The animated series X-Men ’97 is back on Disney+ for season 2 launching July 1, 2026, and the first episode, Days of Past Futuretakes no time to reset the counters. Mutants are scattered across time after the explosion of Asteroid M, while the future is dominated by a tyrant well known to comic book readers: Apocalypse.
The end of this episode 1 brings together family revelations, a mutant prophecy and the birth of a cult hero, to the point of leaving many spectators a little lost. Here is the x-men 97 season 2 episode 1 ending explained : who is really Mother Askanihow Nathan Summers becomes Cableand why Apocalypse is now targeting the 1990s.
X-Men ’97 season 2: what exactly happens at the end of episode 1?
In the future of the year 3960, Cyclops, Jean Gray and the young Nathan are captured by Apocalypse’s robots and the Four Horsemenled by Ozymandiasthen sent by train to the tyrant’s citadel. Wearing an inhibitor collar, Nathan can no longer use his powers or his techno-virus. On the convoy, Jean tries to teach him how to channel this virus, until his parents finally confess the truth to him: they are his father and mother. This emotional shock allows Nathan to turn his illness against the collar and free everyone.
At the same time, Wrought prepares the pursuit, while Storm invokes, guided by Mother Askania real solar storm to propel the X-Men’s ship. The team joins the train, confronts the Riders and forces Ozymandias to flee. Mother Askani then chooses to crash the train directly into the citadel in an attempt to fulfill the prophecy of the child destroying Apocalypse’s cradle. But the immortal mutant retreats into his regenerating cradle and decides to strike the X-Men “where they are most vulnerable”: in the 1990s, probably at Genosha.
Mother Askani and Nathan: How the End Really Makes Cable
After the crash, Apocalypse’s slaves emerge from the shadows of the citadel. Nathan, now more confident, uses his telekinesis to move the train wreck and open a passage to freedom. Inside, he hijacks the tyrant’s technology to fashion his iconic metal arm: this is the scene where the young Nathan Summers visually becomes the Cable comics and cartoons from the 90s.
The series then cuts to an adult Cable, hardened by years of war. He explains to Archangel And Psylocke that he failed to kill Apocalypse and that it is now up to them to carry the fight. Archangel, a former X-Man marked by his past as Horseman of the Apocalypse, and Psylocke, a telepathic ninja, form with him an ultra-targeted core of resistance. At the same time, an exchange between Storm and Mother Askani has already revealed that the latter comes from an even more sinister timeline and that she voluntarily ripped away the X-Men from 1997 to strike Apocalypse at the height of his reign. For comic book readers, Mother Askani is actually Rachel Summersthe daughter of Cyclops and Jean in another reality, which sheds light on her obsession with Nathan.
Cable, Jubilee, Sunspot: what promises does the final scene of X-Men ’97 season 2 make for the future?
In the final moments, Cable gives Archangel and Psylocke a file on Jubilee And sunspotannouncing that the next step will be recruitment. This sentence clearly establishes the idea of an X-Force type team, ready to act in a more direct way than the classic X-Men to hunt down Apocalypse and his last Horseman across time and the present of the 90s.
The end of episode 1 thus sets up three timelines to follow: the distant past of ancient Egypt where there are other X-Men, the present of the 1990s threatened by the return of Apocalypse, and the future Askani where Cable organizes the resistance. For spectators, this conclusion announces a season 2 where each choice of the Summers family will weigh on the destiny of Jubilee, Sunspot and all mutants, whether on Genosha or on the edge of the future.