As the well-received X-Men '97 animated series nears its ends, fans are speculating that the next step for Marvel is to follow it up with an Avengers vs. X-Men storyline. Now, one voice actor has added weight to that speculation by saying it has “a real chance.”
Warning! This article contains spoilers for X-Men '97 Season 1.
X-Men '97 features a number of superhero cameos from across the Marvel universe, including a recent glimpse at Spider-Man, and a longer look at Captain America. Episode 7, dubbed, Bright Eyes, revolves around a distraught Rogue hellbent on revenge for the death of Gambit. Along the way, she bumps into Captain America, who is on a mission of his own.
In one scene, Rogue throws Captain America’s famous shield way over the horizon before flying away. Captain America is left in the dust, presumably on the long run to recover the shield.
Now, speaking to ComicBook.com, Professor X voice actor Ross Marquand referenced that scene, and said there’s “a real chance” an Avengers vs. X-Men storyline could happen.
"You saw what happened in the last episode [with] Rogue and Captain America," Marquand said. "There's a real chance that that could happen. He can't fly. Captain can't fly. She threw that in the side of a snowy mountain. I'm sure it's lodged in there 50 feet deep. He ain't gonna find that shield. It's not like Mjolnir where you can just like pull it back, it's stuck in that thing. He's gonna be pissed at Rogue for a while."
While X-Men '97 is yet to conclude its first season, there are already tantalizing theories about how it may connect to the wider MCU in the future. As IGN explored in our recent article, X-Men '97: 10 Burning Questions After Episode 8, not only do we see Spider-Man, but both Doctor Doom and Baron Zemo are given speaking roles as part of Bastion's secret cabal. There’s even a reference to Kamar-Taj.
Perhaps Marvel is lining up an epic crossover that would see the X-Men do battle with the Avengers, as the two superhero teams have done before in the comics. It’s all speculation for now, but what we do know is Marquand is happy to continue to voice Professor X for years to come.
"I say this to my manager all the time," Marquand said, "if this is the last thing I do with my career, I'd die a happy man. I really would."
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Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
