I’ve been reporting on X-Men ‘97 since it was originally announced for the X-Men’s 60th anniversary special for Marvel. This includes the X-Men ‘97 unveils, and even, its soon-to-release associated prequel comic, and so I’ve been following the hype since day one. Now finally released, astonishingly, the show as it stands has become the greatest-reviewed project out of Marvel’s film and television beating out Ms. Marvel’s 98% critics score/ 80% audience fresh score and Black Panther’s 96% critics score/ 79% audience fresh score with a whopping 100% critics score/ 94% audience score. By comparison, Avengers Endgame has a 94% fresh rating/ 90% audience score.
Hype for the show has been building up online, especially with the anticipation of Mutants finally entering the MCU with this summer’s upcoming Deadpool 3 this July. It’s surprising the show is doing this well given that X-Men ‘97 itself was created with millennials who grew up in the ’90s in mind as its target audience. So the positive reception across the board to its two-episode premiere is, by all means, a tremendous achievement that’s seemingly just getting started as Marvel is hoping for the buzz to build on a weekly basis.
What makes X-Men ‘97 work so well is that it blends 90’s nostalgia with classical animation, all produced in 2D by one of the best companies for animation in the industry: Studio Mir (Legend of Korra, Young Justice: Outsiders, Dota: Dragons Blood, Harley Quinn, and My Adventures with Superman). The development of the series also features quite a lot of the original production team even though it has now been over 25 years later. So there’s a lot about the premiere that feels true to the original.
The first two episodes of X-Men ‘97 are jam-packed with some phenomenal action sequences in a real nostalgic moment that emphasizes every character’s unique abilities and by proxy, their personalities. You will see the heroes defeating baddies, Cyclops brooding on the burdens of being a leader, and of course, witness Storm proselytizing loudly while conjuring a tempest the likes of which, gets a label as an Omega-level threat, all for a neat callback to diehard fans.
That said, the series is not without its controversies. The sudden firing of showrunner, Beau DeMayo just before the series release drew ire from much of the media. Speculation as to why this happened made its rounds but there has been no comment on the issue and DeMayo himself refuses to talk about it. This is a concern, as DeMayo had also written the highly received first two episodes that are being talked about right now, and so time will tell how much of the showrunner’s influence had on the series.
Still, it’s not like Marvel’s shy on fantastic animation these days. Spidey and His Amazing Friends is now on its fourth season and has been a viewership hit on Disney Junior and Disney+, especially for its target demographics. Atop of this, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur may be one of the greatest achievements in animated television for kids, not only for its style and distinct presentation but also, as a series that gives such an underrepresented community a voice – proudly pulling off one of the best depictions of a young black superhero girl in STEM. X-Men ‘97 is in good company in what might be becoming a Marvel animation renaissance period.
New episodes of X-Men ‘97 premiere on Wednesdays.
I’m happy the show is succeeding, but this reminds of the Snyderbronies refusal to let go of the past – we might get a deluge of continuations of 25-year old cartoons instead of new things….
Oh stop. Everything you just listed had 100% on RT until it didn’t. No reason to even compare these two things other than sensationalism.
Comments are closed.