X-Men ’97: First Look at Marvel’s Animated Series Revival Revealed at Comic-Con 2022

During today’s Marvel Animation panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios finally revealed the first look at X-Men ’97, the upcoming revival of the classic X-Men: The Animated Series from the 1990s, teased earlier this week. The series continues from where X-Men: The Animated Series left off, with Magneto now leading the X-Men after Professor X left for Shi’ar space in the original show’s series finale. The preview also confirmed that Bishop, Morph, Cable, Forge, Nightcrawler, and Sunspot will appear in the show as allies, with Emma Frost, Sinister, Sebastian Shaw, and Callisto. 

Several members of that original show’s cast are returning for the new Marvel Studios show. They include Cal Dodd, Lenore Zann, George Buza, Alison Sealy-Smith, Chris Potter, Catherine Disher, Adrian Hough, and Christopher Britton. Some of these voice actors will reprise their original roles, while others will be taking on new characters in X-Men ’97.

X-Men ’97 will also add some new members to the voice cast. Those include Jennifer Hale, Anniwaa Buachie, Ray Chase, Matthew Waterson, JP Karliak, Holly Chou, Jeff Bennett, and AJ LoCascio.

“This is the first X-Men title produced by Marvel Studios,” says Brad Winderbaum, Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation at Marvel Studios told the This Week in Marvel podcast following the Disney+ Day announcement last year. “What an amazing first step to reintroduce audiences to the X-Men with a look at one of the most pinnacle eras of the X-Men comics, which was the ’90s. That iconic style that has its roots in Chris Claremont, and is celebrated in Jim Lee, and then again in The Animated Series. Over the years, as we’ve met with so many filmmakers who have come in to pitch on various projects, the touchstone that we hear over and over again is X-Men: The Animated Series.”

“As an animated show, the original X-Men was the forerunner to some amazing action series,” adds Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt, VP of Animation at Marvel Studios. “Everyone that is making X-Men ’97, top-down, is a fan. On this project, instinctually, we knew exactly what this is. To bring this series forward and pick up that baton, and not just keep running at the same pace, but to really elevate. That’s the responsibility.”

Beau DeMayo is the head writer and executive producer of X-Men ’97. Jake Castorena is the supervising director and Charley Feldman is the supervising producer. Original X-Men: The Animated Series producers and showrunners Eric and Julia Lewald and director Larry Houston are consulting on X-Men ’97. 

 X-Men ’97 will debut on Disney+ in fall 2023.