Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for the finale of X-Men '97.

The Big Picture

• The X-Men '97 finale teases new characters, intriguing storylines, and wide-reaching consequences.
• Season 2 of X-Men '97 will likely explore historical and futuristic settings with an extensive cast of characters.
• The finale sets up a thrilling Season 2 with potential new X-Men team members and looming threats.

The historic first season of X-Men '97 has come to an astonishing, exciting, and baffling end. This continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series on Disney+ has been filled with jaw-dropping moments, with each episode focusing on intriguing plots that feature countless references to both the previous series and the expansive comic world in which this legendary superhero team first appeared. It did justice to the original Marvel program created by Larry Houston, Eric Lewald, and Julia Lewald, expanding on the lingering plot threads fans have waited over two decades to see resolved. It was also a thrilling climax that saw many of the season's intriguing plots reach their fruition while introducing tons of new questions that have left viewers excitedly confused.

X-Men '97 is already confirmed to be returning for Season 2, which explains why so much of its finale was filled with shocking introductions to storied characters and hints at potentially world-shaking storylines. This episode featured a huge number of Easter eggs that signal where this great series may be going next, so let's break them down and predict what the sophomore follow-up has in store!

The 'X-Men '97' Finale Is a Wild Ride of Familiar Faces

All season long, X-Men '97 has offered its viewers bountiful Easter eggs, though there's a certain kind of enjoyable callback that the series loves more than any other: cameos. Its passion for referencing both popular and little-known X-Men characters has appeared in every episode, with this one being no different. The villain Bastion's (Theo James) horde of Prime Sentinels has begun hunting people around the globe, and these tense scenes depict mutant heroes like the psychic-blade wielding Psylocke, the phasing Cipher, Canadian siblings Northstar and Aurora, and the immortal short king Puck defending their community on what used to be the mutant haven of Genosha.

They are mirrored by Omega Red, who had just been awoken from a forced slumber by Magneto's (Matthew Waterson) worldwide EMP only two episodes ago, fighting off these killer robots with other Russian powerhouses Darkstar and Crimson Dynamo. Morph (JP Karliak) also brings some notable Marvel figures into their fight, with the shapeshifting mutant using the forms of Mister Fantastic and Sauron to try and stop Bastion's reign of terror. Finally, we see the Silver Samurai (who also made his first appearance in this sequel series two episodes ago), looking up at the sky, worried about what all this conflict means for the world — and he isn't the only one.

While X-Men '97 has focused primarily on featuring cameos of mythic X-Men characters, it isn't afraid to spotlight other Marvel heroes its fans know and love. Early in the episode, viewers see President Kelly (Gil Birmingham) struggling to decide whether they should send an array of lethal bombs at Asteroid M, as both Captain America (Josh Keaton) and King T'Chaka of Wakanda (Isaac Robinson-Smith) — the predecessor and father of the MCU's T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) — urge him not to sacrifice more mutant lives.

Kelly eventually sends the bombs in anyway, and the attack coincides with the Prime Sentinels wreaking havoc across the planet and being fought off by Hell's Kitchen's Daredevil, the superpowered couple Cloak and Dagger, and Wakanda's army of Dora Milaje while Peter Parker (out of his Spider-Man persona), MJ Watson, and Flash Thompson watch the terrifying events unfold. Iron Man and Doctor Strange are also shown trying to fight off these technical monstrosities, depicting two of the MCU's strongest heroes and fulfilling this series' mission of showcasing just how wide its animated world is.

Where Do the X-Men End Up at the End of Season 2 — Or When?

The tense fights that fill most of X-Men '97's finale reveal more references to the titular group's long history. Professor Xavier (Ross Marquand) trying to bring back Magneto's lost mind reveals aspects of the man's history that have only been hinted at; not only do we see Polaris (his definite daughter) along with Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch (his occasional twin children) riding the rocky waves of his fractured mind, but he also remembers the horrors of his youth as a Jewish child trying to survive the Holocaust. This is a heartwrenching reminder that Magneto is not some power-hungry villain; his hatred of humanity derives from his too-personal experiences with the worst of it. This reference and many others to his past throughout the season detail the true human horrors Magneto is fighting against.

The episode's climax features various jaw-dropping Easter eggs to events that comic fans will know about and non-readers will be thrilled to learn more about when the show enters its second season. As the modern world grapples with the repercussions of both Magneto's attack and Asteroid M's explosion, audiences hear about the rising political power of Graydon Creed, leader of the anti-mutant hate group Friends of Humanity, and the island nation of Santo Marco preaching the "second coming" of Magneto — a nation that fans know the metal-bending anti-hero once led in the comics.

The finale also reveals the X-Men have been scattered across history, with the returned Bishop (Isaac Robinson-Smith) explaining to a disheartened Forge (Gil Birmingham) that "something, or someone" yanked the team through time. Jean (Jennifer Hale) and Scott (Ray Chase) are in the future, finding someone named Mother Askani — aka Rachel Summers, their daughter from another timeline — who's been tasked with caring for a young Cable in the future.

Most of the other team is sent to Ancient Egypt, where they meet a mutant named En Sabah Nur (Adetokumboh M’Cormack) who will eventually become the all-mighty Apocalypse. This is also depicted in the finale's post-credits scene (an MCU classic), which sees a modern Apocalypse finding one of Gambit's playing cards in Genosha, hinting at the classic comics storyline where the smooth-talking hero becomes the immensely powerful being's Horseman of Death. Becoming one of Apocalypse's horsemen usually turns heroic people into villainous visages of horror, foreshadowing not only that Apocalypse may be Season 2's main villain, but that he may bring a twisted Gambit along for the ride.

'X-Men '97' Sets Up a Thrilling — and Catastrophic — Season 2

Even with all of these astounding plot threads, X-Men '97 isn't done in terms of Easter eggs. In the scene when Forge is speaking with Bishop, the man is also charting out who can fill out a potential new X-Men team. The board he's staring at features some familiar faces, including the angelic Archangel, the slightly demonic Magik, super-strong Colossus, the young yet powerful Dust, the classic Iceman, Cyclops' brother Havok, Genoshan survivor Emma Frost, the zealot Exodus, siblings Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch (suspiciously marked as "Off-World"), and Kitty Pryde, one of the X-Men's most famous heroes. They are next to images of the X-Men viewers know, foreshadowing each of these people possibly appearing in Season 2 to replace the team while Bishop and Forge search for the original group.

X-Men '97 has been a nonstop season of excitement, and it only makes sense that its finale would be no different. This thrilling installment was the perfect cap to an amazing re-introduction of this iconic team that offered countless references, callbacks, and Easter eggs, each one granting audiences flashes of the classic characters they love while showing the wild plots the series will pursue in the future. There are still so many questions to be answered, like where Bastion went off to in the finale, what the social fallout of this worldwide attack will be, and just where in the timestream Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith), Morph, and Wolverine (Cal Dodd) may have ended up. If this mysterious finale is any indication, Season 2 of X-Men '97 is primed to be even better than the first.

X-Men '97 is available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.

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