As every X-Men fan knows, there are many, many X-Men spin-off teams in the world of Marvel Comics. Some of them are almost as iconic as the main group, who operate out of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Well, it looks like we’re going to see at least two of those other X-teams in action in X-Men ’97 season two. Via Collider, we’ve learned that Marvel Animation’s Brad Winderbaum said the following at a Q&A screening of season one in Los Angeles, which should have fans of Marvel’s other mutants giddy with excitement:
There’s many teams, in Marvel, that have the letter “X” that are followed by a hyphen. I would put it to you like this… there’s two other X teams in Season 2.
Winderbaum stopped short of revealing which teams these were. But at the Marvel Animation panel at D23, both Lorna Dane (Polaris) and Alex Summers (Havok) appeared in the footage. Both were members of X-Factor, a government-sponsored mutant team. They appeared in the X-Men: The Animated Series episode “Cold Comfort.” That episode showed X-Factor working under the leadership of the mutant Forge. With Forge assembling a new X-Men after they disappeared into time in last season’s finale, he may seek the aide of his old team. He even had a photo of them on his wall in X-Men ’97. So we think they are the likely option for at least one new X-team.
So what about the other X-team? Well, we think we think with Jubilee and Sunspot still in the present, someone like Emma Frost might try to start a new school for the mutant teens. She may even take over as headmaster at Xavier’s. This might be a good time to bring in the New Mutants, or Generation X (or a combination of both). We also could see X-Force, the paramilitary group with Cable as team leader. We have a feeling we have not seen the last of Nathan Summers, and when he returns, he might bring friends. Of course, there’s also Excalibur, X-Statix, and the Exiles. The list goes on and on. We’ll know for sure when X-Men ’97 season two drops on Disney+, hopefully sometime in 2025.