X-Men ‘97 season 2 ended with a mix of victory and heartbreak as friends, family, and former teammates battled each other to try to stop Apocalypse and save Gambit. After a wild season involving time travel, aliens, and rogue AI, the finale gave the team reason to be hopeful for the future while also teasing new threats. If you’re wondering what’s next for the X-Men and when you’ll be able to see more of their adventures, here’s everything we know about X-Men ‘97 season 3, including the potential release date and plot details.
Is X-Men ‘97 season 3 confirmed?
Yes! During a panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Head of Marvel Television Brad Winderbaum confirmed that production on season 3 of the show is finished, and that season 4 is already in production.
What is X-Men ‘97 season 3 about?
The same panel also provided a first look at season 3, showing the mutant-hunting robot Sentinels painted with an American flag design and fighting members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, including Pyro, Avalanche, the Blob, and Toad. The classic villains are joined by Surge, who was a member of the X-Men introduced in the 2000s. There are other plot threads that have also been seeded.
Season 2 introduced the Purifiers, a paramilitary group led by Reverend William Stryker who believe they are engaged in a holy war against mutankind. In the comics, Stryker gets help from Nimrod, a time-traveling Sentinel, and attacks the Xavier Institute, killing dozens of students. Surge was a big part of the fight against Nimrod and the Purifiers, which is probably why she’s joining the show. That arc also included the resurrection of Bastion, the primary villain of X-Men ‘97 season 1.
The Purifiers aren’t the only anti-mutant fanatics the X-Men will face. Season 2 ends with Graydon Creed being elected President of the United States. While he’s the son of Sabretooth and Mystique, Creed has no mutant powers. As a child, Mystique abandoned him and Sabretooth abused him, so Creed grew to hate all mutants. The patriotically painted Sentinels are likely his handiwork. The season 2 post-credits sequence also marked the X-Men ‘97 debut of Mystique, who is impersonating X-Factor leader Valerie Cooper to read her own file.
Mystique is likely leading the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants given Apocalypse killed Magneto in season 2. Her involvement sets up another iconic X-Men storyline, Days of Future Past. In the 1981 comic from Chris Claremont and John Byrne, Mystique and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants assassinate senator Robert Kelly and Charles Xavier. That stirs up so much anti-mutant sentiment that it leads to the creation of Sentinels and a dystopian future where all mutants are held in internment camps. The plot was previously adapted in Bryan Singer’s 2014 film and before that in X-Men: The Animated Series. Since X-Men ‘97 is a continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series, the new season could provide a chance to revisit that plot and combine it with more recent comics.
When is the X-Men ‘97 season 3 release date?
While there was a two-year gap between the first two seasons of X-Men ‘97, fans won’t have to wait as long for season 3. Winderbaum confirmed at SDCC that the show will return in 2027. Summer of 2027 seems likely, but we’ll have to wait for an official release date.
What other Marvel TV shows are in the works?
Marvel fans will have plenty to watch on Disney Plus while they wait for more X-Men ‘97. The WandaVision followup VisionQuest premieres on Oct. 14. Season 2 of the animated series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is also expected to release during 2026. The third season of Daredevil: Born Again will kick off in March 2027. However, the cancellation of a previously announced second season of Wonder Man demonstrates that all of these plans are subject to change.
