Do you need to watch X-Men before X-Men ’97?

By Alex Wiggan

So, you’re aware of the existence of new animated show, X-Men ’97, and you know it is proving popular with viewers, but as of yet you’ve not started watching. Partially this is because you have a million and one adult responsibilities eating away at you, and partially it is because you want to sit down and binge-watch every episode rather than follow along week-to-week.

All of this is completely fair and understandable, and don’t worry, X-Men ’97 will be there for you when you are ready. Heck, the show has proved to be such a hit with fans it is unlikely to be disappearing from Disney+ anytime soon.

But if you are finally in the process of gearing up to watch X-Men ’97, you might be wondering if you need to do a bit of homework first. After all, X-Men ’97 is a continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series, so this could mean you need to watch another cartoon first, before you start this one.

In fact, do you need to watch X-Men before you watch X-Men ’97? Is the original show essential viewing for understanding this new series?

The simple answer is no. While X-Men ’97 is indeed a continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series, features the same characters, and makes various references to the past, you do not need to watch the original show to enjoy the new one – you can simply start your journey with episode one!

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Watching the original X-Men show isn’t necessarily a bad idea though, because it is a fantastic series in its own right and it will enhance your experience. X-Men ’97 is built on the foundations of X-Men: The Animated Series, and it is where you’ll find a great deal of X-Men lore.

But unless you want to work your way through five seasons (totalling 76 episodes), you may just want to dive into X-Men ’97. The great thing about the new show is how accessible it is for new audiences.

But, let’s say you would like to revisit some of X-Men: The Animated Series before you start X-Men ’97, where would you begin? Are there a handful of episodes from the old show which would be good to watch ahead of the new one?

Well, yes, there are. X-Men ’97 features call-backs to some key episodes from X-Men: The Animated Series, so if you wish to do a little bit of prep-work, there are some episodes you could check out first before tackling the new cartoon.

Taking it season by season, these are the episodes of X-Men: The Animated Series you may wish to watch ahead of X-Men ’97.

Season One

For Season One, it would be good to watch the following six episodes:

Night of the Sentinels – Part One
Night of the Sentinels – Part Two
Slave Island
Days of Future Past – Part One
Days of Future Past – Part Two
The Final Decision

Watching these six episodes will take you approximately two hours.

Season Two

For Season Two, there are three episodes which would be worth a watch:

Till Death Do Us Part – Part One & Part Two
Till Death Do Us Part – Part One & Part Two
Mojovision

Watching these three episodes will take you approximately one hour.

Season Three

For Season Three, there are nine episodes to watch:

The Phoenix Saga – Part One
The Phoenix Saga – Part Two
The Phoenix Saga – Part Three
The Phoenix Saga – Part Four
The Phoenix Saga – Part Five
The Dark Phoenix Saga – Part One
The Dark Phoenix Saga – Part Two
The Dark Phoenix Saga – Part Three
The Dark Phoenix Saga – Part Four

Watching these nine episodes will take you approximately three hours.

Season Four

For Season Four, there are four episodes to watch:

Beyond Good and Evil – Part One
Beyond Good and Evil – Part Two
Beyond Good and Evil – Part Three
Beyond Good and Evil – Part Four

Watching these four episodes will take you one hour and twenty-minutes.

Season Five

For Season Five there is just one episode to watch:

Graduation Day

Watching this episode will take you just twenty minutes.

X-Men ’97 doesn’t require prior knowledge of all these episodes, so you DON’T have to watch all of them, but the new show does touch upon themes, characters, and storylines which relate to the episodes and multi-part storylines highlighted above. So, if you wanted to skip through the old show, and just dip in and out, these are the episodes worth checking out.

X-Men ’97 does also make brief nods and references to one or two other episodes, but you really don’t need to go beyond what is listed above. Watching the above episodes will give you both an overview and a flavour of the previous show, and that should be more than enough for now.