X-Men ’97 has been a stellar series so far, and one of the best things that Marvel Studios has ever produced for Disney+. The show started out as a fun nostalgia trip. Yet by episode five, it eclipsed almost every other non-comics X-Men media so far. Now, we’re heading into the three-part finale, titled “Tolerance is Extinction.” Marvel Animation has released a new trailer for the season’s end that hints at ominous things to come, particularly with Bastion’s Prime Sentinels. And possibly some big status quo changes too. Watch it down below, and then we’ll unpack all the mutant goodness together:
The trailer opens with a voiceover from Professor X, saying “You were my first students. My family. I wanted you to be free.” This leads us to guess that Charles returns from space, and has a heart-to-heart with Jean and Scott, his first students. We also see him wiping the dust off his old hover chair, suggesting he loses the Shi’ar exo-suit. We also see that Storm returns to the team, in her new/old costume. She appears next to Forge, and what looks like Sunspot, now in his New Mutants uniform from the comics. One shot shows the Professor’s office burning down, suggesting Xavier’s School goes down in flames. The destruction of the X-Mansion is an X-Men comics staple at this point.
The best new scene in the trailer though has to be Cable suiting up for battle alongside his father Scott. He makes a mention of the X-Men costumes looking like colorful circus outfits, and Cyclops retorts “What would you prefer? Black leather?” This was of course a dig at the original X-Men film. Specifically, the scene where Wolverine makes fun of the leather costumes, and Cyclops says “What would prefer, yellow spandex?” Something which every X-Men fan in the audience said “YES!” to. Although in fairness to those films, after movies like Batman & Robin, we get the initial impulse to not go the multicolored route. (There was no excuse for it in later years though). Cable’s new costume his son hands him looks suspiciously like his late ’90s X-Force look. Which we are very down with.
X-Men ’97 releases new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.