Alright! Today I'm reviewing X-Men '97, the Disney+ continuation of the X-Men show from the 90s. The original show ended in a bit of a cliffhanger with the supposed death of Charles Xavier, leader of the X-Men, and X-Men '97 picks up on that same beat by exploring the rippling effects that the assassination had on the world and how the team continued after such a loss. Lauded as one of the best superhero projects of all-time, I am happy to report that X-Men '97 is indeed one of the greats of the genre... although not without its faults.
I'm actually just going to list a few of the nitpicks I had with the series since there aren't many: Morph's use in the season is mostly to provide easy fan-service through his shapeshifting abilities, some of the voice acting is spotty (Specifically Forge and Sunspot), and the episodes are of an uneven quality (Specifically episodes four and six). It's also filled with X-Men cliches: Impossible-to-escape situations being solved by the Phoenix Force, random aliens, destroying the X-Mansion, the Jean/Scott/Wolverine love triangle, Apocalyps teases, etc. If you've seen anything else titled "X-Men," you're bound to roll your eyes at a few points. But this also leads us to the show's strongest point: it simply does these things better. Much better, I might add.
The best thing about X-Men '97, the reason it is so superb, is that it is the quintessential X-Men story. Very rarely do we see superhero projects that are genuinely gripping, shocking, and thought-provoking because of how well-written they are - like, thinking about it, the best comparisons I can make are The Dark Knight and Across the Spider-Verse, and that's good company. Everything you expect from the X-Men is flipped on its head and challenges the characters in such specific ways that they can't help but become the best version of themselves. It's not that the characters are written cooler or have cooler setpieces, although that is also true! It's that they are pushed to their limits and placed in foreign situations to color in their complex shades.
I'll use three examples to demonstrate this point since I think it'll be easier to understand like this:
- Magneto, the enemy of the X-Men, is asked to continue Professor X's peaceful dream and lead the X-Men. He does it well, too! Seeing Magneto in such an unusual position means we see shades of him we don't ever see that fleshes him out to become the greatest version of that character we've ever seen. We see that he is genuine in his efforts to do good, and when genuineness is on the table, he somehow seems more dangerous.
- Cyclops, the leader of the X-Men, now has to lead without Charles Xavier's guidance and possibly retire from crime-fighting to raise a family with Jean. He's encumbered by doubts over his leadership, but still does his confident best to preserve the dream of peace. Seeing him in such an unbecoming situation makes us respect him even more.
- Rogue is finally able to touch someone and have the romance she always wanted! But she learns that not everything is skin deep, shattering her expectations and also ending her on-again, off-again relationship with Gambit. Now she needs to keep going after losing everything because she achieved her dream.
Part of the reason I loved X-Men '97 so much is that it feels like they were writing the show, presented the characters with options, and then chose what would be the most ballsy. And when it made more sense to not be ballsy, they invented some reason they had to be ballsy. The entire show is constructed to be as interesting as possible, and constant plot twists and shocking developments make it so that you're unable to look away. This also makes the pace feel exhausting; the X-Men just barely returned, and the status quo has already changed so much! Aside from the pilot episode, there's not a lot of time dedicated to seeing the X-Men hang out and be friends living in the X-Mansion. And maybe that's the point - everything is changing so fast, it's not how it used to be anymore. But it also means that we hardly ever see them function as a team before shocking events tear them apart, which is pretty sad. The intro shows Rogue kissing Gambit on the basketball court - where was that moment? The show could have used more time to establish/reintroduce its characters and their friendship after a 27-year hiatus. Then the calm would've made the hurting moments hurt even more. (And also a few of the character developments/romances make more sense - I'm looking at your, Forge and Storm).
Something that I absolutely adore the series for is the complex portrayal of the human/mutant conflict. It's well-tread territory and we all know the thin metaphors that lie there, but X-Men '97 takes so many drastic plot choices that the conflict is sharpened to a razor's edge. Unthinkable moments happen to show the full impact of this war on the X-Men's psyche - Jean admits that she wants her son to be born a normal human, Magneto trashes the U.N. talking about the parallels he sees from the Holocaust to the situation of the mutants, a doctor refuses to deliver Scott and Jean's baby - one of the angry terrorists even says he doesn't hate the mutants, he just feels that they "whine too much." It... It's a disturbing reflection of our radicalized world.
I won't spoil it, but in the fifth episode of the show, an event happened that was so shocking that I found myself 100% on Magneto's side of the mutant conflict. Something so heinous and unthinkable, so brutal and unneeded, happened. My mouth was agape for the entire 10-minute sequence, and it was the pinnacle of the series and all X-Men media, ever. I won't spoil it, but I highly recommend the show just to experience the absolute horror caused by "Remember It." I was left deeply disturbed. When people say X-Men '97 is perfect, what they are remembering is this episode and the visceral emotions in play here.
In fact, it was so good that I thought the human/mutant conflict lost all grace. Charles Xavier shows up afterwards and keeps preaching the same peaceful philosophy, and it feels that the series, as well as the audience, has outgrown such idealism. For me, at least, he came back not like a knight in shining armor but as a broken record that can't see that those ideologies aren't sustainable anymore. Bro dipped from Earth, swore off humankind, and then had the nerve to come back and lecture Magneto on being a peacemaker after what was basically mutant 9/11 and the destruction of the X-Men? Really? Once again, we see the superb effects that the shocking plot had on its world and characters. Never before have I seen Professor X in such a light; he always seemed so obviously right.
One of my favorite parts of X-Men '97 is the effect it had on me, specifically. I was left dwelling on the themes and profundity for a long time, taking and switching sides on the mutant issue several times. The conflict feels more real and more important than ever before. Even characters that are rocks in the peaceful protesting become (justifiably) angry - Cyclops, in an interview, angrily exclaims, "The truth is we're nothing like you, and thank God, because it's the only reason you people are still alive." That's a statement, a feeling, that we've never seen before, that I've never felt before, that feels earned after the ringer the X-Men go through here. It's superb, and the fact that I can do a contextual and thematic analysis of this - and a complex one at that - cements X-Men '97 as one of the all-time greats of the superhero genre.
The animation is also superb! It matches the original series but is also cleaner and smoother; the action scenes are intense, and the quality is incredible. I also really appreciated that the one-liner quips weren't particularly good, if that makes sense? It's a continuation of a show from the '90s. I liked seeing that the art of writing banal quips is still alive. I also loved the music! The iconic X-Men theme returns again here as a leitmotif for just about every heroic act, kicking into full blast once something truly incredible is about to happen.
X-Men '97 is incredible. It's not completely perfect, almost nothing is - but it's by far the greatest X-Men project ever made and carries the definitive look, stories, and themes that just confirm what I have always thought: That the X-Men are Marvel's greatest team. If the episodes were a touch longer with more moments of the characters "hanging out," as well as improving a few of the weaker episodes and spotty voice acting, the first season would be perfect. But as it stands, it's not far off.
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