Disney+ just confirmed a historic release for its next MCU series, and the plan does something no Marvel Studios show of its kind has managed before. The streamer keeps changing how it rolls out these titles, mixing weekly episodes, two-episode openers, full-season binges, and clustered mid-season releases. However, its next series takes a completely different route.
That next release is X-Men ’97 Season 2, premiering on July 1 on Disney+. In an official Disney+ press release, the streamer laid out the series' release format in its rundown of new July titles, confirming that the first three episodes drop together, before the nine-episode season shifts to one new installment each week. No Marvel Studios animated series ever premiered with three episodes, so this start counts as a first for the studio’s animation arm.
Marvel Studios’ animated shows always started smaller. Its first animated series, What If...?, opened with one episode in 2021 and then added a new one each week. X-Men ’97 itself began Season 1 with two episodes in March 2024 before settling into a weekly run.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man also launched with two episodes in early 2025, while Marvel Zombies went the other way, releasing all four episodes on a single day. None of them led with three episodes.
Only one Marvel Studios series of any type premiered with three episodes at once, and that was Ironheart. The live-action story of Riri Williams, the teenage inventor introduced in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, premiered with three episodes in June 2025, closing out its run with three more a week later.
X-Men ’97 Season 2 now becomes the first animated title under Marvel Studios to share that kind of premiere strategy.
X-Men '97 Season 2's Release Format Will Enhance Viewing Experience
A three-episode start fits the kind of story Season 2 is set to tell. This season follows the X-Men as they find themselves scattered across different eras, including ancient Egypt and a distant future. The team must fight its way back to the 1990s while the immortal villain Apocalypse moves against them.
A single half-hour opener would barely cover that setup, leaving fans waiting for an entire week. Three episodes give the season space to lay out how huge the stakes are and let viewers feel the scale of the threat before the traditional weekly wait begins. This will make the season premiere closer to a short film than a normal TV debut, making it more exciting.
The weekly schedule after that opening protects what binge drops tend to lose. When a series arrives all at once, fans race through everything in a day and move on, which is close to what happened with Marvel Zombies and a few other animated releases.
Spacing out the back half keeps X-Men ’97 in the conversation through July and gives each new episode its own window of attention. The premiere format brings the early rush of a binge release, while the weekly rollout keeps the slow-burning excitement of appointment viewing. This will give fans a nice blend of both worlds.
If fans fall in love with the three-episode launch, Marvel Studios will have every reason to start both Season 3 and Season 4 the same way. Should the studio do that, X-Men ’97 would become the first Marvel Studios series to start back-to-back seasons with a three-episode premiere.
With a third and fourth season already lined up, the streak could go on for three straight years. Nothing in the studio’s catalog has used that kind of pattern, but of course, this is also because Marvel Studios rarely released multiple seasons for Disney+ shows until recently. In fact, X-Men '97 Season 4 is the first-ever Marvel Studios series to receive a fourth season. The studio is becoming more open-minded with its TV shows, so X-Men '97 repeating this release format in the future won’t be too big a surprise.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
