X-Men '97 Is Back — And It Brought Apocalypse: The Season 2 Guide

The show that proved “nostalgia animation” could be Marvel’s best current product is back. And this time, the villain is the villain: Apocalypse.

X-Men ’97 season 2 premiered on July 1, 2026 on Disney+ — three episodes at once — and runs until August 12, with a new episode every Wednesday. Nine in total. If Marvel has been fumbling on the big screen, it’s here, in this ’90s-styled animation, that it keeps landing the punch.

Where we left off

Without spoiling the details of the first season: S1 ended with the X-Men divided and thrown across time — some in the past, some in a grim future. The new season opens with the team scattered across the eras, from ancient Egypt to a devastated tomorrow, trying to get back to the 1990s while a very old threat moves in the shadows.

That threat is En Sabah Nur, the first mutant in history.

Why Apocalypse is the villain

In the comics, Apocalypse headlines “The Age of Apocalypse” (1995) — perhaps the boldest saga ever told with the X-Men. It’s an alternate reality where Charles Xavier dies before founding the team, and without the dream of coexistence he represents, Apocalypse seizes the world. Characters we love become dark versions of themselves. Nothing stays in place.

The season draws directly from that source — and it’s no coincidence the saga got an omnibus re-release for its 30th anniversary. It’s proof the animation isn’t just honoring nostalgia: it’s going after the heaviest material in the archive.

What to watch for

The show keeps everything that made S1 acclaimed: the classic voice cast, the ’90s look, and the “one gut-punch per episode” rhythm, where each chapter delivers a twist that makes the week crawl until next Wednesday.

The schedule is simple: the first three episodes are already streaming, and the remaining six arrive weekly, with the finale set for August 12.

If you dropped the X-Men thinking they were a thing of the past, this is the season to come back for. Because few things in today’s Marvel are as alive as this thirty-year-old cartoon.

Mutant week here. Check out our Blade returns piece too — another Marvel character facing a fresh start.