Marvel Studios Animation had a successful 2024 based on X-Men ’97 alone. The return of the beloved 1990s cartoon was exciting for Marvel fans, especially the ones who grew up watching X-Men: The Animated Series every Saturday morning, but no one could have expected X-Men ’97 to defy all expectations the way it did.
Marvel’s animated division completely upped the ante with the story, the mutants, and their powers, all without betraying the foundational elements that were laid down 30 years prior. If that made this show less “family entertainment” than it used to be, then that was a sacrifice worth making, just like Gambit’s heroic sacrifice in the unforgettable chapter “Remember It” that cemented X-Men ’97 as one of the best animated series of all time.
X-Men ’97 kept audiences captivated in the Spring of 2024, and then Marvel Animation ended the year strong with the finale of What If…? That series premiered in 2021 with mostly positive reactions. At first, it came off as frivolous yet fun storytelling. Its fourth chapter, "What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands" truly showed its potential for quality. Then when the season culminated with the seemingly random plots linking together, and the multiverse factor was further illuminated, What If…? suddenly felt like it had a larger purpose.
The second season was not quite as fascinating as the first, even though it introduced several diverting musings, and also unveiled a brand-new superhero, Kahhori, of Native American heritage. The entire third season dropped in the final week of 2024, with enthralling editions that included fan-favorite characters that haven’t seen as much action as the original Avengers roster, such as Agatha Harkness, Red Guardian, Shang-Chi, and Kate “Hawkeye” Bishop.
Season 3 also brought back the quintessential What If…? hero, Captain Carter, and folded an important X-Man into the mix, Storm. With the connective tissue ultimately focusing on the Watcher himself, the series finished on a high note. Even if What If…? has officially wrapped, Marvel Studios Animation is pushing forward with several new endeavors to keep MCU enthusiasts tuned into Disney Plus; three shows are on their 2025 schedule.
First on the lineup is Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, releasing on January 25. At one point, Tom Holland was set to reprise the title role and lend his voice to the series. Even though that is no longer the case, this Spider-Man is still part of the MCU, with the word out of New York Comic-Con revealing that this will be another multiverse experiment.
The MCU version of Spider-Man purposefully avoided depicting his superhero origin story, leaving this series with an opportunity. Although, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man could be presented in an alternate timeline, which actually allows it to have more breathing room to offer fresh and unpredictable story beats.
With live-actions series entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Spring and early Summer (Daredevil: Born Again, followed by Ironheart), Marvel Animation will reveal Eyes of Wakanda on August 6, on Disney+. The show would likely stick closer to the prime MCU timeline, with hints that it could be another episodic anthology, à la What If…? While a genuine Black Panther sighting may elude the Eyes of Wakanda audience, there is a strong likelihood that some familiar Wakandan heroes will appear, such as Okoye.
If that isn’t enough animated action for Marvel fans, Marvel Zombies will arrive on October 3, just in time for Halloween. Zombies is a spinoff of What If…?’s Season 1 chapter, "What If… Zombies?!". The "Marvel Zombies" publication was a little tongue-in-cheek as a comic book arc, so translating the idea into animation could have been a mere fun exercise to briskly engage with Marvel viewers. The What If…? narrative was slightly divisive; it was not even the most celebrated episode of that rookie year, but it had enough people talking that Marvel has decided to double down and develop a spinoff show all about Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (and villains) as zombies.
That standalone What If…? segment ended with Spider-Man, Ant-Man, and Black Panther escaping a zombified Scarlet Witch and her horde, only for Zombie Thanos to remain defiantly in control of all the land. It is unclear, at this point, if the spinoff series will continue with that storyline or go off on its own multiversal path and set up a divergent perspective of a timeline descending into its own post apocalypse.
Marvelites have a lot of animation to look forward to and, of course, would be ecstatic if X-Men ’97 retuned this year as well, but it is more likely that the final Marvel Studios show of 2025 will be the live-action limited series, Wonder Man. The good news is that X-Men ’97 Season 2 is definitely coming, even if we have to wait until 2026.