X-Men ’97’s debut has left viewers with burning questions around Mother Askani and Nathan Summers, as well as the team’s time travel plot. The new season features the heroes scattered across different time periods. They must find a way back to the 1990s while confronting Apocalypse’s looming threat. As the season premiered its three episodes recently, curiosity has grown around some key elements of the story.
Who are Mother Askani and Nathan Summers in X-Men ’97?
Nathan Summers is the son of Cyclops and a clone of Jean Grey, whereas Mother Askani is Rachel Summers in X-Men ’97.
Fans first met Nathan Summers in Season 1, when Mister Sinister infected him with an incurable techno-organic virus. Panicked over his condition, Cyclops and Jean sent their son into the future with time traveler Bishop so that he could survive.
Upon arriving in the future, Cyclops and Jean learn that Bishop has passed the responsibility onto someone else. That person is a hooded figure who calls herself Mother Askani, leading her namesake cult. Mother Askani is, in fact, Rachel Summers, who debuted in 1981’s Uncanny X-Men #141 by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, as part of the classic Days of Future Past storyline. She is the daughter of Cyclops and the non-clone Jean Grey.
How did the X-Men time travel to Apocalypse’s future?
A mysterious force is responsible for the X-Men’s time travel to Apocalypse’s future.
This happens during the X-Men ’97 Season 1 finale, when an unidentified force divides the team, sending them across different time periods. The force sends half of the team to the past and hurls the other half into the far future of 3960, a desolate world that Apocalypse rules. Cyclops and Jean Grey visit this reality during the Season 2 premiere, “Days of Past Future,” which unfolds the Summers family tree and reveals new details about Apocalypse.
X-Men ’97 Season 2 streams exclusively on Disney+, with the next episode, “Rise of Apocalypse – Part II,” arriving on Wednesday, July 8, 2026.
