X-Men '97 recently gave fans their first look at who's coming for the team in Season 3. Season 2 ran on Disney+ from a three-episode premiere on July 1 through its finale on August 12. The season sent the X-Men racing across ancient Egypt, a dystopian future, and, of course, the 1990s to stop Apocalypse's rise. With a few twists, turns, and resurrections, the sophomore season set up a lot of story to come. Now, with Season 3 confirmed for 2027, its new rogues' gallery is already starting to take shape.
Marvel Television's panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2026 included a 56-second exclusive clip from X-Men '97 Season 3, and it wastes no time spotlighting a group the revival has barely touched: the Brotherhood of Mutants.
The scene shows Toad, Avalanche, Pyro, and Blob spray-painting "Mutant Freedom" across a building, with new recruit Surge charging up the finished graffiti with a blast of electricity right before a new Sentinel variant, done up in patriotic blue with stars across its chest, closes in.
While these are historically X-Men villains, the scene plays like a heroic fight for mutant rights rather than a supervillain team-up. The throwback feeling of this clip isn't an accident. The characters have also appeared in the original X-Men animated series.
X-Men '97 has original X-Men: The Animated Series veterans Eric and Julia Lewald and Larry Houston consulting behind the scenes, and it shows in how the Brotherhood's new looks were built.
In Season 3, Pyro keeps his spiked blond hair and exact same red mask from the '90s cartoon, just sharpened into something more angular. His look is certainly elevated, but not exactly a total makeover for the fiery mutant.
Toad is the biggest glow-up of the four. Many reacted to the clip, saying it finally looks like an accurate Toad, adding that no version of the character has ever been animated with this much care. He's a bit wider, squattier, and toad-like, for lack of a better term. He's also shown in high-flying action, utilizing his amazing tongue to launch a sentinel head with wonderful grace and agility.
This upgrade isn't just in appearance but in prominence, since Toad only turned up in two episodes of the original series, and the most recent was nearly 30 years ago.
Avalanche is in a similar boat, making his first real appearance here after years of nothing but a cameo in the opening titles. His key moment from the Season 3 clip shows him using his seismic shockwaves to crack the ground, causing a sentinel to fall down.
Surge doesn't have an old animated look to compare against these, since '97 is introducing her Brotherhood membership from scratch on Disney+ rather than pulling it from the comics, where she's usually one of the X-Men.
Her design leans hard into her source material anyway: electric-blue hair, lightning crackling around her fists, and a purple-and-gold bodysuit. Her power-up moment is awesome, delivering the line, "to mutant freedom," but the clip sadly cuts off before seeing her in more action.
Executive producer Brad Winderbaum told the SDCC crowd that Season 3's animation is wrapping up, so there's a good chance this new lineup will debut in 2027.
Houston is hoping for many more seasons, telling The Direct he wants it to last for "five seasons" or "maybe six" to align with the original series:
I would say, if they can at least match what I did [with the original series], five seasons, it would be great. Maybe six. But everything depends on the audience and how well-received the stories that they're doing are."
Only time will tell how much screen time these four incoming villains will get, but many fans believe they know where Season 3 is heading when it returns.
Where Will X-Men '97 Season 3 Pick Up?
