X-Men ‘97 – Season 1 Review

26th June 2024

X-Men ‘97 – Season 1 Review. By Simon Lalji.

To me my X:men: the words that may have just saved marvel.

The Appropriately titled ‘X-men ‘97’, acts as a sequel series to the beloved 90’s X-men the animated series, picking up right after the events of its predecessor’s gripping series finale ‘Graduation Day’. After the sudden assassination of the charming professor Charles Xavier the X-men must fight for the survival of Xavier’s dream of peace and prosperity for every mutant on Earth all while the master of magnetism, Magneto arrives to seemingly honour his fallen friend’s cause. However, can a mere animated series save a seemingly decaying Marvel brand?

Thankfully, the answer is an astonishing and appropriately uncanny yes as ‘X-men ‘97’ is not only the best piece of media to come from Marvel in years but it also understands why the X-men have been and should remain a pillar of the Marvel franchise.

From astonishing animation, showrunner Beau Demayo’s uncanny method of storytelling and the Newton brothers unforgettably iconic theme song, ‘X-men ‘97’ simply understands what has and always will manifest the X-men to be iconic, that being its multilayered and metaphorical themes, characters and stories. Thankfully, Marvel animation showed up to the task as the team understands and respects the fact that the X-men come from the medium of comic books. The series never backs away from its comic book nature but presents itself to have mind blowing animation and stories, seamlessly ripped from page to screen while still creating a new and gripping story for readers and viewers alike.

The series does this all in line with its comic book roots, and like its comic book roots, the series never fears or backs away from its social commentary as in true X-men fashion each character and story acts as a metaphor for societal issues as the X-men always have implemented sensational social commentary while simultaneously delivering blockbuster action, superhero excitement and gripping soap opera drama. This is especially meticulously and beautifully portrayed through the character of Magneto as each line that comes out of his mouth almost reads like poetry. The line “most other nations don’t allow a terrorist to be their leader.” to which Magneto responds with “Yet so many allow their leaders to be terrorists.” is sure to send a chill down audiences’ spines while still demonstrating the series maturity, metaphors and political stance, thus delivering some of the best X-men content ever laid to screen.

Speaking of iconic characters, it’s no secret that ever since Hugh Jackman’s debut in the first fox original X-men film, the character of Wolverine has been the face of the X-men and rightfully so as Jackman’s charisma and charm as Wolverine has gripped audiences to the franchise for 24 years, even today through his highly anticipated return in this summers ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’. Thus making the series decision to take Wolverine out of the spotlight even more impressive and prevalent to deliver the sheer quality that the series presents as Demayo and team understands that the X-men should not be relegated to just Wolverine and the X-men but that the X-men are an ensemble of characters with each character deserving to receive the spotlight and love from the audience that Wolverine has been showered with for 24 years.

The clear standout of this decision being the one and only leader of the X-men: Cyclops as Ray Chase delivers a beautifully emotional, charismatic and downright cool performance of Cyclops that previous X-men media, in particular the fox films never allowed the character to be. There is little doubt that Chase delivers a performance that will certainly conjure a bright future for Cyclops as the leader and forefront of the X-men as the character in the comic book medium always has been and should always be, the leader and soul of the X-men.

Other stars of the season include Lenore Zann as Rogue, A.J LoCascio as Gambit and Matthew Waterson as Magneto in episode 5, titled ‘Remember It’. ‘Remember It’ while only being around 30 minutes delivers one of the most gripping, groundbreaking and tragic episodes of television ever put to screen as the episode personifies the fact that ‘X-men ‘97’ while being an animated sequel series to a cartoon foresees no fear in delivering tragic, relevant and mature themes as the entire season seamlessly adapts and crafts multiple iconic and beloved X-men comic book stories into a new, gripping and mature season of television.

Though some may fear this direct adaptation may only present itself to be accessible to comic book fans, the series almost effortlessly allows previous fans to fall in love with their beloved illustrations come to life, all while new audiences with no prior X-men knowledge are able to fall in love with each and every character and story that the series presents.

Though near perfect, ‘X-men ‘97’s singular flaw lies in episode 4 titled ‘Motendo/Lifedeath part 1’. The unfortunate flaw lies in the bizarre structural choice to blend two very tonally juxtaposing episodes into 30 minutes, never allowing either story to captivate the audience as both halves of the episode are cut short and never allowed to fully flourish, thus delivering what is easily the weakest aspect of the season.

With this being said, Marvel animation manifests in ‘X-men ‘97’ what is not only better than every season of the 90’s animated series but what may just be the greatest X-men adaptation ever put to screen, surpassing every X-men film and series while still staying true to its comic book origins, with all creatives involved expressing a clear love, care and devotion to all forms of X-men media and with seasons 2 and 3 already on the way to disney plus, it’s safe to say ‘X-men ‘97’ is here to stay.

Thus bellowing the question, does the key to the revival of Marvel and comic book adaptations lie in the medium of animation? As Marvel’s heaviest hitters in recent years lie in animated projects such as ‘Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verse’ and now what one may be forced to consider an all time marvel classic in ‘X-men ‘97’.

4.5/5

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