X-Men '97

For fans of the X-Men and fans of the animated series, X-Men ‘97 has been a long awaited project. For years now fans have begged the MCU to bring in the X-Men and though their live action involvement still seems to be a ways off they did give us a new animated series on Disney+. The original animated series is still considered one of the best adaptations of the team so how exactly does the new series hold up? Well there are only 2 episodes released as of now but the first season promises 10 episodes in true Disney+ fashion.

I will say that right off the bat the animation is very 90s and it is very nostalgic. It definitely looks exactly like it's supposed to. The conflict is set up very quickly, mutants vs mutant haters. Storm looks freaking awesome, and as she is my favorite member of the X-Men that is really all that’s important. I LOVE that my favorite comic book team is finally getting some screen time. The very 90s costume designs, the very clear mission statement from the X-Men, the absolute perfect characterizations, the show is doing great.

Words can not describe how happy I am right now. I am being wrapped in a blanket of nostalgia and love. The 90s era X-Men is easily the best iteration of the team and to have this to introduce the team to a new era of kids is so fantastic.

Our interpersonal stories include; Jean wanting to leave the X-Men to start a family with Scott (depending on how this plays out we will deal with my issues with that later), Rogue and Gambit being perfect, and Wolverine being super depressed that Jean is leaving the team.

“No but have you met my wife” cut to Jean using Cerebro is quite possibly the most badass thing that has ever happened.

It looks like a major point of contention this season is going to be the fact that Xavier left the school to Magneto, theoretically in an attempt to get him to see the benefits of using their powers to help humans. I think we all know how this is going to go but what an awesome premise for the first season of this series.

Magneto turns himself over to receive punishment for his crimes and we are greeted with THE TRIAL OF MAGNETO written right across the screen, love that we are at least somewhat pulling from the comics. At the same time, Jean goes into labor and Logan is the only one there with her.

The team up between Storm and Magneto is truly incredible, Storm takes a blast for him but these are two of the strongest mutants in existence. Dumb dumb villain wore metal armor to go attack Magneto? The blast seems to take or at least stunt Storm’s powers (which also plays into her latest comic book storyline). Loving the influence from not just the 90s series but also more recent comic book history.

With only two episodes to go on I do think that X-Men ‘97 has delivered everything that fans have been wanting from the MCU. The power scales are very appropriate, the action scenes look super awesome and we get just a truly iconic lineup of the team with pretty perfect characterizations. It definitely feels like a 90s show, and I think that it is only going to get better as it goes on. I truly hope that they figure out how to make this a much longer form series, I think just about everyone is tired of the 8-10 episode seasons that we have been getting from streaming services. And something like this should definitely have 15-20 episode seasons.