Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, Opinion, streaming, TV, TV | Tagged: bob iger, disney plus, Marvel Studios, opinion, x-men, X-Men '97

X-Men '97 Season 2 in 2026? Marvel Studios Schedule Raises Question

Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed it: Marvel Studios is releasing two series per year. That may (or may not) be an issue for X-Men '97 fans.

If you've been paying attention to what's been going on with Disney and how the company is looking to restructure itself internally, CEO Bob Iger has been really pushing the idea of quality of quantity – especially when it comes to Marvel Studios. The goal? To bring back a level of prestige to the shows being released, making them feel like "events" –  and to save the company some much-needed money. "We're slowly going to decrease volume and go to probably about two TV series a year instead of what had become four and reduce our film output from maybe four a year to two, or a maximum of three," Iger shared during the company's earnings call earlier this month. "And we're working hard on what that path is." Okay, have you got that? Iger is looking at "probably about two TV series a year"? Okay, good – because here's why that could be a problem for the second season of the hugely popular X-Men '97, which wrapped its first season this week.

What Happened During Disney's Upfronts? During Disney's Upfronts presentation for the media and potential advertisers (streamers have ad subscription tiers that need advertising money), we learned that Kathryn Hahn-starring Agatha All Along would be hitting Disney+ screens in September 2024. Following that, we learned that the nine-episode Charlie Cox & Vincent D'Onofrio-starring Daredevil: Born Again will arrive in March 2025 – with Dominique Thorne-starring Ironheart arriving sometime in 2025. That means we have one more Marvel Studios series this year – and two already announced for 2025. You see the problem, right?

The Problem: If Iger is sticking to his pledge, that means we already have two Marvel Studios series locked in for 2025 – and neither one of them is X-Men '97 Season 2. Having just fought off a board of directors attack with a promise to reign things in and get things moving in the right direction again, I'm not sure just how eager Iger would be to go back on his plan during the first full year that he would be implementing it. Another factor is that X-Men '97 would be the only potential 2025 series in play – we're still awaiting word on Yahya Abdul-Mateen II-starring Wonder Man and the third season of the animated anthology series What If…?.

Why This Might Not Be a Problem: Iger wouldn't be the first CEO to backtrack after publicly declaring a policy change—especially if Marvel Studios is having a run of strong hits—so changing his mind is quite possible. Also, we don't know what the status is regarding production on the second season of X-Men '97. Those and other factors surrounding the animated series might make this conversation a moot point if it's not ready to roll in 2025. Another factor – though I'm not a big fan of it, to be honest – is that Iger isn't factoring in animated series and only thinking live-action. I hope that's not the case because it would righteously suck knowing that the only reason why the series returned early had to do with the Disney CEO viewing animation as second-class programming.

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