A trailer for season 2 of X-Men ’97 shown at Comic Con Revolution leaked online and fans couldn’t be more excited. With very few updates about season 2, which is set to premiere on Disney+ sometime in summer 2026, anything that hints at what we can expect from the popular animated series is always appreciated.
What we do know is that one of the main plot points of the season is the time-displaced team of Rogue, Nightcrawler, Beast, Magneto and Professor Xavier dealing with the mutant En Sabah Nur in Egypt 3,000 B.C. before his transformation into the brutal survivalist Apocalypse. The trailer also gave us a look at Nathaniel Richards, the time-traveling conqueror known as Rama-Tut. He’s not a well-known character with little ties to the X-Men mythos, but he does play a crucial role in making Apocalypse the living nightmare he is.
Who is Rama Tut?
Rama-Tut’s real name is Nathaniel Richards, the real name of Kang the Conqueror. In fact, Rama Tut is one of the many aliases Kang has assumed as a result of his time-traveling.
He was born in the 30th century of an alternate Earth known as Other-Earth (Earth-6311), where civilization never experienced the Dark Ages. This led to humanity developing advanced technology in peace for centuries. Bored with the comforts that come with living in a utopia, Richards became obsessed with the past.
Using a time machine, he traveled back to Ancient Egypt (roughly 3000 BC). Hiding his time machine behind a Sphinx-like exterior, Richards enslaved the population and took the throne for himself thanks to his futuristic weapons. Because his technology was far beyond anything the people of that era had seen, many believed him to be a god, or at least an agent of the sun god Ammon Ra. Richards wasn’t anywhere close to being a god. He was a man with an almost childish hunger for power.
As Pharaoh, Rama-Tut ruled through fear. He enslaved the lower class, forced the upper class into obedience, and suppressed the worship of Egypt’s traditional gods.
But it wasn’t long until Rama-Tut set his sights on something far more valuable.
Rama Tut’s Obsession with En Sabah Nur
Due to his advanced technology and using his knowledge to investigate history, Rama-Tut knew the existence of a young mutant named En Sabah Nur, who was destined to become one of the most powerful beings who would ever live: Apocalypse.
En Sabah Nur was born with gray skin with blue lines running across his lips and face. After he was abandoned by the Akkaba settlement, he was rescued by a nomadic tribe called the Sandstormers led by a man named Baal. Raising the infant as his own son, Baal named him En Sabah Nur, roughly translated as “The First One”. Baal taught Sabah that only the strong survive, planting the seeds for what would devolve into a ruthless philosophy.
Rama-Tut heard of this strange young man and wanted to take him under his wing. If he had Nur under his control, shape him, guide his power, then the most dangerous force in history would be his to wield.
So he ordered his general Ozymandias to find the boy and bring him in by any means necessary.
Ozymandias led the armies of Egypt against the Sandstormers. Many members of the tribe were killed while others were taken as slaves. Baal and a small number of survivors, including Nur, escaped.
Baal showed the young man a hidden chamber containing fragments of Rama-Tut’s original time machine, proof that their so-called god-pharaoh was a fraud. Baal told Nur he believed the boy was destined to overthrow the pharaoh. Then Baal died from exhaustion and starvation, which traumatized Nur.
When he crawled back to the surface, he was found by Logos, Rama-Tut’s grand vizier, and one of his trusted advisors. But Logos had enough of Rama-Tut’s cruelty and was plotting against his master.
Rather than hand Nur over to the pharaoh, Logos hid him among the palace slaves. He gave him food and water, keeping him alive and out of Rama-Tut’s reach for as long as he could.
The Birth of Apocalypse
Eventually, Rama-Tut’s soldiers found En Sabah Nur among the slaves, and the pharaoh had Logos arrested for treason. He then brought Nur before him alongside Nephri, the sister of Ozymandias, who had been promised to Rama-Tut as a bride.
Rama-Tut made Nur an offer: become his heir and stand at his side.
Then he had Logos tortured and killed in front of him.
To say this was the dumbest decision Rama Tut could make is an understatement. Nur had already lost Baal and the Sandstormers. Now he’d just watched the one man who’d shown him kindness in Egypt die. He rejected Rama-Tut and both Nur and Nephri were imprisoned in a sealed chamber known as the Vault of the Dead.
In the darkness of the Vault of the Dead, En Sabah Nur’s latent mutant powers activated as he tore apart a giant serpent. His body surged with power as he grew larger and more imposing. He broke free, and he brought Nephri with him.
But when Nephri saw what he’d become, she recoiled in fear and disgust. Despite everything Nur had done for her, she stood by her brother’s side, the one who’d left her for dead. The rejection cut deep as it confirmed what life up to that point had taught him. Humanity would never accept him, kindness was a show of weakness, and that the strong really are the only ones who come out on top.
He gave himself a new name to reflect this mindset: Apocalypse.
He made his way to the Sphinx, the heart of Rama-Tut’s power and found the advanced Celestial technology hidden inside. He used it to transform Ozymandias into living stone. He then flooded his former tormentor’s mind with the vast history of humanity, breaking Ozymandias until he became Apocalypse’s slave for all eternity.
Then he destroyed all evidence of Rama-Tut’s presence in Egypt.
As for Rama-Tut, between Nur’s rapidly growing power and losing his grip on his kingdom, he fled Egypt.
What This Could Mean for X-Men ’97
Season 1 of X-Men ’97 ended with Professor X, Magneto, Beast, Rogue and Nightcrawler being sent to 3000 BC, where they encountered a young En Sabah Nur. Season 2 picks up from there, with the X-Men scattered across time and Apocalypse confirmed as the season’s main villain.
The show is expected to draw from the 1996 comic miniseries The Rise of Apocalypse, which covers Apocalypse’s origin story and establishes Rama-Tut as the driving force that made Apocalypse the monster he is. It’s very possible that in X-Men ’97, the team may try to prevent En Sabah Nur’s corruption only to make things worse.
Rama Tut Made the Monster
Rama-Tut came to ancient Egypt with knowledge of the future and believed that made him untouchable. He knew who En Sabah Nur was destined to become and still thought he could control him. Every decision he made, from massacring the Sandstormers to murdering Logos, pushed Nur closer to a future Rama Tut was trying to prevent.
In the end, Rama-Tut understood what he had done. He had tried to tame a force of nature and only succeeded in unleashing it. The being who would threaten mutant kind and humanity for thousands of years existed, in no small part, because of him.That is the story season 2 of X-Men ’97 is about to tell.
Season 1 of X-Men ’97 is available to stream on Disney+. Season 2 will premiere sometime this summer.
