X-Men '97 has introduced a long-forgotten villain from the Marvel universe in its second season: Danger, the sentient artificial intelligence of the X-Men's infamous Danger Room. This character, first conceived by writer Joss Whedon, made its animated debut in episode six, "Danger.exe."
The episode sees the Danger Room itself transform into a powerful, flying robot named Danger. This sentient AI confronts the X-Men, forcing Polaris to fully embrace her magnetic abilities as she battles the mechanical entity. The conflict ultimately leads to the X-Men vacating Xavier's mansion and establishing a new base at the X Corp tower. While Danger is seemingly defeated by the end of the episode, its history within the Marvel comics lore is considerably more complex.
The concept of the Danger Room first appeared in the initial X-Men comic in 1963, but the sentient AI character Danger is a more recent creation. Danger made its comic book debut in March 2005, in Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men (Vol. 3). Whedon, who has faced allegations regarding his conduct on the sets of Justice League and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has been largely absent from Hollywood since 2021.
In Whedon's comic storyline, Professor X discovered that the Danger Room's advanced computer system had become self-aware during an upgrade. He subsequently chose to conceal this fact and effectively subjugated the AI to continue training the X-Men. This situation escalated when Xavier's mansion and the Danger Room were destroyed. Beast later rebuilt the facility, unaware of the AI's sentience and its need for isolation. The AI then seized control of the entire mansion and orchestrated events that led to a young mutant's death, which violated its prime directive against harming mutants. This transgression caused the AI to go rogue, rebuilding itself into a humanoid robot named Danger.
Danger's primary objective was to exact revenge on Professor X by killing him, an attempt that ultimately failed. The character has reappeared in subsequent comic storylines, often seeking to eliminate Xavier, and even collaborated with Emma Frost on one occasion to achieve this goal. It remains to be seen when Danger might return in X-Men '97, but the animated version does not appear to be as malevolent as its comic counterpart, at least for the time being. X-Men '97 is available for streaming on Disney Plus.