After what has felt like years of waiting since Marvel first confirmed it would be returning to one of its all time classics—the ‘90s X-Men animated cartoon—we finally have our first look at X-Men ‘97 in action, and… hmm. Hmm.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot here to buzz the minds of anyone who grew up with X-Men The Animated Series’ take on Marvel’s mutants. The opening retro lookback at the final episode of the series, which saw Charles Xavier die and leave the legacy of mutant kind to his X-Men, before cutting right into the new show picking up exactly where that left off, is good. And of course, you can rarely go wrong with that legendary theme having its guitar wail over pretty much anything. But something just feels off here.
Part of it is the show’s animation style, which flits between looking oddly flat and stilted and some elements that almost look 3D, lending a strange sense of awkwardness. The aesthetic of the show itself is fantastic, bringing a modern vibe to the colors and Jim Lee-infused stylings of the original show, but in motion it just looks peculiar. And then… there’s the voices. X-Men ‘97 has earned a lot of nostalgic good will bringing back a chunk of the original show’s cast, but hearing Ray Chase as the new Cyclops alongside the returning Cal Dodd as Wolverine really highlights just how long it’s been since the original show was airing.
There’s a lot of interesting ideas in here in spite of all that though—the show leaning into the idea of mutant circuits, a power-mixing potential played with a lot in the comics, in things like having Gambit’s powers amplify Wolverine’s claws with his kinetic energy is really cool, and the brief glimpses of some of the comic storyline riffs the show wants to tackle, like Magneto turning over a new leaf and taking over Xavier’s School, and even Jean’s pregnancy paving the way for a riff on the legendary Inferno storyline (we know Madelyne Pryor is set to appear at some point, thanks to action figures), have a lot of potential. But nostalgia can only cover so much, and hopefully what feels weird in this trailer will sit much better in the context of of the full show.
We’ll find that out when X-Men ‘97 begins streaming on Disney+ on March 20.
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