X-Men ’97 Season 2 Trailer: Every New and Returning Mutant Spotted

Season 2 of X-Men '97 is not easing us back in. The new trailer makes it clear we’re jumping headfirst into a full-on time travel saga, the team scattered from ancient Egypt to a bleak future, with Apocalypse looming over all of it. Think big swings, deeper cuts, and a roster that’s somehow getting even larger. There’s even a Kang variant in the mix. Yes, really.

Where Season 2 seems to be going

Quick refresher: Season 1 ended with the X-Men flung across time. The new footage all but confirms we’re finally entering the Age of Apocalypse — one of the biggest X-Men stories ever — while also sampling other Apocalypse lore. I’m talking the whole buffet: a riff on the dystopian 'Age of Apocalypse' timeline, teases of the (pretty underwhelming in the comics) 'The Twelve,' the 'Rise of Apocalypse' origin era, and the 'Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix' future where Scott and Jean end up raising their son in a world ruled by the big blue tyrant.

On logistics: Bishop looks like the guy trying to stitch the team back to the '90s status quo, working with Forge — who he calls 'the Maker' in his future — to wrangle time travel headaches. Some characters might be timeline variants rather than mainline versions. Wolverine ’s feral phase is coming after Magneto ripped the adamantium out of him. And yes, the trailer absolutely nods to the wider MCU by dropping Pharaoh Rama-Tut, a past-life incarnation of Kang the Conqueror, right into ancient Egypt.

"Survival of the fittest."

That’s Apocalypse’s whole deal, and he’s clearly the headline villain. Expect Magneto to swing back toward ally territory (fitting, given the AoA version literally founded the X-Men), while Professor X’s exact time-and-place return remains a question mark. Also worth flagging: a quick flash of Danger — the Danger Room’s AI — which is a timely pull for obvious reasons, and a handful of deep-cut cameos around Polaris that longtime comic readers will clock immediately.

Every character the trailer shows (or strongly hints at)

1. Rogue — Front and center, still shattered by Gambit’s death on Genosha after his last-stand against a Sentinel. Season 1 had her torn between Gambit and Magneto; now that grief feels like the trailer’s emotional spine.
2. Nightcrawler — A Genosha survivor who officially joined the team last season. Still a man of faith, teleporting where needed, and very much part of the push to bring the family back together.
3. Beast — Resident super-scientist and moral compass. The show looks poised to brush up against eras where Hank mutated even further than his classic blue-furred look.
4. Bishop — Time traveler, mission leader, and the guy who seems to know the rulebook for temporal chaos. He’s coordinating with Forge (aka 'the Maker' in his future) and gets pulled into storylines tied to Apocalypse’s scheme known as 'The Twelve.'
5. Magneto — Season 1 set up redemption, then dropped him hard after Genosha. Given the AoA vibes, expect him back on the X-Men’s side in a more straightforward way this time.
6. Jubilee — Former audience surrogate, now leveling up fast. She’s mourning with everyone else, but the footage points to her reuniting with the team — and not without backup.
7. Gambit — Only in flashbacks for now, which tracks since he died in Season 1. But speculation alert: the comics once turned him into Apocalypse’s Horseman of Death, and the show sure looked like it was flirting with that idea.
8. Boom-Boom (Tabitha Smith) — Easy to miss, but Rogue’s flashbacks put her at a concert with Tabitha. Classic New Mutants/X-Force troublemaker with a thing for explosives.
9. Wolverine — It wouldn’t be an X-Men show without him, and the trailer may be slicing across his personal timeline. After Magneto tore out his adamantium, he’s heading into that feral mutation phase.
10. Professor X — He’s out there somewhere (somewhen). We don’t see exactly when he lands, but the world could use Charles back in his own era, yesterday.
11. Rama-Tut — Pharaoh in ancient Egypt, actually a time-traveling incarnation of Kang the Conqueror. This ties straight into Apocalypse’s origin period and gives the show a sneaky Multiverse Saga wink.
12. Apocalypse — The big bad. Oldest of the old guard mutation-wise, obsessed with that whole 'only the strong survive' mantra. The show is mixing multiple Apocalypse arcs, including the AoA timeline, 'The Twelve,' his origin era, and that future where Scott and Jean visit.
13. Cyclops — Sent to the far future, which weirdly gives him a second chance: he ends up in the timeline where he can actually raise his son, Nathan. There are also flashes that look like other points across Scott’s timeline.
14. Jean Grey — With Scott in Apocalypse’s future. We also get hints of other Jean variants, including a nod to the Morrison era trick where she shaped her TK like claws to refract Scott’s optic blasts. And no, the shadow of 'does she secretly love Logan ' still isn’t going away.
15. Nathan Summers / Cable — We glimpse him at different ages, which fits a guy who dedicates his entire life to fighting Apocalypse. Expect Cable to be crucial to the overall war.
16. Polaris — Metal-bender, former X-Man, and ex of Iceman. The show placed her on a revived X-Factor team, and Season 2 makes it look like X-Factor is back in a real way.
17. Iceman — Seen in photos Polaris is flipping through. Bobby popped up in the classic episode 'Cold Comfort'; this time he might be a mention-only presence, or the door’s open for a cameo.
18. Storm — Omega-level weather goddess who flexed hard in Season 1. No surprise she remains a cornerstone as the stakes get apocalyptic, literally.
19. Archangel — Briefly shown, but don’t be fooled — he matters. The trailer doubles down on the tweak that he was part of the original X-Men in this timeline before Apocalypse remade him with metal wings.
20. Morph — The show’s own shapeshifter, running ops with Wolverine and even turning into Deadpool at one point. Whether that means the actual Deadpool shows up is the real question.
21. Sunspot — Introduced last season as Jubilee’s love interest. Their romance seems to keep rolling, and he looks like he graduates into the late-season team lineup.
22. Forge — Intuitive super-engineer who can build whatever tomorrow needs. In Bishop’s future he literally invents time travel, which might make him the only guy who can drag everyone back to the '90s.
23. Colossus — Returning in a big way. The trailer shows him grieving, almost certainly for his sister, Illyana.
24. Exodus — Originating from the time of the Crusades, he’s one of Apocalypse’s creations who later pivots hard to Team Magneto. In the comics he can take on entire squads of X-Men and Avengers; here he looks toned down, even scrapping one-on-one with Nightcrawler.
25. Danger — The Danger Room’s AI, once enslaved by Professor X, later rebel, and eventual ally. If the show leans into sentient AI, that’s very of-the-moment.
26. Magik (Illyana Rasputin) — Seen on a memorial wall. In the comics she died of the Legacy Virus and was later resurrected. Her backstory is a maze, so I wouldn’t be shocked if the series streamlines it.
27. Marrow — Morlock who weaponizes her own bone growths. She went from extremist to X-Man in print; here, she’s another face among the fallen.
28. Psylocke — Telepathic ninja… or British telepath in a different body… because comics. The trailer doesn’t tip which version they’re using, but either way, she’s a big get.
29. White Queen (Emma Frost) — Longtime Hellfire Club player and powerful telepath. She was an antagonist in the original animated run, but in the comics she’s since become one of the great X-Men. The show keeps her allegiance coy — and her presence is never great news for Scott and Jean, given that whole psychic-affair chapter.
30. Quentin Quire — 'Kid Omega' cameo alert. A future Phoenix host in the comics, glimpsed in the background while Polaris is working her powers.
31. Chamber — Generation X alum whose psionic blast literally blew a hole through his chest. Another Polaris-adjacent cameo; he’s also been a loose romantic interest for Jubilee on the page.
32. Penance — Another Generation X mainstay with a famously tangled history. The current comics version is sort of merged with Monet St. Croix; if the show uses her for more than a cameo, expect a simplified take.

The fun, weird, and very comic-book-y bits

This trailer is stacked with deep-cut lore: a Kang variant ruling ancient Egypt, a Danger Room AI getting personhood, the 'was Archangel an original X-Man here?' tweak, and a hard lean into Apocalypse material from multiple eras at once. It’s messy in a way that makes sense for the X-Men: time fractures, identity puzzles, and old tragedies that won’t stay buried. If the season sticks the landing, it could be the definitive animated Apocalypse story — with just enough room for a Cajun resurrection and a feral Canadian meltdown.