X-Men ’97 Season 2 will finally arrive this summer, after the first season became a breakout hit on Disney+ back in 2024. As the first trailers remind us, the sophomore season of X-Men ’97 will see the X-Men fractured into different groups that have been scattered across time, with some of the heroic mutants landing in the ancient past, while others get catapulted into a truly apocalyptic future.
Videos by ComicBook.com
There are already teases that at least half a dozen different X-Men characters will be featured in X-Men ’97 Season 2, in some capacity. However, there are also clear indicators that one of the biggest fan-favorite characters in the X-Men universe won’t be showing up. And it’s not just been an issue for X-Men ’97; it’s an issue that’s been lingering since the original X-Men: The Animated Series aired in the 1990s.
X-Men ’97: Lot of Hype, But No Magik?
The X-Men animated universe hasn’t been kind to Magik, aka Illyana Rasputin. She has only appeared in a single episode of X-Men: The Animated Series (“Red Dawn”), which focused on her brother, Piotr Rasputin/Colossus, fighting against Soviet forces that were terrorizing his community. Illyana was only a young girl in the episode and only played a supporting role in helping the X-Men save the day.
“Illyana” hasn’t been featured in any other X-Men animated series (X-Men: Evolution, Wolverine and the X-Men), including X-Men ’97. The third episode of the first season, “Fire Made Flesh”, introduced the lore of Jean Grey’s clone Madelyne Pryor and her transformation into the “Goblin Queen.” A lot of Marvel fans hoped that it was set up for a later story about the demonic realm of Limbo, and the one mutant who managed to rise above it: Magik.
However, the Season 2 trailer for X-Men ’97 is already killing that dream, thanks to a single shot that seems to spell out Illyana Rasputin’s fate.
Yes, unless the scene above is some kind of alternate timeline, it looks like X-Men ’97 Season 2 is going to give Marvel fans what they want in the worst way possible. The image seems to indicate that Illyana Rasputin eventually became Magik after appearing in X-Men: The Animated Series, but that, as Magik, she was one of the casualties of the Wild Sentinel’s attack on Genosha. If this image is indeed from the main timeline, Marvel Animation fans will be getting robbed of one of the best modern X-Men characters.
Why Is Marvel’s Magik So Popular?
In recent years, Illyana Rasputin has broken out to become a major star of the X-Men franchise, having grown into a new persona as “Magik.” The lore saw Illyana taken to the hellish dimension of Limbo by its demon lord, Belasco, where she was raised according to the cruelty of demonic culture. She was freed by white magic before Belasco could corrupt her completely, and harnessed both her mutant teleportation powers, along with the powers and artifacts of Limbo, to dethrone Belasco and take over Limbo herself, taking the name “Magik.” However, when she makes it back to Earth, Illyana discovers that her ten years in Limbo have equated to almost no time having passed on Earth. Colossus and the X-Men were shocked to see Ilyana a decade older and far more powerful than the little girl who had vanished a bit earlier.
Magik joined the X-Men’s Jr. squad, The New Mutants, and eventually became a full-fledged X-Man herself, where she currently serves under Cyclops in the current X-Men comic series. She has exploded in popularity on the comic book page and has also made the jump into pop culture via the live-action New Mutants film (where she was played by Anya-Taylor Joy), as well as the hit game Marvel Rivals, in which Magik is one of the most popular playable characters.
No telling if or when Magik could make her debut in the live-action MCU, but until that time comes, Marvel Animation fans shouldn’t be deprived of a great character.
X-Men ’97 Season 2 will premiere on Disney+ on July 1st.
