The first Marvel Studios project of 2024 looks to outdo its Disney+ predecessors with a record-breaking number of episodes.
Set to debut on Wednesday, March 20, X-Men '97 is Marvel Studios' anticipated revival of X-Men: The Animated Series from the 1990s and the latest non-MCU canon project from Marvel Animation.
X-Men '97's Record-High Episode Count
According to a Disney+ press release, the first season of X-Men '97 consists of 10 episodes, breaking the current record for the longest Marvel Studios-produced season with a weekly release schedule.
Disney+ also recently confirmed that X-Men '97 will debut with two episodes when it premieres on March 20.
Here are the lengths of every Marvel Studios season on Disney+ so far:
- WandaVision - 9 episodes
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - 6 episodes
- Loki - 6 episodes
- What If...? - 9 episodes
- Hawkeye - 6 episodes
- Moon Knight - 6 episodes
- Ms. Marvel - 6 episodes
- I Am Groot - 5 episodes
- She-Hulk: Attorney at Law - 9 episodes
- Secret Invasion - 6 episodes
- I Am Groot Season 2 - 5 episodes
- Loki Season 2 - 6 episodes
- What If...? Season 2 - 9 episodes
- Echo - 5 episodes
While the episode count for this animated revival is unprecedented, it's unlikely to hold the record for long.
Daredevil: Born Again is confirmed to have an 18-episode season when it drops in 2025, but the series will reportedly be released in two halves instead of a consistent week-by-week format.
As reported by CBR, Wonder Man is also rumored to have a 10-episode season, eventually tying X-Men '97 for the record when it debuts.
Although X-Men '97 will hold the largest number of episodes released in a season for a short while, it still shares a record with What If...? Season 1, and She-Hulk.
As the cartoon is confirmed to premiere with two episodes per its release schedule, it will share the record for the longest run for an MCU series with weekly episode releases, lasting nine weeks altogether.
[ Every Marvel Show Releasing In 2024 ]
Is X-Men '97 Season 1 Actually Short?
Since X-Men '97 is an animated series with a large ensemble cast of iconic Marvel mutants, a longer season isn't just logical but expected.
However, the upcoming season is still short in comparison to seasons of X-Men: The Animated Series, only tying with the show's fifth and final season's episode count.
It's also worth noting that fans don't know how long each episode of X-Men '97 will be.
Marvel Studios Disney+ series have established a trend of varying episode runtimes, but episodes of the original X-Men show typically averaged 22 minutes.
If X-Men '97 follows suit, the series may be a Marvel Disney+ record breaker in terms of episode count, but not necessarily in length.
The studio's animated fare has tended to stick to more uniform runtimes though, with What If...?'s installments tending to hover around the 34 to 38 minute marks. Therefore, the upcoming mutant series should remain consistent.
Fans can expect to see and hear more about Marvel Studios' first full-fledged mutant project soon.
X-Men '97 premieres Wednesday, March 20 on Disney+.
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