expect to see again in X-Men 97 season 2:

• Ray Chase as Scott Summers/Cyclops
• Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey
• Alison Sealy-Smith as Ororo Munroe/Storm
• Cal Dodd as James 'Logan' Howlett/Wolverine
• J.P. Karliak as Morph
• Lenore Zann as Rogue
• George Buza as Doctor Henry 'Hank' McCoy/The Beast
• Holly Chou as Jubilee
• Isaac Robinson-Smith as Bishop
• Matthew Waterson as Erik 'Magnus' Lehnsherr/Magneto
• Ross Marquand as Professor Charles Xavier
• Adrian Hough as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler
• Gui Augustini as Roberto da Costa/Sunspot
• Chris Potter as Nathan Summers/Cable
• Gil Birmingham as Forge

There are bound to be other returning faces (or, rather, voices) in season 2. Catherine Disher should be back as U.N. official and mutant sympathizer Doctor Valerie Cooper, as should Rob Rubin as U.S. President Robert Kelly and Martha Marion as Emma Frost.

As for more spoiler-based returns, Adetokumboh M'Cormack is likely to return as En Sabah Nur/Apocalypse across X-Men 97's three timelines (more on the show's time-traveling storylines in a moment). Gates McFadden is another who we'd expect to be back as Mother Askani (again, she's tied to X-Men 97's far-flung future narrative). Lastly, A.J. LoCascio could voice Remy LeBeau/Gambit again if En Sabah Nur resurrects the deceased mutant as one of his Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

We'll see some new faces in X-Men 97 season 2 as well. At D23 Expo 2024's Marvel Animation panel, Polaris – real name Lorna Dane and Magneto's daughter – was confirmed as part of the cast (via Discussing Film). 

There were contrasting reports about another character debut, too, with some outlets (including Discussing Film and Screen Time) claiming we'll see Danger, the physical manifestation of the supergroup's Danger Room training program, appear in season 2. However, other websites (such as The DisInsider) claimed that some people had incorrectly identified Warlock, a techno-organic being from the alien planet Kvch, as Danger. Ex-showrunner Beau DeMayo, who penned season 2's scripts before he parted ways with Marvel in March, has since clarified it's Danger, not Warlock, who'll appear.

While it's incredibly unlikely that Cassandra Nova will appear in X-Men 97 season 2, Emma Corrin, who played the character in Deadpool and Wolverine, told TechRadar they'd "love to" voice Nova in a future season, too. We're manifesting a post-credits scene where Nova is teased ahead of the show's third season.

X-Men 97 season 2 story speculation

Major story spoilers follow for X-Men 97 season 1.

Marvel hasn't revealed anything about X-Men 97 season 2's plot, but there's plenty we can infer about it, given what happened in the season 1 finale. You'll want to read our X-Men 97 season 1 ending explained article to see what its final episode – 'Tolerance Is Extinction Part 3' – sets up for the show's next installment.

Now you're all caught up, you'll know X-Men 97 season 2 will, in its early episodes at least, be set across three timelines: the present (1997 in-universe), almost three millennia in the past (3000 B.C. in Ancient Egypt, to be precise), and 3980 A.D, i.e. the far flung future.

Let's start with those who are seemingly trapped in the past. As the season 1 finale revealed, the X-Men were separated across these time periods, with Professor X, Beast, Rogue, Magneto, and Nightcrawler – the latter duo will finally share scenes in season 2, according to Magneto voice actor Matthew Waterson (per Collider) – being sent back in time. They help to thwart a gang attack on an Egyptian town, which is where they're introduced to/reunited with En Sabah Nur.

Why "reunited"? Because the super group battled Apocalypse in X-Men :The Animated Series (X: TAS). The fact that they cross paths with him again, albeit in his pre-Apocalypse form, is incredibly fascinating. Not only will they potentially have to work with Nur to stop a greater threat (more on this shortly), but they may even have the chance to help Nur walk a more righteous path, thereby stopping him from becoming Apocalypse in the first place. Well, unless his evolution into Apocalypse is one of those fixed points on the Marvel timeline that can't be altered.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see if the aforementioned quintet gets involved in Nur's ongoing war with his rival, who's none other than Kang the Conqueror – albeit in one of his many guises as Egyptian Pharaoh Rama-Tut. Of equal intrigue will be how much we see of Rama-Tut, given that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has moved from Kang after Marvel's firing of Kang actor Jonathan Majors and hired former Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr to play Doctor Doom, the Multiverse Saga's new big bad, in numerous Marvel Phase 6 projects. X-Men 97 season 2, then, might be the last time we see Kang (or one of his aliases) for a while.

As for Scott Summers/Cyclops and Jean Grey, they were sent forward in time and met a child version of Nathan Summers, i.e. the son of Scott and Madelyne Pryor who goes on to become the time-traveling mutant known as Cable. This reunion gives Scott the chance to be there for his son – remember, Mr. Sinister infected Nathan with a techno-virus, in season 1 episode 3, when Nathan was a baby. To save Nathan's life, Scott handed him over to Bishop, who took Nathan into the far future to find a cure, so Scott missed out on raising his son. Having been sent into the future, Scott can make up for lost time.

That's not the only issue the Summers family will have to deal with. Without spoiling too much, they're tied to another future-dwelling individual – Mother Askani, who leads the tribe Nathan is a part of. For now, let's just say things are going to get even more complicated for Scott and Jean – and that's before they realize the Askani clan will need their help in defeating Apocalypse, who's still alive at this point in time and lauding it over a post-apocalyptic Earth.

Meanwhile, in the present, it seems we might see the formation of an X-Men offshoot called X-Force. With the majority of the team stuck in the past and future, Cable might lead a group comprising Forge, Jubilee, Sunspot, and other mutants in temporarily defending Earth from extraterrestrial threats, as well as those planetside. Alternatively, Bishop – who's traveled back to the present using his time-travel device – might enlist the remaining X-Men's help in rescuing their fellow mutants from the past and future.

There are plenty of other plot threads that need to be picked up and/or resolved, too. We don't know where Morph, Storm, and Wolverine are following the destruction of Asteroid M. Where Wolverine is concerned, we'll also need to see how he deals with the psychological impact of having the adamantium stripped from his body by Magneto in season 1 episode 9. Comic book readers know what's in store for Logan from this point on, but we'll refrain from spoiling anything significant here.

Elsewhere, the burgeoning civil war that threatens the Shi'ar Empire is surely going to impact the X-Men and the wider animated Marvel universe in future seasons. Oh, and there's the small (we use that term lightly) matter of the as-yet-to-be-revealed fallout from Xavier and Magneto's mind-based tête-à-tête that played out in the season 1 finale. Again, no spoilers, but long-time X-Men fans know that something sinister might be born out of this subplot – and their arrival may be even more of a universal threat than the major Marvel villain introduced in season 1 episode 7.

Is X-Men 97 season 3 going to happen?

It certainly seems that way. Marvel hasn't confirmed whether X-Men 97 season 2 will get a follow-up, but various reports – plus the show's near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes scores – strongly suggest season 3 will be greenlit, if it hasn't already been internally.

And it appears as if it has, too. As part of its report on DeMayo's departure, THR claimed (see the article we linked to in our release date section) that he'd tentatively discussed season 3 plans with the show's other writers. It's plausible, then, that some of these ideas could be used in a third installment. Even if they aren't, there are plenty of storylines to draw from in the comics, with the X-Men's illustrious literary history packed with great (and not-so-great) narratives.

Since then, Deadline has also claimed What If...? write Matthew Chauncey has been given the reins to X-Men 97 season 3 following DeMayo's departure. The wheels are certainly moving on another entry, then. Here's hoping an official announcement is made as soon as possible so we know if we'll be humming along to its iconic theme tune on Tuesday evenings/Wednesday mornings (depending on where you live) for years to come.

For more Marvel-based coverage, read our guides on how to watch the Marvel movies in order and how to watch the X-Men movies in order. Alternatively, find out what we know about Agatha All Along or see if you agree with our ranking of the best Marvel movies.