The new X-Men '97 Season 2 trailer confirmed three new major villains coming to the hit animated series. 2026 will mark the return of the acclaimed X-Men '97, a spiritual successor to the beloved X-Men: The Animated Series of the 1990s. This second season will see plenty of the same heroes and villains back on the small screen, but it will also include some exciting new additions.
As part of its New York Comic-Con (NYCC) 2025 festivities, X-Men '97 pulled the tarp off a brand-new, never-before-seen trailer for the show's upcoming second season. This approximately two-minute sneak peek at the 2026 Marvel release included plenty for attendees to ogle over, whether it be the show's new primary big bad, Apocalypse, or a time-travelling plot that will see Marvel's marvelous mutant team scattered throughout time.
However, one key element that has fans talking is the teaser's inclusion of three new-to-the-series villains set to arrive in Season 2.
X-Men '97 Season 2 will come to Disney+ sometime in 2026, picking up where the series' acclaimed first season left off. Set as a direct sequel to the X-Men cartoon of the mid-'90s, '97 follows the same take on the iconic Marvel Comics team from the original show in their continued adventures, directly succeeding the events of the mainline series.
Every New Villain Confirmed in the X-Men '97 Season 2 Trailer
Omega Red
Omega Red was one of several X-Men villains teased at the end of X-Men '97 Season 1 (seen fighting Bastion's grunts in the show's first season finale); however, to say he was a major big bad would be a stretch.
The character will seemingly take a more prominent role in X-Men '97 Season 2. He popped up for a split second during the show's NYCC trailer, whipping his
Carbonadium tentacles toward the camera in what looks to be an epic super-powered battle.
Born Arkady Rossovich, Omega Red is a former Soviet soldier who was experimented upon by the country he served, and was subsequently fused with a metal known as Carbonadium. He would then go on to become one of Wolverine's most formidable adversaries, as he continues his fight to rule over both his homeland and the world.
Sabertooth
While Omega Red is one villain often connected to Wolverine, Sabertooth is THE Wolverine big bad. The fur-lined mutant is a former member of Team X, sporting a very similar powerset to James "Logan" Howlett.
The X-Men villain was a pivotal character in the original X-Men: The Animated Series. He appeared in several episodes of the original animated show, standing alongside Magneto as one of the mutants trying to take down Charles Xavier's team.
He appears to be filling a very similar role in X-Men '97 Season 2, although this time around, he looks to have flipped sides of the super-powered equation, teaming up with the heroes rather than the villains (read more about Sabertooth here).
Lady Deathstrike
Shown right next to Sabertooth in the NYCC trailer is another villain with close ties to Wolverine, Lady Deathstrike. The claw-bearing character also looks to have swapped sides in the new series, helping out the X-Men in their quest against Apocalypse.
One can likely assume that this alliance with characters like Lady Deathstrike will only last so long, as their more sinister tendencies can only be held back for so long.
In the comics, Lady Deathstrike is the daughter of the man behind the Adamantium-bonding process that created characters like Wolverine. After Wolvie ruthlessly kills her father, she vows to take the longtime X-Man down, coating her own bones in Adamantium and becoming a mutant villain in her own right.
