By the end of the X-Men ’97 Season 1 finale, titled “Tolerance is Extinction - Part 3,” the title team of mutant heroes not only managed to defeat Bastion, but also prevent Asteroid M from crashing into Earth. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for a new predicament to surface. Cyclops and Jean Grey found themselves in 3960 AD meeting a Gates McFadden-voiced Mother Askani and an adolescent Nathan Summers, and Rogue, Nightcrawler, Beast, Professor X and Magenta ended up in ancient Egypt in 3000 AD, where they encountered En Sabah Nor, who will one day become Apocalypse. Curiously though, Wolverine, Storm and Morph were nowhere to be seen, and X-Men ’97 head director/supervising producer Jake Castorena explained why their whereabouts weren’t divulged to audiences.
To provide some context, ahead of interviewing Castorena shortly after “Tolerance is Extinction - Part 3” was released to Disney+ subscribers, I went on the X page of ousted X-Men ’97 showrunner Beau DeMayo, who did write “a lot of Season 2,” but is otherwise no longer involved with the series. I noticed a post where he told an inquiring fan that Wolverine, Storm and Morph are “in one of the two timelines.” When another fan speculated that they’re in the future with Cyclops and Jean Grey, DeMayo responded, “No prize,” referring to the satirical award Marvel Comics used to give to readers who spotted continuity errors.
So during my conversation with Jack Castorena, I brought up what Beau DeMayo had said about these three characters and asked if he could confirm this information and also explain why they weren’t shown at the end of the Season 1 finale, While he didn’t do the former, here’s what the director said about the latter:
One, screen time. It’s always about screen time, animation costs money, good animation costs more money. And two, don't you want to dangle a carrot on why to come to Season 2? If you got all the questions answered, why even watch the season? [I] will confirm that we will see all of the X-Men again. We're not going to pull a fast one on you, in that regard. But as far as why we didn't see them… you can't always satisfy the audience to what they want. You can’t always give them the thing. Because then, you gave him the thing and it's like, ‘Oh, well, now I'm not invested,’ or ‘Now the stakes aren't as high,’ or, or now, ‘I can wait for Season 2.’ Like, no, the point was, ‘Where is Season 2?’ I think we're doing that based on the questions that we're getting asked. ‘Where the hell is Storm? Where is Wolverine? Where’s our Morph?’ So all questions will be answered in Season 2.
While it is annoying that Wolverine, Storm and Morph’s locations have been left a mystery, particularly since we don’t know when X-Men ’97 Season 2 will be released on the upcoming Marvel TV shows schedule, Jake Castorena’s reasoning makes sense. Animation costs aside, you want to leave viewers with enough enticement so that they check out the next episodes. Now, given how critically-acclaimed X-Men ’97 is, I don’t think this show will have any trouble luring viewers back for Season 2, but still, a little extra incentive doesn’t hurt.
Of course, along with Wolverine, Storm and Morph being MIA, there’s also the question of who or what transported the X-Men to these other time periods. Was it the present-day Apocalypse, who was shown in the mid-credits scene visiting Genosha and picking up one of the late Gambit’s playing cards, or someone else? As for how these heroes will make their way back to 1997, Bishop and Forge will evidently be embarking through time to rescue them. We also have to wait and see what awaits Jubilee and Sunspot. Will they get involved in this temporal craziness or be kept busy with their own side quest?
All will be revealed when X-Men ’97 Season 2 arrives on Disney+. For now, you’re welcome to look over the other best Disney+ TV shows available to stream now, or look through the 2024 TV schedule to learn about current small screen entertainment located elsewhere.
