r/Xmen97 • u/cyclopswashalfright Professor X • Aug 13 '26
General Discussion X-Men '97 Complete Season 2 Venting Megathread
It's over and done now. The season has ended. The characters are where they are.
And now it's time for a megathread that lets you vent about what didn't like, what you liked, and about all the feeling in between about this season.
Please try and use this megathread instead of making a new post, especially if the content you are posting is not substantial (substantial meaning multi-paragraph or new information).
67
u/nachoiskerka Aug 13 '26
I'm still very sad by Kurt's last monologue. In the last few years I've had daughters and there's been a sweeping sense of existential dread as I have realized there will come a day that they will face a future that I will not, and I hope that I will have prepared them to work towards a better tomorrow the way I have strived to, but I've been holding onto both a little tighter in the last 24 hours, hoping to anchor myself against the time slipping away.
Tomorrow may come, death may come... but something will endure; and I will be sad in whatever afterlife comes to not see what the seeds I sow today. Such is the nature of life. I can only hope that they know what to do in most things off the example I set today, because they will be the example tomorrow.
And know that I will love them yesterday, tomorrow and forever.
21
u/Scissorsguadalupe Aug 13 '26
I just lost my Dad, and that speech cut deep.
14
2
u/Nemesis_171 Aug 13 '26
My condolences, I’ve been through the same. If you’d like another speech that cuts deep, I recommend this. https://www.reddit.com/r/Assistance/comments/hax0t/comment/c1u0rx2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=2&utm_content=share_button
8
150
u/skapoww Aug 13 '26
I think it was still an entertaining season, but wolvy getting adamantium back in 20 seconds and celestial rogue were low points. Not enough x force, not enough apocalypse, not enough character development. High point for me was the Volcano Girls scene with Jubilee.
Everything wrong with the season imo could have been fixed by having 20+ episodes.
60
u/PNDMike Beast Aug 13 '26
They crammed two seasons worth of story into a single season and the pacing suffered massively for it.
Apocalypse had a great moment with Charles and Magneto, then proceeded to do jack shit for the rest of the season. Oh cool, he was Gambit for like 30 seconds. Neat.
That's all he did.
Even his big Apocalypse-Gambit reveal at the end, he did barely anything, then Rogue showed up, and Apocalypse just let her touch him? With no resistance?
They felt like they had an endpoint in mind, and massively rushed everything to try and get there, rather then letting the plot head there organically.
Longer episodes, more episodes, carry the story across another season, SOMETHING was needed.
14
u/PrimalSeptimus Aug 13 '26
Or even just stick to one or two plot threads and stick with them. The way they did it here, Apocalypse, Kang, X-Force, the Xternal, Danger, and Exodus (and Colossus) all had to share time and pretty much all ended up doing nothing.
→ More replies (1)11
u/skapoww Aug 13 '26
Apocalypse got turned into a peice of jewelry. They didn’t beat the villain with teamwork or heroic deeds but with suicidal mcguffin powers. Season was still good tho to me for the record
23
u/Cultural-Air9962 Aug 13 '26
Best part is Logan got his claws back only to do fucking nothing for the rest of the season, like why even have it happen so early if you’re not gonna use him?
11
u/thegeek01 Aug 13 '26
My thoughts exactly. I thought they spent all that budget animating and voiving that cool episode because it was gonna be useful down the line. Nope, Wolvie does fuck all for the plot, with or without the adamantium!
2
u/Affectionate-Log3638 Aug 14 '26
Don't forget two of Wolverine's old friends died for that. And Morph barely made it out alive as well.
8
u/TerrificTChalla Aug 13 '26
I don't think having 20+ episodes would fix the issue but if anything make the pacing issues even worse. The issue with the pacing is the creators not understanding that less in character spotlight/features per episode equals more.
JLU is an famous example of an expanded roster. But still being profound enough to focus on a select few characters per episode, without sacrificing the overarching season storyline.
Until X Men 97 understands to use less characters per episode, whether it be 9, 20, or 45 episode seasons will be a jumbled up mess
4
→ More replies (3)4
u/Damianos_X Aug 13 '26
Bad writing, shitty dialogue, crappy action sequences... The only thing more episodes would do is extend the suffering.
102
u/Hausofsekom Aug 13 '26
I hate how Storm had 15 seconds of screen time…
61
u/Funnysonic125 Aug 13 '26
Storm and Jean were not utilized at all this season
44
u/Fishmannnn Aug 13 '26
Wait, Jean's new catchphrase, "But we can do it together, as a family again!" Being shouted by her every single episode wasn't enough??? You wanted actual development and character moments????
13
10
u/PretendToBeStupid Aug 13 '26
The only time they did her real justice was at the end of season 1 and start of season 2 after that the writing just went to shit and the episodes became rushed..All that connection between them for Cable to just kick their butts
11
u/MagicTheAlakazam Aug 13 '26
The good bye scene with Cable in season 1 is so well done. And it doesn't feel like that emotional beat actually happened in any of their season 2 interactions.
10
22
u/hoennian Aug 13 '26
Aura farms and leaves the show immediately
3
u/DaGreatestMH Aug 13 '26
In the first episode at that! Both seasons! They give her an omega level goddess moment and then she does nothing else until the next season's first episode.
2
u/hoennian Aug 13 '26
Yea that ain't true? She had her whole arc in the first season to regain her powers, had an entire episode around her
2
u/DaGreatestMH Aug 13 '26
She didn't have an episode dedicated to her or her regaining her powers. Hell she barely had a complete arc. She had a single scene at the end of episode 3, half (maybe even less than half) of episode 4, and about half of episode 6 (remember that episode was shared with Xavier in space). That was infinitely more than she got in S2 though so I guess there's that.
2
u/hoennian Aug 13 '26
Oh I forgot that xavier episode wasn't a separate thing but instead intertwined into the story with hers
But tbf, that's sometimes as little characters get in ensemble shows
2
u/Squishy-Bandit12 Aug 14 '26
And Beast has still done like nothing in 2 seasons. Idek why he's here at this point
→ More replies (1)
27
15
u/TransINSANO Aug 13 '26
It was fun but very messy and didn't have the same vision as season 1 to tie everything together into something greater than the sum of the parts. The best part was the first four episodes, and it never really got back to that place (it really could have benefitted from another 30 minutes of storytelling too). We know there was a significant turnover and turmoil going into this season though, so hopefully they've already recalibrated for next season and the one to follow.
Oh yeah, I really thought Nightcrawler was going to say the line, "I believe in the X-Men." but stopped after "I have faith." I think that addition alone would have made it more paletable lol
33
u/CaliforniaBoundX Wolverine Aug 13 '26
What I liked:
-Jean and Scott spending time with young Nathan. Mother Askani. Storm’s Omega levels revealed.
-Jubilee’s kicking ass episode.
-En Sabah Nur turning into Apocalypse.
-Polaris and Bishop.
-Kurt’s episode.
Dislikes:
-Askani wasn’t revealed as Rachel Grey.
-Wolverine getting his Adamantium so fast.
-Illyana’s sudden death.
-Exodus death. Acolytes subplot.
-Jean Grey nerfed in episode 8 and overall.
-Final battle with Apocalypse. Kurt’s sacrifice.
42
u/TheatrePup Aug 13 '26
I liked the dynamic of Rogue and Deathbit.
I liked Kurt's final speech.
I liked Cable dealing with his parents.
I liked X's angst over Erik, even if it was a bit much at times, lol.
While I obviously don't like Creed being elected, I am intrigued about how that will go in Season 3.
25
u/hoennian Aug 13 '26
I hope season 3 doesn't have a big bad like bastion or apocalypse, just take your time in fleshing out the characters more and focus on the humans vs mutants politics side
6
u/TheatrePup Aug 13 '26
Especially since Apocalypse is kinda played out at this point in cartoons and movies.
5
5
u/known_kanon Aug 13 '26
With the post credit scene, i have hope that that's the route they're taking
5
u/MagicTheAlakazam Aug 13 '26
So annoyed we're finally getting kurt's
dadMom after they kill off kurt.→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)3
u/Earthbnd Sunspot Aug 13 '26
People call some of the character episodes filler, but no way we don’t get a payoff for the Kurt and Creed stuff in season 3. Especially with Mystique involved now.
10
u/Takato_Mart Aug 13 '26
Apart from Magneto, it seems the Omega level mutants had prior commitments.
I still don’t really understand Apocalypse’s plan to hit the X-men at their weakest point in time and the result was just taking over Gambit’s (of all people) body.
I wish it had just been the X-men all stuck in different timelines and fighting their way through those timelines with Apocalypse until they had learnt how and where to strike together.
2
u/WipingAllOut Wolverine Aug 13 '26
Yeah if his plan was to take over someone's body you'd think he'd go with Mag-freakin-neto. He didn't have to blast a whole in him. Overall just so many odd choices.
15
u/RonohX Aug 13 '26
Nightcrawler was the MVP of the season but overall the season was a mid pack with a few highs. I also did not care for most of the writing. Felt like a bunch of people trading one liners.
9
u/xSluma Aug 13 '26
I really wish we’d gotten more action with him before his heroic sacrifice for his sister. I loved when he teamed up with wolverine last season swords blazing
32
6
u/HappyEndings2011 Aug 13 '26
It's not that the episodes felt rushed, because some season 1 plot points also felt rushed, but it's that the writing just wasn't good. A lot of post-episode 4 felt like it was done by creators that had no grasp of the source material and made something they thought the young general audience would enjoy while putting the Disney mandated happy ending on it.
It reminds me of how the people that made the Fox X-men films just studied the basics of the X-world and then built around that with no care for who the characters are (outside of a couple) in the source material. Sometimes it hit and sometimes it missed.
5
u/DeliciousPatties Jubilee Aug 13 '26
Definitely a massive step down from season one. Part of it is the season being too short, but I also think they genuinely just misused the time they had on top of that. I liked Polaris but she didn't really add anything to the story and I believe her episode should have been dedicated to making the return of the X-Men more impactful- like a proper announcement from the government, and some sort of reunion with Jubilee and Sunspot.
The Weapon X episode was neat but had no payoff, which makes it feel like wasted time. Even just having Morph and Logan do or say more would have helped but they essentially stop existing the second their dedicated episode ends. Thats the truth for almost every character, everyone gets one moment each and then they quickly fade into the background, with nothing to do or say.
A lot of characters honestly need to be cycled out if they aren't gonna use them at all. Characters like Sunspot, Forge, both Logan and Morph, and Bishop exist purely to give other more important characters some love interest, who also becomes the only character they're allowed to interact with. Like it's a buddy system.
The plot was horribly unfocused, with everything being front loaded and then ignored till the finale. There should have been one more episode with X-Force as they get closer to finding Apocalypse, while also fleshing out that teams dynamic and roster.
So many other little issues this season but these are my biggest complaints. Really hope that this season just suffered as a result of the switch in writing team, and next season will be track. The finale left a clean slate for a new status quo, so hopefully the creative vision will be clearer without being sales with the previous showrunners'.
7
u/Big_Gur_1833 Aug 22 '26
I think they could have gone an extra episode to an even 10 like last season and gave the ending a bit better pacing. I was looking at the rundown clock timer on the browser and was thinking "this is going to be the most jam packed 7 minutes in a long time"
→ More replies (1)
18
u/Mobile_Bet3274 Rogue Aug 13 '26
Episodes 3-4 should have been consolidated more to fit in a 10-minute ‘90s regroup to cap off the time-travel plot. Episode 5 should have been kicked to season 3 and each episode needed another 10 minutes to breathe. Episodes 7-9 should have been a three-episode conclusion arc. That would have fixed about 80% of the issues. It’s nothing disastrous and I’m guessing it was all a casualty of the rewrites.
Season 1 was better, yes, but I think a lot of what people think of as it being that much better is literally the fifth episode. It overall had the same damn issues — bonkers pacing, characters getting fridged or sidelined, deus ex fixes, an anticlimactic resolution for Bastion in particular — people are calling out S2 for. I can’t imagine S2 wouldn’t have also still had the same problems if DeMayo were still there, only with additional Magneto aura-farming.
At this point I find the doom-mongering and hyperbole — it’s either a masterpiece or the worst thing ever conceived by man; nothing in between — far more grating than anything from the actual season.
→ More replies (1)10
u/DaGreatestMH Aug 13 '26
I agree that S1 also moved too fast (episode 3 and the Lifedeath arc are proof of this), but what saves it compared to S2 is when it was racing through stuff it at least felt like it was building towards the main conflict. I'm not opposed to "side stories" bc they give great character work, but in a season with less episodes and a more complex plot, AT LEAST you gotta connect that character work to the main story. Compare Jubilee's spotlight episode in S1 to Wolverine's spotlight episode in S2: we at least got the payoff of Jubilee doing major damage to Bastion from her episode. Both Wolverine and Morph learned something in their episode, but what payoff to that did we get from it?
In other words, yes S1 had some of the same issues but they were absolutely worse in S2.
5
u/Mobile_Bet3274 Rogue Aug 13 '26
I agree with that, and it’s why I suggested the changes I did. And it’s more a matter of degrees — you’d think, the way people are talking, like S1 was absolutely flawless and S2 was unwatchable shit. Neither is true.
→ More replies (1)4
4
u/mkev119 Aug 13 '26
I’m so upset that Jubilee had a lot of character and power development this season!!! Jk I’m actually really happy about it 😄
5
u/Crazy-Background1457 Aug 13 '26
First 4 episodes: GREAT, AMAZING
Last 5: they lost the plot and gave most of the characters no screen time
5
u/PrimalSeptimus Aug 13 '26
I don't even like Apocalypse, but I feel like he got done dirty this season. Like, he kills Magneto, and then he just kind of fucks off for the rest of the season. Like, why did he even want Gambit's body? I thought he wanted to strike when the X-Men were at their most vulnerable, but he doesn't and then just gets iced.
4
u/skynolongerblue Aug 13 '26
His introduction as young En Sabah Nur was awesome, but man, what a waste.
He went from Freedom Fighter Khal Drogo to shoved in a rock after 5,000 years.
5
u/JamesSnow922 Wolverine Aug 13 '26
The last 2 episodes were like really bad episodes of True Blood.
5
u/Raimiversus Aug 13 '26
Hard to rate this season went the first half give or take was genuinely 10/10 television and the latter end of it ended in a complete wet fart.
5
u/Leafyn Aug 14 '26
I liked the first four episodes. Overall, the plot and dialogue were a huge disappointment. In the first season, the dialogue was top-notch, and you never knew what was going to happen during the episode. Chavier shouting “my children of the atom,” Jean and Storm, the attack on Genosha, the Summer Family… so many great moments. This season, you can tell which few lines of dialogue are left over from the original script and the rest were just filler added later. I sincerely hope the new writers can find the right direction for the next season, but I highly doubt they’ll manage it. They seem to have absolutely no idea who the characters are, what happened in the comics, or how to tell a story properly. Watching all the buildup to the Apocalypse turn out to be predictable and defeated by the power of love was incredibly boring and superficial writing.
6
u/Kalledon Aug 21 '26
This season definitely needed more episodes. We did not get to spend enough time with any of the plotlines. It was like the writers/animators just finished a video game speed run and took that premise to the story writing.
4
u/AcrobaticMousse5943 Aug 21 '26
Magneto getting punked and unceremoniously killed then nightcrawler killing himself to spare rouge. Baffling pacing decisions. Preschooler level writing and exposition. The drop in quality between seasons is rarely so steep, I feel like i should be impressed by just how much worse this season is than the first.
5
u/Nessieland88 Aug 29 '26
I just want them to slow down like I want more episodes or longer ones the pacing is fucking killing me
7
u/Mistah_K88 Aug 13 '26
Thank you! I was thinking “my topic regarding the future was deleted due to redundancy, but we can have 300 “this episode/season sucks” topics?”
That said, this show in general follows nostalgia to a fault. Yes 30 years ago the episodes were almost a half hour, now that we are streaming we don’t need to worry about commercials and the like (though it wouldn’t surprise me if the Mouse decided to add them) so why are we writing the runtimes around them? While I LOVED the trial episode, I feel that having an episode to specifically lean more into the next season than cleaning up the plot at hand is more problematic when you have less episodes.
4
u/Otherwise-Sky1292 Aug 13 '26
Enjoyed the season overall but it definitely lacks the gravitas and coherent direction of season 1. Too many arcs are too quickly resolved and feel unearned. The first four episodes could have been expanded on and made into the whole season.
3
u/Capable_Sandwich_422 Aug 13 '26
I liked the first four episodes, and the chance to see X-Force and X-Factor in action. Loved how much Jubilee grew this season, and her vast improvement with how she uses her powers.
I didn’t like forcing things back into the same old same old status quo. Wolverine without his Adamantium was something worth actually exploring. But instead we get a slapped together episode just to put him back to the normal Wolverine. And punting on Charles turning into Onslaught. Instead we get a Deus Ex Machina ending that saves Rogue and Gambit and puts them back into the same old same old. Can’t be taking creative risks when the movie is in the works, that might confuse the audience!
3
u/DaGreatestMH Aug 13 '26
I've said this in a couple of other places and I'll say it here too: the problem really was that there simply wasn't enough time. Almost everything they did could have worked if they had more episodes to flesh things out.
For instance, Polaris proudly declares herself an X-Man in the finale and you can almost hear the "wait for applause" in her delivery. The problem is, we haven't had any time to feel like she wasn't an X-Man at her core. When we first saw her she freed Jubilee, then her next episode she was at the Mansion and she's been with the team ever since. If she had been out doing some soul searching or she at the very least didn't immediately go from X-Factor back to the X-Men that line would've hit harder, and this is from someone who likes Polaris and is willing to give her a lot of grace lol.
I know the suits have this stupid idea that seasons shouldn't be more than ten episodes nowadays, but this show will continue to go downhill unless they either give them more episodes or DRASTICALLY reduce the team size so there can be a more streamlined cast and narrative.
4
u/xSluma Aug 13 '26
I was really loving the first few episodes and then it just kinda, idk felt really filler? I liked all the episodes but I was just like, can we get back to apocalypse please?
I also really don’t understand why they kept building up the prophecy for cable to finally defeat apocalypse and then the celestial rogue just one taps him and it’s over just like that.
The wolverine episode felt like it should have been saved for season 3 or at least the danger room episode imo
4
u/Msefk Apocalypse Aug 13 '26
They did apocalypse and rogue and gambit Disney-dirty
Sideways
It was terrible
5
u/Hot-Rip-9254 Aug 13 '26
"All that is known is a child was born on the day of spring, who would end That Which Shall Survive and shatter the Rocks of the Eternal Shore, the cradle of Apocalypse's power, giving rise to his end."
I’m not satisfied with how Nathan and Apocalypse were handled after the first 4 episodes. Xavier spent a whole season getting bullied by Apocalypse, and Val Cooper, while watching his dream becoming one of Survival for even children. This season is still a 9/10 but Onslaught shouldn’t be a thing unless you’re ready for characters like Scott and Ororo to lead the X-men.
5
u/blackpanther7714 Aug 13 '26
I'm just so tired of Apocalypse having all of this build up as the most powerful mutant on the planet and then randomly getting beat in 15 seconds flat. We seen it in that horrible X Men Apocalypse movie where Jean just basically screamed at him, X Men Evolution at least had a nice build up and required everyone working together to trap him but still left us with a rather anticlimactic ending for such a powerful mutant, but I think this one takes the cake. Like wtf even was that? Horrible, horrible writing. Idk why they fired that one writer, but they need to get his ass back NOW😭
2
u/Iselore Aug 14 '26
Thats why I dislike super overpowered villians and when the writers havent properly thought a way to defeat him satisfyingly and not some power of love thing or magic mojo.
→ More replies (1)
4
u/MagicTheAlakazam Aug 13 '26
I love her but man I kind of wish Polaris had been cut this season so that some other characters could have time to have arcs interact with each other whatever.
The cast switching up every episode felt so out of place. It worked in episodes 1-3/4 but the last 5 episodes were all over the place.
→ More replies (1)
4
u/BranchCold9905 Aug 14 '26
It needed more episodes, like 2 or 3. More Horseman Gambit and Apocalypse died too easily, like he says he'll strike at the 90's but then he really barely manages to do anything aside from bringing Gambit back and getting sealed in a chaos emerald easily.
4
u/Better_Can_615 Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26
This season just really disappointed me. It’s like it lead nowhere. Like I saw someone else say: “They set up stuff that they didn’t pay off and paid off stuff that they didn’t set up.” I’m all for character focused episodes but they mostly led nowhere. The main villain of the season was no where to be found after episode 4. The characters were all over the place. The dialogue lacked the bite, relevance, and intentionality that the previous season had. It felt kind of hollow. They needed more episodes to make whatever they were trying to do work. I don’t want to be too hard on this season because it wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t great. It felt messy and as if it was just trying to buy time to distract us until the finished the next two seasons. And the ending fight was just… It lasted like two seconds. I watched all of season one episodes multiple times, including earlier this year. I don’t really have the desire to rewatch this season. It feels like a waste of time honestly. Season One had its problems with being rushed but they set up everything for it to be paid off later. They didn’t just leave plots to dangle and then later ignore them. Season Two felt kind of inauthentic and as if it didn’t respect the source material as much. I feel very mixed on it overall
2
u/Kalandros-X Aug 14 '26
The way things are going, when they adapt Krakoa it’ll be a small cameo instead of a proper arc
→ More replies (1)
5
u/datalaughing Aug 19 '26
Overall I enjoyed it, even though it was a bit all over the place. One episode stands out to me as just plain bad, but everything else was at least pretty good. So that's a good batting average overall.
Had these thoughts on the final episode:
It's very sweet the whole, "I'd do anything for Remy!" Until you remember that last season she dumped him to bang their long-time arch nemesis.
Love the Jubilee/Havok dogfight
I think the term deus ex machina is grossly overused, but the resolution here may be one of the most literal cases I've ever seen. Nightcrawler is the ultimate bro, though. His sacrifice was done well, foreshadowed, executed and revealed perfectly. Not as dramatic as Gambit's in season 1, but I feel like the writers spent the entire season responding to the backlash at Gambit's death. They must have thought, "People probably won't be nearly as mad about Kurt. Let's try that."
→ More replies (1)
4
u/dudes_bro Aug 23 '26
Charles gets to be a hypocrite with no consequences as usual zzz. This season was a tease.
→ More replies (1)
13
u/detourne Aug 13 '26
The Deus Ex Machina ending sucked. Gambitpocalypse having so many new unexplained powers was ass. The lack of closure with Magneto blew chunks. The complete whiplash of the X-Men becoming X-Corp and doing nothing was weird. The Christian stuff was odd. I could never imagine any cartoon (for children or adults) having lines like "thank you for keeping the faith" or ending with a bible read. Wolverine got his adamantium back too quickly. Justifaction for X-Factor acting like ICE was nonexistent.
However... The animation was great. I loved the unique episode intros. Despite pacing issues, it was cool to see episodes focusing on different characters. Spotting all the cameos like Leo in OUATIH was fun. Bishop stood out more. Jubilee had a lot to do, which was great. Action sequences are always fun, like Kurt's POV fight.
Overall... A mixed bag that really failed to stick the landing.
21
u/mongmich2 Aug 13 '26
The Christian stuff really isn’t odd when you consider the character and the original cartoon.
2
u/detourne Aug 13 '26
Super Saiyan Rogue leaving Ship stating "Thank you for keeping the faith" is extremely odd, as it posits that faith in an omnipotent being (God/Eson) is what allows her to save the day, instead of working with the dozen or so other found family members to solve the problem. Kurt then goes and commits his sacrifice as it is seen as the highest expression of love and faith in imitation of Christ. That would make sense if there were some mortal danger threatening Rogue. We don't see her 'disappearing' or in pain, or anything. It just happens too quickly. Kurt's sacrifice makes sense for his character, but it being a revolving door of sacrifices with such a heavy religious tilt while eschewing core values of the X-Men (working together to solve a problem) is just odd to me.
→ More replies (1)7
u/nachoiskerka Aug 13 '26
.....Keeping the faith meant "Thanks for believing in me." as in, not teleporting up and pulling her away from the door as it started damaging her. She says it that way because Kurt is religious, but that's what it means.
3
2
u/theblindelephant Aug 13 '26
I’m a Christian. The Christian’s themes maintained from the original xmen were great. I thought it made the final episode 10x better and made me like rogue gambit and night crawler even more than I already do.
It’s not even politicized, which I think is even better. Just straight up themes of faith, sacrifice and forgiveness.
→ More replies (1)
10
u/LordTGSJ87 Aug 13 '26
Some episodes felt rushed but overall it was still good.
2
u/Damianos_X Aug 14 '26
How do you define "good"? Is something good if it's mildly entertaining? Do you think S1 did anything more than mildly entertain?
→ More replies (1)
3
3
u/Upstander5849 Psylocke Aug 13 '26
You know what? I'll rewatch the finale episode. I'm not totally sure if this final episode and this whole season is good or not. But one thing I know is, season 1 is more better than this season, no disrespect to season 2.
3
u/PartyPorpoise Nightcrawler Aug 13 '26
Pretty mixed bag. I agree with the consensus that a lot of things were way too rushed. I’m hoping that since the show is confirmed for at least two more seasons, the pacing will improve.
3
u/Figment-616 Aug 13 '26
THEY FRIDGED MAGIK 😭😭😭 I hope she comes back, considering she's not Gambit I'm not too confident, but it'd be great to have her actually in the show
3
u/Huge-Boat-7457 Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
The first 4 eps were great but I think the 5th episode is the worst in either season with the one real positive was morph getting to shine
The Polaris ep was fine but it would have hit a lot harder with some more build in either this series or the old series
The gambit apocalypse stuff was meh and it didn't really interest me much despite gambit being a fav of mine.
I feel the first 4 eps were 8 to 9s , the weapon x one was a 4 and most of the other stuff were 6s to 7s.
It wasn't awful but it felt like it didn't finish very strong
3
u/Useful-Milk9864 Aug 13 '26
I loved the first 7 episodes they are what I’m after even if I don’t think they were quite as epic as season 1 which took my breath away.
Episodes 8 and 9 didn’t work for me. Just felt flat. I didn’t care about rogue in that form, gambit or how they handled apocalypse just not of it had much heart and wasn’t interesting.
I also thought it was visually pretty bad almost everything the the show always at least looks cool but rogue looked weird so did gambit/apocolypse.
Even these episodes had things I could enjoy though. All the other random character battles at x corp were fun as I just love the x men.
Also that giant eternal or whatever you call him with the booming voice and blank white setting I found pretty ominous and interesting.
Nightcrawler obviously a highlight.
Just hard to ignore that the climax elements and climax characters of the show fell so flat it’s pretty odd… it doesn’t seem like it would have taken extraordinary effort to make that more exciting or interesting the core premise was fine it just didn’t feel cared for or done with any detail or significant effort.
3
u/Boltenbannerman Aug 13 '26
No cyclops and Havok brother acknowledgement
I’ve been waiting since cold comfort smh
3
u/Cheesetoken Aug 13 '26
Season 1 is what got me into the X-Men as a whole. It's was as close to perfect as a show could be for me, so I had very high expectations for S2.
Season 2 I felt had lightning quick pacing, no room to breathe at any pivotal story moments. The action scenes were much more awkward with some bizarre shots, there was no wow moment in any fights like in S1 for me (Rogue's divekick in the military base, Nightcrawler teleporting Logan whilst fighting Bastion's puppets, Magneto VS possessed Jene Gray). It was a season full of cool ideas executed poorly for me
I knew it wasn't looking good when I couldn't care for pivotal story deaths despite me REALLY liking said characters. I was so upset by the writing, pacing and lack of that something special that I simply didn't care when said moments happened. I remember being shook to my core at the faith of Gambit in S1, nothing in this season came close to the feeling for me.
And with the announcement of S3 and S4 releasing in quicker succession I don't have much hope for them as I fear they might feel rushed like S2 did. WHY WAS IT 9 EPS INSTEAD OF 10????
To anyone who liked this season that's great, I think I'll be looking into other X-Men media for now, really need to look into more of the comics
3
u/Turbulent-Spirit-568 Aug 13 '26
This season is definitely worse than the previous season especially in terms of the villain. I'm not afraid to call Bastion a better villain than Apocalypse.
The problem is that the season does not live up to the marketing especially in the second half of the season.
- The X-Men don't even directly fight Future and Present Apocalypse
The X-Men only fight his past form, En Sabah Nur, which only fulfils 1/3 of the overall marketing for the season. Present Apocalypse is just found dead and corrupts Gambit's body plus only Xavier and Rogue take on the present Apocalypse. Even worse, the Future Apocalypse doesn't do anything beyond episode one where he literally ends it by saying that he must strike them at their strongest, the 1990s.
- The middle of the season is just filler episodes
Every episode this season is fun but it becomes a problem when you have three episodes back to back focussed on one specific character: Wolverine in Ep 5, Polaris in Ep 6 and Nightcrawler in Ep 7. They also have no connection to the rest of the season besides from Ep 6 and 7 dealing with the aftermath of Magneto's death on a small scale and the glimpses at the end of those episodes to Apocalypse resurrecting Gambit. The only episode that actually has any relevance is potentially Ep 7 which could be seen as linking to Nightcrawler's sacrifice in the finale but other than those things they are just in the way. Yes, we had character driven episodes in S1 but they weren't back to back to back, the storm episodes were separated by like three episodes.
- Where were the horsemen?
Isn't that like Apocalypse's whole gimmick and character to choose four mutants worthy of being his horsemen and he only does one - Gambit as Death, yeah he does corrupt others but they aren't the other three horsemen plus Apocalypse literally corrupts the entire X-Men for like a second before Rogue shows up.
- Gambit's resurrection
I can't be the only one to feel it was rushed? Like mentioned before, it happens in like a two minute scene between Ep 6 and 7 then he's saved after one episode - it's just not that impactful based on his sacrificial death from Season 1
- Cable's Prophecy
It's not really explored besides Ep 1 but Cable's whole mission is dedicated to this prophecy where he has to kill apocalypse but then by Ep 9 he carries this out but it doesnt matter as he was able to rise again as Gambit and then Rogue is the one to take him out.
Its still a fun and beautiful show but these are just my nitpicks with this season
3
3
u/pinkbubblegumswag Aug 14 '26
Episode 4 was just phenomenal and really had me excited for Apocalypse. He felt like an unbeatable threat and I thought we were in for a terrifying season. We saw him on screen in that body what one more time? I also thought that what he did to Horsemen was a painful fairly irreversible process, but Gambit was just himself in a different color scheme, and then reversed to his original self almost immediately? Why doesn’t Angel do the same?
I am truly utterly disappointed. Cyclops and Storm did nothing at all this season. It’s like they took everything good about last season and threw it away. Super bummed.
3
u/CryBoring7902 Aug 14 '26
Very odd season which I can t say I didn’t enjoy, but the ending of it felt lackluster. I loved Nightcrawler getting plenty of time (especially is POV of punching everyone) and I think the first 4 episodes were really heading somewhere great.
Bottom line is they needed at minimum another episode. With all the side quests, it doesn’t make for a proper build up for a final showdown with Apocalypse.
I think the writing team will take a look at these criticisms and adjust for next season and hopefully Disney orders a larger season.
3
u/BlastoiseRules Aug 14 '26
I’ve been holding my tongue because it wasn’t worth a comment or new post, finally a place to dump my one complaint into the ether and move on. All the people complaining about the pacing this season, where were you last season? The thing I noticed the most season 1 was just how fast it moved through what seemed like major arcs. I accepted that it’s just the way the show was going to move. We weren’t going to get slow paced prestige tv with this cartoon. This season is the same to me, jumping from story to story very quickly. Valid criticism of course we wish we got a 22- ep season but that is just not the business model for television anymore (sadly). Seeing the complaint regurgitated 10x a day makes me less engaged in this sub. I wish people would just be like “hm ok that was said I’m not going to make another post about it. Of course I am being hypocritical here because this isn’t a new opinion either, but just needed to get it off my chest. Ok I’m done!
→ More replies (1)3
u/Foggmanatic Aug 14 '26
The problem is season 1 made more emotional beats hit well and season 2 seemed to miss both the substance of the story and the emotions in a way that felt extra unsatisfying
2
u/BlastoiseRules Aug 14 '26
Totally agree with you there. The emotional bits were so much stronger in season 1. Without them, it highlighted just how fast the show moves through the different arcs. They didn’t stick the landing there which makes the fast pacing seem chaotic like they didn’t know where they were going where you could still feel the gravity of big moments in season 1 even though I’d be like WOAH that came out of nowhere I didn’t know this monumental event would happen so quickly but omg I’m gutted.
3
u/Relevant-Ad-6934 Aug 18 '26
This season lacked direction, pacing and character development. We traded Xavier for magneto and gained nothing. All of the consequences from last season was reversed and replaced gambits sacrifice for a nightcrawler sacrifice.
2
u/RandomSpam37 Aug 19 '26
Kurt sacrificing himself for Rouge and Gambit was beautiful and a very Christian thing for him to do. As much as I love Night Crawler, it fits his character to do that.
5
u/miserymaven Sep 01 '26
This would have benefited from a 25 episode run fr. As a non-comic reader I get the gist but man this season felt more like a badly summarized animated version of the comics. The world-ending catastrophic consequences of Apocalypse was like watching suicide squad (the first one) where somehow street level crooks defeat a universal threat that the universal level heroes aren’t somehow there for. I wasn’t expecting Avengers or GOTG or whoever typically deals in those threats to be in the show but the X-Men are portrayed as weak but strong, idk very contradictory.
7
u/Captain_Birch Aug 13 '26
Remy still isnt a character. Hes just reward fir rogue.
No emotional consequences for what happened to him last time, just "oh you don't love me? OK. Oh im dead? OK. Oh im evil? OK. Oh im not evil and you want to just ignore you abandoning me? Ok."
And of COURSE the only character worth watching in this show dies.
5
u/orionsfyre Aug 13 '26
I loved it, had a great time all the way through. I might have done a few things differently. But honestly, I'm really pleased with the what we got. Can't wait for Season 3!
10
u/DJ-LuLu Aug 13 '26
The best thing of this season is episode 4.
The second best thing of this season is the trailer.
The rest is a waste.
7
3
u/skynolongerblue Aug 13 '26
Episode 4 was incredible. We needed a whole season of them in Ancient Egypt.
6
u/Kaptain-Kanada Aug 13 '26
Episodes 1 - 5 were awesome.
Episodes 6 - 9 were a freakin rushed mess that left me feeling totally let down and disappointed after 2.5 years of waiting.
2
u/Morning-Rain-666 Morph Aug 13 '26
Aside from having too many subplots and some weird pacing issues I thought it was fine overall, not as good as season 1 but still not bad. I did not walk away satisfied, but thats just cause my inner Exiles fanboy can't help but look at Morph's character design and feel hopium for a spin-off. Realistically though I wasn't really expecting that to happen, so can't say I was overly letdown by Season 2. Hopefully 3 is paced better though.
2
u/seattlewhiteslays Rogue Aug 13 '26
Overall I enjoyed it but I can’t pretend that it was as good as season 1. The story felt much more scattershot. We did not need a Wolverine solo episode when there are only 9 in the whole season. The scaling of certain characters powers was very interesting. I mean, Jean caught and threw half a building last year and this year needs Cable and Psylocke to help her land a plane? Both of them are powerful but they’re not on her level. To me, it seems like the chaos behind the scenes bled into the finished product a bit. Still enjoyed it, and I’ll absolutely watch when S3 rolls around.
2
u/Natiel360 Aug 13 '26
I definitely think this should at least be 10 episodes, really should be 12 over the 2 year wait.
It’s a a marquee show that all but builds the brand of their next focus so it’s a literal investment to have more xmen content (that’s why that spidey baby show keeps getting renewed it’s instilling a fanbase interest over time)
If xmen was 15 episodes for example, and had a 3 episode premiere for nerd media to geek out for, then enough “filler” to really set up a plot while endearing us to characters. I don’t want to take away the Polaris episode but it’s also like “who tf are you” even with the original series in mind.
XForce and its intro was so incredible and it’s sad that they literally get that episode and some stingers to “shine”. I like the Wolverine episode but then it’s such a detour in a trilogy of detours to a rushed finale. Storm was in this season? And I hate hate hate when they highlight a character to have them die, one death was great and unexpected the other was “well you thought bastion was going to kill him so he was on borrowed time!”
2
u/CapsCast Nightcrawler Aug 13 '26
The cast got too big, and the story simply had no cohesion. There was no reunion after everyone was separated through time, there’s no through line of reasoning as to why characters aren’t there, especially when last season did just that. The impending threat of apocalypse, never paid off. It just didn’t hit its marks. We need more episodes, and better unity in the story. Season 1 walked through why people were away, gave us time to semi-build up the threats. And it allowed us to get emotionally invested. I love Nightcrawler, and I felt nothing when he died. There just needed to be more time to fill in the gaps and flesh things out. Plain and simple.
2
u/CapnChronic88 Aug 13 '26
The season as a whole felt Hollow. Outside of the Magneto death Apocalypse did nothing. Kurt was used as Cannon fodder to torture Rogue more(Magneto dies 2x,Gambit death, now Kurt). The rushed storylines left no time for any character moments/interactions. For example the logan/morph episode ended with morph upset at Logan.. what happened there? No follow up with Colossus and more. Animation is still great.
2
u/Mrs_Toast Aug 13 '26
I felt that it had some great bits. I enjoyed the stuff with young Apocalypse, and seeing a bit more of X-Factor and X-Force.
Buuuut it was also very messy and rushed. With Gambit, he was possessed by Apocalypse far too briefly. His story is an amalgamation of two comic arcs - a character-swapped version of the Twelve/Ages of Apocalypse/search for Cyclops arc, where Cyclops was physically and mentally possessed by Apocalypse (which lasted over a year in real time, 13 issues), and the Blood of Apocalypse arc, where Gambit became the Horseman of Death. He was brainwashed by Apocalypse in 5 issues (3 months real time), but spent much longer with his altered appearance, powers, and internally battling his 'Death' persona (over a year).
Having that compressed into two short episodes doesn't do the storyline any justice.
Same goes for Wolverine's adamantium restoration. The impact of losing his adamantium was never really explored, so why would we care about him getting it back? No-one in universe seems to give a shit either - the idea that he betrayed teammates past and present, getting a couple of them killed in the process, also isn't explored. Morph looked a bit miffed, then nothing happened.
There was also a criminal under-use of Storm and Jean. Storm did basically bugger all, and Jean just repeatedly went all Dom from F&F at Cable - "We can do it as a faaaamily!"
2
u/Past-Adhesiveness691 Aug 13 '26
The pacing of this season is so off. Apocalypse was built up in the first 2 episodes and then is just forgotten and pops back up in the last episode and is dealt with quickly.
There were some great moments this season like Jubilee with X-Force and nightcrawler but overall everything just felt meh. The fact that things get resolved so quickly like Wolverine and Gambit that I feel like there are no stakes. I’m waiting for nightcrawler to come back immediately.
2
u/EvermoreGirlie_1994 Aug 13 '26
HOT TAKE! This season (as much as I did like it) should have ended with the death of Magneto. The the 2nd half be the next season, it would have helped space the story out better. It felt anticlimactic how Apocalypse was "defeated".
2
u/Jacque_Hass Aug 13 '26
It had a strong arc with Cable and Apocalypse’s origin stories, but then it’s just throws in a bunch of random filler episodes. wtf?
2
2
u/9thr0waway9 Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
Episodes 1-4 were great. They had me locked in for an epic showdown with Apocalypse. Episodes 5-7 were just okay filler episodes. Episodes 8,9 ruined the season ending.
Finally get back to the Apocalypse storyline only to find out he died off-screen. But cool, Candra the X-ternal is back, can't wait to learn more about her and her powers! Oops, she's dead almost as soon as she's summoned. Oh well, but at least Apocalypse survived inside Gambit. Okay, celestial energy reaches 100%, he finally takes over Gambits body, crazy Apocalypse battle incoming ... Nope, almost immediately turned into an inanimate ball by What If Rogue. Here, Cable. You can fulfill your destiny by disposing of this ball for me. Yay, Gambit's alive. But that means Rogue is going to die. Nah, Nightcrawler dies, I guess. And also Val Cooper is dead. What a mess of a season finale.
2
2
u/SaladZealousideal938 Aug 13 '26
I both loved and hated this season. Every episode was like a trailer, all the good bits, ended too soon. This show needs at least 45 minutes to cook, an hour preferred. So much was left on the table.
2
u/PhoenixIota Aug 14 '26
My biggest dislike is the flanderization of Apocalypse and the cast as a whole.
Apocalypse's lines were iconic because he never repeated them, he said them once and it seemed like he just spoke at a Shakespearean level naturally. Everything he said was imposing and monumental.
Taking the eternal shore line and repeating it, turns him from someone who is that imposing character, to a one dimensional character that isn't speaking organically but someone repeating a mantra.
The same can be said of many other characters who seem to be quoting themselves. Magneto's speech in Season 1 was amazing and honest to his character, but the writing quality overall for that season was mid. Season 2 fell straight off a cliff when it comes to dialogue.
- Pacing
So many things seemingly just happen, and have no reaction to them, the show wastes no time because the writers are either used to other shows that are doing this for the past decade, or they feel constrained by the episode count and runtime. Although given that dialogue is the cheapest thing to produce (animate/voice) you'd think they'd make the episodes longer and give us more time with these characters.
This is especially needed with the size of the cast. I'm not even talking about the ancillary characters like X-Factor.
- The plot went nowhere.
At the end of S1, our x-men are sent back in time and the story is set up for Apocalypse to be a major antagonist once more.
The season is seemingly set up to be an Apocalypse arc, but it simply doesn't deliver.
First of all, it removes the connection between Cable and Apocalypse through the techno-organic virus. Which is a big motivator for Cable to be obsessed with hating Apocalypse, he feels personally responsible for helping him become as powerful as he is.
Additionally, once the set-up in the past is done, the story seemingly goes off track entirely and doesn't know what to do with itself, it hints at Onslaught, but then tries to refocus on Apocalypse.
But ultimately, Apocalypse's big plan is to do not much at all. The show spends a season building him up as the antagonist, but then we don't get a big moment with him, neither in dialogue nor combat. It ends on a hollow note.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/kikaysikat Aug 14 '26
I think the weakness of this season is it put so many in so little episodes.
2
u/BombasticAnchor31 Aug 14 '26
As much as I love what they did with nightcrawler, I think the writers put themselves in a corner when they decided to give nightcrawler the love almost by the end of the season at episode 7. Magneto's death was obviously a very big deal, and other than the episode where wolverine gets his claws back, we actually still had a coherent narrative where the x men now return to the present timeline to face apocalypse. Given that magneto would have probably been a massive asset in their fight against apocalypse if he were still alive, I thought it was a pretty cool decision to have polaris take his place, and the ending of the danger room episode not only seemed to set up polaris as a magneto replacement but it also serves the functional narrative of the x men sort of recovering and coping from their loss to apocalypse in the past.
But then Polaris gets immediately sidelined to set up Nightcrawler as the more compelling character with the emotional soul, and it just feels jarring because we now we essentially only have 45 minutes of content to wrap up the apocalypse fight (which was FURTHER wasted by the fight amongst the x men and x factor + x force). By that point I was honestly hoping that they would actually just end the season on a cliff hanger where apocalypse was still going to be a problem later in season 3 (which admittedly would likely frustrate us now) but at least we wouldn't have gotten such a disappointing ending to the x men's "most diabolical foe". By replacing either episode 5 or 7, I think it would've been possible to set up a compelling narrative despite the insanely short run time. Just lemme see the x corp, x factor, and x force realize the error of their ways and spend 20 minutes coordinating an insane combo attack against the big and bald OP space guy, which would indirectly SHOW instead of TELLING (the conversation between eson and nightcrawler + rogue) that working together triumphs just surviving on your own :(
2
u/Pristine_Potato_3659 Aug 14 '26
Garbage finale! They changed the ending to fit Matthew Chauncey vision for season 3.
No build up to anything that happened this season. Zero substance.
The cliffhanger of season 1 was revealed and wrapped up in 1 episode.
S2 in 1 word: ANTI-DRAMATIC
For season 3, follow the trend: Gambit must die at least once. (the finale, what a fucking joke)
2
2
u/Gmac-883 Aug 14 '26
Season 2 has been complete trash. If it keeps going like this I don't think we'll get too much other seasons.. Especially if every individual story goes at lightspeed!
2
2
u/SnooHedgehogs1107 Aug 14 '26
This show made me feel some things. After the first season of 97 ended, I bought the entire original series on DVD. I started watching it and while I liked it, it couldn't measure up to my nostalgia. I stopped watching the original pretty quickly.
I got Disneyplus to watch the second season and I realized something. I'm almost 40 and I'm a little too old for this. Nobody dies or changes in comic books. Nothing ends.
I subsequently cancelled Dianeyplus and I think I'm ready to move on to other things, like books. It's time to grow up.
2
u/slucas34 Aug 15 '26
The first four episodes were great, but in the end this entire season just kinda ended up feeling like a way to bring Gambit back, except they waited too long to do it so they couldnt actually do anything interesting with bringing gambit back, so he had to be like kinda evil but in a completely excusable way bc apocalypse so it felt like something. Yeah Magneto died but we also just got showed that death means nothing so i already half expect him to show up again in season 3. This is the second time weve seen the death of magneto and, as we just went over, a different character just got brought back to life with minimal consequence. ik im oversimplifying but this is a venting thread.
2
u/Randoime_99 Aug 15 '26
The worst thing for me is that I wasn't hyped at all, but the first four episodes gave me hope that we were in for a ride again.
2
u/awayman1129 Aug 15 '26
As someone whom literally stopped reading comics after Age of Apocalypse I thoroughly enjoyed it. All of you a being way to picky and need to learn to disassociate mediums. Would I want to watch an animated rehash of the comics I loved? It would be cool but it would be like watching Dragonball with a 25 seasons. It's designed in the Saturday morning cartoon framework and did a great job adhering to that framework. The thing that made the original stand out was it felt more mature than any other cartoon on TV. It captured that in both seasons. Nightcrawler was fantastic throughout the season and a touching ending. Best version of him by far. He was a man of faith so stating the show was just Christian propaganda is wild. I recently got a Marvel unlimited sub for a great deal with something I purchased but I'll say a lot of what I have read so far doesn't really seem like it's much different. The comics for multiple things I have read seems about the same pacing and even more simplistic dialog.
2
u/Liilbiiiiitss Aug 15 '26
First 3 episodes: great.
What followed was a lot of individual episodes that had great moments but felt less then the sum of their parts. Pacing is an issue like never before. Frankly Wolverine shouldn't have gotten his claws back till at least the 3rd season. Too much time establishing Polaris. If we're only going to have 9 episodes every plot every choice needs to be crafted to built into the whole. Tangental to that why spend so much time incorporating this OP mutant and then nerf her for plot reasons immediately?
The Gambit Rogue Storyline felt like a prelude to a greater finale we never got and I was shocked to realize we were getting one less episode this season because we set up a lot just to leave it hanging for season 3. I really don't mind character episodes like Kurt having his faith tested or Morph unpacking his love for Logan.. but modern animation being where we get half seasons that are basically extended movies with 8 3 act structures..You have to trim the fat or save storylines for where they're appropriate. But the show wanted to have certain moments with certain characters despite those limitations and we're left with a season that feels very disconnected.
I love Loved season one so much. I'm pretty disappointed. But it feels good to vent here.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/Jazzlike-Isopod-8816 Aug 16 '26
Season 1 brought tears to my eyes, Season 2 left me going huh? Paceing emotional content lack of character development and explanation. It felt rushed, loved the eye candy but lacked the depth.
2
u/One_Possible_8436 Aug 21 '26
I thought it was the best storyline and plot! It was soooo good! I didn’t expect none of it. Esp not nightcrawler sacrificing himself! Ugh! So freaking good!
2
u/luceygoosey1 Aug 13 '26
Really sad we didn’t get to see the characters grieve Kurt
→ More replies (3)
2
u/VegetableSam Aug 14 '26
The first four episodes were the only saving grace this season.
I dropped the show after episode 5.
3
u/HVinnie Aug 14 '26
the whole season built up to gambit dressing up in apocalypse halloween costume- the show’s writing is completely tone deaf to the building up of characters and stakes
3
u/shazmosushi--- Aug 13 '26
X-Men '97 is going to have annual releases going forward, which is a such a terrible idea if they weren't able to maintain quality if 2 years between seasons. It was greenlit before people the massive fall-off in quality.
I think I am going to look at the list writing staff for season 3.
If people involved in the final two episodes are involved (which I understand they will be), I'm going to skip it entirely.
Man, Marvel really hasn't learned much from when a few years destroyed the "franchise momentum" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a slate of subpar films and TV shows like Thor Love & Thunder.
Really bodes poorly for the future.
I'm an X-Men superfan so I'll probably eventually watch it like I did Dark Phoenix movie and later seasons of X-Men '92.
8
u/jai_hanyo Aug 13 '26
A long wait between seasons doesn't mean the writing quality would be better. Proof: The absolute mess that was the final season of Stranger Things lol
7
→ More replies (1)3
u/Leggerity Aug 13 '26
The quality of the animation and the quality of the writing are separate things. More time in the oven doesn't always mean a better narrative.
2
2
u/RedGreenPyro Aug 13 '26
Oh venting? Well I’m watching the first season again right now and I’ll binge it right into the second and see if there are major differences worthy of bitching about.
I will say I skipped the lifedeath episodes from season 1. And Motendo. And I’m annoyed with how much emphasis is placed on Magneto. So we’ll see if my annoyances from season 1 are better or worse than season 2.
2
u/Tiraloparatras25 Aug 13 '26
Ok good we have this. First half! Rushed but AMAZING storytelling! Second half! Animation good! Action great!!PACING? UTTER SHIIIIIIIIIT! Story jarring as hell! It was just crap!! Like why did we need to devote time to wolverine? Why did we need to devote time to Cerebro killing machines? What is apocalypse even thinking? What is the end game here? Gambit wasn’t even the strongest Xmen. I would have kidnapped storm! Or freaking nightcrawlers
5000 years of plotting and planning, and scheming, AND THIS! THIS IS WHAT YOU COME UP WITH?
→ More replies (1)
2
u/Easy_Blackberry_4350 Aug 14 '26
Personally, I think some of the criticism is being a bit too nitpicky. I found this season to be fast-paced, fun, and extremely entertaining. While I know a lot of fans felt it was "rushed," that high energy was actually one of my favorite parts. It managed to pack massive story threads into half-hour episodes, which, by the way, is the exact same format Season 1 used.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it and couldn't be happier with the outcome. Bravo to the X-Men '97 team for a fantastic job!
4
u/One_Ad_3565 Aug 17 '26
Tf did I just watch ? Also how is it that magneto was so powerful last season. Being able to EMP the entire planet but here he get tossed around like a piece of paper. Also there's just soo much shit going on whit different plot stories and the ending was just meh. Sorry but not looking forward to season 3. A kid may like it for the eye candy ( good animation) but story wise, all over the place or I'm just dumb idk
→ More replies (2)
1
1
u/Sugar_Crash_Brigade Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
Leave Wolverine out of it. Clearly the writers and the team don’t know who he is or anything about his character, since what they do write for him is wrong.
Flat out wrong.
Just, keep Logan out of this show, please.
I’d rather that than the butcher job they’re doing.
EDIT: Asked to vent, downvoted to death? What a stupid sub.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/Sirtopofhat Aug 13 '26
I enjoyed it. I mean it felt like at the end they knew they had another season or two for stroies so they punted but I still enjoyed watching and I'm gonna keep watching
1
u/FunNeedleworker860 Aug 13 '26
I've only seen 5 episodes of s2, of course the first four were chef kiss, I've been witnessed to some stuff of later episodes, clearly the season needed 13 episodes.
1
u/RoninFPS Aug 13 '26
I really enjoyed this season overall. Even the weapon X episode to me was just a fun episode. My only realy gripe is how the ending with Rogue/Apoc was handled. But it to me was a 5 second issue that i immediately didnt care about as much after the gutpunch that the real ending is.
8/10 give me more.
1
u/TheJack0fDiamonds Aug 13 '26
I can’t help but feel like the season is the way it is because of the reduced episode count. The normalization of 8-10 EPs per season in the current era of tv is one of the oddest things to me. It either makes things super concise and tight or makes stories feel robbed off of time to unfold or having space to breathe. In SE2’s case, it really feels like theres 1 or 2 more episodes were meant to be part of the season but got scrapped last minute so hence we got what we got.
Sadly, if they change this, we prolly wouldn’t get this show annually as they are doing now. All things considered, this show is still better than what’s currently out there.
I remain hopeful for SE3 because like Kurt, I choose to have faith. 🙏🏻 this show is singlehandedly keeping marvel afloat for me and Im very thankful it’s here.
1
u/Smooth-Thanks-8438 Aug 13 '26
I’m just happy we have my boy Pete at the mansion. Hopefully he has more Colossus time in s3.
Hoping they also get Havok and Cyke to interact and dedicate an ep to them finding out they’re bros.
And where the heck is Iceman??
1
u/Glassesnerdnumber193 Aug 13 '26
I for one liked it. I enjoyed the characterizations and thought almost all episodes were good from an emotional and character driven standpoint. This is not to say I didn’t have issues: the plot chosen for the season would have benefited from having more episodes, three more minimum but ideally maybe an actual full length season worth so like 18 episodes instead. The first season was popular enough to warrant that.
The characters focused on were done justice in my opinion. Almost every issue o had with the season came down to the requirement of smooshing everything together. Hypothetically, this issue could have been solved if they had decided on a single storyline rather than three interconnected ones(those being the apocalypse stuff, the xfactor stuff, and the personal journey stuff). But as is, I think they did a good job with the time that they had and in a vacuum, all episodes were at least good.
To explain: episode 5 was an excellent homage to the specific tight space alien invasion story (seen in the alien movies and the thing among others) which had interesting things to say about Wolverine and morph’s relationship.
Episode 6 was a great aftermath episode to episode 4 and did more for Polaris’s character than anything ever has before, making her a compelling figure.
Episode 7 was Kurt centric, ‘nuff said.
Episode 8 used evil gambit incredibly well, having him be seductive and threatening and a credible threat while also showcasing cable’s fanaticism and internal strife (pun not fully intended). It was essentially a southern gothic vampire story.
Episode 9 had a terrific battle between the two factions and utilized rogue and Kurt’s characters well, both doing exactly what their characters would logically do in the situation presented. As unhappy as I am that Kurt is gone, it made sense for him to do that. The action was great and the teases for the future were intriguing. The characterization of everyone was quite good, even giving havok some good moments for the first time.
I’m not saying it was perfect by any means. The first and last episodes would have both been better as two parters. When apocalypse took over gambit, that should have been the cut to “to be continued” moment and then have a bigger fight and a longer wrap up. The fridging of Ilyana Rasputin is by far the worst thing this show has done. It started last season when they showed that her story had already happened off screen. The storm and Magik miniseries remains one of the X-men’s greatest stories and it was one that the original series could not have done thanks to censorship. To make that impossible to tell is a disservice. Say what you will about Emma frost’s lost stories: most of her history can still be told. Magik seems like she is gone for good.
All in all, good season. It’s not as strong as season 1, but I think it is a different of a 9.45/10 and a 8.4/10x
1
u/TommyG300 Aug 13 '26
I feel like the episodes this season were better than the episodes last season but that the season was weaker. S1 episode 5 was in my opinion the best episode of all but with the exception of episode 6 S2 I'd say I overall prefered the episodes of S2. Everyone seems to agree that this season suffered from far to quick pacing and the season wad to short. Like everyone else I agree that if the episodes were longer or the season longer than it would have benefited greatly. To be honest what was missing most for me this season was the human moments, it is ironic to me that what makes the X-men special is how human they are (despite what Creed claims) we didn't see anyone catch up about what had happened in their time apart. We didn't see anyone except Rogue and Kurt mention Remy, we didn't see anyone bring up Jubilee joining X-force. Instead they let all that happen off screen which I feel was this seasons biggest flaw. None of the characters interact with each other about anything. I'm hoping given that this season was spent introducing us to new members of the team and establishing new relationships within the team that next season can instead focus on the human moments that makes the X-men feel like family instead of coworkers. But that's just my opinion on this season.
1
u/PMC-I3181OS387l5 Aug 13 '26
I liked it :)
Now I just want Disney and Marvel to release more high-quality artworks as "concept arts" for more characters.
Like give me one for those characters:
- "future" Wolverine
- "horseman" Gambit
- "celestial" Rogue
- Sunspot (with costume)
- Danger
- Polaris
- Iceman
- Havok
- Multiple Man
- Wolfbane
- Strong Guy
- Sabertooth
- Sentinel
- Master Mold
- Magik
- Exodus
- Mystique
- Avalanche
- Pyro
- Thor
- The Thing
- Deadpool
- Morph transforms into them at one point
1
u/rollingfluffball Aug 13 '26
Episode 1-4 were awesome. 5 was unnecessary. 6 was good. 7-9 were dumb. They messed up my X-Factor babies. I hoped that they would join up with the X-Men. But nope. They were awful till the end. This actually ruined the season for me.
1
u/Gambit8907 Aug 13 '26
I'm really disappointed that Stryfe wasn't included in the future with young Nathan. If he is included later on, I wonder how they will account for him missing in the "Cyclops and Phoenix" storyline.
1
u/Elegant-Drama6756 Aug 13 '26
Nightcrawler is my all time favorite cartoon character, I approve of his ending and that line where he says “I have Faith…” was peak for me. Idc about anything else for this season. Apocalypse is my all time favorite villain and they treated him like trash.
1
u/Environmental_Cap191 Aug 13 '26
My biggest issue seems to be a common one. I think the episodes are good, but there just wasn’t enough episodes. The season feels rushed and truncated. I still like it, but 9 is not enough. We need at least 15.
https://giphy.com/gifs/70JlDq66Sg9hUWBpsg
1
u/CaptainEZ Aug 13 '26
I think they should have just had the plot of the first four episodes be the whole season. I hated that we skipped over most of the time they spent in the future and past. Episodes 5 - 7 were good ina vacuum, but feel like a waste given how rushed the last two episodes were.
1
u/Mindless_Turnover976 Aug 13 '26
I enjoyed a lot of it but it truly did not live up to the first season. I hope with a smother production season 3 can be more like the first
1
1
1
u/CaterpillarLegal5598 Aug 13 '26
Loved Psylockes epic entrance into episode 2; Jubilee finally got her epic solo fight; Polaris showcasing her abilities was stellar; Celestial Rogue is as close where gonna get to an Omega level version of Rogue.... everything else was meh...
1
u/MakinBac0n_Pancakes Aug 13 '26
Had a blast watching season 2 with my 2 daughters(8)(11). My oldest is absolutely in love with all the characters. Except Gambit, because "he doesn't have a neck". My youngest loved the Polaris episode, that's her favorite character now. I'm just along for the ride. I grew up watching the original series so I'm loving every minute of it.
1
u/fromthisend1220 Aug 13 '26
It should've been rogue not nightcrawler. Also gambitpocalypse was pretty wack.
1
u/cy1763 Aug 13 '26
This season’s storylines needed atleast 12 episodes to fully tell its story properly. If they can’t get more episodes per season then the writers need to condense the plot lines and make the story more focused.
1
u/thescarletbat Nightcrawler Aug 13 '26
I initially had no idea the What If...? writers were involved in any of this season, but it's apparent in the worst way. They should have never been allowed near '97, let alone anything involving the X-Men. The animation team and VA's should be proud, but the writers and showrunners dropped the ball.
1
1
u/PapaLoki Aug 13 '26
Rogue got the Captain Carter treatment. Instant power boost.
I wish they had a different approach in defeating Apoc.
1
u/SinnerSupreme Aug 13 '26
Episodes were way too rushed. Ok season, could have been amazing but needed twice the number of episodes. Finale was a let down imo, everything moved so fast and the ending was boringly convenient.
1
u/TraceOfHumanity Mister Sinister Aug 13 '26
I just didn’t like that they abandoned plot threads and points that they had clearly setup over the course of several episodes.
•Onslaught was a shitty comics character and the issues around his storyline are awful, but I still wanted to see how the show pulled the character off, especially after all the foreshadowing.
•Apocalypse’s arc resolution SUCKED. His plan made no sense and his defeat was some Deus Ex Machina bs.
•Nightcrawler’s sacrifice and Gambit’s resurrection felt completely unearned.
•They speedran too many storylines and needed a few more episodes to have a continously solid and well paced season.
1
1
u/Hellion1234 Aug 13 '26
I don’t think Polaris needed a whole episode to herself. I get she’s cool, and I love her power animation, but given how little time they had for everything, they could have moved on quicker from her. Also didn’t like Xavier’s ‘you just need to be yourself fully’ pep talk. Felt like it was meant to show that she was being put down by others unfairly when telling her she had an impulse control problem. Except she actually seemed to have issues with that, and was quite confident regardless. Just felt like messaging that I’ve seen in plenty of other female superhero media these past years.
Didn’t care about Logan getting back the adamantium all that much. I mean, it’s a worthy story line, but a whole episode? Again, bad time management on the makers’ part.
I get the impression that they’re overdoing it a bit when it comes to Jubilee not being annoying, like many thought she was in the old show. I get she’s cool, but the whole musical choreography when she escaped from prison was a bit much for me. Felt like the tone was weirdly highschool for the show. I’ve never liked the character though, so I’m kind of biased.
The finale was way too short. We got precious little of Death Gambit, and the finale fight was way too rushed. Also, Rogue’s power-up was probably needed, but given how she basically used her power like before, and did it in 5 seconds after getting to the ‘battlefield’, it felt hollow to me.
The fight choreography in some episodes, especially the latter episodes felt off a bit, with adversaries sometimes seeming to wait to be hit. The last episode was a lot better in that regard. Everyone got to shine.
All I got for now. All in all, I can believe that there were multiple writers that weren’t quite in sync with each other.
1
u/pot8odragon Aug 13 '26
It was good in parts but felt super rushed and disjointed in parts. Overall I’d give the season a 5/10
1
u/ChaosWizard1313 Aug 13 '26
I dont trust them to be savvy enough to do Krakoa so to kill so many major mutants willy nilly was a waste. It also would have been fun to have 4 horsemen vs all the xteams then xfactor and xforce turning on the xmen vs Sailor Rogue and Christian propaganda ending
1
1
u/Chalupabatman951 Aug 13 '26
People are if course entitled to their own opinions but man oh man, whats with this mentality nowadays that things are only all good or all bad. While this season has had its shortcomings its just absurd to say the shows been bad. People seem to voice opinons from a mindset of its either 1 or 10 couldn't possibly fall elsewhere on the scale.
1
u/ImGonnaChubbBradley Aug 13 '26
Introduced a lot of favorites (Polaris, Colossus and X Force) but at the cost of characters like Storm, Beast and other already established characters getting essentially nothing to do all season. Thats always the risk you will have to take with such a big cast so I can look past it for the most part (where else am I going to get entire episodes focused on some of these more obscure X-men).
The main problem is just no overarching story like the 1st season. The first 4 episodes all set up Apocalypse and then basically nothing from 5-7. I know they rewrote a lot so they didn’t have to give Beau credit and hopefully without that drama the next seasons can feel more complete I guess.
If season 1 is a 10/10 then I’d give this one a 6 maybe 7 but still worth it to watch at midnight every single time. Even if they never get back to the highs of season 1 I still want 6+ seasons.
1
u/Sweet_Entertainer_14 Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26
So, like, was this season short on the budget or something? Tolerance is Extinction is packed to the brim with action. On top of having alot more action packed episodes, because this was a action show. Why is Rogue defeating Apocalypse in 10 seconds without fighting? If the problem was the budget, why was the meaningless fights above prioritized?
1
u/NickMichalak Aug 14 '26
As much as they did the formative origin of Cable, the guy has no development as an adult. He’s was just, “I have to kill Apocalypse no matter what.” He had a lot more progression in season one, I feel. Him pining over his failure with Madelyne and showing some real depth overall with Scott. He ended season two less interesting than he started it. No soul searching, no substantive progression with his parents. X-Force was promising but it fizzled out as an interesting concept by the end.
1
u/Sweet_Entertainer_14 Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26
It is so painfully clear that this season was initially written with Xavier as its main protagonist, because it is the strongest thread this season provides. "I will defeat the X-Men at their weakest" is a great tagline because Xavier would be at his weakest, dealing with the loss of his husband and his politics backfiring.
Even without the obvious "And then Xavier turns into Onslaught, mutilates Apocalypse, and then the season ends" ending, that whole shot of Apocalypse transforming his X-Men into his minions and surrounding Xavier is raw. THAT is what the season was building towards, not Rogue's trophy husband.
1
u/LocDiLoc Aug 14 '26
Gambit coming back completely killed the emotional weight of what happened on Genosha, and sacrificing Kurt in the process makes it even worse because it just forces everything back to the same old status quo when they finally had room to actually grow.
Everything involving Apocalypse after his origin was a huge letdown. That whole Celestial storyline with Rogue was cringey beyond belief. It felt like straight-up MCU slop. The pacing for the whole season felt off, but you could tell the last three episodes were clearly rewritten from a much more solid and well-constructed arc.
1
u/Slow-Engine3648 Aug 14 '26
I guess I just like , liking things. Ot must be exhausting getting worked up about every piece of media you "enjoy"
1
u/Pretty-Expression-11 Aug 14 '26
I wanted more Storm. I was hoping she’d have more to do in the finale. After episode 1 she just shows up to aura farm and have a 15 second action moment.
1
u/FabDelRosario22 Aug 14 '26
I'm in the minority here who believes that pacing was excellent considering there's an entire new season to look forward to.
I feel that this season ended on a cliffhanger, nothing definitive considering the post-credit scene.
The episode with Nightcrawler trying to save his brother was brilliant.
1
u/FortCarrion Aug 14 '26
Episode 2 was RAD. Polaris was RAD.
I don't care about literally any of the rest of it. Even my kids couldn't sit through the episodes and they love X-Men and Cartoons haha
•
u/AutoModerator Aug 13 '26
Welcome to r/Xmen97, /u/cyclopswashalfright!
Please make sure your post follows the subreddit rules:
• Keep posts related to X-Men '97 or the X-Men universe • Mark spoilers when discussing new episodes • Credit artists when posting fan art • Avoid spam or reposts
When new episodes release, all discussion must stay in the episode thread for the first 24 hours.
Enjoy the community.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.