How Does X-Men ’97 Connect to Spider-Man?

Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can. But just what does he have to do with the upcoming Disney+ X-Men animated series? If you’re wondering how X-Men ’97 connects to Spider-Man, here’s the answer.

How Does X-Men ’97 Connect to Spider-Man?

Disney Plus’s upcoming X-Men ’97 is a continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series, which, thirty years later, has a huge fan base. And if you only ever watched that show, you might be wondering what Spider-Man has to do with the X-Men, other than all of them being Marvel characters.

However, as confirmed by the show, Spider-Man and the X-Men ’97 characters exist in the same animated universe. There was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment where Spider-Man’s arm was visible, and that was all X-Men: The Animated Series gave viewers. However, the 1994 Spider-Man animated series, which often ran in the same block as X-Men: The Animated Series, went further.

Spider-Man regularly borrowed characters from other animated shows, and in some cases, unlikely characters cropped up. The Punisher showed up, which was interesting, to say the least. Captain America and Iron Man also had cameos, and, among those crossovers, Spidey teamed up with the X-Men.

In Season 2, Spider-Man sought out the X-Men’s help in dealing with his mutation problems, and Storm turned up in the later Secret Wars arc. The characters were voiced by the same actors as in their own show, and it was a cool crossover if you happened to catch it. And it confirmed that, yes, Spidey was out there swinging around while the X-Men were doing their own thing.

Related: Is X-Men ’97 Set in the MCU?

Will Spider-Man Be in X-Men ’97?

So, with all that in mind, will Spider-Man be in the X-Men ’97 series? It’s certainly possible, and the series’ trailer has confirmed that Spider-Man is still part of the X-Men ’97 universe. There’s a brief moment in the trailer where you see a page of the Daily Bugle with the words “Is SpiderMan a mutant?” on the top.

Actor Christopher Daniel Barnes, who played Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the original series, is still acting and has played different versions of Spider-Man in other media, including the Marvel Heroes game. But given that the first season is only ten episodes long, I doubt he’ll be cropping up in this initial outing. And with all the Marvel/Sony shenanigans going on, a crossover may not be as easy to pull off as it once was.

So the answer to how X-Men ’97 connects to Spider-Man is that X-Men: The Animated Series and Spider-Man take place in the same universe. Just don’t count on the new series giving us more than a brief reference to the Web-Slinger.

X-Men ’97 hits Disney+ on Mar. 20.