X-Men ‘97 is the exception to what I thought were the nostalgia rules.

Do not dismiss this series!

The Short Take:

What I assumed would be a cheesy nostalgia play very quickly revealed itself as some of the best storytelling Marvel has ever done.

[Spoiler Warning: This review has been organized into three sections. The first contains no spoilers. The second containers mild spoilers for some cameos in the series. And the third is filled with spoilers. I will issue an additional spoiler alert before that last section starts.]

The Long Take:

Oh, my stars and garters!

X-Men ‘97 receives high praise from critics.

Image Credit: IndieWire

X-Men ’97 hasn’t been a very loud hit, but it has been a big one, as rave reviews and accolades have continually popped up since it began streaming on Disney+. According to review aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes (which aren’t everything, but tell us something), report that this is the Best Reviewed Marvel Project for the screen. Disney+ reported that this was the most-watched premiere for any animated series since “What if…?,” saying that X-Men ’97 hit four million views in its first five days on the streaming platform. 

And it doesn’t stop there. The curtain separating live action from animation is usually fairly impenetrable, and yet the Gotham TV Awards recently nominated the series along several live action shows in the “Breakthrough Drama Series” category. I’m not as familiar with the Gotham TV Awards as the Emmys, but I am nonetheless surprised an animated series, never mind a comic book animated series, would break through as a drama series.

Specific comments from critics seem to corroborate this transcendence out of the animated series genre, placing X-Men ’97 in the pantheon of the MCU’s live action successes. Jesse Schedeen of IGN, for example, says that “X-Men '97 isn't just a fitting continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series, but one of the best adaptations ever of this iconic Marvel franchise.” Maya Phillips of The New York Times also places the series in an elite class, saying, “In an age of constant reboots and sequels, DeMayo and his team built something fresh and innovative from a piece of pop culture nostalgia.” From this last comment in particular I infer that the expectations for this series were, for many, on the lower end because of the nostalgia factor.

I too suspected that this series would be a half-hearted ploy to cash in and exploit fans my age rather than an earnest attempt to tell a good story. Thankfully, I was wrong. I can confirm that the storytelling in this series rises to the level of any prestige TV drama.

Come to me, my X-Men!

What my expectations say about nostalgia and franchise storytelling.

Image Credit: IndieWire

I cannot think of a situation in which I would say no to any new X-Men content, as the X-Men were, aside from the Star Wars Prequels (and you can hear all about that on our 2.5-hour Phantom Menace pod), the most influential to my early nerd formation. The films of the early 2000s were really what hooked me into superhero stories on the big screen, but well before that, I would race home from school or wake up on a Saturday to watch three animated series: Batman: The Animated Series, Gargoyles, and X-Men: The Animated Series. I watched a lot of Disney in the Afternoon shows too (shout-out to Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers), but those three that I just listed were what made me into a comic book nerd without really having read any comic books. I would have been nine years old when the original X-Men animated series started, and I was excited for X-Men (2000) in theaters when I was 17 because I had fallen in love with all of these characters in animation.

All this is to say my nostalgia was at peak levels when Marvel announced a new series, X-Men ’97, that would pick up where the original series left off. I was an easy mark for this, and because of that remained skeptical. This seemed so blatantly like a ploy for fans my age. They could have just said they were making another X-Men animated series inspired by the original one, but, no, they went and put ’97 in the title. That very openly says, “we know you’ll watch this because you liked the first one and because it will remind you of your misspent youth.” It seemed brazen and almost crass if I thought about it for too long.

At no point does this series, however, draw attention to the nostalgia it may generate. At no point does Wolverine take a long pause and the utter a one-liner with “bub” at the end. There’s no winking and nodding; quite the opposite, the series is fairly self-serious. And every nostalgic reference made sense in the context of the ongoing story. I just watched The Garfield Movie with my kids over the weekend (so mild spoilers ahead). There were many illogical “Easter Eggs.” Towards the end, I caught myself saying, “Nermal!” because the nostalgia endorphins kicked in, but then I paused and thought, “Wait, why is Nermal here?” And there was no attempt to explain whatsoever.

Here, there are a myriad of cameos from other Marvel heroes, yet none of them feel like fan service. Spider-Man never stops to have a long and superfluous conversation with the X-Men, allowing me to gawk and his appearance. He is just thwipping by to establish that the X-Men are part of a larger world that has other Marvel heroes running around in it. Captain America does have a conversation with Rogue, but it is actually more damning than glorifying, as he seems to be on the wrong side of history in this story.

In short, the series seems more concerned with its characters as characters rather than icons, as well as the relationships between them — their hang ups, heartaches, and good will towards one another.

Before I elaborate, I do want to acknowledge that X-Men ‘97 imitates the tone and style of the its predecessor to a tee. And while it doesn’t feel cheap at all, I will admit that getting back into the melodrama of the original show took a minute. I guess I was expecting the ’97 to be  pure marketing and that the creators of this new series would try to update or modernize the look and feel. So it was a little jarring to be right back into what I would have watched in the 90s.

The animation on a technical level has visibly advanced, as it is crisper and more precise. The fight sequences looked especially pristine and dynamic. But the character design and often bombastic voice acting were unchanged in a way that was uncanny (pun very much intended). I have heard other critics say that this is more true of the first episode and then the 90s style gradually fades and becomes more contemporary in its delivery. I didn’t notice that as I was watching, so if that’s in fact the case, it is kind of brilliant.

[Spoiler Alert: You are about to enter a spoiler-filled section.]

Remember it.

Why is X-Men ‘97 the exception to the franchise nostalgia rule?

Image Credit: LA Times

Obviously, there are many reasons this series is a success, in spite of the opportunity to ride the coattails of nostalgia. For me, what makes the most difference is the writing’s deep understanding of each characters’ psyche (even the psychics).

Every episode, every character arc, uses the mutant power-based conflicts to interrogate questions of not only identity but selfhood. Many have said long before this series that, at its core, X-Men is a comic book franchise about tolerance and, the much taller order for some, acceptance. It has historically served as a genre allegory through which to deal with any -ism you wish to project onto it.

This iteration of the X-Men mythos uses its characters’ powers as theoretical ideas through which to engage with their psyches as characters as well as loftier notions that exceed their character arcs. Rogue, for example cannot touch others for fear of sucking the power/life out of them, and so her main arc in this season is the conflict she feels over Gambit vs. Magneto, whom she can safely touch. What on the surface appears to be a simple love triangle has so much more rooted in it. It represents the ideological differences between the X-Men’s assimilation vs. Genosha’s isolationism. And it questions the very notion of intimacy, as Rogue tragically realizes upon Gambit’s death that she had more with him than she thought. Or at least that’s my reading of it. There certainly seems to be a sense of regret that she devalued their relationship over a lack of physical intimacy. There’s also the gutpunch that is her finally being able to feel him because he’s no longer alive, but I digress.

Image Credit: Collider

That’s only one example. I could conduct a similar breakdown for Morph’s ability to present in any form and how that reflects back on his own identity. I had seen articles announcing that the new series would represent Morph as non-binary. And considering that in the context of the power set Morph has always had, suddenly his powers aren’t just a way to see obscure mutants or Marvel characters we don’t have time to include in the story; his powers become a statement about the fluidity of identity, constantly at odds with social constructs. His quiet confession to Wolverine in the finale brings all of that to the foreground in a poignant way.

Yes, it’s at best awkward and at worst creepy that Cyclops married and had a baby with a clone of Jean Grey without realizing it. But that storyline opens the door to using telepathy as a way to question whether memories constitute personhood. It’s an incredible thought experiment that only a comic book story and maybe even only an X-Men story can stage.

And when Storm loses her powers, they act as a stand-in for her self worth.

It’s usually poor form to post so many examples that demonstrate similar points, but I do so here to emphasize how thorough and consistent this attention to development is.

Image Credit: New York Times

X-Men ‘97 accomplishes all of this without sacrificing the fantastical, over-the-top wackiness I associate with X-Men and comic book stories more broadly. Madelyne Pryor, who we thought was Jean Grey, goes from a well-meaning clone to a goblin queen at the drop of a hat. Professor X is marrying an alien Empress in space all of a sudden (and, unless you’ve read some comics, apropos of almost nothing). Techno-virus-ridden Baby Nathan gets sent to the future in one episode and then a few episodes later Cable returns and reveals he’s that same space baby from the future. If you describe the plot of each episode to someone else, they sound fairly crazy. And yet, because of all the character work and thematic work I discussed earlier, every quick turn feels grounded, like a really well-made roller coaster that you can put your faith in completely.

And that is the magic of this series. It sustains a vast ocean of nostalgia without sacrificing what it is. What defines it. Like the X-Men themselves, this series doesn’t have to change for anyone else. It can be who it is in the open, unabashedly. And that’s a lesson that makes invoking a nostalgic-laden property worth it.