X-Men '97 Fans Cheer After *Spoiler* Cameo

05/01/2024 10:20 am EDT

X-Men '97 was basically one big feast for the fans this week as Spider-Man finally swung onto the scene. Episode 8 was Part 1 of "Tolerance Is Extinction" and the Disney+ show decided to push the pedal all the way to the floor. After Magneto escapes Bastion's clutches, he decides to end this Prime Sentinel offensive with his masterful powers of magnetism. That sets off a massive field of electricity which catches Spider-Man's attention. (Along with fun X-Men foes like Silver Samurai and Omega Red too!) Clearly, Magneto is done playing by Xavier's rules and he's tired of humanity's subterfuge in establishing Operation Zero Tolerance.

Spider-Man had been a long-rumored inclusion in X-Men '97. However, this appearance will only pour fuel on the fire for people looking for a full-blown continuation of Spider-Man: The Animated Series. The design for the Wall-Crawler in the Disney+ show looks awfully familiar for fans who tuned-in for the Marvel hero's adventures 30 years ago. With the success of X-Men '97, viewers are now dreaming for the same treatment for their other favorites. Time will have to tell if we'll see Spider-Man's 1990s adventures get a similar follow-up. Check out his appearance right here.

X-Men '97 Unleashes A War On Humanity

There's no question that X-Men '97 has delivered in the cameo department. Last week, Captain America's standoff with Rogue occurred and fans cheered the quick confrontation. ComicBook.com's Phase Zero podcast interviewed director Jake Castorena about that Marvel cameo and how all of this turmoil is going to affect the X-Men. He says these struggles will factor into what the team does going forward.

"I mean, call space spade. We saw Cap's shield. You know what, a lot of people tend to forget that Cap of the nineties wasn't the same as our Steve Rogers. (Referencing the MCU's popular portrayal.)," Castorena began. "Steve Rogers in the 90s had a little bit of a bias against the mutants… But, yeah, what I will say is, the reason why I love the X-Men so much, and why I value them over a lot of the other Marvel teams that we have, because there's a lot of great ones at the end of the day, is they've got the danger room. Man, the X-Men trained for this stuff. They have a danger room, and everybody else just wings that stuff."

"So, this is knocking the team off off their rocker a little bit. This is gonna be some non-sequitur stuff that they have to face. An experience that they've never had before. But, I would love to see how the audience reacts to how the X-Men handle it," he added. "Do the X-Men come together? And if they do, How do they do it? Especially after, something like this. And, how does our team dynamic shift? Does it shift? Or does it strengthen? We don't know, because just like 9/11 or COVID or anything in between, it brought people together and it separated people. And, it did some stuff in between."

"There's a lot of people on this planet, we all got to coexist," the director argued. "So you know, I really look forward to the audience watching our X-Men catch up to the future."

X-Men '97 Is Galloping Towards The Finish Line

The Disney+ juggernaut is still two episodes from the end of Season 1. Here's Marvel Studios' synopsis  for the animated series: "X-Men '97 revisits the iconic era of the 1990s as The X-Men, a band of mutants who use their uncanny gifts to protect a world that hates and fears them, are challenged like never before, forced to face a dangerous and unexpected new future."

'The voice cast includes Ray Chase as Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, JP Karliak as Morph, Lenore Zann as Rogue, George Buza as Beast, AJ LoCascio as Gambit, Holly Chou as Jubilee, Isaac Robinson-Smith as Bishop, Matthew Waterson as Magneto and Adrian Hough as Nightcrawler."

"Beau DeMayo serves as head writer; episodes are directed by Jake Castorena, Chase Conley and Emi Yonemura. Featuring music by The Newton Brothers, the series is executive produced by Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso and DeMayo."

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