X-Men ’97. Image from Marvel Studios Animation and Disney+
Things are about to change for the better for the fans of anything to do with Marvel because when X-Men ’97 begins streaming on Disney+, this will be a chance for everyone who was too young during the early 90s to watch even a bit of what made the original X-Men the Animated Series iconic.
Can they recapture the magic of what made the original animated series of the X-Men beloved in the first place? From what I saw of the official trailer of X-Men ’97 that feeling is a bit there. But I have to watch the episodes first to make that conclusion accurate.
Indeed, decades later, the animated series of the X-Men still has its impact on viewers for those who got to watch it when it first came out. I am just one of the millions who got to watch it way back then. I am happy that this will be a continuation of the acclaimed series and not a prequel or a reimagining of it. It follows 5 years after the events of the final storyline that was shown. I won’t spoil it to what it is for those who do not know because I believe X-Men ’97 will do a great job in telling that story.
For me, this is not going to be a nostalgia trip down memory lane, but more of keeping a promise to all the viewers back then that, one day, there would be a continuation to the animated series. Surely, none of us back then could have predicted it would be in the form of streaming. Because that did not exist back then.
Either way, any way you can get to watch X-Men ’97 is still better than no option at all. I believe that Marvel Entertainment as a whole realizes how beloved the original X-Men Animated Series was. Otherwise, this would not be happening soon in the year 2024.
That iconic opening theme of the original X-Men Animated Series, I still remember, beat by beat. It is so appropriate to how much the series was entertaining, intelligently made, compelling storylines, inspiring, enthralling, faithful enough to its comic book source, and most of all, it had heart. It was an integral piece of what made the early 90s such an awesome time for national television because it was bringing to life the beloved X-Men comic book characters to life. Mutants galore! Almost everyone you loved and hated were here.
This has to be said. A ton of credit goes, of course, to the late great Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for creating the X-Men in 1963, and to comic-book-artist Jim Lee, and writer Chris Claremont, for ushering in the new era of the X-Men at the time beginning in the early 90s with the series entitled simply: X-Men in 1991 under Marvel Comics. X-Men (Issue 1) would end up becoming the comic-book that sold the most issues in history and would greatly convince the Fox Channel to begin development, production and airing of X-Men: The Animated Series on the Fox Kids block.
X-Men ’97. Image from Marvel Studios Animation and Disney+
From that moment on, the animated series got syndicated to various channels all over the world. The rest they say is history. We got ours shown at night, while the majority of the rest of the world got it shown in the morning or afternoon. haha..
All in all, what a momentous time that was for the X-Men, when you got comics and television all doing great in the numbers! And get this, history has repeated itself. Now, there is a comic book under Marvel entitled: X-Men ’97. This is comics and media domination once more for the 90s incarnation of the X-Men – and it could not have happened a better time than now because admittedly the previous offerings from Marvel have sucked.
To see once again in animation form–Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Rogue, Jubilee, Gambit, Storm, Beast and Magneto–I thought the day would never come. I can’t tell you how much this means to me and my generation that this is happening because no longer will it be part of our youth, or cherished childhood memories staying tuned to watch the animated series, but this brings things full circle this time for my aging generation. And the new generation, it is never too late to bring things back from yesteryear into the present time for everyone else to enjoy it.
X-Men ’97 ? You bet, I will watch it.