It's become clear X-Men '97 won't be released this year, meaning fans of X-Men: The Animated Series will need to continue exercising patience when it comes to finally getting to watch the revival hit Disney+.
Decades have passed since the original show ended, so a few more months are unlikely to matter too much in the grand scheme of things. However, we have some exciting new details for you about what to expect from X-Men '97's opening episode.
Talking at the San Diego Comic-Con last month (via Toonado.com), X-Men '97 Head Writer Beau DeMayo and supervising producer Jake Castorena confirmed the show will kick off with the team battling a group of familiar foes.
"We showed a clip from the first episode that shows the X-Men going off [on] a mission to confront a new Sentinel threat," DeMayo says. "And mid-mission they are unexpectedly attacked and have to use their Danger Room practice skills to save themselves."
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Castorena weighed in to praise DeMayo's writing and singled out a moment which highlights Scott Summers. "[Beau] gave us a really good script and a really good scene and a really good epic moment that makes you go, ‘That's why Cyclops is the leader of the X-Men.'"
DeMayo recently revealed that work on season 2 is already underway, though work on Marvel Studios' animated offerings has slowed. As a result, definitive plans for this series, What If...?, Marvel Zombies, and Spider-Man: Freshman Year are currently a mystery to us.
Work is thought to be progressing on them, so none of the shows have been cancelled...at least not yet. However, with Disney cutting costs and Marvel Studios getting back to quality over quantity with its live-action offerings, there's a chance these animated spin-off projects are no longer as important as they once were.
With any luck, we'll have solid X-Men '97 news to share with you soon. For now, we're just glad to hear the sequel series is continuing to take shape. More importantly, the creative team clearly has a fantastic understanding of this mutant team, and that's great news on a number of levels.