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X-Men ’97 is finally back and think we can all agree that it’s past time. Disney+ dropped the first three episodes on July 1st, but they’ve been gearing fans up for it for months, with Marvel Comics releasing a very cool X-Men ’97: Season Two series to give fans a primer on the events surrounding the show. The book follows X-Factor, Jubilee, Sunspot, and the other characters on Earth through their adventures, as humanity’s anger for mutants in the wake of E-Day – the day Magneto EMP’d the planet in season one – grows to a fever pitch. This week sees the second issue drop, introducing a character who never appeared in X-Men: The Animated Series but was an important part of ’90s (and modern) X-Men comics: Exodus.
X-Men ’97 has been great for X-villains and Exodus has the potential to be one of the coolest of the new batch. He’s long been one of the most powerful threats to the X-Men, first appearing in X-Factor #92 and becoming the second in command of Magneto’s Acolytes. X-Men ’97 #2 looks to cast him in a similar role, except here, he’s gathering the Acolytes using Magneto as a symbol. Exodus is a villain with renewed importance in 2026; he played a major role in the end stages of the Krakoa Era and is one of the most intriguing mutants in the Marvel Universe. It also feels like he’s being groomed for a greater role in the show’s universe, one that could see him take the place of the mighty En Sabah Nur, Apocalypse.
Exodus Showing Up Makes the Future of X-Men ’97 Bright
I remember the first time I saw Exodus; I didn’t read X-Factor back then, so my introduction to him was in X-Men Annual #2, when he flew down and offered to bring members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to Avalon. For me, he sort of appeared out of nowhere but was obviously important. It was the ’90s, so wild-looking characters appearing and feeling important was pretty common.
He was basically Magneto’s herald back then, bringing “worthy” mutants to the magnetic messiah, whose ultimate plan was revealed in “Fatal Attractions”, when he tried to cripple the Earth with a massive electromagnetic pulse. After Mags was mind-wiped by Xavier, Exodus became the de facto leader of the Acolytes before Holocaust, fresh from the “Age of Apocalypse”, showed up at Avalon and destroyed it. Exodus survived and would show up in X-Man, with more connections to his frankly wild origin. The character had an amazing backstory that would be revealed over the years, connecting him to Black Knight of the Avengers, which is part of what makes his introduction to X-Men ’97 so interesting.
Bennet du Paris was a medieval knight who fought in the Crusades alongside Dane Whitman and the two of them would end up battling against the “Eternal Pharaoh” – Apocalypse. Bennet was put into suspended animation after the battle and awakened in the modern day by Magneto. The mutant master of magnetism has long been a touch stone in his life. Bennet was a religious man back in the Crusades, so to him Magnus is a messianic figure with a message of hope; even in “Age of Apocalypse”, he was a member of Magneto’s X-Men and battled against En Sabah Nur, deifying his leader.
X-Men ’97 Season Two looks to revolve Apocalypse; we get half of the X-Men thrown to the distant future he rules, learning the fate of Nathan Summers. The other half is in the past, when En Sabah Nur was battling Rama-Tut and before he gained access to the Celestial technology that made enhanced his powers. It looks like it’s all leading to an adaptation of the story “The Twelve”, the final X-Men story of the ’90s, where the ancient mutant tried to fulfill the prophecy of the Twelve and gain the power he needed to take over the world, whether that be at the end of this season or the end game of the show entirely.
Adding Exodus to the mix gets really interesting when you consider how the show has changed the overall story. Magneto is going to return to the present at some point and not be the same person that Exodus thinks he is. This could take their relationship in some interesting directions; X-Men ’97 is going with the more modern conception of the X-Men/Magneto saga, with him being closer to the group and more of an ally. Once Exodus meets this version of his magnetic messiah, there’s a good chance that he quickly become disillusioned with him and ends up taking the Acolytes in his own direction. What makes it even more interesting is the addition of Clan Akkaba to X-Men ’97 Season Two and possibly the show.
This was a cult established by Apocalypse to worship him. This season looks to hit all of the major Apocalypse stories of the ’90s, which means that he’s going to be defeated at some point. This opens the door for Exodus, already all about finding a mutant messiah and starting a religion, to take the Clan for himself and the Acolytes. Introducing the character to the animated X-universe is an amazing idea; it gives the show a lot of potential ways to take its storyline and gives Exodus a chance to become even more important than ever.
X-Men ’97 Season Two #2 is on sale 07/08 and new episodes of X-Men ’97 premiere every Wednesday.
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