“It’s all connected.” That was a favorite phrase of the now-defunct Marvel TV production arm, but evidently, it still stands, as it turns out that X-Men ’97, the continuation of the classic X-Men: The Animated Series coming to Dinsey+, is part of the MCU’s multiverse.
The news, which contradicts previous reports on the series, comes from a recent article on the upcoming show that Variety put together in which executive producer Brad Winderbaum discussed the plethora of cameos that will happen in the series being akin to the amount that showed up in the original show and that many were characters that are also in the MCU. He goes on to say that X-Men ’97 isn’t in the sacred timeline (the timeline that Loki saved in the second season of Loki) but is in a multiverse timeline.
“It’s exactly the same level of cameos as the original series,” Winderbaum said. “Even though X-Men ‘97 is not in the sacred timeline, there is a universe of ‘90s cartoons that we know. Because of Loki and every other multiverse story, we know that if your brain wants to go there, you know there’s always potential for connections.”
Related: How Does X-Men ’97 Connect to Spider-Man?
This comes as a bit of a surprise as the statements about whether or not the nostalgia-filled show, which picks up right where the original left off in 1996, have ping-ponged back and forth about whether or not it was connected in the multiverse. The series’ ex-showrunner, Beau DeMayo, explicitly came out and said that the show was its “own thing” when asked if it was part of the MCU at all. Of course, DeMayo was fired last week from running the show, with no reason given yet to the public for his removal despite the fact that he had already completed work on the second season of the series. While claiming the series wasn’t part of the multiverse was definitely not the reason he was fired, this small contradiction could help hint at the fact that he and Disney were not on the same page.
Despite Winderbaum’s confirmation that we all can connect X-Men ’97 to the other universe in the MCU, don’t expect any actual crossover from the sacred timeline into the series. While there will be plenty of cameos of Marvel heroes and villains, there’s no sign that any of them will be jumping in from the MCU films or shows.
