The following article covers spoilers for the first season of X-Men '97.
I was excited about the return of the Saturday morning comic version of the '90s X-Men. Still, I wasn't sure Marvel, under the auspices of Disney, could deliver the flavor of the original while still creating a modern show that older fans, now adults in their 30s and 40s, could enjoy. And X-Men '97 is a total play on our nostalgia, which makes what it delivers even stranger. And it's better than the original in almost every way.
And of all the Marvel trinkets that needed a little affection, it was arguably the X-Men that needed it the most. The ten-episode series managed to pack so many storylines, cameos, comedic sagas, villains, twists and even deaths that, at times, it was hard to process it all – but I absolutely loved how it was all relentless. X-Men '97 is launched hardespecially if you're already an obsessive fan.
When Marvel first launched an all-you-can-eat comics app, I pored over the X-Men catalog, particularly the stories of Chris Claremont and Grant Morrison, two of my favorite writers. X-Men '97 exploits a lot of my favorite characters and stories. Magneto goes on trial and begins a (brief?) redemption arc, Jean Gray is revealed to be a clone, and the cartoon crammed a roughly year-long comic arc, Inferno, into a single episode. Other arcs are included wholesale or with a few riffs, including Lifedeath, Fatal Attractions, Motendo, Operation: Zero Tolerance and more.
The highlight of this first season (a second is already in progress) has to be the crushing Episode 5, where the mutant nation of Genosha is devastated by a super-powered Sentinel mothership… thing. Just before the attack, he destroys mutant adults, mutant children, and eventually even an X-man, Cable, the time-traveling son of Scott Summers and Jean's clone. (See: Inferno, mentioned above) reappears to stop the attack. But he fails again and his mother dies.
Magneto finds himself helpless as mutants are slaughtered and he is forced to relive the genocide he suffered as a child. Eventually, Gambit sacrifices himself and lights up the entire robot with his mutant ability. This is after Rogue rekindles a romance with Magento, changes her mind, and decides to be with Gambit. Like I said, each episode is a lot.
Maybe I'm alone in this, but I still prefer the animation style and look of the older series. A cartoon can seem a little disjointed, in my opinion – or maybe I'm only 39 and not a Disney executive either. Most of the action scenes are also great. Cyclops is finally not done dirty and manages to flourish in fights. There are some excellent combo attacks comparable to the iconic fastball special.
At times the series can seem a little too “anime” (And I love anime, don't worry!), where the ridiculous scale of the combat took away a lot of my interest in it. Cool, Bastian has metal wings in the last episode. Yes, yes, very cool. But didn't one of his super sentinel underlings wipe the floor with the X-Men middle series? And did we need the Phoenix to reappear (again!) so Jean could save her son from fifty years in the future? Probably not.
But these are the X-Men. It wouldn't be the X-Men without this kind of nonsense.
I also loved the attention to detail. How Storm returned to her original comic book outfit, Rogue changed to her green and white look, Magneto wore the same black and white costume during his trial, just like the original comic. X-Men '97 don't miss the opportunity to sprinkle in other Marvel characters as well. Captain America appears several times, we spot a Spider-Man without a costume, with Mary Jane Watson, watching the asteroid fall. The Silver Samurai, who had his own episode in the original series, watches Tokyo. loses power due to Magneto's attack on the entire Earth.
In other episodes, an elderly Polaris, Rachel Gray and other mutants appear briefly in a vision of the future. The series is full of references, Easter eggs and surprises. Did you know that Bastian is briefly, obliquely, on screen during the horrific attack on Genosha, long before he is revealed as the main antagonist of the X-Men? Well, it is. It's a show ripe for debate and discussion in the age of reactions on Reddit, Discord, and YouTube.
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige stipulated that the cast and music had to return for the project to happen. I'm glad that's the case and I'm glad the theme song still slaps.