'X-Men '97's Family Team-Up Is Oddly Wholesome
Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for X-Men '97 Season 1 Episode 8.
The Big Picture
- X-Men '97 successfully captures the magic of the original series while expanding on the Marvel Comics adventures.
- The Summers family road trip storyline provides heartfelt and wholesome moments in the face of danger.
- The show hints at adding more members of the Summers family, possibly leading to a happily ever after amidst ongoing dangers.
With every new episode of X-Men '97, fans have been delighted by how fun Marvel Animation's new revival series is. Not only does the show manage to re-capture the magic of X-Men: The Animated Series, but it builds and expands on the original show while expertly adapting modern Marvel Comics adventures. In some cases, it does so even better than the original comics themselves. But there's one plotline that's been a joy to watch unfold, and the latest episode, "Tolerance Is Extinction - Part 1," serves as the cherry on top. Yes, we're talking about that Summers family road trip we watched unfold with Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Cable as they escaped a band of cyborg Sentinels hell-bent on killing all mutants. It was an incredible ride, and we sure hope it isn't over.
X-Men '97
AnimationActionAdventureSuperheroA band of mutants use their uncanny gifts to protect a world that hates and fears them; they're challenged like never before, forced to face a dangerous and unexpected new future.
Release Date March 20, 2024 Cast Jennifer Hale , Cal Dodd , Chris Potter , Catherine Disher , Adrian Hough , Ray Chase , Lenore Zann Seasons 1 Number of Episodes 10 Streaming Service(s) Disney+ Franchise(s) X-Men Expand'X-Men '97' Proves the Summers Family Needs a Vacation
Marvel is not often kind to Jean Grey and Scott Summers. This pair can seldom catch a break in any medium, be it live-action, animation, or especially in the original comic books. Cyclops and Jean (who has gone by both Marvel Girl and Phoenix in the past) are meant to be, that much is certain, but rarely do they ever get to actually enjoy their lives together without some world-ending event. Well, that's still technically true here, but at least X-Men '97 lets them have some fun while they're smashing human-turned-Sentinel cyborgs. More than that, Scott (Ray Chase) and Jean (Jennifer Hale) get to do so as a family unit, with their fully adult child Nathan Summers, aka Cable (played by original X-Men voice actor Chris Potter) riding in the backseat.
Given the serious subject matter of X-Men '97, which includes mutant genocides and extinction-level events, heartfelt moments like those between Cyclops, Jean, and Cable give the show a much-needed breath of fresh air. Sure, we've gotten plenty of upbeat moments with Jubilee (Holly Chou) this season, namely in the "Motendo" episode, but what we see here is on a different level. After all the pain Cable has gone through in his life, the experimentation done on Jean, and Cyclops' own family baggage (which has yet to even fully unpack itself), it's nice to see them all working together for a change. The whole thing is pretty wholesome, and that's something that the X-Men desperately need in the face of these ever-present dangers. Frankly, the franchise doesn't have enough of those moments.
At the beginning of the season, Scott and Jean's clone, later renamed Madelyne Pryor, had toyed with the idea of leaving the X-Men entirely to raise their son in peace. Due to Mr. Sinister's (Christopher Britton) influence and the real Jean's return, this never happened, but the idea that the Summers family could be happy as their own unit is a welcome one. While we're unlikely to ever see that happen in this show's near future, especially with Season 2 currently underway, a tease such as the most recent episode is enough to hold us over for a while. Maybe one day the Summers family will get their happy ending, but until then, we're just pleased to have more of whatever we have going on here.
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The Summers Family Dynamic Is a Dream We Hope Continues
Despite not having physically given birth to Nathan herself, Jean still treats Cable like he's her own son. Because she shares memories with Madelyne, this mothering comes naturally to Jean. This makes sense given that she's technically Cable's biological mother, his literal flesh and blood. Jean's confession that she remembers Nathan being in her womb and holding him for the first time (even if she didn't actually experience these things) is a heartwarming backdrop to the main event here: the Summers family road trip. Okay, these three don't go on a much-needed family vacation, but they do investigate Bastion's (Theo James) origins together, and we couldn't be happier about the whole ordeal.
With Scott in the driver's seat and Jean telekinetically making sure Cable's strapped in behind her, this strange family feels about as nuclear as ground zero on Genosha. Okay, that was way too soon, but what's not to love about all three Summers back together again? The way Jean sort of babies her over-grown child is a delightful nod to the everlasting nature of motherhood, and the way Scott stuck up for Cable against Wolverine (Cal Dodd) earlier in the episode reminds us just how much of an over-protective dad Cyclops really is deep down. Despite the worn-down, battle-damaged Cable's harsh upbringing (and not to mention Jean's own identity crisis), the Summers family is able to move past all that and enjoy the ride, and we should too.
Of course, it's the small moments that make this work best. The satisfied looks on these three faces when they launch the Porche out of the cave mouth, Cable's backseat driving as his father rescues them from an army of flying "toasters," and the way Scott and Jean smile before showing their son what they can really do; it's everything this X-Men fan could dream of. If Marvel were to greenlight an X-Men '97 spin-off that's just this the entire time, you can bet there would be an audience (though we'd all probably rather see Spider-Man '98, if we're being honest). The whole sequence, from the time Cyclops, Jean, and Cable land at Bastion's childhood home to the moment they're saved by Magneto's global power outage, is only a few minutes, but it's enough of a tease that gives us hope that things between Scott and Jean (and with their son) will work out in the end. Here's hoping one of them isn't the next big death before X-Men '97 Season 1 comes to a close.
Will More Members of the Summers Family Be Added in 'X-Men '97'?
CloseBeyond just the in-universe revelation that Cable is Scott and Jean's son from the future, X-Men '97 has been slowly dropping hints that other members of the Summers family are out there. Whether they will cause trouble or be of use remains to be seen, but so far we've already seen Scott's long-lost brother Gabriel Summers aka Vulcan among the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, and in "Tolerance Is Extinction - Part 1," we catch a brief glimpse of Rachel Summers, Scott and Jean's future daughter, using her Phoenix-based mutant abilities. It's not clear if Rachel will ever make her way to the past like her brother did, but it's entirely possible that, as with the very start of the series, we could see Jean give birth to Rachel at some point here in the past. That's all conjecture, but maybe the Summers family's happily ever after is possible, after all.
Of course, the X-Men have to stop Cable's dark future first, which means that Scott and Jean must remain with the mutant team to see Bastian's demise through. Now that Professor X (Ross Marquand) is back in town, uniting his X-Men back together, anything seems possible. More than anything, it would be great if we got more wholesome Summers family content, but given Magneto's latest declaration of war, it seems like things are going to get a bit uglier before they get better. Here's hoping all three of the Summers clan make it out of this skirmish alive.
New episodes of X-Men '97 drop Wednesdays on Disney+.
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