Last season on X-Men ’97, the show kicked into high gear in the fifth episode with the shocking, devastating death of Gambit (A. J. LoCascio). Well, X-Men ’97 Season 2 did the first season one better by throwing a heartbreaking main character death in the fourth episode, today’s “Rise of Apocalypse – Part II.” Spoilers past this point, but in the closing moments of the episode, Apocalypse (Ross Marquand) murdered Magneto (Matthew Waterson) while Professor X (also Marquand) watched in horror.
To lay this all out a little further, the second part of last week’s culminating episode found some of the X-Men still back in time 5,000 years, with the team split on whether to reform En Sabah Nur (Adetokumboh M’Cormack), the younger version of Apocalypse, or ditch the timeline altogether. Turns out the decision was taken out of their hands because of a little thing called “time wackiness.” Or in other words, the show is playing with the cyclical nature of time and destiny.
Entering a source of strange Celestial power, it turns out that Ship, Apocalypse’s sentient, er, ship was buried in ancient Egypt… And despite the best efforts of the team, with the past, present, and future laid out on the walls of Ship, En Sabah Nur became immediately aware that they weren’t trying to help him towards a better future; they were trying to stop his destiny as a conqueror.
A big fight ensued, and when En Sabah Nur was transformed into Apocalypse, Magneto made a decision for the team, sending them back to the 1990s using Bishop’s (Isaac Robinson-Smith) time bands… All but himself, and Professor X, who was stopped from heading back to the “present.” Without getting too far into the weeds here, Apocalypse piloted Ship to the city ruled by Rama Tut (John De Lancie), who revealed himself to be Kang the Conqueror, and fled… With Apocalypse promptly getting Ship to form a black hole over the city, aiming to kill everyone inside.
Instead, Magneto and Professor X worked together to get Apocalypse away from Ship with enough time for Magneto to ram Ship straight into the black hole, saving most of the city. In the process, Magneto was wounded. And while Professor X watched, Apocalypse walked over to Magneto, picked him up by the head, and blasted him to atoms. Apocalypse, however, didn’t worry too much about Professor X, tossing him Magnteo’s helmet and calling Xavier an “ant.”
So yeah, Magneto is dead, blasted to smithereens by Apocalypse, and Professor X is left sobbing in the desert until Bishop returns, taking him back to the… 1990s. Will Magneto come back somehow? Given time travel is in play this season, it certainly seems possible. And what will this do to Professor X, will he break bad without Magnus by his side? We’ve got five more episodes to go to find out.
Does Magneto Die In The Marvel Comics?
Buddy, Magneto dies all the time in Marvel Comics. Most of the X-Men do, to the point that Mutant Resurrection became a whole main thrust of the iconic Krakoa storyline that ran through the past few years of books. Magneto died in the Judgement Day storyline that crossed over the X-Men, Avengers, and Eternals (who were created by Celestials). And he also died in the Inhumans Vs. X-Men storyline in 2016.
But even earlier, Magneto seemed to die in X-Men #45, X-Men #63, both times by seemingly falling to his death. He also died in the rebooted X-Men #1 by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee in an Asteroid M explosion, which was lightly adapted in the X-Men ’97 Season 1 finale. He also died in New X-Men #115, when Genosha was destroyed (see last season of X-Men ’97 as well), then again in New X-Men #150 after it was revealed he had faked his death and was posing as the mutant Xorn this whole time. And he died again in Magneto #19 in the lead-up to Secret Wars (2015).
However, what this particular X-Men ’97 death seems to be riffing off of is the beginning of the Age of Apocalypse storyline. It’s wildly different — there, Xavier’s son Legion travels back in time to get his dad to love him by killing Magneto, only to accidentally kill Xavier, instead — but given the Apocalypse ties and Magneto death that at least seems to be a touch point.
The main takeaway here, though? At least in the comics, Magneto is a cockroach who can’t be killed. From coming back as a clone of himself named Joseph, to rebooting the universe bringing him back fresh and new, we’re likely not totally done hearing Magneto’s name quite yet. Remember it.
X-Men ’97 Season 2 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
X-Men ’97 Season 2 premieres on Wednesday, July 1 on Disney+ at 3am ET / Midnight PT, with three new episodes on premiere date followed by one episode weekly until the finale.
Here’s the full list of episodes in X-Men ’97 Season 2 with expected premiere dates:
- Wednesday, July 1, 2026: X-Men ’97, Season 2, Episode 1, “Days Of Past Future”
- Wednesday, July 1, 2026: X-Men ’97, Season 2, Episode 2, “A Force To Be Reckoned With”
- Wednesday, July 1, 2026: X-Men ’97, Season 2, Episode 3, “Rise Of Apocalypse – Part I”
- Wednesday, July 8, 2026: X-Men ’97, Season 2, Episode 4, “Rise Of Apocalypse – Part II”
- Wednesday, July 15, 2026: X-Men ’97, Season 2, Episode 5, “Weapon X, Lies, And DVDs”
- Wednesday, July 22, 2026: X-Men ’97, Season 2, Episode 6, “Danger.exe”
- Wednesday, July 29, 2026: X-Men ’97, Season 2, Episode 7, “Strange Land, Savage Heart”
- Wednesday, August 5, 2026: X-Men ’97, Season 2, Episode 8, “The Dead Man’s Hand”
- Wednesday, August 12, 2026: X-Men ’97, Season 2, Episode 9, “Survival Of The Fittest” *Season Finale*
Where To Watch X-Men ’97 Season 2
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