X-Men '97 finale trailer includes a dig at the X-Men movies

The X-Men ‘97 season 1 finale trailer is here teasing the final three episodes, as well as throwing some shade at the live-action X-Men movies. 

In the preview for Tolerance is Extinction, we see the X-Men prepare to face new villain Bastion and his Sentinel cybernetic hybrids, as well as a cute bonding moment between Cyclops and his son Nathan Summers, AKA Cable, who has traveled back in time to save his father and the X-Men. Watch the full trailer above. 

But it’s the 10-second snippet at the end that is the most interesting, where Cyclops attempts to give Cable an official blue and yellow X-Men uniform to wear. Cable scoffs and asks "Am I going to war or a circus?" to which Cyclops replies, "What did you expect? Black leather?" Now we don't know about you, but that sounds like a direct dig at the early ‘00s black leather X-Men suits. See the clip posted on Twitter by X-Men Updates below. 

Now, this isn't the first time that on-screen superheroes have made fun of past interpretations of characters, but this reference seems to call out X-Men 2000 in particular. This is when we first saw Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, Halle Berry’s Storm, James Marsden’s Cyclops, and more in black leather suits, massively differing from their comic book characters. Luckily for the fandom, times have changed, so much so that we have just had our first full look at Jackman in Wolverine’s proper blue and yellow X-Men get-up in the new Deadpool 3 trailer. The leather is no more.

As for X-Men ‘97, the series so far has transported us right back to the ‘90s following everyone’s favorite band of mutants. In episode 7, we saw the gifted group locate the Sentinel inventor, and Bastion was revealed as the real villain against the X-Men. In the final three episodes, we will see the X-Men once again band together to face a mutual threat.

The finale begins on May 1 with Tolerance is Extinction part 1, then will continue on May 8 with part 2, and on May 15 with part 3. See our X-Men ‘97 release schedule for more.

X-Men '97 is available to watch on Disney Plus. For more on the series, check out our guide to all of the X-Men ‘97 Easter eggs and cameos you may have missed, or our guide on how to watch the X-Men movies in order.

Editorial Associate, GamesRadar+

I am an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering TV and film for SFX and Total Film online. I have a Bachelors Degree in Media Production and Journalism and a Masters in Fashion Journalism from UAL. In the past I have written for local UK and US newspaper outlets such as the Portland Tribune and York Mix and worked in communications, before focusing on film and entertainment writing. I am a HUGE horror fan and in 2022 I created my very own single issue feminist horror magazine.  

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