The animation and music still rock, and adventures across space and time are delightful. Picking up where Season 1 ended, with the X-Men scattered through space and time, the first order of business is to get the X-Men together to mount a defence against the first mutant and now supervillain, Apocalypse, complete with his Four Horsemen (Death VII, Famine V, Pestilence VI and War VI), bent on wreaking destruction.

X-Men ‘97 (Season 2, English)

Creator:Beau DeMayo

Voice cast:Ray Chase, Jennifer Hale, Alison Sealy-Smith, Cal Dodd, J. P. Karliak, Lenore Zann, George Buza, A. J. LoCascio, Holly Chou, Isaac Robinson-Smith, Matthew Waterson, Ross Marquand, Adrian Hough, Chris Potter, Gui Agustini, Naoko Mori, Christopher Barger, Gil Birmingham, Carolina Ravassa

Runtime:9 episodes, 30 minutes

Storyline:The X-Men scattered through time have to come together to fight Apocalypse

The X-Men are identified as being in two blocks of time — ancient Egypt (always fun) and 2000 years into the future in 3960. The convergence point is 1997, continuing as it does the story of X-Men: The Animated Series, which ran from 1992 to 1997.

Jubilee (Holly Chou) has some fun in Episode 2 as she explodes fireworks, listens to music, blows bubbles, defeats the bad guys and frees other detained mutants after she is captured.

In ancient Egypt, Magneto befriends En Sabah Nur, a mutant slave who leads a rebellion against the pharaoh (ring any bells?), despite knowing Nur becomes Apocalypse in the future.

While keeping the different space-time adventures in order might sound daunting, the show is relatively easy to keep track of.

There is no sense of ponderous goings-on as the episodes zip by in wild pops of colour, quips and kinetic action. Nothing is lingered upon, including the T-Rex that grins politely before exiting or the shambling zombies.

The animation, while following the ‘90s style of the original series, is updated using modern technology to provide a palette that is at once familiar and fabulous.

There is a fairytale flavour recalling the Beauty and the Beast episode from the original series, with several other Easter Eggs in each of the nine episodes, from the titles to a DVD in a research facility to the escaped mutants. Like Season 1, Season 2 also allows those in the know to enjoy an extra level of allusion, while newbies can enjoy the show on its own, which is how all good references should work.

The voice work is excellent for such a character-and-visual-heavy show. Without the luxury of time to build the characters, and with one’s eyes constantly following one stunning visual after another, the actors, be it Ray Chase as Cyclops, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, J. P. Karliak as Morph, Ross Marquand as Professor Charles Xavier and Apocalypse, all create distinct personalities with a turn of a phrase.

There is Morph being all sarcastic refusing to be “Post-apocalyptic roadkill”, or explaining the puppy dog look to Wolverine as “An innocent gaze, dripping with subtextual guilt.” But my all-time favourite line from Morph, which may well be the line for us to live by, is “news was spooking the kids, so I put on The Exorcist!”

The well-read Beast (George Buza) while not quoting Shakespeare, quotes Jack London, “Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes playing a poor hand well.”

The finale feels a little rushed, with too many things happening and too many arcs to keep track of, but it is still seven levels of fun.

X-Men ‘97 Season 2 is streaming on JioHotstar

Published - August 16, 2026 07:31 am IST