X-Men 97 season 2: everything we know so far about the hit Marvel TV show's return on Disney+

X-Men 97 season 2 might be about to get a major update. Indeed, with the highly-rated animated show set to be part of Marvel's New York Comic-Con (NYCC) 2025 presentation on October 11, we might finally learn when it'll be released and get our first look at its next chapter.

Before one or both of those announcements are made, there's lots for you to read up on X-Men 97's second season. In this guide, you'll find more information on the Disney+ series' next installment, including its confirmed cast, story specifics, and its future beyond this season.

So, start playing the show's iconic theme tune in your head and let's dive in together. To me, my X-Men!

X-Men 97 season 2 release date: what we know

We've known that the X-Men's latest animated series will return on Disney+, aka one of the world's best streaming services, at some point. Right now, though, there's no public information on a release date for X-Men 97 season 2.

That could change in the very near future. A Marvel Television and Animation panel will take place at NYCC 2025 on Saturday, October 11. With 18 months having passed since the show's debut season ended, plus the fact that this season has been in development for over three years, now is the perfect time to tell fans when it'll return.

My best guess? X-Men 97's next entry won't arrive until May 2026. Wonder Man, Marvel's final TV show of 2025, won't end until February 2026 (read more about it in my dedicated Wonder Man guide). The comic book giant won't want two of its TV Originals to overlap, either, so it'll wait for Wonder Man to wrap before releasing X-Men 97 season 2.

However, with Daredevil: Born Again season 2 all but confirmed to make its Disney+ debut next March, I can't see X-Men 97's sophomore outing airing until Daredevil: Born Again season 2 is done, either (read my Born Again season 2 guide for more on this show's return). Hopefully, we'll know once and for all when it'll launch at Marvel's NYCC 2025 presentation.

X-Men 97 season 2 trailer: is there one?

No. Like X-Men 97 season 2's release date, though, its first trailer could be shown to NYCC 2025 attendees before being released online soon after.

Once a teaser is with us, I'll update this section.

X-Men 97 season 2 cast: confirmed and rumored

Full spoilers follow for X-Men 97 season 1.

Here's who we expect to see again in X-Men 97 season 2:

• Ray Chase as Scott Summers/Cyclops
• Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey
• Alison Sealy-Smith as Ororo Munroe/Storm
• Cal Dodd as James 'Logan' Howlett/Wolverine
• J.P. Karliak as Morph
• Lenore Zann as Rogue
• George Buza as Doctor Henry 'Hank' McCoy/The Beast
• Holly Chou as Jubilee
• Isaac Robinson-Smith as Bishop
• Matthew Waterson as Erik 'Magnus' Lehnsherr/Magneto
• Ross Marquand as Professor Charles Xavier and En Sabah Nur/Apocalypse
• Adrian Hough as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler
• Gui Augustini as Roberto da Costa/Sunspot
• Chris Potter as Nathan Summers/Cable
• Gil Birmingham as Forge

There are bound to be other returning faces (or, rather, voices) in season 2. Catherine Disher should be back as U.N. official and mutant sympathizer Doctor Valerie Cooper, as should Rob Rubin as U.S. President Robert Kelly and Martha Marion as Emma Frost.

As for more spoiler-based returns, Adetokumboh M'Cormack is likely to return as En Sabah Nur/Apocalypse across X-Men 97's three timelines (more on the show's time-traveling storylines later). Gates McFadden is another who we'd expect to be back as Mother Askani (again, she's tied to X-Men 97's far-flung future narrative).

Elsewhere, A.J. LoCascio could voice Remy LeBeau/Gambit again. That's based on En Sabah Nur resurrecting the deceased mutant as one of his Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse last season.

We'll see some new faces in X-Men 97 season 2 as well. At D23 Expo 2024's Marvel Animation panel, Polaris – real name Lorna Dane and Magneto's daughter – was confirmed as part of the cast (via Discussing Film). According to former showrunner Beau DeMayo, Polaris will be voiced by Scream icon Neve Campbell.

There were contrasting reports about another character debut, too, with some outlets (including Discussing Film and Screen Time) claiming we'll see Danger, the physical manifestation of the supergroup's Danger Room training program, appear in season 2. However, other websites (such as The DisInsider) claimed that some people had incorrectly identified Warlock, a techno-organic being from the alien planet Kvch, as Danger. Ex-showrunner Beau DeMayo, who penned season 2's scripts before he parted ways with Marvel in March, has since clarified it's Danger, not Warlock, who'll appear.

While it's incredibly unlikely that Cassandra Nova will appear in X-Men 97 season 2, Emma Corrin, who played the character in Deadpool and Wolverine, told TechRadar they'd "love to" voice Nova in a future season, too. We're manifesting a post-credits scene where Nova is teased ahead of the show's third season.

X-Men 97 season 2 story speculation

Full spoilers follow for X-Men 97 season 1.

X-Men 97 season 2's plot brief hasn't been revealed, but there's plenty we can infer about it, given what happened in the season 1 finale.

Before you proceed, read my X-Men 97 season 1 ending explained article to see how it sets up for the show's next installment.

All caught you? If so, you'll know X-Men 97 season 2 will, in its early episodes at least, be set across three timelines: the present (1997 in-universe), almost three millennia in the past (3000 B.C. in Ancient Egypt, to be precise), and 3980 A.D, i.e. the far flung future.

Let's start with those who are seemingly trapped in the past. As the season 1 finale revealed, the X-Men were separated across these time periods, with Professor X, Beast, Rogue, Magneto, and Nightcrawler being sent back in time. They help to thwart a gang attack on an Egyptian town, which is where they're introduced to/reunited with En Sabah Nur.

Why "reunited"? Because the super group battled Apocalypse in X-Men :The Animated Series (X: TAS), aka the series that X-Men 97 follows on from.

The fact that they cross paths with him again, albeit in his pre-Apocalypse form, is incredibly fascinating. Indeed, this reveal suggests they'll have to work with Nur to stop a greater threat (more on this shortly) and potentially have the chance to help Nur walk a more righteous path, thereby stopping him from becoming Apocalypse. Well, unless his evolution into Apocalypse is one of those fixed points on the Marvel timeline that can't be altered.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see if the aforementioned quintet gets involved in Nur's ongoing war with his rival, who's none other than Kang the Conqueror – albeit in one of his many guises as Egyptian Pharaoh Rama-Tut. Given that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has moved from Kang after Marvel fired Kang actor Jonathan Majors in December 2023, X-Men 97 season 2 might be the last times we see Kang (or one of his aliases) in any Marvel project for a long time.

As for Scott Summers/Cyclops and Jean Grey, they were sent forward in time and met a child version of Nathan Summers, i.e. the son of Scott and Madelyne Pryor who goes on to become the time-traveling mutant known as Cable. This reunion gives Scott the chance to be there for his son – remember, in season 1 episode 3, Mr. Sinister infected Nathan with a techno-virus when Nathan was a baby. To save Nathan's life, Scott handed him over to Bishop, who took Nathan into the far future to find a cure, so Scott missed out on raising his son. Having been sent into the future, Scott can make up for lost time.

That's not the only issue the Summers family will have to deal with. Without spoiling too much, they're tied to another future-dwelling individual – Mother Askani, who leads the tribe Nathan is a part of. For now, let's just say things are going to get even more complicated for Scott and Jean – and that's before they realize the Askani clan will need their help in defeating Apocalypse, who's still alive at this point in time and lauding it over a post-apocalyptic Earth.

Meanwhile, in the present, we may see the formation of an X-Men offshoot called X-Force. With the majority of the team stuck in the past and future, Cable might lead a group comprising Forge, Jubilee, Sunspot, and other mutants in temporarily defending Earth from extraterrestrial threats, as well as those planetside. Alternatively, Bishop – who's traveled back to the present using his time-travel device – might enlist the remaining X-Men's help in rescuing their fellow mutants from the past and future.

There are plenty of other plot threads that need to be picked up and/or resolved, too. We don't know where Morph, Storm, and Wolverine are following the destruction of Asteroid M. Where Wolverine is concerned, we'll also need to see how he deals with the psychological impact of having the adamantium stripped from his body by Magneto in season 1 episode 9. Comic book readers know what's in store for Logan, but I'll refrain from spoiling anything significant here.

Elsewhere, the burgeoning civil war that threatens the Shi'ar Empire is surely going to impact the X-Men and the wider animated Marvel universe in future seasons. Oh, and there's the small (we use that term lightly) matter of the as-yet-to-be-revealed fallout from Xavier and Magneto's mind-based tête-à-tête that played out in the season 1 finale. Again, no spoilers, but long-time X-Men fans know that something sinister might be born out of this subplot – and their arrival may be even more of a universal threat than the major Marvel villain introduced in season 1 episode 7.

All of the above, then, points towards more melodrama and tragedies that'll befall the titular team. Ross Marquand, who'll voice Apocalypse as well as Charles Xavier this season, told Collider he was "amazed Disney greenlit it because it’s so dark. It’s very, very dark. A lot of people die". Make sure you've got a tissue or 30 handy for season 2, then!

Has X-Men 97 season 3 been greenlit yet?

Technically, Marvel hasn't stated whether X-Men 97 season 2 will get a follow-up. However, speaking to DiscussingFilm, Marvel's Head of TV, Animation, and Streaming Brad Winderbaum said he hoped that new seasons of the studio's animated projects would arrive annually.

Couple that with Lenore Zann, who voices Rogue, telling Collider that she'd start recording lines for another season in June 2025, plus Deadline claiming What If...? writer Matthew Chauncey is its new showrunner, and X-Men 97 season 3 is practically confirmed at this point. Hopefully, that'll come during Marvel's NYCC 2025 panel.

For more Marvel-based coverage, read my guides on how to watch the Marvel movies in order and how to watch the X-Men movies in order. Alternatively, get the lowdown on Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday.