As if we needed more proof the '90s are alive and well, X-Men: The Animated Series is making a comeback. Disney has announced X-Men '97, a new Disney+ series picking up where the original left off three decades ago.
It's an exciting time for X-fans, but we also have a lot of questions. While we wait for more news about Marvel's animated X-Men revival, let's look back at how the original cartoon ended and the biggest questions surrounding the new show.
Will the Original Ending Remain Intact?
X-Men: The Animated Series lasted for five seasons and 76 episodes between 1992 and 1997. Unfortunately, the series was clearly showing its age by the final season, with Saban Entertainment cutting costs and switching production to a different animation studio. The final episodes of the series are much cruder in appearance than the rest and even feature some recast voice roles. That all raises the question – will X-Men '97 still build on that final stretch of episodes, or will the new series ignore Season 5 entirely and move in a different direction?
The answer to that question could heavily influence the course of the new series. The original series finale is loosely based on 1985's Uncanny X-Men #200. It shows Professor Xavier seriously wounded by anti-mutant firebrand Henry Peter Gyrich. Xavier winds up leaving Earth to heal and spend time with Lilandra and the Shi'ar, leaving the reformed Magneto to take charge of the Xavier Institute.
Will X-Men '97 build on that open-ended finale and show us what happens when the X-Men are partnered up with a former enemy? Or will the series revert to a more traditional, nostalgia-friendly status quo? Either approach has its advantages.
How Many Characters Will Be Recast?
For many X-Men fans, the Animated Series is still the gold standard when it comes to how these characters sound. Cal Dodd's Wolverine, Cedric Smith's Charles Xavier, Norm Spencer's Cyclops, Lenore Zann's Rogue, David Hemblen's Magneto, John Colicos' Apocalypse and many others remain burned into our brains even 25 years later. And don't even get us started on that theme music…
Marvel's announcement makes it clear many surviving cast members will return, including Dodd and Zann. Unfortunately, many series veterans have passed away since the original series ended. Presumably, Marvel will recast key characters like Cyclops, but they may face a difficult challenge in replacing such iconic voices. It may be wiser to downplay familiar villains like Magneto and Apocalypse and focus on new threats instead.
There's also the question of newcomers like Jennifer Hale and Ray Chase. Will they be taking over familiar roles or voicing new characters entirely? The series certainly has a wealth of untapped material to explore now. On that note…
What New X-Men Stories Will Be Adapted?
One of the reasons X-Men: The Animated Series proved so successful is that it borrowed liberally from the comic book source material. Over the course of those five seasons, the series lent its own take on iconic X-Men tales like The Dark Phoenix Saga, Age of Apocalypse, Weapon X and Days of Future Past. The series remains the most faithful adaptation we've seen in any medium.
We assume X-Men '97 will follow a similar approach. There's certainly no shortage of new material to mine. Since the animated series wrapped in 1997, the comics have given us major storylines like House of M, which ended with most of the world's mutants being depowered, the epic crossover battle Avengers vs. X-Men and the truly game-changing twists in House of X and Powers of X.
Whether or not the X-Men '92 comic is treated as part of the animated continuity, that series may give us an idea of what to expect from X-Men '97. Expect some familiar X-Men stories to be remixed, re-imagined and filtered through a nostalgic lens. And unlike the original series, X-Men '97 will probably have to worry much less about broadcast standards or selling toys.
How Violent Will X-Men '97 Be?
Much like fellow Fox Kids series Batman: The Animated Series, X-Men raised the bar when it came to maturity and storytelling depth in superhero cartoons. X-Men dove headlong into the source material, exploring the ongoing conflict between humanity and mutants and pushing characters like Jean Grey and Morph in some pretty dark places. The series was also notable for telling long-form, serialized storylines that played out over the course of several episodes.
That said, the series still faced plenty of limitations when it came to tone and content, something that's all the more obvious now looking back. Nowhere are those limitations more obvious than with Wolverine. Whether it's Logan's sanitized approach to cursing – "All right, you egg-suckin' piece of gutter trash!" – or the fact that he never seemed to stab anything that wasn't a robot, it's obvious the show was still being aimed at a relatively kid-friendly audience.
Is that still going to be the case with X-Men '97? Is Marvel still taking an all-ages approach to the X-Men, or is this series being aimed squarely at '90s kids who are now fully grown and perfectly happy to see Wolverine spill some blood?
What Costumes Will X-Men '97 Use?
The costumes in X-Men: The Animated Series defined the look of the X-Men as much as their voice during the '90s. The series hit at just the right time, drawing from the work of contemporary comic book artists like Jim Lee and Marc Silvestri. In many ways, the series was a perfect storm, combining classic '70s and '80s X-Men storylines with a more dynamic look and feel.
The X-Men comics have undergone several big visual shifts in the years since, including a phase where everyone was decked out in black leather. Will X-Men '97 stick to its roots or opt for a more modernized look and feel?
The show's title may give us the answer. This series is very much tied to a specific era of X-Men fandom, and we doubt the animators have any interest in changing those iconic costumes. Sorry, Wolverine, you'll have to keep wearing that yellow spandex for now.
Will X-Men: Evolution and Wolverine and the X-Men Also Return?
X-Men: The Animated Series isn't the only classic Marvel cartoon where fans have been clamoring for a revival. Its successors X-Men: Evolution and Wolverine and the X-Men both have devoted fanbases of their own. If anything, both series are in even greater need of sequels. Evolution ended after four seasons in 2003, at a time when many would argue the series was just hitting its stride. Wolverine and the X-Men ended after just one season in 2009, teasing an Age of Apocalypse-inspired Season 2 that never came to fruition.
We can't help but wonder if X-Men '97 might pave the way for future animated revivals. '90s kids may look to X-Men: The Animated Series as the gold standard, but there's an entire generation that grew up with Evolution instead.
At the very least, we have to wonder if X-Men '97 will draw inspiration from those shows with its portrayal of the X-Men. Could the new series take a more teen-oriented approach and focus on the Xavier Institute as a school? Will X-Men '97 explore some of the themes of Wolverine and the X-Men, as our heroes try to chart a path forward without Xavier to guide them? The best thing this new series can do is honor all the X-Men cartoons that have come before, not just X-Men: The Animated Series.
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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.