Disney’s first foray into the X-Men strikes a powerful chord.
Despite being a huge fan of the modern-day X-Men comics, my memories of the original X-Men animated show, which ran from 1992 to 1997, are hazy. I remember tuning in on Saturday mornings, enjoying a killer theme-tune, and then… nothing. Despite this, I was excited to see what Disney’s revival of the show, X-Men ’97, had in store. I’m older now, and much more familiar with the characters through the comics and movie adaptations, and I hoped that I would at the very least be able to follow along with what was going on despite not having any memory of the original show’s five seasons.
If you’re unfamiliar, the X-Men are a superhero team comprised of misunderstood ‘mutants’, individuals carrying a mutated ‘X’ gene that grants them extraordinary powers (or, in some cases, curses). Since their inception in Marvel comics in the 60’s, mutants have been an in-universe oppressed minority, and are frequently embroiled in storylines heavy with commentary on the status of minorities groups across the globe. With tensions around racism and discrimination feeling like they’re constantly on the rise, X-Men ’97 was stepping into the ring at a particularly divisive time in social politics. Would it be able to stand its ground?
To say that I’m satisfied with this show so far would be an understatement. The first two episodes of the series were released on Disney + on the same day, with future episodes coming weekly (look forward to reviews of those episodes as they come), and they undoubtedly launched on a high note.
Leader of the X-Men, Charlies Xavier, was ostensibly murdered towards the end of the previous show, and this series picks up in the immediate aftermath. Scott Summers, a.k.a. the eye-beam-blastin’ Cyclops struggles to accept his role as the new leader of the mutant fighters. Jean Grey is pregnant and looking to get out of the X-Men to raise her child. Friends of Humanity, long-time foes of the X-Men, have somehow acquired anti-mutant ‘Sentinel’ technology. And mutant terrorist/revolutionary Magneto has a surprising role to play…
These episodes are jam-packed with character-motivated conflicts, interpersonal tensions, and—to put it bluntly—badass fight scenes. There are moments during some of the action scenes that had me punching the air simply because they were so damn cool. I guess it comes from comparing these scenes to the visually bland action scenes of the X-Men movies. If your only familiarity with the X-Men comes from those movies, let me tell you now that you are not ready for how Cyclops fares in a fight.
The series also isn’t afraid to show you our main characters take a serious beating, both emotionally and physically, especially in episode two. As I’ve mentioned before, watching a protagonist get absolutely pummelled is a strange pleasure. It shows a willingness on the writer’s part to engage seriously with the threat posed by the antagonist, and as has been demonstrated time and time again, a story is only as strong as its antagonist.
But what about the cultural commentary? Perhaps all you need to know is that Twitter has been flooded with ‘conservative’ accounts attempting to bash the show for ‘getting too political’, showcasing both their own backwards politics and complete lack of media literacy in one fell swoop. (The fact that they are espousing the exact same narratives as the show’s villains is completely lost on them.) Let’s not take the word of anonymous internet bigots as proof of anything, though. Does the show handle its themes with any finesse?
Well, X-Men ’97 isn’t overly subtle. It doesn’t take a tremendously inquisitive mind to interpret the subtext of, say, Gyrich’s speech towards the end of episode one (Gyrich being the man who killed Charlies Xavier). That’s okay, though. At the end of the day, this is a show meant to be accessible by people of all ages, and if it wants to be a little on-the-nose in terms of who the bad guys are, then that’s fine with me, especially when the dialogue hits as hard as it does (Magneto in episode two has some cracking lines).
In my opinion, X-Men ’97 is a resounding success. It’s on track to be the best adaptation of Marvel’s X-Men comics to date and I’m really looking forward to seeing where the show goes from here. I’d encourage anyone to give it a try, even if you’re unfamiliar with the X-Men.
There’s a reason they’ve been on the go for over sixty years. You could do worse than finding out why for yourself.
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