X-Men ’97 picks up after our beloved animated series where Charles Xavier dies and the X-Men are left without their mentor as they must embrace a future where the coexistence of humans and mutants is still uncertain.
When it was announced that X-Men ’97 was slated for release and in production, a lot of fans were concerned with how a franchise from almost three decades ago would be handled. A lot of things have changed since the last time we saw our X-Men in the 90s but fortunately, not only did X-Men ’97 keep what made the series iconic with its in-depth storytelling and astonishing character development but it felt as if the series grew with its targeted audience. Without a doubt, X-Men ’97 is one of the best properties that Marvel Studios has produced by far.
The animation of X-Men ’97 obviously improved from when we last saw them in 1997 but it was still faithful to the designs of the characters with the additional bonus of some amazing fight scenes with beautiful visuals. In addition to the faithful animation, they brought back almost the entire original cast of the X-Men series which was a definite must if this show was getting a revival. I was grinning from ear to ear when I heard Lenore Zann uttering “sugar” or Alison Sealy-Smith’s (Storm) commands of the elements! Unfortunately, some voice actors were unable to return due to passing, such as David Hemblen (voice of Magneto) and Norman Spencer (voice of Cyclops). Although these are big shoes to fill, Matthew Waterson and Ray Chase were fantastic successors and delivered stellar performances. Every episode, I did not want to skip the intro because Ron Wasserman’s epic theme was back and oh man, the kid in me was ecstatic.
Although the animation and voice actors are essential to the revival of a beloved ‘90s series, it is also the story and how it is received from millennials, because let’s face it, this series was made for us. But let me use a term of this generation when I say Beau DeMayo and his team of writers absolutely COOKED. They drew from multiple storylines from the original source material and incorporated it beautifully. The series took parts of the Genosha Genocide, Madelyne Pryor and Cable, and Magneto leading the X-Men and wrapped it all in such a well-crafted journey for the X-Men. As well as making sure all the X-Men get their due diligence. The only character I felt that got the short end this go around was Wolverine but I’m sure many fans are okay with that seeing that we will be seeing him more of him shortly in July 2024 *wink wink*. As an MCU property, you know there is no short on cameos and this was no exception. The show had so many cameos and an amazing one at that which hopefully hints at the return of another beloved ‘90s show.
-SPOILERS BELOW-
There is one scene in the series that continues to break me and that was the death of Gambit and the other mutants on Genosha, which definitely transformed the stakes of this once beloved thought to be children’s show to an emotionally breaking masterpiece for a more mature audience.
The standout character of this series was definitely Magneto’s development. Not going to lie, after watching this series, I really want to buy a “Magneto is Right” T-shirt (I settled for a Magneto Helmet though) because the speech and pain that the X-Men ’97 series was able to exhibit, felt so relatable to what is currently happening right now in our world. This is what I meant when I said that the series grew with us, when we were younger it was easy to identify Charles Xavier as the good guy and Magneto as the bad guy but now, that branding is irrelevant. As the audience, we understand the motivation of why Magneto is the way he is and why he has to do what he does. “Tolerance is Extinction” is the title of the last three episodes but it was definitely the theme of the entire series.
If X-Men ’97 is any indication of how the X-Men will soon be introduced in the main cinematic universe, it is going to be phenomenal.
