X-Men '97 #2
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeX-Men '97 #2 is where Mister Sinister's assembled strike force—dubbed the 'Sinister Seven' and comprising the Marauders alongside Siena Blaze and Hazard—move from foreshadowing into full action, giving Earth-92131 its first fully active versions of Sabretooth, Harpoon, Riptide, Arclight, and Prism in comic form. Because the Marauders never appeared in either the original 1992 animated series or in the Disney+ revival itself, this issue represents a pure canon-immigrant moment: beloved comics antagonists finally crossing over into the animated universe's continuity exclusively through the page. The issue also advances the series' central dramatic irony—Cyclops's joy over Jean's pregnancy set against the audience's knowledge that she is Sinister's clone—making it a pivotal emotional and plot hinge in the four-issue prelude.
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The four-issue X-Men '97 limited series was announced in December 2023 and launched on March 27, 2024, timed to accompany the Disney+ animated revival. Writer Steve Foxe and artist Salva Espín were already familiar collaborators, having worked together on X-Men '92: House of XCII, and the series was produced in direct coordination with showrunner Beau DeMayo and the rest of the X-Men '97 production team, giving the comic genuine narrative authority as an official prelude. Issue #2, with a Final Order Cutoff of March 11, 2024, reached stores on April 10, 2024, with cover art by Todd Nauck and colors by Rachelle Rosenberg on the main cover; a variant cover by Nick Dragotta was also available. The collected edition of the four-issue run was later retitled X-Men '97: Great X-Pectations once the sequel series X-Men '97: Season Two was announced.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published April 10, 2024 by Marvel Comics; written by Steve Foxe, art by Salva Espín, colors by Matt Milla, letters by VC Joe Sabino, edited by Jordan White, main cover by Todd Nauck.
- Issue #2 features the first fully active appearances of the Marauders—Sabretooth, Harpoon (Kodiak Noatak), Riptide, Arclight (Philippa Sontag), and Prism—within Earth-92131 continuity; they were only glimpsed as static images in issue #1.
- Mister Sinister fields a 'Sinister Seven' consisting of the Marauders plus Siena Blaze and Hazard (Carter Ryking)—a grouping original to this series, as Siena Blaze and Hazard are independent characters unaffiliated with Sinister in the main Marvel continuity.
- The Marauders never appeared in the original X-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997) or in the Disney+ X-Men '97 animated series itself, making their Earth-92131 presence an exclusive to this comic prelude.
- Cyclops learns Jean Grey is pregnant in this issue—a joyful moment underlaid by the dramatic irony that Jean is Sinister's clone and Sinister covets the child, a plot thread running throughout the prelude series.
- Morph rejoins the X-Men during the issue's climax, helping Storm and Wolverine repel the Marauder attack, reestablishing the character's team membership ahead of the animated series.
- The series was created in close collaboration with X-Men '97 showrunner Beau DeMayo and the production team, giving it official prelude status that feeds directly into the events of the Disney+ show.
- The collected edition of the four-issue series was retroactively given the subtitle Great X-Pectations after the announcement of the sequel limited series X-Men '97: Season Two (2026).
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Reprinted in X-Men '97: Great X-Pectations #[nn] (2024)
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