Rumours are swirling that Marvel Studios intends to move away from live-action TV series, which means Daredevil: Born Again Season 3 could be the end of the line for the MCU on streaming.
Heading into the next Saga, Marvel Television's focus is expected to shift primarily to animated properties such as Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and X-Men '97. The latter's second season wraps up on Disney+ next week, and Marvel Studios Head of Streaming, Television and Animation Brad Winderbaum has now revealed the release windows for X-Men '97 Seasons 3 and 4.
There was a two-year gap between Seasons 1 and 2, and similar to Prime Video's Invincible, that's been a frequent source of frustration for comic book fans. Fortunately, Marvel Animation has knuckled down, with Winderbaum telling Collider (via Toonado.com), "Season 3 is going to come out next year and Season 4 the year after that."
That means X-Men '97 Season 3 will debut in 2027, with Season 4 set to follow in 2028, the same year Marvel Studios' live-action X-Men reboot is tentatively scheduled to arrive in theaters.
Winderbaum added, "Even a year feels too long. I remember watching these every single day after school, and then they would be on as reruns. I guess you could rewatch these episodes on streaming, because you can watch anything now."
While X-Men '97's future beyond Season 4 has yet to be decided, the executive noted, "X-Men was a constant element of my life growing up, and I just want to make as many [seasons] as fast as possible for people to see."
The site also asked Winderbaum about the show's episode count. Season 1 had 10 instalments, but Season 2 has only 9. X-Men: The Animated Series delivered seasons with as many as 19 episodes in the 1990s, but it doesn't sound like that's ever going to be the case for the Disney+ revival.
"It’s a whole different business now, and streaming has its own limitations," he explained. "Episode count is always a factor, and sometimes you have to decide, 'Do you want a season to come out sooner or do you want more episodes?' I tend to vote to get them out as soon as possible, even if you have to save some stories for subsequent seasons."
Season 3 will be overseen solely by What If...?'s Matthew Chauncey, who takes over as showrunner from Beau DeMayo. Whether X-Men '97 can maintain its quality with yearly releases is hard to say, though the response to Season 2—which DeMayo was less hands-on with following his firing—hasn't been quite as strong as Season 1.
X-Men '97 is now streaming on Disney+, with the Season 2 finale set to premiere on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.