Warning: This article contains full spoilers for X-Men ’97 episode 10.
There goes, X-Men ’97 season 1 — easily one of the finest stories Marvel Studios has ever told. Rarely has the studio behind the MCU delivered something both so authentic to its source material and celebratory of these characters and the universe they inhabit.
The bad news? This run of 10 terrific episodes, uncanny in how astonishing they were (see what I did there?), has now come to a close. The good news? This definitely isn’t the end of the road as a second season is on the way. As promised by the finale’s open-ended conclusion and, of course, a post-credits scene teasing what’s coming next.
So what happens in the last scenes of X-Men ’97‘s finale and what does it all mean?
Where are the X-Men?
“Tolerance is Extinction, Part 3” picks up right where we left off, with the X-Men trying to stop Magneto and Bastion’s competing plans to end life on Earth.
After the X-Men succeed in destroying Bastion’s Asteroid M, before it collides with the planet, the team are missing and presumed dead in the explosion. Forge searches for months for any trace of them — specifically, Storm — but to no avail. Finally, Bishop visits him and reveals the truth: someone, or something, saved the X-Men by flinging them somewhere (or somewhen) else in time. Bishop recruits Forge to help track the time-displaced X-Men down.
In 3000 BC Egypt, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Beast, Magneto, and Professor X fight off some ancient Egyptian guards and are aided by a mysterious masked figure. Once they fight is over, the gang thank the stranger and ask his name. “My name is En Sabah Nur,” he responds. That’s right, the X-Men have stumbled upon the younger version of their nemesis, Apocalypse!
Meanwhile, Jean Grey and Cyclops have been sent into the far-future, finding themselves in a barren wasteland in the year 3960 AD. They are approached by an elder wise woman who calls herself Mother Askani, leader of the Clan Askani. A boy then emerges from the Clan Askani’s tent and warns the rest that these two newcomers do not mean them harm. The young boy is extremely familiar-looking, what with his distinctive red hair. His name is Nathan — aka a young Cable, Scott and Jean/Madelyne’s son!
Is Apocalypse the big bad of X-Men ’97 season 2?
In true Marvel Studios style, the X-Men ’97 finale then concludes with a post-credits scene. The action returns to the ruins of Genosha in the present-day, where a shadowy figure stalks through the devastation caused by Bastion back in episode 5.
“So much pain, my children,” the figure booms, before retrieving a Queen of Hearts card from the rubble. “So much death…” As a shot of those distinctive blue lips makes clear, this is the grown-up Apocalypse, who seems all set to be the big bad of X-Men ’97 season 2. Even if we didn’t know we were getting one already, the “TO BE CONTINUED…” card at the episode’s end confirms it.
All things considered, it looks like we’re in for a deep-dive into Apocalypse’s character next time around, as the X-Men get to know his origins in the past while he cooks up some evil scheme in the present. The card he finds is clearly Gambit’s, so it’s very likely he’ll resurrect Remy and turn him into one of his Four Horsemen. Gambit alive again? Yay! Gambit turned evil? No way!
With any luck, X-Men ’97 season 2 will release sometime in 2025. For the meantime, all 10 episodes of season 1 can be streamed on Disney Plus.
