X-Men '97 Season 2 Episodes 1-4 Review

X-Men '97 Season 2 officially lands on Disney+ on July 1st, 2026, and we got early access to the first four episodes. The verdict ? This is not your average animated comeback. It's something closer to a full-scale event, and it picks up exactly where the Season 1 finale left off, with the X-Men scattered across time and history in complete disarray.

A time-splitting storyline that sets Season 2 apart

The cliffhanger that closed out Season 1 was bold, and Season 2 doubles down on that ambition immediately. The X-Men are fractured into two groups, each stranded in a radically different era. One team finds itself in ancient Egypt, racing to prevent En Sabah Nur from ever becoming Apocalypse. The other faces a dystopian future where Apocalypse already reigns unchallenged. These two timelines, thousands of years apart, form the backbone of the first four episodes, which are closely linked enough to feel like one extended animated feature.

The team compositions keep things genuinely compelling. Magneto and Professor Charles Xavier fall back into their age-old debate about coexistence between mutants and humans, a dynamic that never really gets old when written this sharply. Meanwhile, the future-set storyline leans into Cyclops and Jean Grey's relationship with their long-lost son Nathan, adding real emotional stakes to what could have been pure action spectacle. It's the kind of layered storytelling that live-action Marvel films rarely have room to execute at this scale.

We watched all four episodes back to back, and honestly, the pacing made that feel natural rather than excessive. The episodes flow into each other with the rhythm of a serialized comic arc, not a TV filler run. That's a meaningful distinction.

What the animation and tone get right in 2026

The visual identity of X-Men '97 walks a careful line. The animation style stays faithful to the original 1990s series, but the upgrade in quality is noticeable immediately. Lines are cleaner, movement is more fluid, and action sequences carry real weight. It doesn't feel like a nostalgic imitation. It feels like a continuation that respects where it came from without being trapped there.

And yes, the intro theme is back. It's still stuck in our heads days later. Some things don't need fixing.

Marvel clearly understands what makes this show work differently from its other animated output. Unlike acclaimed animated sci-fi series leaving Netflix in 2026, X-Men '97 benefits from a platform commitment that goes beyond a single season. Disney+ has signaled its intent to keep this as a recurring series for the long term, and these four episodes suggest the creative team has the material to sustain that ambition.

One thing Season 2 does particularly well is lean into the larger Marvel universe when it counts, without making that feel like a branding exercise. The last episode we screened includes some of those connections, and they land naturally rather than feeling forced.

Character depth, crowded roster and one honest criticism

With this many mutants on screen across two separate timelines, some characters inevitably get pushed to the margins. That's our main gripe with these opening four episodes. Several team members serve no real narrative function until the action sequences start, at which point they show up to deliver their signature moves and then fade back into the background. For a show this confident in its writing, that feels like a missed opportunity.

The series is essentially operating as Season 8 of the original X-Men animated continuity, counting the earlier run. That's a staggering amount of accumulated history to draw from, and it's both the show's greatest strength and its most obvious limitation for anyone coming in fresh. New viewers will find the mythology dense. Returning fans will find it rewarding.

Here's what these four episodes do particularly well, in order of impact :

1. The dual-timeline structure creates genuine tension without confusion
2. Xavier and Magneto's philosophical conflict feels earned after seasons of buildup
3. Nathan's storyline adds emotional grounding to the sci-fi stakes
4. The Marvel universe connections are handled with restraint

Our rating and who should watch Season 2 on Disney+

We're giving this first batch of episodes 4.5 out of 5. That score reflects animation quality that punches well above the streaming average, narrative ambition that most live-action superhero projects can't match right now, and a willingness to trust its audience with real complexity.

If you loved the previous seasons of X-Men '97, Season 2 delivers on every front that made them work. If you're a Disney+ subscriber looking for something that feels genuinely cinematic rather than filler content, this is where to start. The show handles nostalgia and modern expectations with the kind of balance that's harder to achieve than it looks.

One practical note worth flagging for streaming trackers : Season 2 runs nine episodes total, and the first four already form a coherent dramatic arc. Whether Marvel staggers the remaining five releases or drops them in a block will shape how this season is remembered. Given what we've seen, the momentum is there. It just needs the platform strategy to match it.