The X-Men ’97 X-Mansion by Airbnb is Astonishing

To celebrate the success of X-Men ’97, Marvel has teamed up with Airbnb to create Xavier’s Institute for Higher Learning in all of its mutant glory. The location, a bit more than hour’s drive from New York City, is decked out with X-Men imagery from the moment guests arrive; there is a plaque with the school’s name on it just inside the gates and a severed Sentinel head sitting in the driveway. It’s clear upon arrival, this is going to be a marvelous adventure for all who enter and ComicBook was fortunate enough to see the special Airbnb firsthand ahead of the X-Men ’97 finale. 

First of all, the Airbnb itself was listed for reservations and potential guests were able to reserve dates but then must be selected amongst a pool of other entrants to go. At a fitting rate of $97 per night, the bookings closed on Monday. It is no longer available to reserve but those who got their requests in might be getting some good news soon. For those guests, there will be more characters to interact with and explore the property alongside. On the day of ComicBook’s visit to the X-Mansion, a tour guide by the name of David showed the new recruits (a gaggle of excited content creators and their friends) around. The full day, complete with David’s welcome to the venue and a tour of the entire mansion can be seen in the video above from the Phase Zero channel.

The doors to the mansion open and immediately guests are greeted by a large portrait of Professor Charles Xavier, setting the tone for the experience which is going be one in line with the animation of the series. Looking the right, past the door to the Ready Room, and equally massive and impressive portrait of Magneto is stuck on the wall, a fitting addition seeing as X-Men ’97 has the character inherit the premises from Charles in his absence from Earth.

Starting off with a look inside the Ready Room, X-Men costumes were hanging from lockers as Jubilee greeted guests with a video message. “Welcome to the Mansion, cool right?” she exclaims. “The team is away on a mission, so the place is totally yours to explore!” Jubilee proceeds to list the available rooms; the Study, the War Room, the Danger Room, Beast’s Lab, and Wolverine’s room. Not mentioned are her own bedroom and the room where new recruits sleep beside their Dazzler poster. Each room has its own awesome themes and interactive elements, like functioning VHS tapes and player in Jubilee’s room or a weight bench in Logan’s.

The standout room has to be the Danger Room. Trotting past giant portraits of Charles Xavier and Magneto through the hallways made to look as if one was walking directly through the world of the animated series itself, guests cross through Beast’s Lab and into the Danger Room. Giant saws, massive weights, and flashing blasters are at the ready to interacted with… all while Scott Summers watches through the window above. It’s an incredibly immersive room with loads of flashing lights and designed in every way to make the animated designs exist in our real world. The whole place is a bit of an Xavier mind trip because of how well made it is, giving the immersive illusion of existing in an animated space.

In Beast’s Lab, a bartender is on hand for some drinks to be served. On this day, the “elixirs” were all non-alcoholic beverages themed to match some of the X-Men who would be staying in this house. It’s loaded with microscopes analyzing mutant genes and providing visuals to match, lab equipment, and more. Not a single inch is not thoroughly themed (something which is true of the entire house). A performative drink master mixes them together and hands them off, complete with Pop Rocks in some cases to really get the mutant genes going. For some drinks, a smoke bubble is generated and popped on top of the beverage, something which might or might not enhance the drink itself but absolutely looks cool, either way.

The final room on the first level is the War Room, complete with a Cerebro helmet which can be worn by guests. Each guest takes an X-Men: The Animated Series and X-Men ’97 quiz on a touch screen before completing an aptitude test. The test will reveal the mutant gene of the new recruits. Once it’s completed, the guests can head on over to Cerebro to see if they can find the rest of mutantkind and learn about their abilities, themselves (taking a newly minted business card with their name and ability now written on it!).

Upstairs, the bedrooms welcome guests with Logan’s being at the top of the massive spiral staircase. His gear is all over and the photo which he loves to torture himself with, that of Scott and Jean together, sits next to his bed. Claw marks rip through the walls and his alarm clock and the Wolverine seems to have not wanted to get out of bed one day. The room connects directly to that which is dedicated to the new recruits, having a shared bathroom go between them. Across the hall is Jubilee’s impressive room, decked out in 90s themes and technology. The classic X-Men arcade game, a computer with dial-up, and X-Men on VHS are all over the place. There is even a copy of NOW That’s What I Call Music sitting in front of her boom box. None of it is quite as impressive as the apparel which is hanging in the closet and beside the door, all made to match the animated styles like everything else in the house.

In fact, all of the costumes were quite astonishing. Going back to the Ready Room, the gear for Gambit, Storm, Cyclops, Wolverine, Rogue, and more are hanging. The only piece of apparel the guests can try on is Cyclops’ visor (Wolverine’s head piece can’t be touched as the mutant’s sense of smell will alert him to someone having messed with his stuff, according to David!). It fits snuggly on most guests and provides just as much red vision as one might suspect when looking through it.

Overall, the X-Mansion by Airbnb was a remarkable experience. It’s such an immersive location that one can only hope more fans get to experience it and full advantage of its existence is taken. Perhaps ahead of Season 2, the cast and crew can do their interviews out of such an incredible locations, though this particular property may not be standing until that day. With construction on the location having begun in March, it’s astonishing to see the entire house being a full-on, immersive X-Mansion by May. The team behind this Marvel and Airbnb crossover deserve to praised as Omega Level designers as it was truly an astonishing experience to witness firsthand and one which only enriches the love and appreciation for the X-Men world. With the X-Men ’97 finale on the horizon, it was the perfect way to brace for impact in what will surely be a thrilling end to the show’s first season.