Marvel Officially Sets Up Avengers Vs. X-Men For X-Men ’97

X-Men ’97 just took a major step towards an epic animated “Avengers Vs. X-Men” story. X-Men ’97 subtly wove the different ’90s animated shows together into the same timeline, meaning the Avengers exist on the team’s Earth. Speaking to ComicBook, director and supervising producer Jake Castorena teased that he wants an Avengers Vs. X-Men story. “I think as fans, we all want that,” he noted, and he certainly isn’t wrong.

X-Men ’97 increasingly seems to be setting that up. We’ve already seen one Avengers cameo, with Wolverine meeting up with Captain America and Black Widow. The Avengers have traditionally sat out of mutant affairs in this timeline – they didn’t even intervene after Genosha – but the cameo seemed to be a hint things are soon to change. Now, Marvel has officially confirmed that, in the most surprising way.

Marvel Officially Introduce the Avengers of the X-Men ’97 Timeline

X-Men ’97 Season 2 is accompanied by a new Infinity Comic over on Marvel Unlimited, the X-Men ’97 Season 2 Strike Files by Steve Foxe and Jethro Morales. These issues slot inbetween the individual episodes, adding more detail on Cable’s war against Apocalypse, as well as showing exactly how Emma Frost helped Apocalypse’s Horseman, War. #6 spins out of episode 2, in which Jubilee forced X-Force to rescue a group of mutant kids from X-Factor custody. Naturally, they drop the kids off at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.

What X-Force don’t know, though, is that the school is being watched over by Black Widow. It seems the Avengers guessed where X-Force would take the kids, and staked the mansion out. That done, the Avengers confront Cable in an attempt to bring X-Force in. It’s only a brief scene, but it’s enough to fully confirm the members of what we can probably call X-Force ’97:

• Captain America is leader of the Avengers
• Hawkeye and Black Widow are both members of the team
• The synthezoid Vision
• The Avengers don’t have Thor, but they do have Hercules

We’re So Much Closer to Avengers Vs. X-Men in X-Men ’97

X-Men ’97 Season 2 Strike Files #6 doesn’t give us Avengers vs. X-Men, but it’s certainly a prelude to it – Avengers vs. X-Force. What’s more, it accomplishes one very crucial purpose; it tells us exactly who are members of the Avengers in this timeline. I must admit, I find it hard to believe we’d get a full-on versus match without Iron Man thrown into the mix too (especially given Season 1 showed Captain America and Iron Man together at the White House). But he’s likely leading a team on the West Coast, as in the ’90s Iron Man animated series. Hawkeye must have made the switch to Team Cap.

That means we can round out the likely Avengers roster with Iron Man, War Machine, Spider-Woman, Scarlet Witch, U.S. Agent, and Century. It’s a particularly dangerous team, especially given Scarlet Witch plays a major role in some of the X-Men stories X-Men ’97 is adapting; she’s responsible for the decimation of the entire mutant race, leaving less than a hundred mutants active. X-Men ’97 Season 2 increasingly seems to be headed in that direction, and it’s quite possible the show will weave into its Avengers vs. X-Men narrative. It’s going to be thrilling to see how this plays out.

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