“X-Men ‘97” is more than another superhero property; it is a revitalization of the famous 1992 X-Men cartoon that – despite its low production value – enraptured 90’s kids back before the Marvel Comic Universe (MCU) took over the comic landscape. “X-Men ‘97” is everything that a nostalgia property should be.
Though only four episodes have been released so far, the new iteration has created waves online, widely consisting of praise for the series’s animation, faithfulness to the comics, and impressively crafted dialogue.
Perhaps the dialogue itself is the key to what has made this show such a hit in what many have considered a slump for the MCU; each character in the show has an agency, motivation, and depth of personality that we haven’t seen in a comic adaptation in a hot minute. The biggest difference in character representation has to be the X-Men de facto leader: Cyclops.
Most hardcore Marvel fans will tell you that Cyclops has not had the best portrayals in movies, despite James Marsden’s solid performances through the live action series. One of the original critiques of the live action has been Scott Summers playing second fiddle to Wolverine, when in reality he was always a fiercely devoted leader and an outspoken advocate for his team.
Part of the reason this got pushed to the side was Hugh Jackman’s success as Wolverine, which form-fitted nearly every X-Men movie to his character, making Jackman’s Wolverine the stand out team member and Cyclops more of a cardboard cutout of Steve Rogers.
This is why the “X-Men ‘97” is so satisfying to watch. This version of Cyclops is an aggressively cool character, sporting some of the best fight scenes in the two-episode premier. This show would not have reached such acclaim if he was the only character to be so impressively displayed. The myriad of mutants within the main cast all have so much to offer.
Storm commands every scene she’s in, feeling less like a mutant and more like a goddess coming down to Earth. Jean Grey has her own inner battles to fight in this series on top of a pregnancy, complicated thoughts about her own family, all while wielding maybe the most dangerous power set in the whole of the X-Men canon. In fact, even though Jean Grey is pregnant in the beginning of this series, you don’t get the sense that she is just written out of the story.
As she is preparing for motherhood, Jean still feels like one of the X-Men, showing that the showrunners have not abandoned the original 90’s cartoon, but instead enhanced it for the older audience that has come to expect a higher quality from Marvel.
Secondary characters like Beast, Jubilee, Gambit, and Morph are also given their due diligence, despite them taking a backseat to the main core cast. Perhaps the most unexpected stand out is the former villain/ally, Magneto. No spoilers, but he is put in a position that we have not fully seen in any Marvel property thus far.
In a climate of nostalgia farming and intellectual property, it is a breath of fresh air to see an old property be revived and given a worthy execution for today’s audience. New and old comics fans have a lot to love in this new show, and the short track record is giving us every reason to feel optimistic about each Wednesday release on Disney+.