X-Men Season 3 News

Written by Andy Mangels

Stretching into its third top-rated season on FOX, X-Men will include several more multipart stories, more guest stars, and a few cast changes. With 22 new episodes on tap for fall, FOX recently moved X-Men to the 11AM Saturday-morning slot, keeping Marvel's top mutants away from their big competition, CBS's WildC.A.T.s series.

Did you miss the two all-new primetime X-Men episodes at the end of July and beginning of August? "Out of the Past: Parts One and Two" introduced Yuriko, Wolverine's former lover. When she seeks revenge against Logan as the cyborg Lady Deathstrike, she unleashes an alien entity that may make short work of at least a few of the X-Men and the Reavers! Don't fret if you missed this action-packed two-parter. They'll be rerun during the season.

X-Men will debut with a weekday five-part mini-series on September 5-9 (replacing Batman: TAS at 4:30PM), leading to the Saturday premiere on September 10. What exactly is the mini-series about? This title should give you a clue: "The Phoenix Saga." When the Shi'ar Princess Lilandra asks Professor Xavier for his help in combatting her power-hungry brother, D'Ken, the X-Men will end up in a cosmic battle which has repercussions for the entire team.

In "Part 1: Sacrifice," Shi-ar emissary Eric the Red commandeers the Eagle One Space Station so that D'Ken can launch a preemptive strike against Lilandra. While the X-Men stop him, the shuttle is re-entering Earth's orbit in flames. Who can save them? Find out in "Part 2: Dark Shroud," in which Jean Grey joins with the amorphous Phoenix force to save the lives of her teammates, and Professor X undergoes an alarming transformation.

Lilandra entreats Xavier for more help in "Part 3: Cry of the Banshee," even as Jean Grey struggles with her Phoenix powers, and Banshee makes his first appearance. In "Part 4: Starjammers," the Phoenix completely envelops Jean and the battle for the M'Kraan crystal gets deadly in space, where the X-Men encounter the Starjammers. Finally, Phoenix must make a desperate sacrifice to stop the all-powerful D'Ken in "Part 5: Child of Light."

After that bang-up beginning, what else is on tap for the X-Men? Only time will tell.

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