There's a lot of excitement for Marvel Studios' X-Men: The Animated Series follow-up, X-Men '97, though it has recently been caught up in a lot of unfounded rumours about delays and whatnot.
That's something Head Writer Beau DeMayo has denied on social media, and the hope is we'll still see the series arrive on Disney+ later this year. In the meantime, the mastermind behind this revival recently took part in the "X-Men: 60 Uncanny Years Live Virtual Event" (via The Direct) and shared some exciting new details about the project.
"We’re gonna be picking up about several months after Professor X left Earth after being shot by Henry Gyrich and had to return to the Shiar homeworld to be with Lilandra," DeMayo confirms. "And what ends up happening is that assassination attempt has led to this wave of increased sympathy towards mutants and understanding."
"Despite the friends of humanity still having their mullets and getting all up in it, things are really starting to look up for mutants. And this is gonna kind of come to a head and leads our X-Men to say, 'What does our future hold for us? We weren’t expecting this.'"
It sounds like we can look forward to something of a status quo shift for the X-Men, with the team no longer as hated and feared as they were the last time we saw them.
As for how they've evolved, DeMayo explains, "You’re gonna have Cyclops and Storm really wanting to carry on the dream. And they’ve recruited Morph and Bishop to actually become full-time members of the team."
Interestingly, he'd go on to reveal that there are some members of the team - Jean Grey, Rogue, and Gambit, to be specific - who start to wonder if there might be a life beyond being part of the X-Men. However, it's then that Magneto arrives at the mansion, looking for the opportunity to do good and move past his formerly villainous ways.
As for the overarching theme of the series, it sounds like it's all about figuring out what comes next. It's been a long time since we spent time with this iteration of the team, of course, so it seems fitting to take them somewhere new for their return decades after the show ended.
"As the X-Men are kind of looking at the future and, we’re going to be talking a lot about this, ‘How do you face the future? How do the X-Men do what they’ve been telling humanity to do for decades, which is embrace the future?'"
This one really can't get here soon enough and we have a feeling it will end up being something really special. With still no sign of Secret Invasion and Loki, not to mention What If...? season 2, it could be a while before we get another update as big as this one, but X-Men '97 looks set to be worth the wait if these comments are any indication!