What To Watch While You Wait For 'X-Men '97' Season 2, Episode 4
X-Men ‘97 (2024) Season 2 is pulling out all the stops with its themes of time travel, both in a dystopian future and in Ancient Egypt. With a series focusing entirely on the villain Apocalypse and the cliffhanger ending of its third episode, it’s an excruciating wait to get to the next one.
Thankfully, there are more than a few shows and movies you can check out that help scratch the itch in some way, leading up to the new episode. Whether it’s robotic, time-traveling monsters or movies set against an ancient Egyptian power, there are more than a few things you can watch leading up to Episode 4 of X-Men ‘97 Season 2.
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) finally gives the titular villain his time in live action. The film isn’t the most beloved of the series, nor does it properly adapt its villain, but it’s ultimately a fun time with some impressive action sequences.
If your only hope is to get even more Apocalypse in your system before X-Men ‘97 returns, X-Men: Apocalypse is the way to do it. It has all the elements that we know of from the character and still delivers some great performances by Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy.
Inspired by the epic time-travel two-parter in the pages of The Uncanny X-Men, X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) has Wolverine head to the past to try and stop events that would lead to the end of the world in their future.
X-Men: Days of Future Past is all about making different choices if presented with a second chance, and it’s something that permeates the events of X-Men ‘97 Season 2. While we are seeing Magneto do this, the elements that balance both the movie and the show are hard to ignore.
Exploring the origins of Professor X and Magneto, X-Men: First Class (2009) is one of the more entertaining films in the franchise. It finally gives us a look at these two iconic characters on a deeper level and at how their shared ideals ultimately differ and put them at odds.
When compared to X-Men ‘97, X-Men: First Class is the best way to understand why it’s so important that Magneto now sees things from Charles’ perspective enough to try to change En Sabah Nur. Seeing how they became enemies makes their reunion and collaboration even better.
Deadpool 2 (2018) is the first time we see Cable in live action, played by Josh Brolin, and he brings all the grit and mission-focused attitude we expect from the gun-totting time traveler. But it also plays on the iconic pairing between the two characters that was famous in the comics.
Cable is such an important part of X-Men lore in X-Men ‘97 that any content featuring him is incredibly important. But Deadpool 2 still serves as a great way to be introduced to the character, minus all of the Summers family drama.
When it comes to surviving a terrible future by changing the past, The Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) wrote the book on it. Following the story of John and Sarah Connor as they avoid advanced robots trying to kill them so they don’t save the future is scary enough. But it’s the uncertainty of whether or not it’s all worth it that makes the films so great.
Cable’s story and the hope that Magneto can change Apocalypse’s future share many similarities with these ideals. It makes these films a great way to better understand the hopes of those characters and the stakes they must face.
The Gifted (2017) is a spin-off series in the X-Men lore that focuses on little-known characters like Thunderbird, Blink, and Polaris, as they help a family try to protect their mutant children from persecution.
What makes this series such a great watch is its heavy focus on Polaris, who has already appeared in X-Men ‘97 once and will likely have an even larger role going forward. It’s a story about family and sticking together against powerful threats, which is also what’s made X-Men ‘97 so exciting.
X-Men: The Animated Series (1992-1997) is the reason that X-Men ‘97 even exists. Considering it serves as the foundation for everything happening in the sequel series, it’s the perfect complementary series to watch leading up to the next episode.
Whether you want to see some Cable episodes or Apocalypse episodes, there are more than enough to go around to help set up the origin of one of the franchise’s scariest villains. The best part is that it will offer even more context as the season progresses.
When it comes to stakes, X-Men ‘97 Season 2 managed to bring that while being set in the past that’s careening to a future we all saw coming. Yet, seeing Magneto try to help En Sabah Nur turn good, only to fail, makes watching movies like The Mummy (1999) make sense.
Hubris is a powerful theme in the film as it’s what awakens Imhotep and begins his mission to destroy the Earth for the one he loves. Like Apocalypse, he raises the stakes of the situation higher than ever, and the film being set in Egypt makes for an aesthetic fit that’s hard to beat.
