The following article discusses spoilers for X-Men 97 Season 1.
I’m excited for the return of the 90s Saturday morning cartoon version of the X-Men. Still, I’m not sure Marvel, with Disney’s backing, can preserve the style of the original while making a modern show that fans now in their 30s and 40s can enjoy.and X-Men ’97 It’s a full-scale play on our nostalgia, which makes what it delivers all the more bizarre. And better than the original in almost every way.
Of all the Marvel gadgets that need some love, the X-Men arguably need it the most. The ten-episode series is crammed with so many plot points, cameos, comedy legends, villains, twists and even deaths that, at times, it’s hard to process them all – but I absolutely love the relentlessness of it all. X-Men ’97 Begins hardespecially if you’re already an avid fan.
When Marvel first launched its unlimited comic book app, I was very interested in the X-Men back catalog, especially the stories from two of my favorite writers, Chris Claremont and Grant Morrison. X-Men 97 taps into many of my favorite characters and stories. Magneto is put on trial and a (brief?) redemption arc begins, Jean Gray turns out to be a clone, and the comic crams the roughly year-long comic arc “Inferno” into one episode. Other arcs were either wholesale or some repeats, including Dead and Alive, Fatal Attraction, Motendo, Operation: Zero Tolerance, and more.
The highlight of season one (season two is already in progress) has to be the shocking fifth episode, in which the mutant nation of Genosha is destroyed by a powerful Sentinel mothership… Just before the attack destroyed mutant adults, mutant children, and ultimately the X-Men, Cable, the time-traveling son of Scott Summers and Jean’s clones. (See: Hell, as above) appears again to stop the attack. But he failed again and his mother died.
Magneto feels helpless as mutants are slaughtered, and he is forced to relive the genocide he suffered as a child. In the end, Gambit sacrificed himself and used his mutant powers to light up the entire robot. This was after Rogue changed his mind and decided to be with Gambit after rekindling his romance with Magento. Like I said, every episode is a lot.
I’m probably the only one who does this, but I still prefer the animation style and look of the older series. To me, the cartoons might look a little scrappy – or maybe I’m only 39 and not a Disney executive. Most of the action scenes are great too. Cyclops is finally untainted and thrives in battle. There are some great combo attacks that rival the iconic fastball special.
At times, the show felt a little too “anime-y” (I love anime, don’t do that on me!), and the ridiculous scale of the battles took away a lot of my interest. Cool, Bastian had metal wings in the final episode. Yeah, yeah, very cool. But didn’t one of his Super Sentinel subordinates fail miserably in the mid-series X-Men? Do we need the Phoenix to show up (again!) so that Jean can save her 50-something son from the future? Probably not.
But, this is the X-Men. It wouldn’t be the X-Men without this crap.
I also love the attention to detail. How Storm transforms back into her original comic book costume, how Rogue transforms into her green and white appearance, and how Magneto wears the same black and white costume at Judgment just like in the original comic books. X-Men ’97 Don’t miss the opportunity to add other Marvel characters too. Captain America appears a few times, and we see a stripped-down Spider-Man watching the fall of Asteroid M with Mary Jane Watson. Earth’s attack and loss of power.
In other episodes, an aged Polaris, Rachel Gray and more mutants briefly appear in visions of the future. The series is filled with references, Easter eggs, and surprises. Did you know that long before Bastian was revealed as the X-Men’s primary antagonist, he made a brief, indirect appearance on screen during a horrific attack on Genosha? Well, he is. In an age of intense reactions on Reddit, Discord, and YouTube, this show is ripe for debate and discussion.
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige stipulated that both the cast and the music must return for the project to take off. I’m glad it did, and I’m glad the theme song is still going strong.
