This is a spoiler-free review of the first four episodes of X-Men ‘97 Season 2. The series premieres on Disney+ on July 1.

Sometimes, it doesn’t necessarily pay to put popular franchises in the hands of devoted super-fans. Look at Star Wars, for example. No one would accuse Tony Gilroy of being the world’s biggest Star Wars nerd, yet Andor is arguably the best thing to come out of that property in the Disney era. But with a project like X-Men ‘97, the rules are a little different. This is a series fundamentally built on nostalgia. The writers and animators are clearly deep, deep fans of the original X-Men: The Animated Series and the comics that inspired it. The result has been and continues to be a show that reveres the past even while being unafraid to chart a bold new future.

Without burying the lede here, X-Men ‘97 Season 2 is exactly what fans of Season 1 have been waiting for. The several-year gap between seasons may have been painfully long, but the series doesn’t suffer one bit because of it. These first four episodes build nicely off the fallout of Season 1 and quickly establish an even darker and more foreboding status quo for this animated Marvel Universe.

Season 2 is divided along three parallel points in time, all linked by a connection to the tyrannical villain Apocalypse (voiced in different eras by Ross Marquand and Adetokumboh M'Cormack). Half of the X-Men have been dragged into the future, where Apocalypse reigns over mankind and the nomadic Clan Askani is the only resistance left. The other half find themselves in Ancient Egypt, a time when Apocalypse is still a young mutant waging war on Rama-Tut (John de Lancie). As those twin conflicts play out, it falls on a haphazard band of mutant heroes like Bishop (Isaac Robinson-Smith), Forge (Gil Birmingham), Jubilee (Holly Chou), and Cable (Chris Potter) to fill the void left by the missing X-Men and continue the fight for human/mutant coexistence in the present.

These first four episodes juggle those conflicts with grace. It helps that the writers don’t attempt to keep all these plates spinning simultaneously, but rather break each storyline into its own dedicated episode (or episodes). This gives each group of characters room to breathe while still maintaining a brisk overall sense of pacing and progression. Unlike Season 1, it’s clear from the outset what the overarching conflict is and who the main villain is this time, and Season 2 is quick to build on that foundation.

If anything, the series can be a little too quick in that regard. That was one of the few drawbacks of Season 1 - that relentless pacing that sometimes caused the series to blow through classic X-Men source material in the span of a single episode. For example, “Fire Made Flesh” gave us a very stripped-down version of Inferno, and “Remember It” abruptly cut short all that fascinating potential on Genosha. There are times here, particularly in Episode 1, where it seems the series is still pushing forward a little too rapidly and not giving the material full breathing room. At some point, X-Men ‘97 is going to run out of vintage X-Men stories to adapt, so what happens then?

Still, you have to admire the writers’ ambition, and there’s a lot of great material for classic X-fans to sink their teeth into. These episodes adapt elements of classic ‘90s storylines like The Rise of Apocalypse and The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, while also including nods to more contemporary X-Men comics for good measure. But it hardly matters if you’re not familiar with the material that inspired the series. Like its parent series, X-Men ‘97’s greatest strength lies in its ability to make you care deeply for these characters and the madcap soap opera that is their lives.

Season 2 really leans into that quality. Beneath all the colorful trappings and the time travel spectacle, the series is really concerned with the very real and personal struggles our heroes face. Cyclops (Ray Chase) and Jean Grey (Jennifer Hale) have reunited with their time-displaced son Nathan (Michael Johnston). But how long can this reunion last, and can they put their responsibilities as parents over the needs of the world at large? As Jubilee is drawn into Cable’s war, how much is she willing to compromise for the sake of the survival of her people? And perhaps most pivotal of all, Professor Xavier (Marquand) and Magneto (Matthew Waterson) find themselves locked in another ideological battle, this time over the fate of the man who will be Apocalypse. All of this is tied together by that age-old question - is the future written in stone, or can fate be altered?

That Xavier/Magneto storyline is easily the highlight of these early episodes. They, along with Rogue (Lenore Zann), Beast (George Buza), and Nightcrawler (Adrian Hough), find themselves stranded in the past amid En Sabah Nur’s first great war. The series thrives here when it comes to exploring Magneto’s complex moral code and worldview. He’s no longer a villain in the strict sense of the word, but there’s still a vast gulf separating his actions from that of his old friend. And by setting part of the series during Apocalypse’s early years, the writers have a valuable chance to explore a very different side of the character. He’s no longer the pompous mutant overlord, but a man who is still malleable and capable of great good. All of this culminates beautifully in Episode 4’s climax, one which rivals “Remember It” in terms of emotional impact.

The Cable/Jubilee storyline also proves surprisingly entertaining. It serves as a bit of a fun palate cleanser amid all the time travel melodrama, while also highlighting just how grim the situation in 1997 has become. Defeating Bastion and Operation: Zero Tolerance was hardly the end of mutantkind’s woes. This material leans into some of the more colorful trappings of the ‘90s X-Men milieu and gives the series a chance to flesh out several characters who were basically glorified cameos in the original series.

Naturally, X-Men ‘97 doesn’t have room to give every character the attention they deserve. Morph (J. P. Karliak) and Nightcrawler are fairly underutilized here, and Rama-Tut is far less a focus than a character so devilishly voiced by de Lancie deserves. Even the ever-popular Wolverine (Cal Dodd) remains a bit of a lower priority for the series. Those hoping for Season 2 to immediately launch into exploring the ramifications of losing his adamantium will come away disappointed, though I have little doubt we’ll be getting an episode dedicated to that subplot at some point.

Visually and sonically, the series continues to work very well as a modernized update to the original. The animation is fluid, colorful, and dynamic, and Season 2 has the added benefit of these new eras to bring an extra dash of variety to the table in terms of costumes and environments. There’s an especially impressive action scene early on in Episode 1 that makes great use of fog and ethereal lighting. Episode 4, meanwhile, reminds us just how massive the scope of X-Men ‘97 can become when the situation calls for it.

The voice cast is equally impressive, whether it’s the X-Men: The Animated Series veterans like Dodd, Buza, and Zann or the contemporary replacements like Chase and Hale. Waterson remains an MVP of the series, as there’s no way Magneto’s grandiose dialogue would work without the proper force and dignity behind it. And as mentioned, de Lancie is really a delight as Rama-Tut in those few scenes in which he appears.

Only Apocalypse himself leaves me feeling somewhat ambivalent on the vocal front. M'Cormack is great as the younger version of the character, but Marquand’s evolved Apocalypse doesn’t quite capture the booming, bass-y menace of John Colicos from the original animated series. Hopefully, that’s a role he’ll settle into as this Apocalypse-centric season continues to unfold.