The second season of X-Men ’97 was not the masterpiece of the first season, probably for a lot of reasons. Original showrunner Beau DeMayo was let go for very good reasons, and this season is apparently a mish mash of his original ideas and the new showrunner making some changes. The mish mash nature shows. But just because season two is not as good as season one doesn’t mean I didn’t have a very good time enjoying my X-Men cartoon!

TV Show Rating: 8/10 – Very Good

X-Men ’97 has already been confirmed for a third and, I think, fourth season. There’s going to be a lot of this show. And I can’t wait to watch more! Nine episodes in a single season is just not enough. I want more X-Men adventures. I want more character-focused episodes. I want more cameos out the wazoo! I want more alternate takes on the opening theme song! That was a real hoot! We’re several years away from getting new X-Men movies in the MCU, so I’ll gladly take the X-Men ’97 world any day of the week.

Join me after the jump for my full thoughts and review. Expect FULL SPOILERS for the first and second seasons of X-Men ’97. And feel free to share your own thoughts in the comments below!

6. Solid, entertaining show

I really enjoyed my time with the second season of X-Men ’97. I found each episode entertaining and enjoyable. I loved the use of the characters. I loved the cameos of all the comic book mutants. The overall storyline was solid, setting up Apocalypse as a threat and then combining him with Gambit in the present day to create a really good final confrontation between Gambit and Rogue. Worked for me. I loved the bonus content we got, like the focuses on X-Force and X-Factor. We had a really stacked cast throughout. The show also did a really good job adapting comic book stories, like Danger and the Rise of Apocalypse.

Each episode had solid action scenes and some good character drama. I never came away disappointed in an episode. I have my nitpicks, which comprise most of this list, but if we’re talking overall, I was perfectly happy and entertained with the second season of X-Men ’97. And I can only hope the new showrunners build on what they’ve created here and give us even better seasons going forward.

5. I don’t mind the breakneck pace

A major complaint I see online, both with the first season and second season, is that people don’t like how quickly the show is moving through storylines. I don’t mind at all! I think this is just the difference between old school TV and more serialized TV of this day and age. When I was growing up, especially with the original X-Men cartoon in the 90s, each episode was largely standalone. So I don’t mind that X-Men ’97 isn’t filled with three-part episodes. I like that they’re cramming in so much story and so many characters in every episode. Don’t hold back! Give us everything you got!

4. Disjointed at times

Of course, speeding through storylines left a few episodes and characters and stories feeling a bit disjointed this season. Wolverine and Morph got a whole episode dedicated to their friendship and Wolverine getting his Adamantium back, but neither thing contributed to anything for the rest of the season. Polaris became a main character in the middle part of the season, only to barely factor into the finale or the overall battle with Apocalypse. Xavier formed all of X-Corp in the ruins of Genosha…but why? We never saw X-Corp do anything, and Genosha was still a mess in the final episode, so it wasn’t like they were cleaning up the wreckage. We also never saw what the school was like in Westchester with Storm left in charge. There were a lot of plot points and ideas thrown into this season that simply never went anywhere on screen. And that’s a shame.

Also, speaking of X-Corp, I would love to see everybody on the roster get a Frank Quietly-era costume design. I thought those looks were amazing on the show, and it was super fun to see the likes of Rogue, Polaris and Bishop get versions. But what about Morph? And Wolverine? And Storm? And everybody else! I love that they incorporated Kurt’s costume from that era as well. Looked damn good. Now do Archangel! I think that era of X-Men comics had some great uniforms.

3. Loved the attention on X-Factor

I love me some ’90s X-Factor. Longtime readers of this blog will know that Multiple Man is my all-time favorite comic book superhero, and I’m very very partial to writer Peter David’s excellent X-Factor run in the 1990s. Cold Comfort is my favorite episode of the original X-Men cartoon because it featured X-Factor and Iceman, my favorites. And while it’s a bit of a shame that X-Factor is portrayed as fascist thugs in X-Men ’97, they’re not all bad. There’s still a bit of humor and lightheartedness and character. Strong Guy gets a pretty fun showing.

Multiple Man got exactly one line the whole season, which is a shame. But he got to appear at all, and that’s something I do not take for granted. He exists. He’s on screen. That’s a good enough start for me. There’s apparently a tie-in comic that shows how X-Factor recruited Siryn for the final episode, and the issue is supposed to give some depth to the characters. I’ve got to check it out and hope for the best going forward.

2. Could have used a lot more episodes

At nine episodes, season two was one episode shorter than season one. I know we live in an age of short seasons, but man, this season especially could have used more episodes. Looking back at the original cartoon, it seems the first few seasons only had 13 episodes, so it wasn’t one of those big 22-episode shows or more. That’s fine. And I’m sure part of the idea was to just get this season over with after booting DeMayo, so the new showrunner could start his own thing for season three. But still. The lack of depth, the lack of fleshing out, leaving some big moments and stories to the tie-in comics, definitely hurt the project overall, to an extent. I’m sure we’ll still only get 10 episodes in season three, and I hope they use them wisely.

1. Bring on all the seasons!

Even if the second season wasn’t as good as the first, I still want a lot more of this show. The guys at Marvel Animation have said they want 10 seasons, and I’m fully on board for that! Just keep making it! Just keep pumping it out. If they’re all as good as season two or even season one, this show will be amazing. There are a bajillion X-Men storylines to adapt, and there’s no harm in doing original storylines as well. This show is great, the people involved have great love for the X-Men and the more mutants the merrier! As long as everyone is game to keep making more, you best believe I’ll keep watching.

And what would I like to see in the future? X-Factor Investigations, obviously. I did a list of things I’d like to see in the second season, and we only got maybe one or two of those things, so the list is still good! I want X-Factor to dissolve so that Alex can find his brother, and then Multiple Man, Strong Guy and Wolfsbane can form X-Factor Investigations and get their own spotlight episode. I want Mutant Town. I want Breakworld, especially now that Colossus is on the team. I want all of X-Statix! We saw Doop in season two at the school, which is insane enough. I want Marrow. I want Mimic. I want flashbacks to the original 05 team. I want Iceman to return! Where is he?!

And, of course, give us Onslaught. The foundation has been laid. They spend so much time with Xavier talking about looking for some traces of Magneto’s psyche still inside him. It’s right there, teed up! I know the original Onslaught Saga from the 90s has a bad rap, which is all the more reason why this show should do it!

The sky is the limit on what this show can do and I hope they do it all over as many seasons as they want!

Honorable Mention: They killed Maggott! You bastards!

Gorramit! Why’d they have to go and kill Maggott like that?! He’s such a cool character and a cool mutant, and now he’s just been used as background fodder for the Brood episode. They coulda used any generic schlub! Maggott deserved better!

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