X-Men '97: The Animated Series (Disney+)

[Common Writer]

I'm excited about this revival and I hope it turns out well.

[Sandydandy]

A little late to this discussion, but I'm very excited about this. I heard rumors about X-Men being re-launched a few years back, but dismissed it as being too far-fetched to be true. I even heard rumors back in the early-00's that they wanted to continue it, but never believed it as 99% of the time when a TV series is cancelled, it's gone for good. Obviously this is a pleasant surprise for me.

X-Men TAS was very special for me because it, (along with the videos games of that time), was my gateway into the comics. This team was always my definitive X-Men, and I really felt I knew them. I have the original series on DVD and still watch it every now and then, usually once every few years. I don't know what their plans are going forward storytelling wise, but whatever they do I'm sure it'll be fun. I'm 46 now so not really picky. It was a different time in the mid-90's when I first watched this, being in my late-teens and into early adulthood, which is a challenging time for most people. It was nice to have this as an outlet. I'd suspect that's why it's a sentimental favorite for a lot of people.

I do hope they retain the mature and serious tone of the original series. That was what set it apart for me from the other kid's TV shows of that time. Yes it was a kid's show, but not a particularly kiddie one. I don't know how these shows have evolved over the years and decades, but I doubt X-Men will have trouble finding its spot.

It's amazing that most of the original voice cast will be returning. Sad to hear of the passing of the actors who played Cyclops and Magneto. Their replacements will have big shoes to fill. I also hope they can coax Cedric Smith to return. It'd be a little awkward to not have the original Professor X, but not a series killer by any stretch.

I'm excited about this!

Now hopefully one day they'll go back and finish the very excellent Silver Surfer animated series. It was an absolute travesty the way it ended, without an ending.

[Digifiend]

It's amazing that most of the original voice cast will be returning. Sad to hear of the passing of the actors who played Cyclops and Magneto. Their replacements will have big shoes to fill. I also hope they can coax Cedric Smith to return. It'd be a little awkward to not have the original Professor X, but not a series killer by any stretch.

Not if they don't have Professor X at all. Remember how the original cartoon ended? He left Earth for medical reasons.

[Multiverse]

Main things I'm hoping for:

1) Mostly Pre-"House of M" Storylines (such as "Operation: Zero Tolerance" and "E for Extinction")... at least for now.
2) More fun worldbuilding with stuff like Genosha, the Shiar Empire, the Morlocks etc
3) Forgotten Characters brought back to the limelight (what happened with the Brotherhood of Mutants and the HellifireCOUGH I mean Inner Circe)

[Sandydandy]

Not if they don't have Professor X at all. Remember how the original cartoon ended? He left Earth for medical reasons.

It's not a stretch to think that they'll bring him back. Obviously he's always been the central character in the X-Men. Maybe they'll follow the story in the comics when the X-Men travel to the Shiar and find him wearing a cape and walking around, (with tech help). Sort of like what was in the X-Men Crossroads TP a long time ago. Can't remember how that story ended. Maybe Magneto will lead the X-Men on earth in the interim.

I remember we saw many cameo appearances in the original show - Dr. Strange, Thor, Spider-man, War Machine etc. I hope we get to see more interaction with the more mainstream Marvel characters this time around. I guess they didn't do it last time because, aside from Spider-man, the X-Men themselves were the most popular and mainstream characters in the entire MU, as their books were the only ones selling at the time. Today it's an entirely different world thanks to the MCU, and they need to sell the X-Men again - this time to a new audience. I think bringing in previous fringe characters, (who are now household names), will help greatly in that regard.

[Hypestyle]

any hint on how the action and "violence" will be handled, since this will not be made for a "network" but still likely be "for kids"?

[Bunch of Coconuts]

any hint on how the action and "violence" will be handled, since this will not be made for a "network" but still likely be "for kids"?

Was the original X-Men animated series any more violent than an MCU movie?

[Castle]

Was the original X-Men animated series any more violent than an MCU movie?

Kind of yes. That is why the cast of this reboot are already using the talking points of …''this will be a mature show''

There many themes and innuendoes in X-MEN TAS that gave it another dimension to mature audiences, while still keeping its Fox Kids channel settings.

This new reboot will likely be inferior to original series and it been on Disney plus will only help that.

Also X-MEN TAS is superior to MCU What If series and the What If series, I do feel is going to be the most genuine artistic input MCU Disney will ever give to marvel cartoon series.

[Castle]

Honestly I would have preferred a reboot of Spiderman TAS more than X-MEN TAS. X-MEN TAS wrapped up fine. In Spiderman TAS, peter never actually found the real Mary Jane after the clone Mary Jane died.

Madam Webb was to help peter in finding the real Mary Jane but Spiderman TAS never got a season 6, that feels more deserving than x-men tas. Spiderman TAS ended with a cliff hanger. It needs a continuation.

This X-Men reboot is Marvel- Disney getting really obsessive with nostalgia than actually trying to do something fresh, different and new.

[WebLurker]

Kind of yes. That is why the cast of this reboot are already using the talking points of …''this will be a mature show''

There many themes and innuendoes in X-MEN TAS that gave it another dimension to mature audiences, while still keeping its Fox Kids channel settings.

Proof will be in the pudding, but the show doesn't need to be ultra violent to have mature themes and plot elements.

This new reboot will likely be inferior to original series and it been on Disney plus will only help that.

Seeing the production values that Disney+ has for their original content (and how badly the original show has aged), I'm not so sure. (And if you're insinuating that Disney is going to dumb it down and sand off the edges, you should probably take a refresher on just how dark Disney actually is;X-Men has nothing on Disney at its most extreme).

Also X-MEN TAS is superior to MCU What If series and the What If series, I do feel is going to be the most genuine artistic input MCU Disney will ever give to marvel cartoon series.

Can't say I'm sure the old cartoon is superior to much of anything; it didn't live up to its contemporaries (e.g. Batman and Gargoyles) and it's not up to scratch with today's standards of craftsmanship. We've evolved beyond X-Men TAS a long time ago; the revival is going to need to deal with that one way or another. Best case scenario, IMHO, is if it's what the Boom Studios Power Ranger comics are to the Mighty Morphin TV show.

[Frontier]

Proof will be in the pudding, but the show doesn't need to be ultra violent to have mature themes and plot elements.

Seeing the production values that Disney+ has for their original content (and how badly the original show has aged), I'm not so sure. (And if you're insinuating that Disney is going to dumb it down and sand off the edges, you should probably take a refresher on just how dark Disney actually is;X-Men has nothing on Disney at its most extreme).

Can't say I'm sure the old cartoon is superior to much of anything; it didn't live up to its contemporaries (e.g. Batman and Gargoyles) and it's not up to scratch with today's standards of craftsmanship. We've evolved beyond X-Men TAS a long time ago; the revival is going to need to deal with that one way or another. Best case scenario, IMHO, is if it's what the Boom Studios Power Ranger comics are to the Mighty Morphin TV show.

I'd say we have evolved in part thanks to shows like X-Men: TAS running alongside those other shows and showing what was capable of childrens' television in terms of adapting comic book properties and the portrayals of the characters and their voices have stayed with people.

I don't know if there's a wholesale direct comparison (even saying it could be the Spec to this shows 90's SM:TAS doesn't hold up because it's not a new show but a sequel) but in intention I think they'll try to keep it modern and up to date in terms of production values and (hopefully) storytelling.

Of course, as someone who has been hankering for a really good Marvel cartoon (that has nothing to do with the MCU) and a good Marvel team cartoon after the end of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, I hope this can scratch that itch and bring the X-Men back to prominence with the general public.

[Castle]

Proof will be in the pudding, but the show doesn't need to be ultra violent to have mature themes and plot elements.

It's more of a track record of Disney marvel animated cartoons for proof.Violence is needed for mature themes. if you are making a story that was a comic window of genocide or human experiments there needs to be some sensible level of good violence in the story. DC cartoons does this a lot and that is part of the reason why DC cartoons are so beloved.

Disney is not dark.lol. Claiming x-men has nothing on disney and providing no evidence of that does not help. Although I did provide evidence, at least I saw What IF series and the show has nothing on even X-MEN Evolution when it comes to darkness. Traumatised Morph is to Billy Wilder Lost's Weekend as Party Thor is to Alex Kurtzman's Star Trek Jim Kirk.

Are you sure the show did not live up to the others? I see a logical evidence of the opposite. This is why Disney is banking of nostalgia. Although this type of reactions from my past experience is more of reflection that a show like X-MEN TAS could make people take comic stories seriously in a way that does not seem done today.

if a show did not leave up to its contemporaries the owners (marvel disney) will not have been milking it as much after 30 years, with anniversary specials, comic reboots and now the cartoon reboots. If we want to know just how much this show has lived up its title of the best marvel cartoon of all time. X-MEN 97 is first Non-MCU related marvel project marvel has announced since forever. Actually since Disney bought marvel. Marvel and I mean all marvel in the last 12 years has been only about MCU centred stuff.

X-MEN 97 is the first non mainstream MCU related project. So that shows the testament of this show that it can force Disney to think outside of the MCU box for the first time since forever. While that may be good on surface, the end substance is what is worrying, considering X-MEN TAS was a heavier intellectual-minded series with the good old soap opera x-men drama as a balance and Disney-Marvel does more lighted hearted fun-action projects.

The two just don't match well and I will predict we are going to be seeing that in the future. A potential mess can be avoided if Disney just went with a new series that would not be compared too much to the original show as X-MEN 97 will be so overly compared to X-MEN 92.

[Holt]

Kind of yes.

Not even remotely. I've just rewatched the first two seasons recently because of the announcement, and the violence is 100 percent not anything in the realm of your average pg-13 movie. It was hit hard by the standards and practices Fox Kids had to deal with in those days, and it's very apparent. No realistic firearms, Wolverine doesn't cut any living beings with his claws (even the X-Men films, while mostly bloodless, were at least allowed to show him stabbing people). The few deaths we do get (like old Wolverine in Days of Future Past or Morph in the pilot episode) are offscreen. The most graphic you ever see is when Magneto is bleeding after being attacked by the Sentinels in the Season 1 finale, and that seems to be a one time incident the staff were never allowed to get away with again.

In fact, having listened to the Lewalds talk about the subject on the Play Comics podcast recast recently, they said the exact opposite; being on Disney+ will allow them to get away with violence they couldn't have dreamed of on Fox Kids in 1992.

[Castle]

Not even remotely. I've just rewatched the first two seasons recently because of the announcement, and the violence is 100 percent not anything in the realm of your average pg-13 movie. It was hit hard by the standards and practices Fox Kids had to deal with in those days, and it's very apparent. No realistic firearms, Wolverine doesn't cut any living beings with his claws (even the X-Men films, while mostly bloodless, were at least allowed to show him stabbing people). The few deaths we do get (like old Wolverine in Days of Future Past or Morph in the pilot episode) are offscreen. The most graphic you ever see is when Magneto is bleeding after being attacked by the Sentinels in the Season 1 finale, and that seems to be a one time incident the staff were never allowed to get away with again.

In fact, having listened to the Lewalds talk about the subject on the Play Comics podcast recast recently, they said the exact opposite; being on Disney+ will allow them to get away with violence they couldn't have dreamed of on Fox Kids in 1992.

Hmm, should have gone deeper with my explanation, As I said ''kind off''. The violence on the show for a Saturday morning cartoon aimed at kids was more impressive compared to the violence in some real life pg 13 movies.

Although violence is one thing or one side , since what really defined the show was the themes, depth and tone and narrative that this was just not some typical dismissible comic book cartoon that functioned only for toys. X-MEN TAS changed how to write comic book cartoons stories. That is going to be challenge for disney here to match and Disney does not have a successful track record in doing that.

I still see many marvel animated fans, rank wolverine and the x-men much higher that all the Disney-marvel cartoon shows that came after wolverine and the xmen got cancelled. so there is a high bar here since wolverine and the xmen is usually ranked lower than TAS and X-MEN Evolution.

I liked Violence okay, however Morph's story arc that stretched for the 5 seasons or Cable battle with Apocalypse that also covered the legacy virus or Gambit's backstory. I just don't see Disney doing that stuff in the new series.

[Holt]

Hmm, should have gone deeper with my explanation, As I said ''kind off''. The violence on the show for a Saturday morning cartoon aimed at kids was more impressive compared to the violence in some real life pg 13 movies.

Eh, not really. In fact some of its contemporaries like BTAS had far better action while working within similar censorship. As you say below, the show's violence was never one of its strong suits or impacts.

Although violence is one thing or one side , since what really defined the show was the themes, depth and tone and narrative that this was just not some typical dismissible comic book cartoon that functioned only for toys. X-MEN TAS changed how to write comic book cartoons stories. That is going to be challenge for disney here to match and Disney does not have a successful track record in doing that.

I still see many marvel animated fans, rank wolverine and the x-men much higher that all the Disney-marvel cartoon shows that came after wolverine and the xmen got cancelled. so there is a high bar here since wolverine and the xmen is usually ranked however than TAS and Evolution.

I liked Violence okay, however Morph's story arc that stretched for the 5 seasons or Cable battle with Apocalypse that also covered the legacy virus or Gambit's backstory. I just don't see Disney doing that stuff in the new series.

Given how common long form storytelling has become in modern children's animation I don't really think that's an issue. Even stuff like the DuckTales reboot or Owl House and Amphibia have larger overarching story arcs and character development.