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Warning: X-Men '97 is a sequel to X-Men: The Animated Series, so Late Arrival Spoilers for that series are unmarked on this page. You Have Been Warned.

X-Men '97 ^note  The year being a reference to when the previous show ended its run. is a 2024 animated superhero series produced by Marvel Studios' animation label, Marvel Animation. It is developed by Beau DeMayo (The Witcher, Moon Knight, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) and serves as a continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series. While X-Men characters have already appeared in MCU works, X-Men '97 marks the first full X-Men production by Marvel Studios since the acquisition of 20th Century Studios by Disney.

In the wake of Professor Xavier's departure from Earth, the X-Men continue their battle for justice and peace between humans and mutants—a battle made all the more difficult when it is revealed that Xavier has willed the school and everything he built to Magneto.

Just like the original animated series, X-Men '97 has a core group the series follows:

• Scott Summers / Cyclops (voiced by Ray Chase): The stolid, straight-faced field leader of the X-Men who can fire optic blasts.
• Logan / Wolverine (voiced by Cal Dodd): The antiheroic Badass Jerk with a Heart of Gold. Possesses a Healing Factor, razor-sharp claws, and an adamantium-infused skeleton.
• Jean Grey (voiced by Jennifer Hale): Telepath and psychokineticist extraordinaire, and married to Cyclops.
• Rogue (voiced by Lenore Zann): A Southern Belle with the ability to siphon the life force, as well as memories and abilities, of others via physical contact. Also a Flying Brick.
• Remy LeBeau / Gambit (voiced by A.J. LoCascio): The Ragin' Cajun, a former thief from Louisiana and master at weaponizing playing cards by charging them with explosive energy. Also Rogue's on-again-off-again paramour.
• Ororo Munroe / Storm (voiced by Alison Sealy-Smith): Master of the elements whose command over the weather is matched only by her wisdom.
• Dr. Henry "Hank" McCoy / Beast (voiced by George Buza): A furry blue scientist and resident mutant doctor with a genius-level intellect, unparalleled agility and Super-Strength.
• Jubilation Lee / Jubilee (voiced by Holly Chou): A spunky youth with the power to conjure and throw explosive plasma.
• Kevin Sydney / Morph (voiced by J.P. Karliak): A quick-witted lovable goofball with the power to mimic the appearance, voice, and (to a limited degree) physical abilities of anyone.
• Lucas Bishop / Bishop (voiced by Isaac Robinson-Smith): A time-displaced warrior, once an enemy of the X-Men, now an avowed ally. Has the power to absorb and re-direct energy attacks.
• Erik "Magnus" Lehnsherr / Magneto (voiced by Matthew Waterson): The Master of Magnetism himself, the X-Men's most dangerous enemy... and in the wake of Professor Xavier's passing, their new leader.
• Roberto de Costa / Sunspot (voiced by Gui Agustini): A newly emergent mutant coming to terms with his newfound power to manipulate solar energy.
• Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler (voiced by Adrian Hough): A mutant with a demonic appearance, a heart of gold, and the ability to teleport from place to place.
• Charles Xavier / Professor X (voiced by Ross Marquand): The world's most powerful telepath, and the founder and leader of the X-Men, whose apparent death will have far-reaching ramifications for mutantkind.
• Nathan Summers / Cable (voiced by Chris Potter): Scott Summers' son from the future, a battle-hardened veteran whose appearance portends coming disaster.
• Daniel / Forge (voiced by Gil Birmingham): The Techno Wizard leader of the government-contracted X-Factor. He helped Storm reclaim her powers and started a romantic relationship.

Additional cast members include Chris Britton as Nathaniel Essex / Mr. Sinister, Todd Haberkorn as Henry Gyrich, Eric Bauza as the many Sentinels, Abby Trott as Spiral, Courtenay Taylor as Illyana Rasputin / Magik, Morla Gorrondona as Lilandra Neramani, Alyson Court as Abcissa, Catherine Disher as Valerie Cooper, Lawrence Bayne as Carl Denti / X-Cutioner and Theo James as Sebastion Gilberti / Bastion.

The series' animation production is handled by Studio Mir and Tiger Animation, alongside Red Dog Culture House, Jam Filled Entertainment, and in-house staff at Marvel Animation for additional animation support.

The series was released on Disney+ on March 20th, 2024, with a second and third season in development. Due to Beau DeMayo's firing shortly before the series premiere, he has been replaced as showrunner by Matthew Chauncey (What If…? (2021), Ms. Marvel (2022)), who was put in charge of revising DeMayo's scripts for the second season and will take over as head writer for the third. Season 2 is set to release in summer 2026.

A prelude four-issue comic written by Steve Foxe and drawn by Salva Espin, also called X-Men '97, began publication in March 2024.

Previews: Trailer

To me, my tropes!

• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The series primarily uses 2D animation as a basis, much like the original series. However, unlike its predecessor, there are clear moments of using 3DCG cel-shaded characters for certain crowd or background character shots. Vehicles such as the Blackbird are similarly visualized this way.
• Adaptation Distillation:
  • The complex relationship situation surrounding Scott Summers, Jean Grey, and Madelyne Pryor is much more streamlined/simplified. In the comics, Jean (seemingly) died and Scott met and fell for Madelyne, an apparently unconnected woman who looked very much like Jean and was eventually revealed to be a clone created by Sinister to dupe Scott and whom Scott abandoned the minute it was revealed Jean was alive all along. In this show, Mr. Sinister swapped Jean and Madelyne at an unknown point in time with the latter believing that she was the real Jean until the truth was revealed.
  • Inferno is changed to a telepathic illusion caused by Madelyne's powers.
  • "Lifedeath, Pt. 1" immediately segues into The Fall of the Mutants, while the original story took a few extra years to happen.
  • Genosha seems to composite many elements from the Krakoa period of X-Men, including a council which's membership is more-or-less the Quiet Council adapted to the 90s X-Men, mutant citizens who debuted much later than Genosha itself, and focus on the UN recognising it as an independent state and UN member. It also condenses much of Genosha's history into one episode, from it being founded and Magneto elected its leader, to the brutal genocide via a Wild Sentinel that claims six million mutant lives.
• Adaptational Gender Identity: Morph is depicted as being non-binary, a first for the character.
• Adaptational Late Appearance: A number of characters who debuted in the 1980s but didn't appear in the original series make their debuts here, including Val Cooper, Sunspot, and Madelyne Pryor.
• Ambiguous Situation: The series opens after a noticeable Time Skip after the original show, leaving a few open questions about everything that happened in the interim. As yet, we haven't been told exactly what led to Bishop returning to the present day and joining the X-Men permanently, or why Morph's appearance is so drastically different. It's also implied that Illyana Rasputin unlocked her mutant and magical powers at some point (Morph is seen transforming into Magik in the third episode, complete with Russian accent, and even into Magik's demonic Darkchylde form), but none of the details have yet been revealed.
• Anachronic Order: "Motendo/Lifedeath – Part 1", was immediately followed with the episode, "Remember It", before "Lifedeath, Pt. 2" aired.
• And This Is for...: When Rogue takes on Bastion in "Tolerance is Extinction, Pt. 3", she provides a Meaningful Echo of Gambit's last words:
  "His name was Gambit! REMEMBER IT!"
• Arc Words:
  • "Family".
  • "The future".
• Artificial Family Member: The whole Jean, Madelyne, and Nathan relationship. Jean was starting to see Madelyne as a sister but sadly never got a chance to get close to her before she died. Meanwhile, thanks to her psychic connection with Madelyne, Jean ended up feeling the same motherly love for Nathan.
• Artistic License – History: In "Tolerance is Extinction, Part 2", the International Space Station is briefly seen when Magneto lifts his asteroid base into space. The series takes place in 1997 (hence the title), but the ISS wasn't launched until 1998.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Bishop has been promoted to a proper member of the titular team in this series, rather than merely being a guest character for three episodes before he returns to the future, making it, arguably, a subversion.
  • Morph as well, who was initially a main team member in this canon from the pilot. They sat out due to a case of Heroic Sacrifice, leaving them for dead before Mr. Sinister put them into a Jekyll & Hyde situation for much of the series until the finale.
  • Forge in the original series was a recurring background character, but plays a central role in "Lifedeath – Part 1".
  • Nightcrawler only made a couple of appearances in the original series, but here he's added to the opening credits sequence beginning with "Lifedeath - Part 2" and is a member of the team from then on.
• Audience Surrogate: Much like Jubilee before him, Roberto Da Costa is made into one in the first episode.
• Avengers Assemble: Before the series's title is shown in the trailer, we see Cyclops declaring "To me, my X-Men!" while the team assembles behind him.
• Backported Development: The show, even given its Sequel Series status, doesn't shy away from stuff introduced since the original series ended, including...
  • The Hellfire Gala being shown on the cover of the Daily Bugle in "To Me, My X-Men".
  • One of Mojo's mock title cards in "Motendo" featuring Darwin from X-Men: Deadly Genesis, a comic that came out nearly a decade after the original show ended, with later episodes including cameos and appearances by the likes of Pixie, Glob Herman, Sammy Pare, Nature Girl, and Cyclops and Havok's brother Vulcan, the last of whom was also introduced in Deadly Genesis.
  • The season one finale, "Tolerance is Extinction, Pt. 3", sees this combined with Canon Character All Along as the originally nameless waitress that served Bishop, Shard, and the alternate versions of Wolverine and Storm in "One Man's Worth, Part 1" was retconned to be this universe's version of Rose Gilberti, a key figure in the backstory of Bastion.
  • "Tolerance in Extinction, Part 3" also features a cameo appearance from the Dora Milaje, who wouldn't be introduced in the comics until Christopher Priest's Black Panther run the following year, as well as Bishop meeting with the young Forge and introducing himself as "Lucas Bishop", following the reveal in the 2000s of his first name and that "Bishop" was, in fact, his and Shard's surname.
  • The show brings in the idea introduced in the X-Men Film Series that Magneto's helmet can block telepathy. Not only did the original series predate the idea, but "Deadly Reunions", the fourth episode in the original series and Magneto's second episode, saw Xavier use his telepathy on Magneto while he was wearing the helmet.
• Bloodier and Gorier: Downplayed. The initial episodes keep up a familiar level of violence to the days of Saturday Morning Cartoons that the original series debuted to early on, but after the attack on Genosha in Episode 5, things get noticeably more graphic and violent in it's presentation, not shying away from the bloodshed when it is shown.
• Break Out the Museum Piece: After the mansion is destroyed, the X-Men are forced back to a fallback base on Muir Island and accordingly, have to salvage older versions of their costumes out of storage to take the fight to Magneto and Bastion. Cyclops has a smoother, more form-fitting outfit with a hood replacing the blue bodysuit with paramilitary accessories, Jean's old Marvel Girl costume of a green dress and miniskirt combo and yellow face mask takes the place of her full blue and beige body stocking, and Wolverine's yellow and black costume is replaced by its more muted dark brown variant.
• Breather Episode: "Motendo," a short episode that sees Jubilee and Sunspot trapped in a video game, is significantly lighter and less crucial to the ongoing plot than the first three episodes or "Lifedeath – Part 1", which it was released alongside.
• Brought to You by the Letter "S": Just like during the equivalent period in the comics, Magneto as the leader of the X-Men sports a new costume with a big "M" on the front.
• Call-Back: When Wolverine stabs Magneto at the end of "Tolerance is Extinction, Pt. 2", he says "The brave always die first", which is what Magneto himself claimed back in "The Final Decision" from the original series.
• The Cameo:
  • The Watcher makes a Blink-and-You-Miss-It appearance in the sky in "Remember It".
  • Spider-Man, the Silver Samurai, and Omega Red appear in "Tolerance is Extinction - Part 1", and Bastion's conferees include Doctor Doom and Helmut Zemo.
  • "Tolerance is Extinction - Part 3" features a cavalcade of these, including Iron Man, Black Panther (specifically King T'Chaka) and the Dora Milaje, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, Cloak and Dagger, Darkstar, Crimson Dynamo, Psylocke, Alpha Flight, Cipher, Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, and Flash Thompson. Forge's board of potential new X-Men recruits at the end of the episode includes photos of additional characters, including Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Kitty Pryde, Dust, Havok, Magik, Iceman, and Archangel.
• Canon Character All Along: Combined with Backported Development, but the formerly nameless waitress from part one of the original series's "One Man's Worth, Part 1" was retconned into being this universe's version of Rose Gilberti — who wouldn't be introduced in the comics until 1997's Operation: Zero Tolerance, two years after "One Man's Worth" first aired and a couple of months after the original series ended.
• Casting Gag:
  • After deciding to step down from the role of Jubilee to allow the character to be voiced by an Asian actor, Alyson Court plays Abscissa, Jubilee's older virtual reality counterpart.
  • Ross Marquand now becomes the second Red Skull actor to voice Xavier after Cedric Smith.
  • Travis Willingham voices Sebastian Shaw after previously voicing fellow Inner Circle club member, Mastermind in Marvel Anime: X-Men. The man himself confirms it.
• Combination Attack:
  • Episode 1 has Wolverine, Gambit, and Morph taking down Master Mold through creative use of their respective talents. First, Gambit charges Wolverine's claws and then his staff, which he then chucks at Logan, using the resulting explosion to launch him towards Morph, who transforms into the Blob, allowing Logan to bounce off his stomach. Logan uses his charged claws to decapitate Master Mold.
  • While not necessarily an "attack" per se, in Episode 2 Magneto and Storm effectively combine their abilities to contain their enemies, with Magneto forging metal objects in the room into massive swords and driving them into the ground, with Storm then running lightning between them like an energy fence.
  • When fighting against demons in a psychic hallucination of Hell projected by the Goblin Queen in Episode 3, Cyclops uses his Eye Beams to power up Bishop who uses the energy boost to annihilate the demons.
  • Episode 4 has Jubilee and her simulated future-self Abcissa combining their powers to generate a giant plasma orb and throw it at Mojo.
  • Episode 9, Jean does a Fastball Special with Morph (twice in a row) against the Sentinels while they're transformed into the Hulk.
  • Episode 10, Jean creates a force tube as a funnel for Storm's tornado to concentrate its force in order to hold back Asteroid M.
• Continuity Nod:
  • A copy of the Daily Bugle is shown blowing in the wind after Cyclops' optic eye blast decimates the Friends of Humanity's hideout in "To Me, My X-Men". One article title asks if Spider-Man is a mutant, alongside a story about the Hellfire Gala written by Eddie Brock with pictures by Peter Parker. This is likely an acknowledgment that the original show, and this series by extension, share continuity with Spider-Man: The Animated Series, as established in their crossover episodes. In the first season finale, Peter, Mary Jane Watson, and Flash Thompson make cameo appearances, all sporting their designs from that series.
  • Likewise, Iron Man makes a cameo appearance in "Tolerance is Extinction: Part 3", sporting his design from the first season of his cartoon.
  • Spider-Man himself makes a voiceless cameo in "Tolerance is Extinction - Part 1" and according to the writer, this is the same Spidey from that series.
  • In "Tolerance is Extinction: Part 1", Bastion is revealed to be the son of a school janitor who was infected with Nimrod's surviving circuitry after it was destroyed at Bard College back in the "One Man's Worth" two-parter from the original series. Showrunner Beau DeMayo actually suggested fans rewatch those two episodes precisely because of their importance to Bastion's origin.
  • Likewise, "Tolerance is Extinction: Part 2" sees the return of Asteroid M, which was seemingly destroyed in "Sanctuary: Part 2" from the original show.
• Continuity Snarl: The Black Panther of the series shown in "Tolerance is Extinction - Part 1" is T'Chaka, rather than T'Challa, his son. This doesn't make sense in the Fox Kids continuity that the 90s X-Men's universe takes place in, given that Fantastic Four: The Animated Series "Prey of the Black Panther" showed that T'Chaka was killed by Klaw as part of T'Challa's Death by Origin Story and T'Challa firmly held the Black Panther title. One of the showrunners Jake Castorena did acknowledge this retcon and hinted there was Executive Meddling involved (likely due to sensitivity around Chadwick Boseman's passing), but mainly chalked it up to "alternate timelines". Besides, official reality numbers assigned by Marvel give different numbers to X-Men/Spider-Man than those given to Fantastic Four/Iron Man/Incredible Hulk (though these three originally had their own universe numbers before being folded into a single one).invoked
• Costume Evolution: Over the course of the series, everyone goes from their 90s outfits back to their costumes from their first appearance as part of the X-Men (or in Scott and Jean's case, when the group switched from a group uniform to individual looks).
• Darker and Edgier: While still an animated work and still part of the continuity started with X-Men: The Animated Series, the series leans heavier on the elder viewers who were fans of the original series, allowing for blood, light cursing, and even widespread death in the assault on Genosha and Magneto ripping the adamantium out of Wolverine’s body, things that Saban and Fox Kids would have never allowed in the original series.
• De-power: Storm suffers this after Taking the Bullet for Magneto from Xcutioner's Radiation gun during his trial, losing her powers seemingly permanently as a consequence. She recovers from this after a combination of Forge's technological assistance and facing her demons in an almost literal fashion.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • In "Mutant Liberation Begins", there is a close-up of Magneto taking off Rogue's glove to touch her hand. If this were any other woman it wouldn't be a big deal, but the way it's presented, it being Rogue and the way she rejects it, it comes across like two people who are about to have sex.
  • Beast telling Storm about the loss of her powers is exactly like a doctor telling a person they will never walk again.
  • The F.O.H. attack on the United Nations headquarters. The sight of an army of angry protesters swarming a government building with the intent to punish the "disloyal" officials inside feels scarily reminiscent of the January 6 storming of the US Capitol, which happened three years before the airing of the episode. A news report at the end of the episode even refers to the events as an insurrection.
  • Morph's reaction in episode 3 to the vision of Mr. Sinister stalking towards them is reminiscent of an assault victim being caught and backed in to a corner again by their assailant.
  • The attack on Genosha was explicitly intended to evoke mass murder events by extremists, the most direct inspirations being 9/11 and the Pulse nightclub shooting.
  • The mutants-as-gay metaphor is heavily featured with Sunspot essentially being closeted and his mother saying she accepts him, but he needs to keep it secret for the sake of the family reputation.
  • As Bastion explains in "Tolerance is Extinction, Part 1", the Prime Sentinel volunteers are made up of bigoted humans who connect with each other online to share their opinions, bringing to mind radicalized followers of alt-right and neo-fascist groups seeking validation online and then taking part in organized violence.
  • In "Tolerance is Exinction, Part 3", Magneto and Xavier talking to each other at the bar and revealing their mutant powers to each other is treated similar to a situation as if two friends were coming out to each other as gay, complete with hypothetical questions leading up to the confessions and the anxiety of rejection upon reveal.
• Emotional Language Shift: Magneto reverts to German when comforting a frightened Leech as the shield is about to fail to the Wild Sentinel in "Remember It".
  "Habe keine Angst [Do not be afraid]"
• Empowered by Negativity: Storm is harassed by the Adversary, a beastial owl-like creature who feeds on negative emotions, in this case Storm's feelings of helplessness and self-loathing following her De-power.
• Evolving Credits: The X-Men title sequence is meant to be similar to the '92 show's title sequence for continuity, but changes with each episode. The one big change is at the end where the clash between Xavier's forces and Magneto's has Lady Deathstrike and the White Queen replace Warpath (who really had no reason to be there) and a mysterious pink-skinned man (assumed to either be the Gargoyle or Gremlin by fans).
  • In episode 1, Jean (whose hair is now loose) moves over to be after Cyclops instead of Wolverine, Morph and Bishop join the cast, and the scene where Jubilee runs into a fence is replaced with Morph being haunted by the silhouette of Mr. Sinister.
  • In episode 2, Magneto replaces Xavier, the random scenes are replaced with Storm beating Callisto, the Dark Phoenix, Bishop traveling through time, and Magneto with Asteroid M.
  • In episode 3, Storm is removed from the cast list, Jubilee's fence scene is restored with Sunspot in her place, we see Magneto attacking Cyclops, Storm and Wolverine, Lilandra attacking the Dark Phoenix and Rogue kisses Gambit, using her hand to cover his lips.
  • In episode 4, Jean's card has her with a ponytail over her cowl again (representing the actual Jean, after the revelation that the person called Jean Grey in the first few episodes was her clone Madelyne Pryor), Bishop is removed from the cast list., Jubilee protects Longshot from Mojo, Xavier is telepathically blocked by Emma Frost and Forge is focused on as we see Polaris caring for Havok.
  • In episode 5, Jubilee protecting Longshot is replaced with Cable fighting Apocalypse, and Storm fighting Callisto reappears.
  • In episode 6, Magneto and Gambit are removed from the cast list due to Gambit's death and Magneto seemingly being killed, Nightcrawler joins the cast, and also replaces Gambit in the mid-credits shot of the X-Men running across the screen in front of the title. Nimrod being created, then fighting Bishop, Storm and Wolverine, the X-Men fighting the Imperial Guard, and Xavier and Lilandra's romance.
  • In episode 8, Professor X rejoins the main cast.
  • In episode 9, Storm rejoins the main cast with her new outfit and the fleeing humans are turned into Prime Sentinels.
  • In episode 10, we get scenes of a younger Xavier and Magneto followed by the Hellfire Club.
• Fixed Point in Time: The Genosha Massacre by the Sentinels is a fixed point in time as all of Cable's attempt to prevent it ends in failure. Beast himself calls this the "Absolute Point", moments in time that can't be change, which was coined by the sorcerers of Kamaj-Tar in What If…? (2021).
• Foreshadowing:
  • Unlike the original series where it was always Cyclops who voiced the "Previously on X-Men" bit, this time it's a different character each episode, and it usually indicates which character will be the main focus.
  • In the intro, as the camera closes in on the Blackbird and when the X-Men are running towards the villains, Jean is wearing her usual ponytail from the original series. During the name cards, her hair is down to match the promo art. That's because the Jean in the jet and at the end is the real one, but the one in the middle of the sequence is Madelyne Pryor, whom Sinister swapped with the real Jean at some unknown time. Once Jean returns, the sequence is modified so she has her old hairstyle back.
  • The Watcher is known to appear before moments of historic importance in the Marvel Universe, so he is fittingly seen observing the events on Genosha right before the island is destroyed by Bastion's Sentinels.
  • Bastion was hinted at in previous episodes leading up to episode 7's reveal — he's seen at a table with Val Cooper and other soldiers in episode 2, he's on a photo with Dr. Adler and Forge in episode 4 and he's seen walking on an upper floor that Magneto notices in episode 5.
  • Some of the references to past episodes seen in the Evolving Credits also hint at developments for this season, such as Jean as The Phoenix, Magneto with Asteroid M and the destruction of Nimrod, which turns out to be key to Bastion's origine.
  • There are several scenes hinting to Gambit's eventual return in Season 2 as one of Sinister and Apocalypse's Horsemen of the Apocalypse representing Death, as well as his comic background as a former Apocalypse Maiden. For one, when the Tri-Sentinel in Episode 5 gets readings of an Omega Level threat it initially looks at Gambit before shifting its attention to Magneto in seeming confusion. In the same episode Gambit shows he can blow up the same massive sentinel within seconds of touching it. In Xavier's vision in Episode 6 we then see a skeletal Gambit blowing up the globe on his desk before towering above the remains of the Shi'Ar empire and killing Professor X. Upon returning to Earth, Xavier also offhandedly mentions to Rogue how he would have wished for Gambit to be buried on the mansion's grounds (the team not doing this has left Gambit's grave unsupervised). And finally, The Stinger of Episode 10 shows Apocalypse picking up Gambit's Queen of Hearts card in Genosha and mentioning "Death".
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Like the original series, there are plenty of Easter eggs sprinkled about in blink-and-you-miss-it cameos.
  • In the first episode, we see Callisto and Leech hiding in an alley outside the Friends of Humanity hideout.
  • After the destruction of the FOH hideout, a newspaper drifts by announcing a mutant fashion show and an article by Eddie Brock and Peter Parker.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Magneto truly, genuinely tries to turn over a new leaf after being trusted with the X-Men and school by Xavier. It seems like it worked, and he's on the verge of real happiness when the massacre on Genosha happens. When he is next seen, he's lost any and all patience for humanity, firing off an EMP that turns the world back centuries in an instant. What's more, when confronted on Asteroid M, he doesn't even try to listen to Charles and mercilessly tries to kill the X-Men he led only a few days ago, as well as his old friend. The latter is a line he never, ever crossed before. This trope is cemented in the finale when Charles gets Magnus to switch sides again, helping put Magneto's mind together after ripping it apart to restore Earth's magnetic field and save humanity. Magneto uses his powers to stop Asteroid M mid-plummet, which the entire X-Men team had proven unable to halt.
• Important Haircut:
  • Storm now wears her hair in a large mohawk, most certainly inspired by her "Punk Storm Era" in the comics. After the events of "Lifedeath - Part 2", she grows her hair out again to accompany her new costume.
  • In an Inversion, Jubilee goes back to her classic hairstyle after the original series gave her a bob cut for the final season, likely because most remember her with the previous hairstyle rather than the latter.
• I Surrender, Suckers!: In "To Me, My X-Men", we see a member of the Friends of Humanity take off Cyclops' visor. The X-Man begs that he surrenders…before he grins, opens his eyes, and says "Not!". This is a nod to a similar scene in the original series; in that one, Cyclops was speaking to a Sentinel.
• It Always Rains at Funerals: In the trailer, it is visibly raining as a coffin is lowered into its grave. The coffin turns out to be Gambit's in Episode 7.
• It Will Never Catch On: The trailer for season 2 shown at New York Comic-Con has Lady Deathstrike scoff at DVDs, saying she prefers laserdiscs.
• Joke and Receive: A cross-franchise example. Back in X-Men 1, Wolverine balked at the team's black leather outfits, causing Scott to ask "What would you prefer? Yellow spandex?". Here, Cable is presented with a blue-and-yellow spandex X-Men uniform by Cyclops, who responds to the latter's derision with "What were you expecting? Black leather?"
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: While bitterly lamenting all the death the team has experienced, Rogue says "Morph was barely on the team 30 minutes before we tossed them to the wolves," an in-joke about Morph's death in the first episode of the original series.
• Lighter and Softer: While X-Men 97' is Darker and Edgier than the original animated series - "X-Men: The Animated Series", it's still a idealistic, colored and lighthearted story and it's lighter than the comics and very much lighter than "X-Men Film Series", that is darker and more realistic.
• Love Dodecahedron: The regular Jean Grey/Cyclops/Wolverine Love Triangle, thought resolved with Jean choosing Scott and Logan choosing to let her go, gets a whole new wrinkle with Madelyne Pryor, a clone of Jean. None of them know when Madelyne replaced Jean and they have the same memories, leaving them uncertain if Scott fell in love with Jean or Madelyne, further complicated by Madelyne being the mother of his child. Meanwhile, Jean finally learns that Logan loved her while trying to use his memories to anchor herself. Scott loves them both, Jean isn't sure of anything, Madelyne loves Scott but also feels guilty about his love for Jean, and Logan still loves Jean but rebuffs her since it would only make her life more complicated when she's using her love for Scott as an anchor. As of the season 1 finale, yet another person has been added to it: Morph, who's seemingly revealed to have romantic feelings for Logan.
• Make Way for the New Villains: To show how powerful Bastion is, his introduction features him killing Henry Gyrich, turning Bolivar Trask into a cybernetic weapon, and kidnapping Magneto.
• May–December Romance: Magneto and Rogue
• Mid-Season Twist: "Remember It" features a violent surprise Sentinel attack on Genosha. By the episode's end, Gambit, Magneto and the Morlocks have seemingly perished, with other characters' fates left unclear.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: The first season comes about due to the events in the original series' finale: With Xavier disappearing into Shi'ar space and not contacting his students, everyone believed Xavier dead. This led to Magneto becoming the torchbearer for Xavier's dream as was requested in his will. While Genosha would have still happened, Magneto watching this would push him over the edge.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!: The first line of this series establishes that Henry Gyrich's apparent assassination of Charles Xavier in the finale of the original series has wound up providing a lot of sympathy towards the mutant community.
• Noodle Incident: At some point between the original animated series and this series, if we go by Morph's transformations and later Forge's list of allies, Illyana's powers awakened and she and Colossus became X-Men temporarily. Also, how Bishop ended up being stranded in the present was never explained. Also it's ambigious how Captain America is back - did someone free him from Vortexbor did Beyonder restore him to the Earth instead of sending back to Vortex after Spider Man The Animated Series S 05 E 11 Secret Wars Part 3 Doom, and Spider-Man having finally found MJ after going to search her with Madam Web at the end of his series.
• Odd Friendship: In keeping with Wolverine's claim following Morph's apparent death in the original series that "He was the only one who could make me laugh," Morph is the only person who can talk to Wolverine without being scowled at. They can even take the form of Sabertooth as a gag and Wolvie takes it in good sport.
• Politically Correct History: Invoked: despite the series being set in the late 1990s, the showrunners elected to depict the X-Men as being entirely tolerant of the openly non-binary Morph.
• Power Copying: Morph seems to have gained this ability between the series to a limited degree, allowing them to seemingly utilize other mutants' physical powers at a base level like Blob's bouncing fat, and Colossus's Extra-ore-dinary nature with their Voluntary Shapeshifting.
• Pregnant Badass: "To Me, My X-Men" establishes that Jean Grey is nine months pregnant, with a visible baby bump. However, she's still able to assist the X-Men remotely, such as using Cerebro to interrogate Henry Gyrich. She's also shown to have some level of control moving civilians out of Logan's wild driving to the hospital. Except "Fire Made Flesh" reveals that she wasn't Jean Grey but her clone.
• Promoted to Opening Titles: Morph and Bishop are added to the opening title sequence, complete with their own title cards alongside the rest of the X-Men. Magneto gets his title card in the second episode, replacing the departed Professor X. Nightcrawler also gets one from episode 6 onwards, replacing the deceased Gambit along with the departed Bishop and Storm.
• Recoil Boost: In the first episode, Cyclops is shown using the recoil from his optic blasts as a means to move about the battlefield when fighting against Friends of Humanity goons. When the Blackbird is later brought down by a Sentinel, Cyclops uses the recoil from a full-power optic blast aimed at the ground to slow his descent and safely land.
• Ret-Canon: Morph takes on a noseless, bald, blank-eyed off-white humanoid form. That look originated in the comics' Age of Apocalypse universe, which was popularized as the character's most well-known look in Exiles after the original show ended. However, they're occasionally seen in their original male design as one of their rotating looks. It's implied that the featureless humanoid form is their natural state, while the dark-haired young man is their default "normal" look when they need to blend in with humans. "Tolerance is Extinction, Part 2" even sees them take up a capeless version of their Exiles look.
• Retcon:
  • In the episode "Mutant Liberation Begins", Magneto recounts his history with Charles Xavier's telepathy. He remarks that he eventually made his helmet immune to Xavier's powers. While this is par for the course for modern interpretations, this wasn't the case for the original series, which predated the 2000 X-Men 1 film making it a thing. The original series episode "Deadly Reunions" notably featured Xavier telepathically showing Magneto, with his helmet on, images of the Holocaust to persuade him against repeating past sins.invoked
  • A minor example, but the news photo of Gyrich from his arrest during "Graduation Day" shows him with his initial appearance from the earlier seasons (glasses and red hair) rather than his season 5 redesign (dark hair and no glasses). Like Jubilee, it's likely due to his original design being more recognizable.
• Retraux:
  • The series' art style aims to mimic the '90s Jim Lee look of the original series, to maintain consistency. The brighter color palette, highlights, and usage of artificial grain, also play into comparisons of the generalized look of the 1990s OVAs. The end credits are also in the same style as the first season of the original 1992 show, with a render of the characters and and a pop-up stating their names and powers.
  • The writing is played very straight with virtually none of the postmodern wit that marks Marvel productions post-MCU apart from era-appropriate 90s snark and one-liners. When X-Cutioner introduces himself to Cyclops, no barbs are made against his Punny Name, and Scott takes him seriously as a foe. Likewise, codenames are used sans any hint of irony or shame.
• Revolving Door Casting: Each episode features different characters appearing in the Introductory Opening Credits, due to new members of the core X-Men, and other members leaving or even dying.
• Ruder and Cruder: Very much a downplayed case, but the show does feature mild profanity, which was not present in the original show. It also dispenses with Frothy Mugs of Water and makes it clear the characters are drinking alcohol.
• Sequel Hook: The first season ends setting up some clear plot points for season 2: Bastion and the Prime Sentinels are destroyed, but an unknown individual has transported the X-Men to different timelines. Cyclops and Jean Grey have been transported to the far future year of 3960 A.D., where they meet Clan Askani and a young Cable.^note Word of God reports that Wolverine, Morph, and Storm were transported to the same. Rogue, Nightcrawler, Beast, Xavier, and Magneto end up in Ancient Egypt circa 3000 B.C., where they encounter a young Apocalypse and the dome-shaped fortress of Rama Tut. In the present day, Forge and Bishop join forces to search for the time-displaced X-Men. Meanwhile, Apocalypse visits the ruins of Genosha. Taking a particular interest in the site where Gambit fell in battle, he picks up one of the fallen hero's cards.
• Sequel Series: The series is meant to be one to X-Men: The Animated Series, with the trailer opening on the original series finale with Xavier saying goodbye to the team.
• Shout-Out:
  • The Friends of Humanity Sentinel Blaster looks a lot like a Mega Buster.
  • "To Me, My X-Men" has Beast quote Rick Blaine's famous "friendship" line from Casablanca, while commandeering a Sentinel's chassis through reprogramming.
  • The third episode has a stereotypical "house of horrors" that includes a giant face taking up an entire elevator, looking like a yokai from Spirited Away.
  • The fifth episode features Rogue cradling a dead Gambit the same way Lois Lane cradled a bloody Superman after his battle with Doomsday in The Death of Superman as well as generic Pietà Plagiarism.
  • A close-up of Magneto's report has a list of aliases, which include David Hemblen, Ian M., and Michael F., the three actors who have played Magneto.
  • Rogue's final line in Episode 5 is a verbatim reproduction of a line from episode 8 of WandaVision, in which Wanda utters the exact same phrase while standing over the dismantled remains of Vision
• Significant Wardrobe Shift:
  • In "Mutant Liberation Begins", Magneto sets his classic villain outfit aside for the "Headmaster Magnus" outfit from the 80's comics, which was made iconic in the "Trial of Magneto" story arc in 1985 (which the episode takes inspiration from). Following the fall of Genosha and his return to mutant extremism, he reverts back to his villain outfit.
  • After regaining her powers in "Lifedeath, Part 2", Storm switches from her silver costume that she's worn throughout the previous series to her iconic black costume.
• Simple Solution Won't Work: When Magneto shows up and claims he came to join and honor Charles' legacy, the X-Men are, of course, skeptical. Cyclops suggest Jean simply read his mind to see if he is being truthful or not, Jean explains that all she would know was his current mental state, he could feel completely different a year or even five minutes from now, she wouldn't be able to know, unless she scans his mind 24-7, though Cyclops doesn't have a problem with that.
• Smash to Black: Episode 5, "Remember it" has Rogue cradle the lifeless body of Gambit after his Heroic Sacrifice. We don't get to see her last actions as the screen goes black for her last line.
  Rogue: I can't feel you.
• Solemn Ending Theme: The ending of episode 5, "Remember It" is a sad version of the opening theme after the genocide the Tri-Sentinel inflicts upon Genosha and even moreso the death of a main character: Gambit.
• Stylistic Suck: The color of Captain America's sleeves is intentionally inconsistent (sometimes white and blue, sometimes just solid blue), likely as a nod to a similar animation error in the original show and other contemporary Marvel cartoons.^note Seeing as Cap, like every other character, is a 3D model cel shaded to look 2D, he shouldn't suffer from animation errors like that, so the only way for it to happen would be for it to be intentional
• Sucksessor: A villainous example when Trask creates a back-up Master Mold to lead a new generation of Sentinels and fight the X-Men. The second Master Mold fares poorly in battle with the seasoned X-Men and is destroyed when Wolverine decapitates it (something which the original Master Mold was able to recover from). When the third Master Mold is unveiled this trope goes out the window.
• Take That! - In "Tolerance is Extinction, Part 2", Cyclops hands Cable a uniform, in which Cable mocks. Cyclops responds with "What were you expecting? Black leather?" in a shot against the Fox X-Men movies, specifically the first one but with Wolverine instead of Cable.
• Took a Level in Badass: Unlike the original series, Jean Grey and Jubilee are no longer underutilized heroes, but now powerful enough to be on par with their fellow X-Men. Jean displays far greater feats of power with less strain, and Jubilee is much more composed and competent when on the field.
• Time Skip: At least a year has passed between "Graduation Day," the last episode of the original series, and the premiere of this one. This gives enough time for several developments. Jean to become heavily pregnant and Bishop to join the team; Morph to resume active duty and become more comfortable with their featureless base form.
• Unexplained Recovery: Four, three of which involve characters from the original's sister series, Spider-Man: The Animated Series:
  • The aforementioned Continuity Nod with the Daily Bugle has an article written by Eddie Brock, so at some point, Venom managed to escape from the Dark Dimension and, despite being fired by J. Jonah Jameson twice and later attacking the man, managed to get rehired yet again.
  • In Spider-Man, Captain America was depicted as trapped in a matter/antimatter vortex to stop the Red Skull, getting out twice (first to stop the Red Skull and Electro, and again, thanks to the events of the "Secret Wars" three-parter), only to go back in both times. "Bright Eyes" sees Steve out again for good and implied to have hooked up with the Avengers.
  • The final episode shows Peter Parker standing with Mary Jane Watson, revealing that she was eventually rescued from extra-dimentional limbo.
  • For one that actually involves the original X-Men: TAS, Omega Red was last seen at the end of "Deal with the Devil" still trapped on the submarine at the bottom of the ocean — yet when Magneto unleashes his global-wide EMP in "Tolerance is Extinction, Part 1", Omega Red is one of the cameos shown reacting to it, showing him back in Russian custody and awakening in a status tube, with Part 3 even showing him alongside Darkstar and Crimson Dynamo.
• Vocal Evolution: Wolverine's voice is notably deeper and smoother, compared to the harsh growling one he had in the 90s series. It sounds like he's once again being voiced by veteran Wolverine voice actor Steve Blum, but he's still played by the original 90s series's Cal Dodd. Funnily enough, his delivery in this series makes him sound more similar to that of his performance in the character's early Capcom fighting game appearances such as Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Similarly, Rogue's has become raspier and scratchier, though clearly still Lenore Zann.
• Walking Spoiler: Jean Grey all through episodes 1 to 3.
• Wham Episode: "Remember It", as the definition of a Nothing Is the Same Anymore episode, solidifying the danger on display as a new generation of Sentinels arrive on Genosha and unleash untold catastrophe, leading to numerous on-screen deaths of many mutants in the process, culminating in both the death of Gambit and an Uncertain Doom for Magneto through their respective sacrifices to protect the people around them while the aftermath is broadcasted to the world, leaving the X-Men back at the mansion reeling in horror and despair.
• Wham Line:
  • The first episode ends with Magneto in Xavier's office, revealing to the gathered X-Men who Xavier has willed everything to.
    Magneto: The last will and testament of Charles Francis Xavier, as you all will see. His fortune, his school. Everything he built. Everything he fought for... now belongs to me, my X-Men.
  • The final scene of the first season sees several of the X-Men trapped in ancient Egypt, where they encounter a young man being attacked by armed soldiers. The man is asked his name, and responds while removing his face mask:
    "My name is En Sabah Nur."
• Wham Shot: During the midseason trailer, War, we see a very familiar shield slam into the ground after being thrown.
• Wolverine Publicity: Actually averted. Despite a lot of media being heavily focused on Wolverine (with the first post-Fox purchase animated work, LEGO Marvel Avengers: Code Red, featuring Wolverine), the cartoon actually puts the Canadian on the back burner for the most part, letting his teammates shine instead.