With X-Men '97 Season 2 finally streaming, the theory machine is running at full speed, and the biggest name being thrown around this week is Onslaught.
The theory comes from The Direct, which argues the show has been quietly assembling the villain's classic ingredients: Magneto's EMP assault on the planet in Season 1, the psychic collision between Xavier and Magneto in the finale, and several threads carried into the Season 2 premiere. The dots are genuinely there to connect.
For those that don't know the comics history, Onslaught has one of the most infamous origin stories Marvel has ever published. In 1993's Fatal Attractions crossover, Magneto ripped the adamantium off Wolverine's skeleton, and a furious Professor X responded by shutting down Magneto's mind entirely.
That psychic violation planted a seed: the darkest corners of both men's psyches merged inside Xavier and gestated in secret, eventually erupting in 1996 as Onslaught, a psionic entity powerful enough that stopping him took the combined forces of the X-Men, Avengers, AND the Fantastic Four. It was so bad that the Avengers and Marvel's First Family appeared to die in the process. It was an event so big that it launched the entire Heroes Reborn era. He's a franchise-shaking villain.
The theory has been gaining traction because X-Men '97 has already put its own version of those exact ingredients on screen. Season 1's finale gave us Magneto's global EMP, THE adamantium scene (you know the one), and Xavier wading deep into Magneto's mind to undo the damage. If the writers wanted to grow an Onslaught out of that soil, the comics say they've already done the planting.
This is a RUMOR-adjacent reading, not a reveal. Nothing on screen names Onslaught, and the season's confirmed big bad remains Apocalypse, whose conflict has been teased in the official episode synopses all along.
Here's the context worth remembering before anyone pencils Onslaught into Season 3: we've been down this road. Original showrunner Beau DeMayo told fans directly that Marvel scrapped his plans for an Onslaught and Age of Apocalypse arc after his exit.
Could the current creative team circle back to the character anyway? Sure. Plans change in animation constantly, and the ingredients are canon now. But the last time Onslaught was on the table at Marvel Animation, the studio wasn't interested.
So file this one under "plausible, unconfirmed, and worth watching out for." The show has already proven this season that it loves a quiet long game with its villains, and if the Xavier-Magneto tension keeps escalating the way Season 1 left it, the theory pretty much writes itself.
What would actually confirm it? Keep an eye on how the season treats the aftermath of that mind-repair. In the comics, Onslaught announced himself through little oddities around Xavier long before anyone said the name out loud. If Season 2 starts lingering on the Professor acting slightly off, or replays flashes of the finale's psychic battle where none seem necessary, that's the show tipping its hand.
A season-ending stinger would be the classic move for a series that already treats its post-Apocalypse future as one long breadcrumb trail. Until something like THAT lands on screen, treat every Onslaught headline you see this week as a fan theory wearing a press badge.
Would you even want Onslaught as the next arc, or does Apocalypse deserve all of the attention in the room? Sound off below!
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