It’ll be a few years yet before we get a full MCU X-Men movie, but that doesn’t mean Disney is ignoring Marvel’s mutants. In their first major use of the IP since the Fox merger, Disney Plus will air a surprise sequel to the much-loved 90s show X-Men: The Animated Series titled X-Men ‘97.
Production appears to be very much underway. Lenore Zann voiced Rogue on the ’90s show and revealed on Facebook that she’s already working on the first three episodes. This means that the first season is likely already written and we may see it premiere sometime in 2022.
Zann has contributed her vocal talents to a number of other shows, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, MegaMan: NT Warrior, and Mobile Suit Gundam, while also appearing in person in Andromeda, The L Word, and Kingdom Hospital. Beyond all that, she’s an accomplished politician and served as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada for the Liberal Party.
Information about the show has been slow to come so far, though the title indicates that it’ll be set in the 1990s and presumably continue some of the dangling plot threads remaining from the fifth season of the show in 1994.
X-Men ’97 is also notable as the first production from Marvel Studios that doesn’t take place in the MCU, perhaps hinting that the hit factory is preparing to expand its scope over the next few years. Then again, given the introduction of the multiverse, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the show being designated its own ‘world’ in the future.
More on X-Men ’97 as we hear it.