Like the original X-Men: The Animated Series, X-Men ‘97 has featured several exciting cameos that instantly ignite talks among fans. As many wait for the appearance of Captain America after the revival dropped that big teaser trailer, the shocking Episode 5, Remember It, featured the surprising cameo of The Watcher, watching the massacre of Genosha. So, to address this issue, supervising director Jake Castorena breaks his silence about it and has production designer Anthony Wu to thank.
In an interview with ComicBook’s Phase Zero podcast, Castorena revealed that Wu was behind the sneaky appearance of The Watcher in X-Men ‘97 Episode 5. He admitted it took an “insanely monumental team effort” to do something like it and get “everything across and executed.”
“And to that point, The Watcher! Shout out to Anthony Wu, our production designer,” he revealed. “He went in there and said, 'I'm gonna go paint this,' and then we said, 'Oh! We missed it the first time you put it in there!' It's like, oh cool.”
As expected, The Watcher’s appearance leads to different theories, like a possible What If…? crossover, along with several talks about what might happen next to the mutants after that midseason episode changed their lives forever. But aside from Uatu, Castorena also addressed the recent Captain America tease. However, he just played coy about it.
“Yeah, I don't know anything about that,” he said. “I can't say anything because it's Captain America.”
Why did The Watcher appear in X-Men ‘97 Episode 5?
Castorena continued that The Watcher only appears for a seminal event, like the timeline or sacred stuff. Hence, he’s not there to support or help the X-Men as they see Genosha crumble. He’s just there because he needs to watch it.
“Just kind of be like, 'Hey, you know, it's got to happen.' So, someone's gotta watch this,” he said.
Castorena added that The Watcher is part of the original canon as he has made cameos in X-Men: The Animated Series. He even thanked the OG show’s director, Larry Houston, for making those appearances possible. He then addressed whether The Watcher fans saw in X-Men ‘97 Episode 5 was from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Though he didn’t give a definite answer, he explained several versions of The Watcher exist in the franchise.
“I'm not saying it is or it isn't The Watcher is from the MCU because stuff changes all the time,” he cleared. “As of this point, you know, the MCU, they have their own Watcher. They have that version of The Watcher. And also, Watcher transcends time, space, and relevancy. So, that's our Watcher. It's their Watcher. It's a Watcher.”
X-Men '97 Episodes 1-6 are now available to stream on Disney+, while new episodes are slated to release every Wednesday. The first season only has four episodes left, so fans have to keep their eyes open on who may appear next.
