The animated television series X-Men ’97, created by Beau DeMayo and based on Marvel Comics superhero team X-Men, is a revival of 1992’s X-Men: The Animated Series. The 2024 animated series picks up where the original ends and follows the story of X-Men facing new challenges following the loss of their leader, Professor X.
The series premiered on Disney+ with two episodes on March 20, 2024, and received positive responses from the audience and critics. The following episodes will premiere weekly until May 15, 2024. Chase Conley directed the fourth episode of the series ‘Montendo/Life Death Part 1’ which premiered on April 3rd, and now he has some insights to share with Marvel fans.
Chase Conley says Life Death Part 2 ‘will be a bit of a breather’
Ahead of the premiere of episode 6, titled Life Death Part 2, which is set to premiere on April 17th, one of the directors, Chase Conley decided to share an important update about the upcoming episode with fans. He mentioned (Via X-Men Updates’ X Account),
“Life Death Part 2 will be a bit of a breather from ‘Remember It’ but I wouldn’t call it the palate cleanser because it is also not the happiest.”
The statement from the director seemingly comes as a warning for Marvel fans, as they witnessed the devastating deaths of their beloved characters in episode five of the series, Remember It. The episode followed the mutant nation of Genosha, which was attacked by an army of Sentinels, and Magneto, along with Gambit and Rouge, fought against the army of Sentinels.
Towards the end of the battle, the viewers witnessed the deaths of their beloved characters, Magneto and Gambit. The episode ended with a line that read,
“The name’s Gambit, mon ami. Remember it.”
Magneto is shown as the primary target of the Sentinel due to his Omega-level powers and later the character is no longer seen in the episode. Sentinel confirms that the Omega-level threat has been eliminated. This also points out that Magneto’s death could push Cyclops back into the leadership role or lead to a storyline in which Magneto is resurrected.
The devastating deaths of fan favorites have left the X-Men fandom sorrowful, but they are looking forward to a highly awaited episode of the popular animated series that has managed to capture the attention of the audience.
Beau DeMayo breaks his silence at the end of episode five of X-Men ’97
Creator Beau DeMayo took to his social media account to release a lengthy statement explaining the ending of episode five of X-Men ’97. He revealed that it was episode 5 that was the centerpiece of his pitch to Marvel Studios in November 2020. He further mentioned,
“The idea was to have the X-men mirror the journey that any of us who grew up on the original show have experienced since being kids in the 90s. The world was a seemingly safer place for us, where characters like Storm would comment on how skin-based racism was ‘quaint’ in One Man’s Worth [the season 4 opener for the original X-Men animated series].”
The creator continued that for the most part, the world was simply a place of right and wrong, where questions related to identity and social justice had relatively clear-cut answers. DeMayo acknowledged that X-Men have now been hit hard by the realities of an adult and unsafe world, just like the ones who grew up watching the original show.
“As they, like we did, will have to decide which parts of themselves they will cling to and which parts they’ll let go of in order to do what they’ve been telling humanity to do; face an uncertain future they never saw coming.”
He quoted a line from the premiere episode where Trask says to Cyclops that they have no idea what it’s like to be left behind by the future; X-Men does know now, and they will have to weigh whether it’s time for social justice or social healing.
The animated series has received a positive response from the audience and the critics, and with production on season 2 underway, Marvel Studios has green-lit the series for season three.
The episodes for X-Men ’97 are streaming on Disney+.
