X-Men '97 season 2 review: Apocalypse is darker and more frightening

Season 2 of X-Men '97 builds on the revival's momentum and treats Apocalypse more effectively than the live-action X-Men: Apocalypse. The show leans into the mutants' moral grayness and gritty realism, qualities that set them apart from more conventional superhero teams.

The story runs across three timelines: Egypt circa 3000 BC, where Magneto, Rogue, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Storm, Xavier, Logan, Beast and Nightcrawler encounter En Sabah Nur; a future around 3960 AD with a teenaged Nathan; and a 1997 America shaken by the Prime Sentinel invasion.

Bishop, Forge, Jubilee, Cable, Archangel and Psylocke are among those pulled into missions that cross those eras. Apocalypse is the season's central figure and is portrayed as truly terrifying, voiced by Ross Marquand and Adetokumboh M'Cormack. The animated interpretation strips away sympathy and presents unadulterated evil in a way the review argues the 2016 live-action film did not.

United States

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