X-Men ’97 Brings A Discarded Villain Back Into The MCU
And it’s not the one you think it is.
X-Men ’97 made a wise choice centering its new season on the threat of Apocalypse. The all-powerful mutant was naturally a staple of the original X-Men series, but it’s been a long time since any X-Men media portrayed him faithfully (or with much personality). That changes as Marvel’s most underrated series returns for Season 2. With the help of a wild time-slipping twist, X-Men ’97 is now all about Apocalypse, following his early days as a former slave in Ancient Egypt — back when he was known as En Sabah Nur — and the height of his reign in the far-off future.
The X-Men have one mission this season: to put an end to Apocalypse however (or whenever) they can. But he’s far from the only villain they’ll have to face as they trek across time. X-Men ’97 also brings a surprising antagonist back into Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, and it does so in a very clever way. As Magneto and Professor X work to guide En Sabah Nur away from his megalomaniacal fate, they have to face off against another familiar obstacle, one who very nearly conquered Marvel’s Multiverse in live-action. Spoilers ahead for X-Men ’97 Season 2 Episode 3.
The X-Men vs. The Pharaoh
The X-Men have their hands full with Nur, but Rama-Tut won’t make their lives any easier.
When we catch up with Magneto, Professor X, and a handful of X-Men in Ancient Egypt, they’re assisting En Sabah Nur in an uprising against the seated Pharaoh. While we don’t see his face, we do hear his name and bear witness to the awesome, atemporal power he wields against his enslaved workers. His second-in-command, General Logos, uses incredibly advanced tech to keep their warriors in line. He also calls the pharaoh Rama-Tut, a name that comic scholars might recognize. If not, X-Men ’97 offers a few more hints about Rama-Tut’s true identity. When the pharaoh launches an attack against Nur’s stronghold, he asks, “Let us see who is more fit to survive: the slave, or the conqueror?”
That’s right — Rama-Tut is an incarnation of Kang the Conqueror, one of his youngest variants and the first version of the character we ever meet. He first appeared in Fantastic Four #19 in 1963 — then known just as Nathaniel Richards — and there, the titular group attempted to stop him from achieving his dark destiny as the super-evil Immortus. Though they kinda cut him off from his future self, the Fantastic Four can’t stop him from traveling to the past. Richards built a time machine that took him to Egypt circa 2960 BC; armed with future technology, he made quick work of conquering the land and becoming its uncontested pharaoh.
Rama-Tut could be just as dangerous as En Sabah Nur.
In the comics, Rama-Tut is searching for En Sabah Nur in the hopes that the world’s first mutant will become his heir. It’s a very different story in X-Men ’97. Rama-Tut will stop at nothing to defeat the freedom fighter and the army he commands, because he fears that En Sabah Nur will thwart his plans to locate a hidden temple and amass even more power. Professor X gets a glimpse of this temple when he peers into Logos’ mind. Created by immortal “star gods” at the beginning (or maybe the end?) of time, it has the power to turn Rama-Tut into a god — but it might just as easily do the same for Nur.
“He is where the end begins,” an ominous Voice tells Xavier, and that could refer to a different Kang variant, He Who Remains, or Apocalypse, who will rule the world thousands of years down the line. We’ll probably find out who defeats whom in next week’s episode, which will deliver the second part of X-Men ’97’s “Rise of Apocalypse” storyline.
Is X-Men ’97 adapting The Kang Dynasty?
Marvel dropped its plans for a Kang-centered Avengers movie, but the X-Men might be picking up that thread.
X-Men ’97 is doing a great job of adapting Apocalypse’s origins for the screen — but with the rise of Rama-Tut, the series might also have another iconic storyline in mind. In the comics, the Avengers faced Kang and his legion of variants in a series called The Kang Dynasty. That epic battle was once set to be the next major event for the MCU after the Infinity Saga, with Jonathan Majors appearing as Kang, Rama-Tut, Immortus, and countless other variants in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. When Majors was convicted of assault in 2023, however, Marvel promptly dropped its plans to adapt The Kang Dynasty in a new Avengers film. Instead, the super-team will face off with Doctor Doom (played by Robert Downey Jr.) before the multiverse fractures in Avengers: Secret Wars.
While that’s all happening on the live-action front, however, the X-Men might get the chance to redeem an abandoned Kang storyline. Kang is mostly an Avengers adversary, but given the time-slipping twists at play this season, he clearly fits well into X-Men ’97. Magneto’s bond with En Sabah Nur is still pretty shaky, and there’s no telling whether he’ll be able to steer Nur away from the dark side. Rama-Tut also seems to want to keep Nur from becoming Apocalypse, but he’s a bit too eager to shed blood in order to do it. That makes him more of a hindrance than a help — but that could force Nur to work with the X-Men to stop him, rather than against them. Either way, the presence of Kang makes the timey-wimey nature of this season even less predictable, and we can’t wait to see what comes of it.
