First Look at X-Men 97 Reveals New & Returning Mutants, Undoes Wolverine’s Ending

We’ve officially gotten our first glimpse of X-Men ’97 Season 2. Marvel debuted the X-Men ’97 Season 2 trailer at Comic Con Revolution, and it didn’t take long for the footage to go online. The end of X-Men ’97 Season 1 teased a massive story centered around En Sabah Nur, clearly riffing on the iconic ’90s time travel story “Age of Apocalypse.” Unsurprisingly, then, the leaked footage confirmed the iconic plot – plus a whole lot of twists.

Now, Marvel has offically released the X-Men ’97 Season 2 trailer. It confirms the time travel exploits, while setting up a desperate mission to “Get the X-Men back to the ’90s.” There are a staggering thirty-two new and returning mutants in the trailer, as well as a surprising number of Easter eggs at the end; plus, Wolverine’s story continues with new adamantium implanted into his skeleton (“We’re back, baby” he says joyfully).

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X-Men ’97 Season 2 is clearly riffing on some of the best comic book stories of the ’90s (“Age of Apocalypse” and “The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix,” for example), but it’s also daring to adapt one of the worst. In the comics, Magneto tore the adamantium from Wolverine’s skeleton and triggered a weird animal mutation (at one point, Wolverine even licked an unconscious Cyclops to try to wake him up). Season 2 is doing the animal mutation, but the trailer also promises the same outcome: the adamantium will be back. Presumably, the progression will be a little neater.

X-Men ’97 features an expanding cast of characters, many of whom actually originate from the 2000s; but that does make sense, given Season 1 actually riffed on important stories from the Morrison era (notably the Genosha arc, one of the darkest Marvel stories ever told). Though only glimpsed in the background of this specific trailer, a different one comnfirmed the arrival of Quentin Quire, a particularly exciting character and a rebellious Omega level mutant destined to become a future Phoenix host. It’s thrilling to imagine what stories lie in the future for the so-called “Kid Omega.” X-Factor and Colossus appeared in the original series, and they’re back in major roles.

More surprising, though, is a brief reference to none other than Deadpool, the merc with the mouth who appeared to be all but off limits to the show in Season 1. Due to the popularity of the Ryan Reynolds-starring movies, it seems like the character previously wasn’t on the table for the series to use, but sure enough, he does appear. Granted, there is a caveat, as the version of Deadpool seen in the trailer is clearly not the actual hero, but Morph taking on the form of the mutant ahead of a battle. That being said, it seems like Deadpool himself may still be off the table, but they figured out a clever workaround.

What do you think of the X-Men ’97 Season 2 trailer? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!