X-Men ’97’s Mother Askani Explained: How Rachel Summers Fits Into Marvel’s Timeline

Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for X-Men ’97 season 2’s first three episodes.X-Men ’97 season 2 has premiered, and with it comes a powerful Marvel character with ties to one of the most important mutant families. The X-Men have appeared in a long list of adaptations over the years, ranging from Fox’s X-Men movie franchise to the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday in terms of live-action releases, and animated shows like X-Men: The Animated Series.

The latter ended up becoming one of the most relevant X-Men projects to date, counting all the comics, video games, movies, TV shows, and more. That is why one of Marvel’s best TV shows, X-Men ’97, was so celebrated when it was released in 2024. The animated series continued the universe set up by the original show from the 1990s.

That said, it also added a lot of new features and characters that made it a resounding success. One of the most talked-about elements of the show was how it allowed Wolverine to take a backseat so that other mutants could shine after Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine got all the spotlight in live-action. This led to a Cyclops renaissance in the fans’ eyes.

Cyclops was firmly the field leader of the X-Men in season 1, and the character’s corner of the franchise continues to play a major role in X-Men ’97 season 2. Now that the first three episodes of X-Men ’97 season 2 have been released, fans have gotten to know more about Mother Askani, who is actually a member of the Summers family, even if the show does not reveal it in its return.

X-Men ’97’s Mother Askani Is Rachel Summers

In the X-Men ’97 season 2 premiere, Cyclops does not fully trust Mother Askani, with the Marvel hero wanting to take his son, Nathan, and run away alongside Jean Grey. We learn that Mother Askani, who is a powerful mutant, was responsible for saving the X-Men from certain death on Asteroid M back in season 1 and scattering the team through time, which she did to try to stop En Sabar Nuh from becoming Apocalypse in the past, and get Cyclops and Jean to train Nathan to defeat him in the far future. Nathan takes a major step towards becoming Cable.

While the show had in store that major reveal about Mother Askani, X-Men ’97 season 2’s first episodes do not answer who she really is. In the comics, Mother Askani is not only the leader of the Clan Askani, who is dedicated to stopping Apocalypse, but she is also Rachel Summers, aka the daughter of Cyclops and Jean Grey. That said, she comes from an alternate, dystopian timeline from the iconic “Days of Future Past” storyline. Interestingly, that event served as the clear inspiration behind the X-Men ’97 season 2 premiere’s title, “Days of Past Future.”

Rachel Summers Appeared In X-Men ’97 Before Becoming Mother Askani

The presence of Mother Askani is actually not the first time that Rachel Summers has appeared in X-Men ’97. The character was one of the many Marvel players who had a cameo role in X-Men ’97 season 1, episode 8, “Tolerance is Extinction – Part 1.” However, she looked quite different. Instead of the Mother Askani look, which is very similar to Cable, only thinner, with a long braid and markings on her face, Rachel Summers appeared with long red hair and a Jean Grey-like green coat as she repaired the Golden Gate Bridge.

Rachel appeared in a flash-forward sequence to Bastion’s post-apocalyptic future. The markings on her face reflect her Hound status, which is that of mutants used as a police force of sorts to track others of their own kind. Given how the X-Men stopped Bastion, that future did not come to pass. As such, it remains to be seen whether X-Men ’97 season 2 will explain exactly how Rachel Summers came to be Mother Askani in the 40th century and care for her brother, Nathan/Cable.

Release Date

March 20, 2024

Network

Disney+

Directors

Jake Castorena, Emi Yonemura, Chase Conley

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