- Marvel has announced the release date for X-Men 97 season 2
- A trailer for the popular Disney+ show's next chapter has also been unveiled
- A fourth season is already in development, too
Marvel has finally confirmed when X-Men 97 season 2 will come out: Wednesday, July 1.
Announced in a press release and on the comic giant's social channels yesterday (May 27), the highly-rated animated show will return on Disney+ in just over a month's time. And, to whet fans' appetite for X-Men 97's next chapter, Marvel also released an absolute banger of a trailer for the forthcoming season, which you can watch below:
Marvel Animation’s X-Men ‘97 Season 2 | Official Trailer - YouTube
It's been over two years since the X-Men's latest TV project — a sequel to fan-favorite '90s cartoon X-Men: The Animated Series, no less — hit our screens. I wouldn't be surprised, then, if you're struggling to remember what happened in X-Men 97's debut season, and how its finale sets up the storylines teased in the above trailer.
Fear not, dear reader, because Marvel, Disney, and I are here to help you out. First, check out my X-Men 97 season 1 ending explained article to remind yourself where things ended last time out. Once you're done, read season 2's brief story synopsis below, which comes courtesy of Marvel and its parent company.
"X-Men 97 season 2 continues with the heroic mutant team of X-Men, divided and thrown across different eras in time as they struggle to navigate their return home," the plot brief reads. "Meanwhile, back in the 1990s, suspicious foes and new strains of mutant intolerance are on the rise in the wake of the X-Men’s absence."
New season, new release schedule
X-Men 97 season 2's official launch date and first teaser aren't the only things we recently learned about the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) adjacent TV series.
In an Entertainment Weekly article published ahead of the aforementioned reveals, executive producer Larry Houston confirmed that the Marvel Phase 6 program will run for at least four seasons. We already knew that the show has been renewed for a third season, but this is the first time that anyone has acknowledged that a fourth is in active development.
Furthermore, Houston announced that, beginning with the series' next installment, new seasons will drop on Disney+, aka one of the best streaming services, every year. "They [Marvel] want everyone to know it's only gonna be a year now between seasons, not two-and-a-quarter years," he said. "It's gonna be a year until the next one and a year until the next one [after that]."
That's good news, right? On the surface, yes. Releasing seasons annually is the way things used to work before the advent of streaming, so it's pleasing to hear that the wait for a new installment of X-Men 97 won't be a significant one.
That said, I hope it doesn't fall foul of the same criticism that's been leveled at another animated show in Invincible.
After a near-three-year wait between its first and second seasons, Amazon now releases new seasons of the R-rated Prime Video TV Original every year. Great though that is, sections of the show's fanbase have been left unimpressed by what they believe to be a fall-off in the quality of its animation, with some theorizing that the annual turnaround of new installments is actively harming the final product.
With X-Men 97 set to follow in Invincible's footsteps, will it fall foul of the same issue? For a show beloved by millions, and one that holds a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes critical score, it would a massive shame if one of the best Marvel TV shows goes the same way as its Amazon counterpart. Here's hoping it can avoid such negativity as it moves towards a yearly release schedule.
Anyway, before X-Men 97's next chapter arrives, be sure to read up on everything we know so far about X-Men 97 season 2.
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