A new report reveals that X-Men ’97 performed worse than the first season of Marvel Studios’ animated series What If…? that premiered back in 2021.
(L-R): Wolverine (voiced by Cal Dodd), Storm (voiced by Alison Sealy-Smith), Beast (voiced by George Buza), Jubilee (voiced by Holly Chou), Bishop (voiced by Isaac Robinson-Smith), Morph (voiced by JP Karliak), Gambit (voiced by AJ LoCascio), Rogue (voiced by Lenore Zann), Jean Grey (voiced by Jennifer Hale), and Cyclops (voiced by Ray Chase) in Marvel Animation’s X-MEN ’97. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2024 MARVEL.
Variety’s Selome Hailu details that DIsney informed him and the outlet that X-Men ’97 brought in four million views in its first five days on Disney+.
This number made the show “the streamer’s most-watched Season 1 premiere for a full-length animated series since Marvel’s What If…? debuted in 2021.”
(L-R): Magneto (voiced by Matthew Waterson) and Rogue (voiced by Lenore Zann) in Marvel Animation’s X-MEN ’97. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2024 MARVEL.
While Variety, Disney, and Marvel are clearly trying to spin this as a win, a look at Marvel’s What If…? from 2021 shows this is not the case. Marvel’s What If…? had a single episode premiere for “What If… Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?” on August 11, 2021.
In comparison, X-Men ’97 had a two episode premiere for both “To Me, My X-Men” and “Mutant Liberation Begins.” Both episodes dropped on Disney+ on March 20, 2024. That means that a single episode debut back in 2021 beat out a two episode premiere in 2024.
(L-R): Wolverine (voiced by Cal Dodd), Morph (voiced by JP Karliak), Bishop (voiced by Isaac Robinson-Smith), Cyclops (voiced by Ray Chase), Val Cooper (voiced by Catherine Disher), Gambit (voiced by AJ LoCascio), Rogue (voiced by Lenore Zann), and Storm (voiced by Alison Sealy-Smith) in Marvel Animation’s X-MEN ’97. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2024 MARVEL.
When the two shows were released also shows that X-Men ’97’s viewership is not that great. The Walt Disney Company reported that in its 4th quarter of Fiscal Year 2021, which ended on October 2, 2021 total subscribers to Disney+ totaled 118.1 million.
In their most recent report for the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2024, Disney reported that Disney+ had a total of 149.6 million subscribers. That means a show from 2021 when Disney+ only had 118.1 million subscribers beat a show from 2024 when Disney+ had around a total of 149.6 million subscribers.
Just to reiterate, there are around 31.6 million more subscribers on Disney+ today when X-Men ’97 debuted compared to when What If…? premiered and What If…? still had higher ratings.
Magneto (voiced by Matthew Waterson) in Marvel Animation’s X-MEN ’97. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2024 MARVEL.
READ: X-Men ’97 Showrunner Confirms Show Embraced Woke Casting
This is not new for Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm. Financial analyst Valliant Renegade called for Disney to stop spending money on Marvel and Star Wars Disney+ programs because the shows are seemingly not driving subscriptions and increasing the company’s Disney+ revenue.
He wrote on X back in September 2023 following Ahsoka’s poor ratings that were worse than The Book of Boba Fett, “Ahsoka’s viewership for the premiere measured lower than that of Book of Boba Fett when adjusted for run time. That’s AWFUL. Disney+ has added millions of subs since then. None of them are signing up for Star Wars or Marvel.”
He then declared, “It’s time for Disney pull the plug on those franchises (on Disney+) because the cost to benefit ratio is WAY out of whack. They are spending too much money to produce mediocre crap at best that no where near enough people are watching to justify these obscene costs. #DisneyDumb.”
Valliant Renegade on X
What do you make of X-Men ’97 failing to best Marvel’s What If…? premiere that debuted on Disney+ back in 2021?
I just hope enough of the old fans saw this garbage as the nostalgia bait and switch that it is.
Magneto looking a bit like a grandma there….
reminds me of granny goodness