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TO ME, MY nerds! Marvel has brought back the beloved, if better when viewed through nostalgia goggles, '90s cartoon X-Men: The Animated Series as X-Men ’97. And somehow, against all odds, it’s amazing.
X-Men ’97 has all the winks and throwbacks that fans of the original show, complete with the original character designs and the same-over-the-top voice acting that delighted '90s kids.
However, X-Men ’97 has no interest in remaining a throwback. Instead, the series expands on the original concepts to match the expectations of audiences well-versed in superhero fiction. The series immediately began shifting the established roster of the ‘90s show, adding the time traveler Bishop and jumping right into a clone storyline with Cyclops’s wife Jean Grey. The season began with Professor X still in space, leaving the leadership of the team to one-time arch-enemy Magneto.
Even better, X-Men ’97 fully engages the themes at the center of the mutant concept. The show portrays bigotry, ranging from asking mutants to hide their nature to outright massacres.
Part of X-Men ’97’s success owes to its source material. After a rough start in the 1960s, the X-Men comics of the 1970s and 80s revolutionized the industry and set a standard for almost everything that followed, including both animated X-Men series. If X-Men ’97 has left you itching for more, these comics will scratch it better than Wolverine’s claws.
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