There are cliffhangers, and then there’s the season finale of X-Men ‘97. The animated series delivered a satisfying conclusion to a brilliant run of storytelling, partially because it ended in a way no one could have predicted. Thanks to a last-minute time travel twist, members of the mutant team find themselves splintered across history, with some X-Men sent to the past, others stuck in the future, and the rest left to pick up the pieces in the present.
According to the series’ producers and directors, this splintering opens the door for a few new X-Men teams to appear in Season 2. In a recent Q&A moderated by ComicBook, Marvel Television exec Brad Winderbaum teased a larger cast as X-Men ‘97 continues. “There’s many teams, in Marvel, that have the letter ‘X’ that are followed by a hyphen,” Winderbaum said.
Season 2 will see the X-Men branching out into “two other X teams,” and though he didn’t reveal which teams will play a role in the series, it may not be that difficult to guess. One might even pick up an abandoned thread from a live-action, X-Men adjacent film, delivering the first “true” on-screen version of a beloved mutant team.
X-Factor
X-Men ‘97 has already teased a few potential new teams in its first season, particularly with the introduction of Forge. The mutant is introduced as a former X-Man living on the fringes after his last team met a tragic fate. Forge keeps plenty of photos around, and one shows Forge with heroes like Multiple Man, Polaris, Havok, Wolfsbane, and Strong Guy. This serves as an homage to the original X-Men cartoon, as these heroes first appeared together in an episode called “Cold Comfort.” It could also set the stage for X-Factor to make a timely return in ‘97.
In the comics, X-Factor is best known for locating and training young mutants so they can control their powers and rejoin society. With anti-mutant sentiment stronger than ever, mutants need all the help they can get. X-Factor could become the focus of Season 2’s present-day storyline, with Polaris leading the team. After a minor cameo in X-Men ‘97’s Season 1 finale, Polaris will reportedly return for a bigger role in Season 2, which means all signs are pointing to an X-Factor reunion. But will Forge reconcile with his old team, or end up joining a new one?
X-Force
X-Force is a chaotic, militaristic off-shoot of the original X-Men team. In most iterations, the group is comprised of mutants who left Xavier’s school to join Cable. They’ll do whatever is necessary to protect mutantkind from harm, even if their methods dip into extremism. Apart from Cable, Cyclops and even Wolverine have led the team; its most notable members include Bishop, Psylocke, Domino, Deadpool, Archangel, and Havok.
We’ve actually seen a version of this team already in Deadpool 2, but their inclusion was mostly designed as a gag. Deadpool’s attempt to build a team went awry, and Cable, notably, was not the leader or even a member. X-Men ‘97 could present a more faithful adaptation since many of the foundational pieces are already in place.
Though Cable is MIA at the end of Season 1, the X-Men ‘97 finale does suggest that Forge and Bishop, the latter a frequent member, could join forces to find him. They’ll certainly need his help if they’re going to find their teammates displaced across time, and with Storm, Wolverine, and Morph’s locations unknown, maybe this group will become a new version of X-Force.
It’s a shot in the dark, but it could be fun to see a new take on an established mutant supergroup. If X-Men ‘97 Season 1 proved anything, it’s that nothing is really off-limits. Anything could happen as the series gears up for Season 2, and that’s exactly what makes it such a great comic adaptation.
