What Does (SPOILER)’s Appearance in ‘X-Men ‘97’ Mean for Season 2?

Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for X-Men ’97.

The Big Picture

• Captain America’s appearance hints at the potential for an ‘Avengers vs. X-Men’ adaptation in future
  X-Men ’97
  episodes.
• The Watcher’s brief cameo opens up the possibility for larger connections to the Marvel Animated Universe in
  X-Men ’97
  .
• X-Men ’97
  could rework controversial comic arcs, like Avengers vs. X-Men, into animated stories more exciting than the originals.

There’s no question that X-Men ’97 has blown fans’ minds. Reviving the beloved X-Men: The Animated Series that many of us ’90s kids grew up with is no small task, yet the team at Marvel Animation put a masterwork together that honors both the series and the original Marvel Comics it derived from. As the new show continues, the X-Men universe only gets more interesting as the original Marvel Animated Universe grows yet again. The show’s seventh episode, in particular, gave us our best look at the potential of X-Men ’97 and how the larger universe might play into the show’s already confirmed second and third seasons. That’s right, Captain America’s appearance is exciting itself, but what it might mean for the future of the X-Men animated franchise could take this series in a direction it may never recover from.

‘X-Men ’97’ Brings Captain America Back to the Marvel Animated Universe

One thing that fans ought to note about Captain America’s appearance in “Bright Eyes” (where he’s voiced by Josh Keatonwho likewise played the character in What If…?) is that it isn’t the Star-Spangled Hero’s first rodeo in the world of X-Men animation. Before X-Men: The Animated Series came to a close, the Marvel icon first appeared in the X-Men: The Animated Series episode “Old Soldiers,” where some backstory between himself (then voiced by Lawrence Bayne) and Wolverine is revealed. The future X-Man once helped Steve Rogers in the battle against the Red Skull, which ended with Cap being trapped in a time-traveling vortex with the supervillain. Fifty years later, the super-soldier was released alongside the Skull and resumed his superheroics in the present day (well, the ’90s, but close enough).

In addition to appearing in the original X-Men series, Captain America also showed up via cameo in the animated Fantastic Four series, the “Command Decision” episode of The Avengers: United They Standand throughout the “Secret Wars” arc of Spider-Man: The Animated Series. In the latter, Cap worked alongside Spider-Man, Iron Man, and even the X-Men legend Storm as they dealt with an array of supervillains thrown at them from the Beyonder. There’s no doubt that Captain America sees the X-Men as heroes — we see this even in his conversation with Rogue in X-Men ’97—but what we know of the MAU version of the character is that he also holds a strong allegiance to his country. A far cry from his Marvel Cinematic Universe counterpart, this animated Cap works alongside General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, a frequent enemy of the Incredible Hulk who first appeared in the underrated ’90s animated series of the same name.

For many, Captain America’s return here was shocking. It’s not that other Marvel characters don’t exist within the world of the animated X-Men series. But, considering how often X-Men plotlines feel self-contained and separate from the rest of the Marvel world, it might feel a little disruptive at first. Back in the day, Marvel stories, even of the animated variety, weren’t always as interconnected as they are now in our post-MCU era. But it makes sense that someone would eventually step in Rogue’s way as she fights for vengeance after Genosha — and Captain America is as good a pick as any. Though “America’s top cop” has fought alongside the X-Men, he doesn’t usually get involved in mutant affairs. It’s this exact stance that gets him in some real trouble with our favorite flying X-Man.

“Bright Eyes” Opens the Door For an ‘Avengers vs. X-Men’ Adaptation

When Rogue meets up with Captain America, the Avenger is actually tracking down Bolivar Trask himself. Following the Genosha tragedy, Cap hopes to avenge the fallen, but revenge isn’t on his mind. Unlike Rogue, Captain America isn’t a mutant but a government-issued superhero. Because of that, his place in the mutant conflict is somewhat questionable. Steve Rogers may stand with mutants, but he’s always been a “by the book” kind of hero, and that could easily factor into future conflicts with mutant-kind going forward. Cap’s strong moral compass has often put him in conflict with his fellow heroessuch as Iron Man in the infamous Civil War story. At some points, he’s even gone up against the X-Men in another tale that future seasons of X-Men ’97 might seek to adapt in animation: Avengers vs. X-Men.

This controversial crossover event hit comic store shelves in 2012 and pitted Marvel’s two biggest superhero teams against one another as the Phoenix Force returned to Earth. While the X-Men show up to handle it, the Avengers get in the way and fail to trust the mutant team to handle the entity themselves. As a result, there’s a massive war between the two factions of superheroes, with some characters like Wolverine somewhat caught in the middle. While fans have largely pushed Avengers vs. X-Men aside as nothing more than an interesting but poorly executed attempt at a crossover, X-Men ’97 has the potential to rework the original story into something far more exciting. So far, the animated revival has already taken controversial comic arcs and re-imagined them within the context of the Marvel Animated Universe. The Madelyne Pryor reveal in the third episode, “Fire Made Flesh,” is one of these, and it is the superior take on the tale. The same could be done here with Avengers vs. X-Men and many of the other modern stories set within the X-Men side of the Marvel universe.

The way that Cyclops is slowly becoming disillusioned with Xavier’s dream and ultimately voicing his frustration with humans is pushing him another step closer to the character arc he was undergoing at the time of Avengers vs. X-Men in the comics. Likewise, the appearance of Captain America here is telling, reminding us that there’s an animated X-Men precedent for the Avengers taking on our favorite mutants. In X-Men: The Animated Series‘ “Age of Apocalypse” timeline, a version of Captain America is included among a team of mutant-hunting Avengers assigned by the U.S. government to take out Magneto’s team of X-Men. While this is still an alternate future, it certainly opens the animated X-Men universe up for a potential war between the MAU’s traditional superheroes and mutant heroes.

‘Avengers vs. X-Men’ Would Be A Fantastic Way to Revisit the Rest of the Marvel Animated Universe

Of course, it’s not just Captain America’s appearance (or General Ross’ mention of the Hulk) that opens up the potential for an Avengers vs. X-Men-sized story. There’s also the brief cameo that Uatu the Watcher makes in the fifth episode, “Remember It.” We only see his outline in the stars, but it feels very reminiscent of many of his What If…? appearances, which is a great connection that reminds us that every Marvel tale takes place in an endless multiverse. While X-Men ’97 does not need to get all multiversal (and it would be wiser if it didn’t), the Watcher’s appearance above Genosha reminds us that this character only shows up at paramount moments that impact the entire timeline. In this case, that means the greater Marvel Animated Universe.

At one point in Avengers vs. X-Menthe Watcher appears, and if X-Men ’97 were to adapt that storyline, there’s no doubt he’d show up again. But not him only. While the Avengers weren’t as big a deal in the ’90s Marvel Animated Universe as they later became, they had a presence through characters like Iron Man, Spider-Man, War Machine, Thor, Ms. Marvel, the Hulk, and others. Later on, the animated Avengers: United They Stand series (which supposedly takes place within the MAU) followed a team of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes inspired directly by the West Coast Avengers from the comics. More than likely, there’s already some official version of the Avengers in X-Men ’97, who would be brought in to stop rogue mutants if they decided to take the law into their own hands. With Rogue living up to her name, we may see Cap and his team return as early as this season.

X-Men ’97 has already blown our minds as we revisit the Marvel Animated Universe for the first time in decades. But if the show revisited plotlines from Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Iron Manand The Incredible Hulk on top of that. Well, that would be a dream come true. At one point, there were rumors of a proposed Captain America-themed animated series set within the MAU, but it never came to fruition. Of course, we’re happy enough with the X-Men as the most iconic version of the team has returned to the big-time. Considering their stories don’t often leave room for too many other Marvel heroes, we can’t expect that any of the aforementioned characters will become regular staples of this revival series. Though, who knows, we may get a Spider-Man ’98 down the line if X-Men ’97 continues to deliver.

X-Men ’97 is available for streaming on Disney+ in the U.S.

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