Marvel’s New Disney+ Show Breaks An MCU Trend For The First Time In 3 Years

Marvel’s newest Disney+ show, X-Men ’97, premieres with two episodes on March 20, 2024, and is set to break an as-yet-unmatched record among Marvel’s other MCU Disney+ projects. X-Men ’97, a revival of X-Men: The Animated Series, was announced in November 2021, now under the Marvel Studios Animation banner following Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox. X-Men: The Animated Series ran for five seasons between 1992 and 1997, but abruptly ended during a tumultuous time for Marvel Entertainment. Now that the studio is in a far better position, 2024’s X-Men ’97 will pick up where the previous series left off.

X-Men ’97 will begin shortly after the final episode of X-Men: The Animated Series, which showed the X-Men and Magneto bidding farewell to Professor X, who left for the Shi’ar homeworld in an effort to forego his impending death. Several of X-Men ’97’s cast members have returned from the original series, including Cal Dodd as Wolverine, Lenore Zann as Rogue and George Buza as Beast. On March 6, 2024, Marvel Studios revealed the titles of each of X-Men ’97’s episodes, revealing more about the upcoming season, but this also proved X-Men ’97 stands out among the MCU’s other Disney+ shows.

X-Men ’97 Has The Highest MCU Disney+ Episode Count

Marvel Studios confirmed the episode count for X-Men ’97 back in 2022, and this was reiterated in a February 2024 press release (via Disney) and in the official reveal of X-Men ’97’s episode titles. X-Men ’97 will consist of ten episodes, kicking off with a two episode premiere on March 20, 2024, and culminating in an epic three-part finale, “Tolerance is Extinction.” This means that X-Men ’97 will have the highest episode count out of the MCU’s other Disney+ TV shows, as the current highest episode count is nine, clocked in by WandaVision, What If…?, and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.

Most of the other MCU Disney+ shows have been confined to only six episodes, while 2024’s Echo only included five as a Marvel Spotlight series. While the ten episode count makes X-Men ’97 the longest of Marvel’s recent Disney+ shows, it also means that X-Men ’97 has the joint-lowest episode count for this particular group of X-Men. X-Men: The Animated Series’ final season also consisted of ten episodes, while the previous four had anywhere between 13 and 21 episodes. X-Men ’97’s release may set a new standard for Marvel Studios’ TV shows, particularly after recent developments at Marvel and Disney.

Why Longer Seasons Would Be Good For MCU Shows

Since Marvel Studios began to develop its own TV shows for Disney+, these projects have received some criticism for their trimmed episode counts. Six episodes is hardly enough for characters to become fully developed, and even nine episodes is a stretch. Marvel Studios’ Daredevil: Born Again was announced as an 18-episode season, but even this appears to have been cut into two. Longer seasons would provide more time to explore characters, focus on world-building, and have more of the feel of a real TV show. The success of X-Men ’97 could lead to a shift in the MCU’s TV production.