The True Identity Of Mother Askani In X-Men '97 Season 2, Explained

Contains spoilers for "X-Men '97" Season 2, Episode 1 — "Days of Past Future" 

"X-Men '97" is among the best Marvel animated shows ever made, and Season 2 is just around the corner. It continues the action from the ending of Season 1 by focusing on the year 3960 A.D., where Cyclops (Ray Chase), Jean Grey (Jennifer Hale), Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith), Wolverine (Cal Dodd), and Morph (J.P. Karliak) have ended up, per the "X-Men" Season 1 post-credits tease. As it turns out, they're there for a reason: Mother Askani (Gates McFadden) rescued them, hoping to end the brutal rule of Apocalypse (Ross Marquand and Adetokumboh M'Cormack). 

During the events of the Season 2 opener, Storm confronts Askani, who reveals her face and hints at her identity as someone from a particularly brutal future. While she doesn't actually state her name, astute fans will immediately recognize her as the older version of Rachel Summers, Cyclops and Jean's child from another timeline.

People who watched "X-Men: The Animated Series" may notice that we've actually seen Rachel before, even though she wasn't named there, either. She appears in the "Beyond Good and Evil" arc of Season 4 as one of the psychics captured by Apocalypse. Fans who know their comics will be aware that Rachel is destined to become Mother Askani and likely recognized her as such when Askani entered the mix at the end of "X-Men '97" Season 1 — but now, the show finally reveals its cards on the subject of this character.

As the fact that Mother Askani plucked the X-Men from their own time and hoisted them into the past and the future suggests, the mutant formerly known as Rachel Summers is no joke when it comes to sheer power. The character hails from the far future of Earth-811 and used to spend some time in the present, using the alias Phoenix and serving as a key member of the UK-based mutant team Excalibur. Eventually, she lands in a future where Apocalypse has crushed the world under his fist and starts using the Askani moniker to fight back. Knowing that her half-brother Nathan is key to defeating Apocalypse, she starts manipulating the events to turn him into Cable.

Like her mother, Rachel has a connection to the Phoenix force, using it with control and precision whenever she's linked with it. She's also an immensely powerful telepath and empath whose psychic abilities can reach across time and manifest in a number of offensive and defensive ways. And, as if all of this wasn't enough, she's also one of the strongest telekinetic characters out there, able to freely travel in time and different realities. In other words, she's almost peerlessly powerful. The fact that she still needs help against Apocalypse is a reminder of just how mighty the villain is.

Since Mother Askani is so powerful and Rachel Summers had no pre-existing voice actor from the "X-Men: The Animated Series" days, "X-Men '97" had to find a voice performer who could convey the character's wisdom and might. As the Season 1 finale showed, the series managed to do just that by landing on none other than Star Trek legend Gates McFadden. 

"X-Men '97" creator Beau DeMayo and head of Marvel Animation Brad Winderbaum were immediately drawn to McFadden after seeing her on "Star Trek: Picard," reprising her role as Beverly Crusher. "I was probably watching the original 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' while reading X-Men comics, and she always felt like Jean to me," Winderbaum told Entertainment Weekly. "They were very similar. So to play Mother Askani feels like there's a poetry to it."