X-Men ’97 Director Addresses Sneaky The Watcher Cameo

X-Men ’97 had The Watcher bear witness to the massacre of Genosha in Episode 5. Marvel fans were surprised to see the character make a subtle cameo appearance. ComicBook.com’s Phase Zero podcast had the chance to ask supervising director Jake Castorena about including The Watcher before such a devastating moment. It turns out production designer Anthony Wu is the big hero here. His painterly take on the character caught fire on social media in an episode full of things to talk about. Now, the mutants have had their course altered forever and the fans can’t get enough.

Cameos have been a big story of the past few weeks on X-Men ’97. Castorena joked about the recent Captain America tease: “Yeah, I don’t know anything about that. I can’t say anything because it’s Captain America.” But, the future seems to be headed in some wild directions for this team of heroes. 

“I say this all the time, but it always ends up coming down to an insanely monumental team effort to get everything across and executed. And to that point, The Watcher! Shout out to Anthony Wu, our production designer. He went in there and said, ‘I’m gonna go paint this’ and then we said, ‘Oh! We missed it the first time you put it in there!’ It’s like, oh cool.” 

Is This The Same Watcher From The MCU?

Castorena would add, “Yeah, it’s a very subtle thing and, The Watcher only shows up for seminal, you know, timeline or sacred stuff. So, it’s definitely less about being there to support and help the X-Men. But, more or less, to just kind of be like, ‘Hey, you know, it’s got to happen.’ So, someone’s gotta watch this…” 

“The Watcher is definitely part of OG canon because Watcher made cameos in the original show. (Which was also illegal at the time when they did.) Thanks Larry! [Larry Houston was the director of the original X-Men animated series] I’m not saying it is or it isn’t the watcher is from the MCU because stuff changes all the time,” the director recalled. “As of this point, you know, the MCU, they have their own Watcher. They have that version of The Watcher. And also, Watcher transcends time, space and relevancy. So, that’s our Watcher. It’s their Watcher. It’s a Watcher.”

X-Men ’97 Is Playing The Hits On Disney+

Wednesday mornings on Disney+ have seen fans rushing to their streaming devices of choice to catch X-Men ’97. Here’s what Marvel Studios has to say about the critically acclaimed animated revival: “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 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.”

“Beau DeMayo serves as head writer; episodes are directed by Jake Castorena, Chase Conley and Emi Yonemura. Featuring music by The Newton Brothers, the series is executive produced by Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso and DeMayo.”

Did you enjoy X-Men ’97‘s Watcher cameo? Let us know in the comments down below!