Marvel’s Best Show Just Dropped a First Look at New Heroes and a Legendary X-Men Lineup

Marvel finally coughed up some real Season 2 material for X-Men '97, and it is exactly the kind of nerd-bait you want after that time-shattering Season 1 finale scattered the team across different eras. The new promo art groups the cast into classic comic-book squads, and yeah, there are some eyebrow-raisers in there.

The lineup shuffle

In a nice wink to longtime readers, the show is slotting characters into teams with names that will ring a bell. Here are the groupings shown off in the art:

• X-Corp: Beast, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Polaris
• X-Force: Cable, Archangel, Psylocke, Sunspot, Jubilee
• Ancient Egypt Team: Beast, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Bishop, Magneto
• X-Factor: Havok, Polaris, Strong Guy, Wolfsbane, Multiple Man, Val Cooper

Couple things jump out immediately. Polaris shows up on two team cards (X-Corp and X-Factor), and Beast is doubled too (X-Corp and that Ancient Egypt squad). Given where Season 1 left everyone — literally strewn through the timeline — the overlaps make sense and probably aren’t mistakes. The Ancient Egypt label also isn’t subtle about where at least part of the story is headed.

New faces, deep cuts, and a few strategic picks

Some familiar names are leveling up to series-regular status, but a chunk of this crew is brand-new to the show. Polaris and government fixer Val Cooper already popped up in Season 1. Joining the party for the first time: Strong Guy, Multiple Man, Havok, and Wolfsbane. If you grew up on the mainline 90s cartoon, a few of those are probably either long-time comic favorites or, honestly, total question marks.

Fans are already piecing together what these choices might signal. The presence of Archangel on X-Force has people betting we’re steering into Apocalypse territory again — Four Horsemen vibes are hard to ignore — while Psylocke and Polaris feel like overdue crowd-pleasers. On the flip side, a handful of folks are bracing for wardrobe changes, reading this art as a goodbye to some of the retro 70s/80s looks. Not a dealbreaker, judging by the overall mood, which is mostly: bring it on.

So, what does it all add up to?

Between the timeline-jumping fallout from the finale and these team cards, Season 2 looks like it’s expanding the board in a big way. X-Factor is the head-turner here — Havok, Polaris, Strong Guy, Wolfsbane, Multiple Man, and Val Cooper together is a very specific combo that longtime readers have a soft spot for. One older fan even said that the original X-Factor comic was their gateway into the X-books and stayed their favorite, no matter how the roster shifted. That’s the kind of nostalgia this lineup is tapping.

Bottom line: Marvel didn’t drop a premiere date with this art, but the show is clearly moving into its next phase. New teams, new players, and just enough timeline chaos to keep the theories spinning. If Season 1 was the throwback victory lap, Season 2 looks like the moment X-Men '97 starts swinging for the fences.