X-Men ’97 Season Finale Ties Into Star Trek

If you’re an X-Men ‘97 fan who doesn’t know a phaser from a self-sealing stem bolt, you probably need a primer on this Star Trek episode. In short, “Cause and Effect” has Captain Picard and the Enterprise-D crew stuck in a time loop that always ends with their destruction. Eventually, the android Data finds a way to send a crucial message to himself that helps everyone finally break out of the fatal loop they were trapped inside.

Based on that summary, it won’t surprise you that X-Men ‘97 fans have been pestering DeMayo with their theories as to how the finale will tie to Star Trek. When fans took to X to ask if our merry band of mutants was going to deal with a time loop of their very own, he responded: “not necessarily.” It sounds like the creator is playing coy, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see that someone like Cable will be stuck in a loop that keeps culminating with the destruction of Genosha.

While the X-Men ‘97 explicit connection to Star Trek was unknown at the time, we previously predicted that this finale would hit the reset button for the series, most likely through the use of Bishop (someone who conveniently hasn’t been seen since getting lost in the time stream). Right now, the attack on Genosha is the major pivot point of the series: it’s how Bastion made his first big move, how public support of mutants turned toxic, and how many fan-favorite mutants like Madelyne Pryor and Gambit were killed. 

For better or for worse, a time loop could result in a reset that avoids Genosha’s destruction, setting up a second season with the nation as an ongoing mutant utopia. This would allow it to function a bit like Krakoa functioned in the comics, which would be fitting for a show that often mixes and matches different comic storylines.

There’s one other fan theory about the connection between X-Men ‘97 and Star Trek that’s almost too wild to ponder. In “Cause and Effect,” we find out the Enterprise was colliding with an older ship caught in the same time loop, and the captain of that ship was played by Kelsey Grammer. He famously played Beast in the early X-Men films and reprised that role for a post-credits scene in The Marvels, so it’s not entirely out of place that Grammer could feature in this animated finale.

It may not have been the X-Men ‘97 creator’s primary goal, but Beau DeMayo has gotten fans hyped in the best possible way by mentioning this Star Trek episode connection. It’s the kind of hint that has two different fandoms wracking their collective nerd knowledge for every possible answer. We haven’t seen this much enthusiastic speculation about these mutants since the heyday of comic stores back in the ‘90s, and we’ll be sad to leave this nostalgic little time loop when season one airs its finale episode on May 15 on Disney+.