When X-Men: The Animated Series hit the scene in the 1990s it knew how important the Marvel comics it was based on really were. Though many episodes were totally original, throughout its five year run, X-Men: The Animated Series would adapt the likes of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s X-Men #1, X-Men comics written by Larry Hama, and countless comics written by franchise cornerstone Chris Claremont. With the upcoming X-Men ’97 however that tradition will continue, and it will even start exploring X-Men comics that were published after X-Men: The Animated Series was cancelled.
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Speaking in a new interview with ComicBook.com , Brad Winderbaum, head of streaming, television, and animation at Marvel Studios and executive producer for X-Men ’97 confirmed that, yes, the series will be drawing heavily from the publishing arm of Marvel. He revealed:
“Just like the original series that was drafting so heavily from Chris Claremont’s work, we’re continuing that. We’re looking at that late ’70s, mid ’70s to early ’90s kind of era. We do start to play outside of the Chris Claremont sandbox a little bit into the ’90s, almost getting to Grant Morrison. But it’s definitely just like the OG series, it’s drafting from the stories from the books.”
Some of the X-Men storylines that were published after the series ended was the giant Onslaught crossover, something that the series could seemingly adapt in some form. As readers may recall, Grant Morrison’s work on New X-Men kicked off in 2001 and carried over through 2004. Elements of their work, will be incorporated into the MCU with the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine bringing in the character Cassandra Nova. Morrison’s version of the X-Men also introduced major characters that continue to be key parts of the X-Men with Quentin Quire and The Stepford Cuckoos, who could appear at some point if the series continues.
“It actually was kind of liberating to be able to stay in the 90s sandbox,” Winderbaum added. “(It) allowed us to go places, we could be so iterative and do so many things that we wouldn’t be able to do if we were more MCU adjacent like Marvel’s What If…?”
When is X-Men ’97 coming out?
The first two episodes of Marvel’s X-Men ’97 will premiere on Disney+ on Wednesday, March 20. New episodes will premiere weekly after that in this order:
- Wednesday, March 20 – Episode 1, “To Me, My X-Men;” and Episode 2, “Mutant Liberation Begins”
- Wednesday, March 27 – Episode 3, “Fire Made Flesh”
- Wednesday, April 3 – Episode 4, “Motendo / Lifedeath – Pt. 1”
- Wednesday, April 10 – Episode 5, “Remember It”
- Wednesday, April 17 – Episode 6, “Lifedeath – Pt. 2”
- Wednesday, April 24 – Episode 7, “Bright Eyes”
- Wednesday, May 1 – Episode 8, “Tolerance Is Extinction – Pt. 1”
- Wednesday, May 8 – Episode 9, “Tolerance Is Extinction – Pt. 2”
- Wednesday, May 15 – Episode 10, “Tolerance Is Extinction – Pt. 3” – Season Finale
: “X-Men ’97 revisits the iconic era of the 1990s as The X-Men, a band of mutants who use their uncanny gifts to protect a world that hates and fears them, are challenged like never before, forced to face a dangerous and unexpected new future.”
The voice cast for X-Men ’97 includes Ray Chase as Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, JP Karliak as Morph, Lenore Zann as Rogue, George Buza as Beast, AJ LoCascio as Gambit, Holly Chou as Jubilee, Isaac Robinson-Smith as Bishop, Matthew Waterson as Magneto, and Adrian Hough as Nightcrawler.
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