August 12, 2026
X-Men ’97 Season 2 has officially come to a close on Disney+, and if there is one thing Marvel Animation deserves to hear loud and clear, it is this: give this show its flowers. After the incredible reception to Season 1, the pressure on the creative team to deliver another unforgettable chapter was enormous, and for the most part, Season 2 rises to that challenge. The series once again proves that X-Men works best when it embraces the complicated relationships, emotional stakes, political themes, time-travel madness, and larger-than-life storytelling that have always made these characters special. The first three episodes are an especially strong example of that. Watching the X-Men scattered across different eras while introducing a younger Apocalypse, X-Force, X-Factor, and new character dynamics was ambitious, emotional, and genuinely exciting. The story involving Apocalypse’s origins gave us a fascinating look at En Sabah Nur before he became the monster we know, while the different timelines allowed the show to explore the characters in ways we hadn’t seen before. Season 2 also became a legitimate streaming phenomenon, reaching the No. 1 trending position on Disney+ in more than 65 countries early in its run.
One of the biggest strengths of Season 2 is undoubtedly its voice acting. The returning cast continues to sound completely at home in these roles, with Cal Dodd as Wolverine, Lenore Zann as Rogue, Ray Chase as Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, JP Karliak as Morph, George Buza as Beast, Matthew Waterson as Magneto, Ross Marquand as Professor Xavier and Apocalypse, and the rest of this incredible ensemble continuing to give these characters personality and emotional weight. The new additions also deserve major recognition. Carolina Ravassa’s Polaris immediately feels like she belongs in this world, bringing Lorna Dane a combination of confidence, vulnerability, and emotional complexity. Chris Potter’s Cable brings a different energy to the series, while the additions surrounding X-Force, including Psylocke, Archangel, Jubilee, and Sunspot, give the show another fascinating team dynamic. X-Factor, featuring Havok, Polaris, Wolfsbane, Multiple Man, and Strong Guy under Val Cooper, is another excellent complement to the story because it gives us a completely different perspective on what mutant protection should actually look like.
But as much as I enjoyed Season 2, I do have one major criticism: the pacing. This season simply has too much story for only nine episodes. After the phenomenal opening stretch, some storylines begin to feel like they are moving at 100 miles per hour when they really needed room to breathe. Characters are introduced, conflicts develop, emotional revelations happen, and before you can fully process one storyline, the series has already moved on to another. That isn’t necessarily a problem with the ideas themselves; the ideas are often fantastic, but the execution occasionally feels rushed. The show is juggling Apocalypse, multiple timelines, X-Force, X-Factor, Polaris, the fallout from Genosha, Wolverine’s journey, Rogue’s grief, Gambit’s legacy, Jean and Cyclops, Cable, and several other major characters. That’s a LOT for nine episodes. The animation, meanwhile, remains absolutely gorgeous. The action sequences are fluid, the character designs continue to honor the classic series while modernizing them, and the visual storytelling repeatedly delivers moments that look like they were pulled straight from an X-Men comic brought to life. Even when the pacing isn’t perfect, the show almost never looks anything less than spectacular.
And then there is that finale. Without getting too deep into spoilers, the emotional payoff is exactly what X-Men ’97 does best: it makes you care about these characters before putting them through the emotional blender. The finale is a genuine tearjerker, but it also leaves you with that feeling every great superhero series should create: I need Season 3 right now! The creative team deserves tremendous credit for balancing spectacle with emotion and for making the final moments feel consequential. My hope for Season 3 is simple: give the story more room to breathe. Whether that means increasing the episode count, focusing more heavily on one central storyline, or simply allowing individual arcs more time to develop, I believe the series would benefit tremendously from a longer season. Nine episodes can work, but when you are telling stories this ambitious, sometimes less really isn’t more. X-Men ’97 has proven that it has the characters, the voice talent, the animation, and the storytelling ability to stand among the best animated superhero series ever made. Now Marvel Animation needs to give the team the runway to fully realize that potential. Major respect goes to the entire creative and production team, including the writers Anthony Sellitti, JB Ballard, Brian Ford Sullivan, Mariah Wilson and the broader writing staff; supervising director Jake Castorena; directors Emi Yonemura and Chase Conley; executive producers Larry Houston, Eric Lewald, Julia Lewald, Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige and the Marvel Animation team; and, of course, the phenomenal voice cast that brings this world to life. Season 2 isn’t perfect, but it is still damn good television, and after that finale, I’m more excited than ever for what the X-Men have waiting for us in Season 3.
Grade: B
