The upcoming X-Men ‘97 was one of the main focal points at Marvel Animation’s first Comic-Con panel. And while we didn’t get a full trailer for this highly anticipated revival of X-Men: The Animated Series, we did see glimpses of the many mutant characters who will be appearing. The ‘90s are clearly alive and well at Marvel.

What classic X-Men storylines will the series adapt this time? How exactly is the series building on the finale of its predecessor? Thanks to the panel, we have some important clues about the plot of X-Men ‘97.

Headmaster Magneto

When X-Men originally went off the air in 1997, the series ended on a very open-ended note. Professor X left Earth to be with Lilandra and the Shi’ar, leaving a (mostly) reformed Magneto to lead the X-Men into a new era. It appears the revival series will be building directly on the backbone of that finale.

That twist draws on various plot points from the 1980s-era Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants comics. For a time, Xavier did indeed attempt to retire in space while Magneto took charge of his old friend’s school. In addition to becoming headmaster to a new class in the pages of New Mutants, Magneto was put on trial for his past crimes in Uncanny X-Men #200.

The fact that the panel included artwork of Magneto in his infamous Uncanny X-Men #200 costume (the purple unitard with the giant white “M” logo) suggests that Mags will face a similar legal battle in the animated series. He may have turned over a new leaf, but that doesn’t change the fact that he attacked a NASA facility, kidnapped a presidential candidate and created his own orbital space station over the course of the original series.

Introducing the New Mutants

With Magneto in charge of the Xavier Institute now, we have to wonder if X-Men ‘97 will introduce the New Mutants alongside the core X-Men roster (which is confirmed to be the same as in the original series). Rather than Jubilee filling the role of underage trainee, will there be an entire team of junior X-Men learning the superhero ropes this time?

Adding fuel to that fire is the fact that Cable and Sunspot were among the supporting characters teased during the panel. Sunspot is one of the more popular New Mutants members, and he was also a founding member of X-Force when Cable arrived to transform the New Mutants into a more militaristic super-team.

One complication is the fact that we technically already saw X-Force in the original series, though only as a silent cameo. Does that imply the New Mutants already existed in this universe?

It’s also possible the series will focus on Generation X rather than the New Mutants. Generation X became the de facto young X-Men team in Marvel’s ‘90s comics, and it just so happens Jubilee was a core member of that team.

The Age of Apocalypse

Apocalypse was one of the main recurring villains over the course of the original series, and it would be a shame not to continue that trend in X-Men ‘97. Could we even see a full-fledged adaptation of the fan-favorite Age of Apocalypse crossover?

Granted, the original series already loosely touched on that material with the two-part “One Man’s Worth” storyline in Season 4. But while that story showed us an alternate timeline where Charles Xavier never survives to form the X-Men, it didn’t deal with Apocalypse at all. There’s certainly plenty of room left for X-Men ‘97 to tackle a longer and more ambitious adaptation.

An Age of Apocalypse adaptation makes even more sense when you remember that Wolverine and the X-Men was going to cover that ground in Season 2 before that series was canceled. Maybe X-Men ‘97 can succeed where Wolverine and the X-Men failed.

The Sentinels and Operation: Zero Tolerance

The Sentinels were the main villains of Season 1 of the original series, showing just how far humanity was willing to go to keep the growing mutant population under control. And while Bolivar Trask, Henry Peter Gyrich and their robotic creations mostly faded from the spotlight in later seasons, it seems these characters are making a comeback in X-Men ‘97.

Some of the footage teased at the Comic-Con panel shows Cyclops confronting Trask, and we also learned that ruthless government agent Val Cooper is being introduced this time. All of this suggests the government is renewing its war on mutants and likely restarting the dormant Sentinel program.

We can’t help but wonder if this means the show will adapt the crossover storyline Operation: Zero Tolerance. That X-Men epic dealt with the rise of a new villain named Bastion, who turned out to be a fusion of Master Mold and the futuristic Sentinel Nimrod.

The Return of Mister Sinister

X-Men ‘97 will bring back at least one other familiar villain from the original series. Mister Sinister is back, but maybe not in the same role as before.

During the Comic-Con panel, fans were teased that Sinister is less an outright threat to the X-Men than someone encouraging them to achieve their full potential as mutants. We could even see the series draw some inspiration from Marvel’s contemporary X-Men comics, where Sinister is working alongside the X-Men as a citizen of the nation of Krakoa. Though as in the comics, it’s probably just a matter of time until Sinister’s true motives become clear.

It would also be interesting to see X-Men ‘97 touch on the mystery of the third Summers brother. Way back in 1993’s X-Men #23, Sinister accidentally slipped up and referenced Cyclops’ “brothers” in a conversation, suggesting Havok wasn’t Cyclops’ only sibling. That loose end wasn’t resolved until many years later, as the miniseries X-Men: Deadly Genesis revealed the existence of Vulcan and an entire team of X-Men that Xavier kept hidden.

With Xavier off-world now, X-Men ‘97 could mine plenty of drama out of airing the professor’s dirty laundry and digging even deeper into that twisted dynamic between Mister Sinister and the Summers family.

What classic X-Men comics do you want to see adapted in X-Men ‘97?

There's tons of news for all your favorite shows, films, games, and more coming out of San Diego Comic-Con 2022, and we've got the full schedule to guide you through the weekend of panels, announcements, trailers, and surprises.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Comic-Con 2022 has now wrapped up, and there were several fun announcements for franchises including Marvel, Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Game of Thrones' House of the Dragon, TMNT, D&D and more fan favorites.

Across the many announcements, there was news around toys and collectibles too! In case you missed it, here's what was announced (and highlighted) around action figures, statues and more at Comic-Con:

• LEGO: new Avatar sets revealed with a release date of Oct 1, alongside another set announced at LEGO-Con
• 2 New Transformers figures from the Generations Legacy series revealed with a release date of Nov 1.

As brands like LEGO announced new sets and action figures at Comic-Con, it got us excited about the comic merch we have available on the IGN Store. Even though SDCC is officially over, shopping for your favorite action figures, collectibles, t-shirts and merch doesn't have to be. See below for some of IGN Store's best-sellers you can shop now.

Shop Collectibles By Comic-Con Fandom

Our mission at IGN Store is simple: sell high-quality apparel and collectibles for everything you're into. It's a store for fans, made by fans. Whether you're a Marvel or DC fan, into Anime, love Nintendo and gaming, we have so many products for you to browse covering everything comics and gaming.

Here are 4 main fan-favorite franchises you can shop collectibles and apparel from now:

1. Marvel

Spidey Favorite:

2. The Lord of the Rings

Calling all LOTR fans! Whether you're a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien in general, love the movies or read all the books, we have classic LOTR fan merch below right on our Store. If you're interested in the latest LOTR developments, there's news happening around LOTR for Comic-Con including a new Rings of Power trailer just announced at SDCC.

3. D&D

Whether you're a player through and through, or you just got into D&D from watching Stranger Things, we got you covered on some classic D&D shirts for any fan:

4. TMNT

5. LEGO

IGN Store has LEGO sets and figures now! Check out our best-sellers below for Marvel LEGO, from Iron Man to Spider-Man (and more). Note: Discount code below does not apply on LEGO items.

Keanu Reeves has come to Comic-Con to tease the future of his comic book series BRZRKR. And while BOOM! Studios' BRZRKR panel was light on new information regarding Netflix's live-action movie adaptation, we did get some new info regarding the animated spinoff series.

Boom's Stephen Christy confirmed during the panel that the anime is being produced through Japanese animation studio Production I.G. Their previous works include the Ghost in the Shell series and Eden of the East.

Additionally, we learned that the anime is being planned for two seasons on Netflix. We don't yet know the full episode count, but it appears as though the anime will be telling a more contained story rather than being an open-ended continuation of the film.

Written by Reeves and Kindt and drawn by Ron Garney, BRZRKR chronicles the bloody life of B, an immortal demigod who's spent 80,000 years honing his skills as a killer. In the modern era, B works as an agent of the US government, hoping to finally uncover a way of ending his unnaturally long life. Reeves is set to star in the live-action movie and voice B in the anime series.

Alongside these Netflix spinoffs, Reeves is also developing a BRZRKR novel with an unnamed, New York Times bestselling author. Reeves isn't allowed to name the author yet, but he revealed they're one of his favorite writers, and that he specifically reached out to them to collaborate on the book. The BRZRKR novel will be published through Random House.

“We met in Berlin and it was really cool," Reeves told the panel. "They had read the comic and they enjoyed it and they had a lot of questions and they were open and a curious. This will be a collaboration. He’s been kind enough… oh, I said he, whoops…”

As for the comic, Boom is set to publish the third and final story arc beginning in September 2022. Reeves revealed that BRZRKR #12 is a double-sized finale.

“Some stuff’s gonna happen with Caldwell," Reeves teased. "HQ is going to kind of get what they want [menacing laugh]. Things are going to get more difficult. BOOM! is giving us a double issue for issue #12. So it's 48 pages and we're really excited about where the story goes”

It's unclear whether BRZRKR will get a full-fledged comic book sequel, but the panelists did hint at the idea of BRZRKR spinoff comics featuring new stories from various guest creators.

Check out IGN's interview with Reeves to learn more about the creation of BRZRKR.

There's tons of news for all your favorite shows, films, games, and more coming out of San Diego Comic-Con 2022, and we've got the full schedule to guide you through the weekend of panels, announcements, trailers, and surprises.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Since its premiere in 2019, For All Mankind has been garnering attention thanks to its ambitious exploration of space. Now, it's headed back for a fourth season.

Today, during SDCC's For All Mankind panel, Apple TV+ announced that the show's fourth season is on its way. While it doesn't have a release window yet, production on the upcoming season is slated to begin next month.

The series, which is led by executive producers Ronald D. Moore, Ben Nedivi, and Matt Wolpert, explores an alternate timeline where the space race continued and the USSR beat the US to the moon. Last season saw the show headed to Mars in the early '90s.

Season 3 of For All Mankind premiered last month, and we gave it a 9, calling it "one of the most exciting shows on Apple TV+’s growing roster." We also dubbed the new season one of our favorite shows of the month, praising its step into the '90s.

SDCC just kicked off yesterday, though there have already been plenty of exciting announcements including including a first look at Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and a date for the final episodes of The Walking Dead.

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they've contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.

Today at San Diego Comic Con, we learned that the first film from Avatar Studios will focus on the series' original hero: Aang.

Just got some HUGE NEWS from @janetvarney at our #NickSDCC Avatar: Braving the Elements – LIVE! panel, the first feature-length movie from Avatar Studios will be focusing on Avatar Aang and his friends! 💨💦🍃🔥 pic.twitter.com/dsbK1XMCe5

— Nickelodeon (@Nickelodeon) July 22, 2022

Unfortunately, apart from the subject of the film, we didn't learn any other specific details about this, such as when in Aang's life the movie might take place, who else might be involved, what other characters might make appearances, or when we might see it debut.

Avatar Studios was first unveiled last year, and is led by original Avatar creators and producers Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. Though its first three projects (including this first film) are set to be animated, theatrical films, the studio has left the door open for other types of projects down the line as well, such as TV series. Avatar Studios has also said it is laying the groundwork for an "Avatar Airbender universe" across multiple TV series, films, and platforms.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that Lauren Montgomery would direct the studio's first film, with DiMartino and Konietzko involved alongside Eric Coleman.

Netflix also has a live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender in the works, but Konietzko and DiMartino departed citing creative differences.

There's tons of news for all your favorite shows, films, games, and more coming out of San Diego Comic-Con 2022, and we've got the full schedule to guide you through the weekend of panels, announcements, trailers, and surprises.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.