The MCU Officially Teases A Major Avengers: Doomsday X-Men Theory

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for X-Men ’97 season 2 episodes 1-3

The MCU has just teased one of the biggest Avengers: Doomsday theories regarding the X-Men. Set to appear alongside major heroes like The Avengers and Fantastic Four, Marvel’s classic X-Men heroes are confirmed to be from an alternate reality apart from the main MCU timeline of Earth-616. Now, Marvel Studios is potentially supporting a major idea about these particular versions of the X-Men.

One of the best things the MCU has always done is its interconnectivity across projects. So many Easter eggs, cameos, references, and cues have been used to create ties and bridges between various movies and shows. Additionally, those connections aren’t limited to Earth-616 alone, especially after the premiere episodes of Marvel Studios’ animated X-Men ’97 season 2.

The first season of X-Men ’97 featured several non-mutant characters via brief cameos like Captain America, Iron Man, Black Panther, Spider-Man, and more classic Marvel heroes, though the show has largely been set in its own continuity shared with other Marvel animated shows from the 90s, officially designated Earth-92131. However, an appearance from Uatu the Watcher has helped confirm the world’s canonical existence in the greater Marvel multiverse. Keeping that in mind, a brand-new nod to the MCU is well worth talking about with Avengers: Doomsday on the horizon.

X-Men ’97 Season 2’s Premiere Episodes Feature An Exciting Loki Reference

In the first three episodes of X-Men ’97 season 2, audiences are shown the current stakes and status quo of multiple characters in the past, present, and future. While half of the X-Men were sent to a dystopian future ruled by Apocalypse, the other half were sent thousands of years into the past before Apocalypse’s rise in Ancient Egypt. Meanwhile, mutant teams like X-Factor and Cable’s X-Force are shown to be at odds amid Apocalypse’s growing power in the 90s.

Although these first three episodes of X-Men ’97 Season 2 are full of awesome Easter eggs, references, and on-screen cameos, it’s actually an audio cue that’s the most exciting. At the end of both the first and second episodes, when Nathan Summers embraces his destiny and Cable and sends the X-Men back to the present, composer Natalie Holt’s “Purpose is Glorious” from the ending of Loki season 2’s finale can be heard.

In Loki season 2, the same music can be heard when Loki similarly embraces his new purpose and destiny as a new god holding the Sacred Timeline and various timelines from collapsing, transforming as a multiversal protector to keep those he loves and cares about safe. Keeping that in mind, it can’t be a coincidence that the same music was used during the scenes where Nathan similarly embraces a new purpose as Cable.

At the very least, it’s a clever multiversal Easter egg for the MCU fans who never miss a beat. That said, one could argue that this new thematic bridge could be hinting at something much bigger for the animated mutant heroes of X-Men ’97.

X-Men ’97 Is Not The Only Marvel Studios X-Men Project In 2026

Image courtesy of Marvel

Of course, X-Men ’97 season 2 is not the only mutant-focused Marvel Studios project this year. As has been confirmed by official casting announcements and teasers, Avengers: Doomsday is set to feature a strong number of X-Men from Fox’s now largely defunct live-action universe, which first began in 2000, bringing back beloved actors like James Marsden (Cyclops), Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler), Professor X (Sir Patrick Stewart), and Magneto (Sir Ian McKellen). That said, it’s already been teased that these X-Men might not be the same versions of the characters we’re familiar with (despite being the same actors).

New costumes and designs are looking very different than what was seen in Fox’s live-action movies, the biggest examples being James Marsden’s Cyclops wearing a comic-accurate blue and yellow suit for the first time in one of Doomsday’s first teasers, or Kelsey Grammer’s Beast being fully CGI in The Marvels post-credits, looking far more like he does in the comics/animation. As such, it’s incredibly fascinating considering just how convoluted and messy Fox’s live-action X-Men timeline became by the time it essentially wrapped up with Dark Phoenix/The New Mutants.

Naturally, this has led many to speculate that while Marvel Studios is bringing back familiar legacy actors for peak nostalgia hype, they’ll actually be playing X-Men from a whole separate universe…but what if it’s a universe we’re already familiar with?

Are Avengers: Doomsday’s Mutant Heroes Actually The Animated Series’ X-Men?

The more potential clues that emerge, the easier this exciting X-Men theory is to imagine. Overall, it’s increasingly feeling more and more likely that Marvel Studios wants to take full advantage of X-Men ’97’s major hype and immense positive reception. Likewise, using the animated depictions/characterizations would likely be easier for Doomsday’s X-Men than taking the time to explain and reconcile the history and complexities of the more broken live-action Fox timeline.

Additionally, the multiverse offers endless possibilities. They could even be X-Men coming from a reality adjacent to the animated X-Men timeline, one far closer in its brighter colors and aesthetics to X-Men ’97 and the original animated series than the movie timeline. It’d certainly explain why past MCU projects have elected to use the iconic animated X-Men theme when teasing the X-Men/mutants.

Combined with this new musical connection to Loki (who does have a confirmed role in Doomsday), it feels very likely that X-Men ’97 is at the very least acting as a secret primer for mainstream audiences ahead of the X-Men’s live-action return in the next Avengers movie. After all, having the same beloved X-Men actors take on more comic/cartoon-accurate depictions certainly feels like the best of both worlds. It could also help create a smoother bridge ahead of Marvel Studios’ plans to debut their own new X-Men native to Earth-616 in the aftermath of the Multiverse Saga.

For the time being, it’s just a fun theory, though one that’s feeling more and more likely the closer we get to Avengers: Doomsday’s release at the end of the year. Between the more classic colorful costumes, multiple animated series nods in the MCU’s past, and now an exciting tie between Marvel’s best live-action and animated projects, I’m definitely starting to believe that the returning live-action mutants in Doomsday are going to be directly inspired by the X-Men ’97 versions, it not being the same heroes we’re currently seeing on Disney+ (which would be all kinds of wild).

New episodes of X-Men ’97 season 2 release Wednesdays on Disney+ from Marvel Studios.