September 29, 2025 • 26 mins
The source primarily consists of excerpts from an article discussing the highly anticipated second season of the animated series, X-Men '97, slated for a 2026 release on Disney+. The central focus is a shocking comment from voice actor Ross Marquand, who revealed that the season is "very, very dark" and that "a lot of people die," suggesting a significant tonal shift toward mature, violent themes. The episode explores the implications of this tease, linking it to the X-Men franchise's storied history of death and resurrection in both comics and films, particularly noting the success of the darker film Logan. Finally, the article positions X-Men '97 Season 2 as a pivotal part of Marvel's 2026 onslaught of mutant content, which includes multiple MCU crossovers and major storyline developments that could influence the live-action universe.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to the deep dives, where we sift through
the noise, grab the most vital pieces of information, and
deliver the insights you need.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Yeah, insights you can actually use, exactly.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And today we are strapping ourselves into the Blackbird. Basically,
we're charting a course into Marvel's most anticipated and maybe
it's most devastating narrative return, The X Men.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
We're focusing specifically on, well, the phenomenon that is X
Men ninety seven. It's the franchise that has always, i mean,
since the nineteen nineties animated series, really defined a generation.
It's always been that cultural touchstone for grappling with identity, prejudice,
and just the brutal reality of being fundamentally different. The
X Men have consistently pushed those boundaries.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
And now, based on some new intel, it sounds like
they aren't just pushing boundaries anymore. They might be preparing
to well obliterate them entirely.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
That's pretty mildly Yeah, Okay, let's unpack this.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
It sounds pretty high stakes. Our mission today is to
analyze the seismic wave caused by really just a single
statement from voice actor Ross markuand you know his face
of course from his live action MCU work Red Skull
and all that, but his voice rolls in the new
animated series. They're foundational, absolutely key, And he dropped this
stunning piece of news regarding X Men ninety seven season two,
(01:18):
which is currently slated for a major twenty twenty six
debut on Disney plus N.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Right, and the revelation came during fanex Salt Lake City
Comet convention. Marcahn, speaking pretty openly about the production, delivered
this chilling, concise quote that immediately just set the entire
fandom alight.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Okay, what was it?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
He said, a lot of people die.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
A lot of people die.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Just like that, just like that simple direct.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Wow. Okay, that is the cornerstone of this deep dive.
Then it's an incredibly loaded statement, especially for a property
returning to a platform primarily known for its family.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Appeal exactly Disney plus M.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
So we are going to explore the X Men's let's
call it tortured history with death. We'll use some of
the most brutal comic book precedents to speculate on who
might who might be on the chopping block.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah, the potential casualty.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
And perhaps most critically we need to contextualize what this sudden,
intense brutality means for the sprawling twenty twenty six mutant
slate Marvel seems to be building.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Well, what's immediately fascinating here, and what really gives Markwan's
quote so much weight is the deliberate significance of this
darkness emerging on Disney plus A.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, that's the kicker, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
It really is.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
This is not the platform or we expect, you know,
graphic carnage or sustain existential horror. Marcahn was super direct
about the tonal shift. He actually stated he was amazed
that Disney greenlit it because it's so dark.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
It's very very dark, very very dark.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Okay, so this isn't an accident or some oversight. This
feels like a sanctioned, deliberate and honestly strategic pivot toward
profoundly mature, unrelenting themes for the X Men franchise. It's
setting a totally new expectation for what Disney allows.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And that's it's a truly disturbing, yet I have to
say compelling stage. This isn't just heightened comic book peril.
It feels like a sanctioned profoundly dark.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Chapter absolutely, and you know, the animated format is often
seen as safer, maybe a testing round. But the very
fact that the company famous for Princesses and Star Wars
is leaning into this level of violence via an animated
series and one that's directly linked to the MCU's future,
that tells you they see the X Men as the
vehicle for the kind of darkness that maybe Phase six requires.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
So a calculated risk, then.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, I think so a calculated risk to shake off
maybe that lingering sense of predictability that has kind of
followed the franchise post endgame.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Well, if the showrunners are going this dark, they must
feel like they've earned the right to do so. Let's
look closely at the source of this shock in section two,
starting with the unique credibility of the Messenger himself.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Okay, so to truly grasp the weight of this impending carnage,
you really have to look at rossmar Kwan's position within
the whole Marvel structure. He is far more than just
like a multifaceted voice actor. He is a narrative lynchpin.
He's got significant studio credibility, and that's reinforced by his
live action role as Red Skull in the Avengers films
(04:12):
and in Next.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Man ninety seven. He is voicing the two fundamental opposing
pillars of the entire story. He's Professor x Wright, the
voice of idealistic reason, the founder of Xavier's dream, yeah,
the heart, but he's also the voice of Apocalypse, the
godlike ancient mutant who embodies survival of the Fittest and who,
let's not forget, just ascended to power in the season
(04:33):
one finale.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Exactly, he has insight into both the dream and the
destructive force that threatens to obliterate.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
It, so he sees both sides precisely.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
And he's also doctor Doom in those brilliant subtle flashbacks.
So when someone who embodies both the ideological foundation and
the impending dome emphasizes that the tonal shift is very,
very dark, you are hearing a direct warning, a warning
about the sheer scale of the impending conflict, and this darkness.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
It's building on a foundation that was already pretty shaky,
wasn't it. Let's briefly remind the listener of the intense
emotional cliffhangers Season one left us.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
With oh yeah. Season one ended on sustained trauma.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Really, we had that devastating final battle where Gambit made
the ultimate while apparent sacrifice in that explosive confrontation with Magneto.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Apparent being the key word there.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Maybe maybe maybe, then Storm, arguably the most powerful X Man,
was stripped of her powers, left vulnerable facing this huge
existential crisis of identity. Right, Jean Gray's unresolved resurrection and
the specture of the Phoenix Force loomed large. The whole
team was fractured, scattered across time space, and just emotionally
(05:44):
wrecked due to both global conflict and some deeply personal betrayals.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
So the table was definitely set for some genuine melodrama, sure,
but Mark Kwan's quote suggests they are rocketing passed like
soap opera stakes and straight into the kind of existential
horror that results in actual body counts. Exactly, and that
masterfulbiguity a lot of people die without specifying who heroes, villains,
innocent bystanders. That ambiguity is what fueled the immediate widespread
social media frenzy.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Right, Oh, that ambiguity was pure digital wildfire. We saw
immediate totally polarized speculation across x formerly Twitter. It just
crystallized the deepest fears and honestly the deepest desires of
the fandom simultaneously.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Okay, like, what what were people saying?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Well, you had the voices of dread, like the user
at lobster Knocker who stated their absolute biggest fear was
the show resorting to senseless death as quote the laziest
way of raising stakes.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Okay, I can see that anxiety. That speaks to the
legacy of the X Men, often using depth kind of
arbitrarily in the comics.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Maybe yeah, the revolving door of desk. But then you
have the amplifiers at Nexus Point News, using their massive platform,
immediately pushed the quote out, sparking these huge debates about
who was disposable, you know, fueling the height machine. They're
demanding high stakes and they see death as the ultimate
proof consequence.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
And crucially, you also have the deeply conflicted audience, right
like at Bernomelex who posted some apocalyptic battle concept art
warning nobody fucking wants this. Yeah, that reaction captures the
core dilemma. Fans say they want high stakes, but maybe
they're terrified the show might sacrifice the heart and spirit
of the original nineties series by just turning it into
(07:21):
a simple blood bath.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
It's a very very high wire act for the showrunners. Look,
season one achieved that near perfect ninety eight percent Rotten
Tomato score because it brilliantly honored the spirit of the original.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Yeah, it did the epic battles, the foundational civil rights metaphors,
the engaging soap opera drama, all of it.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
But it ended with a profound gut punch. So to
introduce mass casualty in season two and still maintain that acclaim,
they absolutely must ensure every death is narratively earned. It
has to serve the story, not to shock the audience.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Right, If the deaths are going to be meaningful, If
you're going to push the franchise into that very very
dark territory Markwan mentioned, they just can't be cheap. We
need to understand the historical context here, the context of
X Men and mortality. Let's move into section three, A
storied legacy of death and resurrection. Okay, So, to truly
appreciate the potential tragedy of Markwan's warning, you really need
(08:15):
to understand the X Men's deeply I guess dysfunctional is
the word their dysfunctional relationship with mortality. This dates all
the way back to their debut in The Uncanny X
Men hashtag one in nineteen sixty three.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Yeah, dysfunctional is a good word for it. Death has
always been a constant, but often kind of a temporary inconvenience.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Ah. Yeah, an inconvenience.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
That's sort of the genius and the frustration of the
comic template the resurrection as almost narrative parody. Mutants die
and then they come back. It's just an ingrained cycle.
Jean Gray is the absolute poster child for them.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Oh definitely.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
We talk about her Phoenix saga from the nineteen seventies.
She wasn't just a casualty. She became a cosmic threat.
She incinerated an entire star system, died heroically, and later
returned confusingly as a clone, while the real Gene was
apparently in a cocoon.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Somewhere right the cocoon under the Bay.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Classic it established that the death of a major character
is often just a very elaborate costume change.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
You know, even the original nineteen nineties animated series played
this game, didn't it, though maybe with slightly less cosmic stakes.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
For sure, they had the infamous morph death and subsequent return.
That was a clear shock value move designed to hook
the audience and prove that no one was truly safe,
even if the death wasn't ultimately permanent, and.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
They dealt with profound offscreen tragedy too, right, like the
death of Ileonorespute and Colossus's younger sister.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Yeah, the legacy virus that demonstrated that character is even
tangential to the core cast were certainly vulnerable to tragedy.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
It hit hard.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Okay, So if season two truly fulfills this promise of
being very, very dark, the showrunners are likely diving into
the most brutal comic book events for inspiration, events where
death wasn't temporary, it was existential exactly.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
We are talking about events that truly read a find
the stakes of being a mutant. The first one that
always springs to mind is House of m from.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Two thousand and five posa M. Yeah, that was huge.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
It was a catastrophe engineered by the Scarlet Witch where
she rewrote reality and uttered those three devastating words, no
more mutants, chilling. This wasn't just a body count, this
was fundamental genocide. It wiped out the vast majority of
mutants worldwide, leading to billions of deaths through reality warping
and depowerment.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
And that led directly into the decimation. Right. For listeners
maybe unfamiliar with the specific jargon, decimation refers to that immediate.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Aftermath right where only like one hundred and ninety eight
named mutants were left standing globally. It's an apocalyptic scale
of loss. It shifted the X Men from a thriving
though persecuted minority to basically an endangered species.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
So if X Men ninety.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Seven mirrors this kind of catastrophic event, perhaps facilitated by
Apocalypse's Ultimate Horsemen, or maybe a catastrophic failure of the
Phoenix Force, the stakes immediately shift to multiversal levels. The
fight is no longer about winning a single battle.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
It's about survival.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
It's about the very survival of their entire race.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
We also have to look at the cinematic precedence, though,
because this is where Marvel learns its lessons for better
or worse. The two thousand and six film X Men
The Last Stamp, Well, that's the definitive cautionary tale, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Oh? Absolutely, it attempted high stakes with basically zero narrative investment.
It resulted in the arbitrary slaughter of core figures like
Professor x Cyclops Colossus, all just in a bid for cheap,
shocking drama.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
And fans hated it. They rightfully viewed it as a
betrayal because those deaths felt meaningless and they were easily
reversed by later timeline shenanigans.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Anyway, then just over a decade later, we got Logan
in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Ah, Logan masterpiece.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Right, That R rated masterpiece proved the opposite.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
That graphic violence and definitive finality could actually elevate the
genre to prestige cinema. That blood Soaked n for Hugh
Jackman's Wolverine and Patrick Stewart's Xavier critically acclaimed, grossed over
six hundred nineteen million dollars, earned an Oscar nod.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah, it showed that X Men stories thrive when they
truly embrace the shadows and ensure that death, when it happens,
is permanent and profoundly meaningful.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
And Mark Quentin's nuance when he said so many people
don't talk about it, that reinforces this distinction. He implies
this isn't just about physical death followed by a clone
or a cosmic cocoon. It's about the lingering psychological toll,
the devastation of maybe offscreen carnage or an event so
traumatic that it carries a logan esque finality, something that
even the comic savvy audience won't easily shake off.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
So it suggests that if someone dies in season two,
we should't automatically assume their resurrection in season three or
you know, the eventual MCU live action film.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
They might be using death as a character defining moment,
a permanent one.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Which brings us to the part everyone is probably waiting
for the speculation. Let's move into section four and start
analyzing the specific targets on the roster who might be
in danger. Okay, moment you hear that phrase a lot
of people die, you immediately start auditing the core family unit,
right the roster at risk Cyclops, Jean, Gray, Storm, Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, Beast, Jubilee, Bishop.
(13:13):
Any death among this tight knit group, the emotional center
of the series is going to resonate profoundly.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Oh absolutely, And we have to start with the foundational figures,
specifically the man markwand himself voices Professor X. Xavier's Season
one return ended with him immediately being captured and possessed
by Apocalypse. The possibility of a Mercy kill you a
necessary evil enacted by the X Men to contain the
ancient mutant that feels intensely real, and.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
This aligns perfectly with comic history too. For those who
don't follow the deep comic lore, Xavier has been strategically
disposable throughout the years, hasn't he?
Speaker 2 (13:47):
He really has.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
He was famously beheaded by the villain Strife way back
in X Men hashtag two eighty one. His death is
often used as this tragic reset button, forcing the team
to confront Xavier's dream without his direct leadership. It's a
powerful dramatic engine.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Then there's Gene Gray. She is perpetually a candidate for
self destruction, isn't she? Because she is constantly teetering on
the brink of Phoenix madness always.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
If she succumbs to the dark side of that cosmic entity,
she could easily snap and incinerate allies in some massive firestorm,
only to maybe commit suicide to contain the destructive force.
It echoes her own history of self sacrificial death.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
She has literally been drowned by the entity like an
Uncanny X Men hashtag one thirty seven, and then had
her body cloned later on in Fantastic four hashtag two
eighty six. Jene's potential death is less a question of
if she dies and more about how much cataclysmic collateral
damage she inflicks while doing it.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Right now, let's talk about Storm.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Season one deliberately depowered her, taking away her goddess like
presence and forcing her to face her mortality.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, that was a big shift for her.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Huge.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
So if they want to maximize the emotional pain having
a now vulnerable and completely mortal Storm killed, perhaps in
a brutal, unexpected sentinel ambush, that would be devastating. It
would reduce the Great Oro Monroe to a symbol of
mortal frailty, completing a powerful, painful arc. It would even
nod to her vulnerability arc back in Uncanny X Men
(15:12):
hashtag one eighty five.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
And then the biggest target of all maybe Wolverine Logan.
He is the immortal Berserker, the one character fans just
assume will always heal, but Season one planted the seed
of his eventual demise with that adamantium poisoning subplot.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
That subplot directly foreshadows the tone of Logan, doesn't it.
Adamantium is a poison, slowly taxing his healing factor. So
if Apocalypse introduces some sophisticated supervirus or a form of
biological warfare designed to specifically overwhelm Logan's compromise system.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Then you get a Logan style biological breakdown exactly.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Killing the unkillable Wolverine is probably the cleanest, most effective
way for the show to prove they are serious about
permanent stakes.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
We must also consider Gambit. Though his apparent death against
Magneto was explosive, Yes, but his body vanish, leaving the
door wide open for a return. True, So if he
is resurrected, it could be kind of a cruel fake out,
couldn't it, only for him to suffer a more permanent,
high stakes Cajun conflagration later on, maybe sacrificing himself again
to save Rogue, cementing his legacy through definitive love and loss.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
That would be heartbreaking.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
And Magneto too, who is now the uneasy ally and
leader of the X Men, he faces intense peril, his
immense magnetic mastery could backfire in some massive, perhaps necessary
global event like a pull shift cataclysm, or some sacrifice
to contain an energy vortex. His death could be a
world altering tragedy rather than just a personal defeat.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
It's almost comical how often Mutant's face death, isn't it. Yeah,
the fan base certainly sees the humor and the brutality,
sometimes as at omegable origin equipped on ACX, a lot
of people die. Oh so it's an X men's show
at the little smiley faced shrug emoji. Ha.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Yeah, they acknowledge the pattern, but we have to heed.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
The warning from a Chrome two two seventy nine. If
they repeat the mistakes of the last stand, these deaths
will just feel cheap and disposable. It'll undermine everything.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
That's the absolute key these deaths, whoever they are, they
have to serve one central purpose to underscore mutant kind's
fundamental fragility and their existential struggle in a universe that
fears and persecutes them. That fragility has to have profound,
far reaching consequences.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Okay, let's follow those consequences right into the broader corporate strategy.
Section five X Men in Marvel's twenty twenty six onslaught right, So.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
It's crucial to understand that X Men ninety seven Season
two is not operating in isolation, not at all. Twenty
twenty six is being strategically positioned as Marvel's Year of the.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Mutant, The Year of Mutants.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Okay, yeah, this means the darkness and violence we see
in the animated series are intended to be like a
foundational preamble for the major live action projects that are
set to follow.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
So this cartoon isn't just fan service then, it's actually
narrative architecture for the entire MCU Phase six.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
That seems to be the play.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Wow. That explains why Disney would risk this level of
very very dark content. It's establishing a tone that the
live action films need to inherit.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Exactly, and animation grants the studio greater thematic freedom. Right,
they can explore genocide, intense violence, deep psychological trauma without
the immediate restriction of needing a PG thirteen rating for a.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Live action blockbuster.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Good point.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
They set the tone and raise the stakes here. Then
they can translate the emotional trauma the consequence of the
deaths to the big screen later.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Okay, let's look at the live action synergy then, specifically
regarding Avengers Doomsday. The leaks and casting rumors are massive
around that film. Robert Downey Junior returning as Doctor Doom
is a.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Big, one, huge, Yeah, and that film is expected to
have significant X Men crossovers. We're talking about characters like
Gambit with Channing Tatum still rumored for the role, and
maybe Mister Sinister making their live action debuts.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
So the deaths in X Men ninety seven could literally
be the catastrophic event that forces the animation universe to
collide with the live action MCU, the necessary emotional and
plot justification for why those characters are now desperate enough
to cross dimensions.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
That's a very plausible theory.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
It connects the dots, and the synergy extends far beyond
the main Avengers film too, right. Spider Man four is
rumored to involve mutant elements.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yeah, and your Friendly Neighborhood Spider Man season two on
Disney Plus could provide subtle nods to X Men lore.
Even the upcoming Daredevil Born Again season two and maybe
a Punisher special are speculated to intersect with mutant mythology
via the shadowy hell Fire Club.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
So the X Men franchise is basically flooding the market pretty.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Much, and the animated series is serving as the emotionally
devastating vanguard. This darkness connects directly to Marvel's Phase six
ultimate focus, these multiversal incursions.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Okay, can you define multiversal incursions clearly for the listener.
We hear the jargon thrown around a lot, but what
does it mean in practical terms?
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Right? So, an incursion in this context is basically the
catastrophic collapse of two separate unif versus onto each other.
Think of two bubbles merging violently. It's a concept introduced
in the comics as the ultimate existential threat.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Now, if X Men ninety seven's predicted massacre is severe enough,
say Apocalypse's actions result in the collapse of reality within
the X Men's timeline, it provides a perfect mechanism for
triggering those incursions in the wider MCU.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
So the chaos of the animated series could literally be
the spark that ignites multiversal doom, paving the way for
the grand finale of Phase six, which we think is
Secret Wars.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
That's a compelling theory.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Yeah, someone on x at Captain Cupkicks speculated that Monica Rambo,
remember she got trapped in a different universe.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
After the market, right, the one with Beast in us.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Exactly, that her being held in the X Men universe
is absolutely going to be the incursion that starts everything.
That theory gives the animated violence not just local but
actual cosmic stakes.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Wow. Okay, this level of strategic darkness required a stable
production team, though we should probably note that despite the
change and showrunner j Mayo handed the reins over to
a capable team, including the veteran Larry Houston, the core
fidelity to the nineties aesthetic remains.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
I seem committed to that, and the quality is expected
to remain high. The animation handled by Beast Evolution promises
what fans are calling balletic brutality, high quality, fluid, vibrant
violence delivered in that recognizable cell shading style.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Blitic brutality. I like that we are looking at beautifully
rendered mass death potentially potentially. Yeah, And the fact that
Disney is bucking its standard PG leanings for this, as
MARCN pointed out, that shows a massive amount of corporate confidence,
doesn't it?
Speaker 3 (21:37):
It really does. They must recognize that their most resonant,
successful adult leaning content, whether it's What If or the
upcoming Agatha all Along, often benefits from being unapologetically intense.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Well, the X Men certainly require intensity because their story
is inherently political and tragic. But this sheer volume of
death begs a major question is this violence necessary or
is it simply overkill? That takes us into section six Right, So,
the critical worry among longtime fans seems to remain whether
this high level of carnage is genuinely required for the
(22:10):
narrative progression We circle back to at lobster Knocker's point,
you can do stakes in melodrama without senseless death. This
fear of overkill is completely rational, I.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Think, oh totally rational, especially since Marvel is trying to
integrate the X Men into the mainstream MCU post Fox merger.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
The tightrope walk is immense. Then they need to avoid
the pitfalls of the Last Stand, where deaths felt arbitrary
and just designed solely to shock.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Absolutely, and they are attempting to rope in casual viewers
who might have only seen the X Men referenced briefly
in Missus Marvel or the marvels leading with mass slaughter
might just scare those new fans away immediately.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Yeah, could be alienating. But on the other hand, if
they handle the deaths like the pivotal events in the comics,
like the seminal Age of Apocalypse storyline, for example, the
tragedy becomes the catalyst for growth.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Exactly the sacrif of one character can force the others
to evolve their powers, their morals, maybe their commitment to
Xavier's dream. The deaths cannot be cheap. They have to
ignite the next major arc. That's the potential upside For.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Dieheart fans, this promise violence might actually feel like validation.
The X Men franchise has always served as this unflinching
mirror to societal ills and persecution.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
And if handled correctly, the deaths humanize the mutants and
deepen that core civil rights metaphor. The source material we
looked at even noted the painful resonance of these themes,
particularly amidst rising real world anti marginalized group rhetoric, which
tragically parallels the systemic bigotry the mutant's face.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
So that's the potential ethical justification for the violence. If
the darkness is used to critique real world marginalization and
the actual cost of hate. Then it serves a profound,
necessary purpose. It elevates the show above just standard superhero.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Fare definitely, and the sheer volume of X Men content
coming in twenty twenty six. As at El of TOPR noted,
X Men showing up six times, that's insane. That suggests
the studio is pouring resources into establishing this franchise as
the emotional bedrock of Phase six.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Feels like a full on return to the spotlight.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
It does for those who grew up on the original cartoon.
The uncompromising violence might be a welcome return to the
unflinching spotlight they feel the X Men deserve.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
But here's the challenge, the critical balance. If the Deaths
underscore the fragility of mutantkind and successfully use that tragedy
to ignite rebirths, physical, moral, or psychological, then they serve
Xavier's ultimate dream. But if they lean too heavily on
shot value, X Men ninety seven Season two risks turning
its critically acclaimed success into a polarizing disaster that just
(24:43):
confuses and alienates its core audience.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
The pain must forge the legends that really feels like
the mandate here, we're moving beyond the temporary, colorful struggles
of the past into something much more consequential.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Okay, that brings us to our final synthesis. Then, so
rosmarr Quan's quote. It was far more than just a
simple teaser for season two, wasn't it. It felt like
a declaration to the world that the X Men are
done playing it safe.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
I think that's right.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
It was a declaration that X Men ninety seven season
two reclaims the franchise's soul, unrelenting, unapologetic, and fundamentally unafraid
of permanent, devastating loss.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
It feels like an evolution.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
That's a necessary evolution of the narrative. I think as
Marvel strategically navigates its post endgame future, the X Men's
ability to use extreme stakes and profound pain to critique
societal ills and foster genuine character growth. That's their enduring
strength in their world. Suffering is often the foundation upon
which legends are built.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
So what does this all mean for you, the listener
as we head into this promised year of the Mutant
in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Well, the final takeaway is probably this the X men
are the perennial symbol for the most vulnerable and marginalized
in society, the people constantly fighting for their right to
simply exist. So what does it say about the current
cultural climate, both real and fictional, that they're triumphant animated
return is defined by a promise of mass death and darkness.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
That's a heavy question.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
It suggests that the fight for acceptance and survival is
still deeply and brutally real. The stakes have never been higher,
and it looks like the animated series is making sure
you feel the cost before the live action world catches up.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
So buckle up, Mutants, Yeah, buckle up.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Twenty twenty six awaits with claws out and uh tragedy
looming a large
Welcome back to the deep dives, where we sift through
the noise, grab the most vital pieces of information, and
deliver the insights you need.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Yeah, insights you can actually use, exactly.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And today we are strapping ourselves into the Blackbird. Basically,
we're charting a course into Marvel's most anticipated and maybe
it's most devastating narrative return, The X Men.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
We're focusing specifically on, well, the phenomenon that is X
Men ninety seven. It's the franchise that has always, i mean,
since the nineteen nineties animated series, really defined a generation.
It's always been that cultural touchstone for grappling with identity, prejudice,
and just the brutal reality of being fundamentally different. The
X Men have consistently pushed those boundaries.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
And now, based on some new intel, it sounds like
they aren't just pushing boundaries anymore. They might be preparing
to well obliterate them entirely.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
That's pretty mildly Yeah, Okay, let's unpack this.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
It sounds pretty high stakes. Our mission today is to
analyze the seismic wave caused by really just a single
statement from voice actor Ross markuand you know his face
of course from his live action MCU work Red Skull
and all that, but his voice rolls in the new
animated series. They're foundational, absolutely key, And he dropped this
stunning piece of news regarding X Men ninety seven season two,
(01:18):
which is currently slated for a major twenty twenty six
debut on Disney plus N.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Right, and the revelation came during fanex Salt Lake City
Comet convention. Marcahn, speaking pretty openly about the production, delivered
this chilling, concise quote that immediately just set the entire
fandom alight.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Okay, what was it?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
He said, a lot of people die.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
A lot of people die.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Just like that, just like that simple direct.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Wow. Okay, that is the cornerstone of this deep dive.
Then it's an incredibly loaded statement, especially for a property
returning to a platform primarily known for its family.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Appeal exactly Disney plus M.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
So we are going to explore the X Men's let's
call it tortured history with death. We'll use some of
the most brutal comic book precedents to speculate on who
might who might be on the chopping block.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah, the potential casualty.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
And perhaps most critically we need to contextualize what this sudden,
intense brutality means for the sprawling twenty twenty six mutant
slate Marvel seems to be building.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Well, what's immediately fascinating here, and what really gives Markwan's
quote so much weight is the deliberate significance of this
darkness emerging on Disney plus A.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, that's the kicker, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
It really is.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
This is not the platform or we expect, you know,
graphic carnage or sustain existential horror. Marcahn was super direct
about the tonal shift. He actually stated he was amazed
that Disney greenlit it because it's so dark.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
It's very very dark, very very dark.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Okay, so this isn't an accident or some oversight. This
feels like a sanctioned, deliberate and honestly strategic pivot toward
profoundly mature, unrelenting themes for the X Men franchise. It's
setting a totally new expectation for what Disney allows.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And that's it's a truly disturbing, yet I have to
say compelling stage. This isn't just heightened comic book peril.
It feels like a sanctioned profoundly dark.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Chapter absolutely, and you know, the animated format is often
seen as safer, maybe a testing round. But the very
fact that the company famous for Princesses and Star Wars
is leaning into this level of violence via an animated
series and one that's directly linked to the MCU's future,
that tells you they see the X Men as the
vehicle for the kind of darkness that maybe Phase six requires.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
So a calculated risk, then.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, I think so a calculated risk to shake off
maybe that lingering sense of predictability that has kind of
followed the franchise post endgame.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Well, if the showrunners are going this dark, they must
feel like they've earned the right to do so. Let's
look closely at the source of this shock in section two,
starting with the unique credibility of the Messenger himself.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Okay, so to truly grasp the weight of this impending carnage,
you really have to look at rossmar Kwan's position within
the whole Marvel structure. He is far more than just
like a multifaceted voice actor. He is a narrative lynchpin.
He's got significant studio credibility, and that's reinforced by his
live action role as Red Skull in the Avengers films
(04:12):
and in Next.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Man ninety seven. He is voicing the two fundamental opposing
pillars of the entire story. He's Professor x Wright, the
voice of idealistic reason, the founder of Xavier's dream, yeah,
the heart, but he's also the voice of Apocalypse, the
godlike ancient mutant who embodies survival of the Fittest and who,
let's not forget, just ascended to power in the season
(04:33):
one finale.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Exactly, he has insight into both the dream and the
destructive force that threatens to obliterate.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
It, so he sees both sides precisely.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
And he's also doctor Doom in those brilliant subtle flashbacks.
So when someone who embodies both the ideological foundation and
the impending dome emphasizes that the tonal shift is very,
very dark, you are hearing a direct warning, a warning
about the sheer scale of the impending conflict, and this darkness.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
It's building on a foundation that was already pretty shaky,
wasn't it. Let's briefly remind the listener of the intense
emotional cliffhangers Season one left us.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
With oh yeah. Season one ended on sustained trauma.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Really, we had that devastating final battle where Gambit made
the ultimate while apparent sacrifice in that explosive confrontation with Magneto.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Apparent being the key word there.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Maybe maybe maybe, then Storm, arguably the most powerful X Man,
was stripped of her powers, left vulnerable facing this huge
existential crisis of identity. Right, Jean Gray's unresolved resurrection and
the specture of the Phoenix Force loomed large. The whole
team was fractured, scattered across time space, and just emotionally
(05:44):
wrecked due to both global conflict and some deeply personal betrayals.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
So the table was definitely set for some genuine melodrama, sure,
but Mark Kwan's quote suggests they are rocketing passed like
soap opera stakes and straight into the kind of existential
horror that results in actual body counts. Exactly, and that
masterfulbiguity a lot of people die without specifying who heroes, villains,
innocent bystanders. That ambiguity is what fueled the immediate widespread
social media frenzy.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Right, Oh, that ambiguity was pure digital wildfire. We saw
immediate totally polarized speculation across x formerly Twitter. It just
crystallized the deepest fears and honestly the deepest desires of
the fandom simultaneously.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Okay, like, what what were people saying?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Well, you had the voices of dread, like the user
at lobster Knocker who stated their absolute biggest fear was
the show resorting to senseless death as quote the laziest
way of raising stakes.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Okay, I can see that anxiety. That speaks to the
legacy of the X Men, often using depth kind of
arbitrarily in the comics.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Maybe yeah, the revolving door of desk. But then you
have the amplifiers at Nexus Point News, using their massive platform,
immediately pushed the quote out, sparking these huge debates about
who was disposable, you know, fueling the height machine. They're
demanding high stakes and they see death as the ultimate
proof consequence.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
And crucially, you also have the deeply conflicted audience, right
like at Bernomelex who posted some apocalyptic battle concept art
warning nobody fucking wants this. Yeah, that reaction captures the
core dilemma. Fans say they want high stakes, but maybe
they're terrified the show might sacrifice the heart and spirit
of the original nineties series by just turning it into
(07:21):
a simple blood bath.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
It's a very very high wire act for the showrunners. Look,
season one achieved that near perfect ninety eight percent Rotten
Tomato score because it brilliantly honored the spirit of the original.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Yeah, it did the epic battles, the foundational civil rights metaphors,
the engaging soap opera drama, all of it.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
But it ended with a profound gut punch. So to
introduce mass casualty in season two and still maintain that acclaim,
they absolutely must ensure every death is narratively earned. It
has to serve the story, not to shock the audience.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Right, If the deaths are going to be meaningful, If
you're going to push the franchise into that very very
dark territory Markwan mentioned, they just can't be cheap. We
need to understand the historical context here, the context of
X Men and mortality. Let's move into section three, A
storied legacy of death and resurrection. Okay, So, to truly
appreciate the potential tragedy of Markwan's warning, you really need
(08:15):
to understand the X Men's deeply I guess dysfunctional is
the word their dysfunctional relationship with mortality. This dates all
the way back to their debut in The Uncanny X
Men hashtag one in nineteen sixty three.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Yeah, dysfunctional is a good word for it. Death has
always been a constant, but often kind of a temporary inconvenience.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Ah. Yeah, an inconvenience.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
That's sort of the genius and the frustration of the
comic template the resurrection as almost narrative parody. Mutants die
and then they come back. It's just an ingrained cycle.
Jean Gray is the absolute poster child for them.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Oh definitely.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
We talk about her Phoenix saga from the nineteen seventies.
She wasn't just a casualty. She became a cosmic threat.
She incinerated an entire star system, died heroically, and later
returned confusingly as a clone, while the real Gene was
apparently in a cocoon.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Somewhere right the cocoon under the Bay.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Classic it established that the death of a major character
is often just a very elaborate costume change.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
You know, even the original nineteen nineties animated series played
this game, didn't it, though maybe with slightly less cosmic stakes.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
For sure, they had the infamous morph death and subsequent return.
That was a clear shock value move designed to hook
the audience and prove that no one was truly safe,
even if the death wasn't ultimately permanent, and.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
They dealt with profound offscreen tragedy too, right, like the
death of Ileonorespute and Colossus's younger sister.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Yeah, the legacy virus that demonstrated that character is even
tangential to the core cast were certainly vulnerable to tragedy.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
It hit hard.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Okay, So if season two truly fulfills this promise of
being very, very dark, the showrunners are likely diving into
the most brutal comic book events for inspiration, events where
death wasn't temporary, it was existential exactly.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
We are talking about events that truly read a find
the stakes of being a mutant. The first one that
always springs to mind is House of m from.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Two thousand and five posa M. Yeah, that was huge.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
It was a catastrophe engineered by the Scarlet Witch where
she rewrote reality and uttered those three devastating words, no
more mutants, chilling. This wasn't just a body count, this
was fundamental genocide. It wiped out the vast majority of
mutants worldwide, leading to billions of deaths through reality warping
and depowerment.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
And that led directly into the decimation. Right. For listeners
maybe unfamiliar with the specific jargon, decimation refers to that immediate.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Aftermath right where only like one hundred and ninety eight
named mutants were left standing globally. It's an apocalyptic scale
of loss. It shifted the X Men from a thriving
though persecuted minority to basically an endangered species.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
So if X Men ninety.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Seven mirrors this kind of catastrophic event, perhaps facilitated by
Apocalypse's Ultimate Horsemen, or maybe a catastrophic failure of the
Phoenix Force, the stakes immediately shift to multiversal levels. The
fight is no longer about winning a single battle.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
It's about survival.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
It's about the very survival of their entire race.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
We also have to look at the cinematic precedence, though,
because this is where Marvel learns its lessons for better
or worse. The two thousand and six film X Men
The Last Stamp, Well, that's the definitive cautionary tale, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Oh? Absolutely, it attempted high stakes with basically zero narrative investment.
It resulted in the arbitrary slaughter of core figures like
Professor x Cyclops Colossus, all just in a bid for cheap,
shocking drama.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
And fans hated it. They rightfully viewed it as a
betrayal because those deaths felt meaningless and they were easily
reversed by later timeline shenanigans.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Anyway, then just over a decade later, we got Logan
in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Ah, Logan masterpiece.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Right, That R rated masterpiece proved the opposite.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
That graphic violence and definitive finality could actually elevate the
genre to prestige cinema. That blood Soaked n for Hugh
Jackman's Wolverine and Patrick Stewart's Xavier critically acclaimed, grossed over
six hundred nineteen million dollars, earned an Oscar nod.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah, it showed that X Men stories thrive when they
truly embrace the shadows and ensure that death, when it happens,
is permanent and profoundly meaningful.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
And Mark Quentin's nuance when he said so many people
don't talk about it, that reinforces this distinction. He implies
this isn't just about physical death followed by a clone
or a cosmic cocoon. It's about the lingering psychological toll,
the devastation of maybe offscreen carnage or an event so
traumatic that it carries a logan esque finality, something that
even the comic savvy audience won't easily shake off.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
So it suggests that if someone dies in season two,
we should't automatically assume their resurrection in season three or
you know, the eventual MCU live action film.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
They might be using death as a character defining moment,
a permanent one.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Which brings us to the part everyone is probably waiting
for the speculation. Let's move into section four and start
analyzing the specific targets on the roster who might be
in danger. Okay, moment you hear that phrase a lot
of people die, you immediately start auditing the core family unit,
right the roster at risk Cyclops, Jean, Gray, Storm, Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, Beast, Jubilee, Bishop.
(13:13):
Any death among this tight knit group, the emotional center
of the series is going to resonate profoundly.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Oh absolutely, And we have to start with the foundational figures,
specifically the man markwand himself voices Professor X. Xavier's Season
one return ended with him immediately being captured and possessed
by Apocalypse. The possibility of a Mercy kill you a
necessary evil enacted by the X Men to contain the
ancient mutant that feels intensely real, and.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
This aligns perfectly with comic history too. For those who
don't follow the deep comic lore, Xavier has been strategically
disposable throughout the years, hasn't he?
Speaker 2 (13:47):
He really has.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
He was famously beheaded by the villain Strife way back
in X Men hashtag two eighty one. His death is
often used as this tragic reset button, forcing the team
to confront Xavier's dream without his direct leadership. It's a
powerful dramatic engine.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Then there's Gene Gray. She is perpetually a candidate for
self destruction, isn't she? Because she is constantly teetering on
the brink of Phoenix madness always.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
If she succumbs to the dark side of that cosmic entity,
she could easily snap and incinerate allies in some massive firestorm,
only to maybe commit suicide to contain the destructive force.
It echoes her own history of self sacrificial death.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
She has literally been drowned by the entity like an
Uncanny X Men hashtag one thirty seven, and then had
her body cloned later on in Fantastic four hashtag two
eighty six. Jene's potential death is less a question of
if she dies and more about how much cataclysmic collateral
damage she inflicks while doing it.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Right now, let's talk about Storm.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Season one deliberately depowered her, taking away her goddess like
presence and forcing her to face her mortality.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, that was a big shift for her.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Huge.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
So if they want to maximize the emotional pain having
a now vulnerable and completely mortal Storm killed, perhaps in
a brutal, unexpected sentinel ambush, that would be devastating. It
would reduce the Great Oro Monroe to a symbol of
mortal frailty, completing a powerful, painful arc. It would even
nod to her vulnerability arc back in Uncanny X Men
(15:12):
hashtag one eighty five.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
And then the biggest target of all maybe Wolverine Logan.
He is the immortal Berserker, the one character fans just
assume will always heal, but Season one planted the seed
of his eventual demise with that adamantium poisoning subplot.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
That subplot directly foreshadows the tone of Logan, doesn't it.
Adamantium is a poison, slowly taxing his healing factor. So
if Apocalypse introduces some sophisticated supervirus or a form of
biological warfare designed to specifically overwhelm Logan's compromise system.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Then you get a Logan style biological breakdown exactly.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Killing the unkillable Wolverine is probably the cleanest, most effective
way for the show to prove they are serious about
permanent stakes.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
We must also consider Gambit. Though his apparent death against
Magneto was explosive, Yes, but his body vanish, leaving the
door wide open for a return. True, So if he
is resurrected, it could be kind of a cruel fake out,
couldn't it, only for him to suffer a more permanent,
high stakes Cajun conflagration later on, maybe sacrificing himself again
to save Rogue, cementing his legacy through definitive love and loss.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
That would be heartbreaking.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
And Magneto too, who is now the uneasy ally and
leader of the X Men, he faces intense peril, his
immense magnetic mastery could backfire in some massive, perhaps necessary
global event like a pull shift cataclysm, or some sacrifice
to contain an energy vortex. His death could be a
world altering tragedy rather than just a personal defeat.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
It's almost comical how often Mutant's face death, isn't it. Yeah,
the fan base certainly sees the humor and the brutality,
sometimes as at omegable origin equipped on ACX, a lot
of people die. Oh so it's an X men's show
at the little smiley faced shrug emoji. Ha.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Yeah, they acknowledge the pattern, but we have to heed.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
The warning from a Chrome two two seventy nine. If
they repeat the mistakes of the last stand, these deaths
will just feel cheap and disposable. It'll undermine everything.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
That's the absolute key these deaths, whoever they are, they
have to serve one central purpose to underscore mutant kind's
fundamental fragility and their existential struggle in a universe that
fears and persecutes them. That fragility has to have profound,
far reaching consequences.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Okay, let's follow those consequences right into the broader corporate strategy.
Section five X Men in Marvel's twenty twenty six onslaught right, So.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
It's crucial to understand that X Men ninety seven Season
two is not operating in isolation, not at all. Twenty
twenty six is being strategically positioned as Marvel's Year of the.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Mutant, The Year of Mutants.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Okay, yeah, this means the darkness and violence we see
in the animated series are intended to be like a
foundational preamble for the major live action projects that are
set to follow.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
So this cartoon isn't just fan service then, it's actually
narrative architecture for the entire MCU Phase six.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
That seems to be the play.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Wow. That explains why Disney would risk this level of
very very dark content. It's establishing a tone that the
live action films need to inherit.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Exactly, and animation grants the studio greater thematic freedom. Right,
they can explore genocide, intense violence, deep psychological trauma without
the immediate restriction of needing a PG thirteen rating for a.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Live action blockbuster.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Good point.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
They set the tone and raise the stakes here. Then
they can translate the emotional trauma the consequence of the
deaths to the big screen later.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Okay, let's look at the live action synergy then, specifically
regarding Avengers Doomsday. The leaks and casting rumors are massive
around that film. Robert Downey Junior returning as Doctor Doom
is a.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Big, one, huge, Yeah, and that film is expected to
have significant X Men crossovers. We're talking about characters like
Gambit with Channing Tatum still rumored for the role, and
maybe Mister Sinister making their live action debuts.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
So the deaths in X Men ninety seven could literally
be the catastrophic event that forces the animation universe to
collide with the live action MCU, the necessary emotional and
plot justification for why those characters are now desperate enough
to cross dimensions.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
That's a very plausible theory.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
It connects the dots, and the synergy extends far beyond
the main Avengers film too, right. Spider Man four is
rumored to involve mutant elements.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yeah, and your Friendly Neighborhood Spider Man season two on
Disney Plus could provide subtle nods to X Men lore.
Even the upcoming Daredevil Born Again season two and maybe
a Punisher special are speculated to intersect with mutant mythology
via the shadowy hell Fire Club.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
So the X Men franchise is basically flooding the market pretty.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Much, and the animated series is serving as the emotionally
devastating vanguard. This darkness connects directly to Marvel's Phase six
ultimate focus, these multiversal incursions.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Okay, can you define multiversal incursions clearly for the listener.
We hear the jargon thrown around a lot, but what
does it mean in practical terms?
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Right? So, an incursion in this context is basically the
catastrophic collapse of two separate unif versus onto each other.
Think of two bubbles merging violently. It's a concept introduced
in the comics as the ultimate existential threat.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Now, if X Men ninety seven's predicted massacre is severe enough,
say Apocalypse's actions result in the collapse of reality within
the X Men's timeline, it provides a perfect mechanism for
triggering those incursions in the wider MCU.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
So the chaos of the animated series could literally be
the spark that ignites multiversal doom, paving the way for
the grand finale of Phase six, which we think is
Secret Wars.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
That's a compelling theory.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Yeah, someone on x at Captain Cupkicks speculated that Monica Rambo,
remember she got trapped in a different universe.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
After the market, right, the one with Beast in us.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Exactly, that her being held in the X Men universe
is absolutely going to be the incursion that starts everything.
That theory gives the animated violence not just local but
actual cosmic stakes.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Wow. Okay, this level of strategic darkness required a stable
production team, though we should probably note that despite the
change and showrunner j Mayo handed the reins over to
a capable team, including the veteran Larry Houston, the core
fidelity to the nineties aesthetic remains.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
I seem committed to that, and the quality is expected
to remain high. The animation handled by Beast Evolution promises
what fans are calling balletic brutality, high quality, fluid, vibrant
violence delivered in that recognizable cell shading style.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Blitic brutality. I like that we are looking at beautifully
rendered mass death potentially potentially. Yeah, And the fact that
Disney is bucking its standard PG leanings for this, as
MARCN pointed out, that shows a massive amount of corporate confidence,
doesn't it?
Speaker 3 (21:37):
It really does. They must recognize that their most resonant,
successful adult leaning content, whether it's What If or the
upcoming Agatha all Along, often benefits from being unapologetically intense.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Well, the X Men certainly require intensity because their story
is inherently political and tragic. But this sheer volume of
death begs a major question is this violence necessary or
is it simply overkill? That takes us into section six Right, So,
the critical worry among longtime fans seems to remain whether
this high level of carnage is genuinely required for the
(22:10):
narrative progression We circle back to at lobster Knocker's point,
you can do stakes in melodrama without senseless death. This
fear of overkill is completely rational, I.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Think, oh totally rational, especially since Marvel is trying to
integrate the X Men into the mainstream MCU post Fox merger.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
The tightrope walk is immense. Then they need to avoid
the pitfalls of the Last Stand, where deaths felt arbitrary
and just designed solely to shock.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Absolutely, and they are attempting to rope in casual viewers
who might have only seen the X Men referenced briefly
in Missus Marvel or the marvels leading with mass slaughter
might just scare those new fans away immediately.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Yeah, could be alienating. But on the other hand, if
they handle the deaths like the pivotal events in the comics,
like the seminal Age of Apocalypse storyline, for example, the
tragedy becomes the catalyst for growth.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Exactly the sacrif of one character can force the others
to evolve their powers, their morals, maybe their commitment to
Xavier's dream. The deaths cannot be cheap. They have to
ignite the next major arc. That's the potential upside For.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Dieheart fans, this promise violence might actually feel like validation.
The X Men franchise has always served as this unflinching
mirror to societal ills and persecution.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
And if handled correctly, the deaths humanize the mutants and
deepen that core civil rights metaphor. The source material we
looked at even noted the painful resonance of these themes,
particularly amidst rising real world anti marginalized group rhetoric, which
tragically parallels the systemic bigotry the mutant's face.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
So that's the potential ethical justification for the violence. If
the darkness is used to critique real world marginalization and
the actual cost of hate. Then it serves a profound,
necessary purpose. It elevates the show above just standard superhero.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Fare definitely, and the sheer volume of X Men content
coming in twenty twenty six. As at El of TOPR noted,
X Men showing up six times, that's insane. That suggests
the studio is pouring resources into establishing this franchise as
the emotional bedrock of Phase six.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Feels like a full on return to the spotlight.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
It does for those who grew up on the original cartoon.
The uncompromising violence might be a welcome return to the
unflinching spotlight they feel the X Men deserve.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
But here's the challenge, the critical balance. If the Deaths
underscore the fragility of mutantkind and successfully use that tragedy
to ignite rebirths, physical, moral, or psychological, then they serve
Xavier's ultimate dream. But if they lean too heavily on
shot value, X Men ninety seven Season two risks turning
its critically acclaimed success into a polarizing disaster that just
(24:43):
confuses and alienates its core audience.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
The pain must forge the legends that really feels like
the mandate here, we're moving beyond the temporary, colorful struggles
of the past into something much more consequential.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Okay, that brings us to our final synthesis. Then, so
rosmarr Quan's quote. It was far more than just a
simple teaser for season two, wasn't it. It felt like
a declaration to the world that the X Men are
done playing it safe.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
I think that's right.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
It was a declaration that X Men ninety seven season
two reclaims the franchise's soul, unrelenting, unapologetic, and fundamentally unafraid
of permanent, devastating loss.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
It feels like an evolution.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
That's a necessary evolution of the narrative. I think as
Marvel strategically navigates its post endgame future, the X Men's
ability to use extreme stakes and profound pain to critique
societal ills and foster genuine character growth. That's their enduring
strength in their world. Suffering is often the foundation upon
which legends are built.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
So what does this all mean for you, the listener
as we head into this promised year of the Mutant
in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Well, the final takeaway is probably this the X men
are the perennial symbol for the most vulnerable and marginalized
in society, the people constantly fighting for their right to
simply exist. So what does it say about the current
cultural climate, both real and fictional, that they're triumphant animated
return is defined by a promise of mass death and darkness.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
That's a heavy question.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
It suggests that the fight for acceptance and survival is
still deeply and brutally real. The stakes have never been higher,
and it looks like the animated series is making sure
you feel the cost before the live action world catches up.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
So buckle up, Mutants, Yeah, buckle up.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Twenty twenty six awaits with claws out and uh tragedy
looming a large
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