The ’90s are back in style in X-Men ’97. Marvel Animation’s revival of X-Men: The Animated Series revisits the iconic era of the 1990s and the team of mutants — Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Storm, Jubilee, Beast, Bishop, Rogue, Gambit, Morph, Nightcrawler, and Magneto — who use their uncanny gifts to protect a world that hates and fears them. The all-new episodes (premiering March 20 on Disney+) pick up where the beloved Saturday morning cartoon left off in 1997: with the X-Men facing a dangerous and unexpected new future without their leader, Professor Charles Xavier.
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That future means a new X-Men team, a new headmaster of Xavier’s School for the Gifted, a new TV-14 rating, and a new — but faithful — modernized animation style from Studio Mir (Avatar: The Legend of Korra, Young Justice, My Adventures with Superman). But one thing hasn’t changed: the X-Men’s nostalgic costumes. Lead Character Designer Amelia Vidal (Marvel Studios’ What If…?) outfitted the characters with classic looks pulling from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s era of X-Men comics, translated into the style of X-Men: TAS.
“I think they are similar in concept — the designs of the originalseries are closely tied to a comic book style and translated intoanimation,” Vidal told Marvel.com. “The use of light and shadows, proportions, and designelements that were very present in the comics of the 90’s, like strongcolors, large detailed hair, and of course the iconic charactercostumes. I adore the X-Men costumes from the 90’s and I believe thatwhen something is so iconic and loved by everyone, it must be preservedand protected. If we decide to change something it should be to servethe story or to make it more technically functional to the animation,but each design decision must be made consciously. Every characterdesign starting point is the original series.”
On continuing the X-Men’s animated adventures in 2D, Vidal explained: “In 2D, the more simplified the design, the easier it would be toanimate. But due to its closeness to the original show and comicsorigin, simplifying them too much was not an option because I wantedthem to maintain the design spirit of the original. I wanted them towork well in animation as best as possible while keeping the sameoutfits, making them look anatomically correct with their complexhairstyle like the original show. To preserve all of that, we organized aset of good practices on how to draw anatomy and to organize the hairinto a number of large masses and small hairlines inside, stressingshapes to give volume in certain ways.”
See the X-Men ’97 character designs by scrolling through the gallery below.
Cyclops
Team leader Scott Summers / Cyclops (Ray Chase) commands the X-Men in the field, unleashing his concussive optic force from behind his ruby-red visor.
Jean Grey
An Omega-level mutant, the telepath Jean Grey (Jennifer Hale) is a founding member of the original X-Men and Scott’s wife. Her telekenetic and psionic powers are dwarfed only by the cosmic Phoenix Force that Jean once wielded as the Dark Phoenix.
Wolverine
He’s the best there is at what he does — but what he does isn’t very nice. Logan, a.k.a. Weapon X, a.k.a. the Wolverine (Cal Dodd) is a mutant with a healing factor and animal-like senses, made more dangerous by the adamantium metal claws he doesn’t hesitate to unsheathe with a “snikt!”
Beast
“Oh, my stars and garters!” Dr. Henry “Hank” McCoy, better known as the blue-furred and big-brained Beast (George Buza), is an expert in biophysics and chemistry. With his simian-like powers — super strength, speed, and agility — he’s both brains and brawn.
Storm
Ororo Munroe is the weather-wielding mutant goddess called Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith),the once leader of X-Men and the mutant Morlocks.
Rogue
Once a reluctant member of the Brotherhood of Mutants commanded by her adoptive mother, the shape-shifter Mystique, the memory and power-absorbing Rogue (Lenore Zann) has the ability to drain anyone’s life force or powers with just a touch.
Gambit
Master thief Remy LeBeau is as dangerous as he is charming. Gambit (A.J. LoCascio) has the mutant ability to channel and then charge objects with explosive purple kinetic energy, a feat he typically performs with his trademark weapon: playing cards. As the ex-member of the Thieves’ Guild said on X-Men: The Animated Series: “I am not thief or assassin. I am an X-Man.”
Jubilee
Jubilation “Jubilee” Lee (Holly Chou) is the bubble gum-popping youngest recruit of the X-Men who has the mutant ability to generate colorful “fireworks” (actually multi-colored globules of energy plasmoids that vary in degrees of power and intensity).
Bishop
A time-traveling mutant bounty hunter from an alternate future in the year 2055, Lucas Bishop (Isaac Robinson-Smith) has the power to absorb energy and then project that energy in the form of concussive blasts.
Morph
The blankly-featured but light-hearted Morph (J.P. Karliak) is a mutant whose powers allow them to shapeshift and morph their body into whatever they can imagine. (In X-Men ’97, Morph identifies as non-binary.)
Sunspot
Robert De Costa — the solar-powered New Mutant known as Sunspot (Gui Agustini) — will join the team in X-Men ’97. The Brazilian mutant never appeared on X-Men: The Animated Series, but he did appear with other members of the New Mutants in X-Men: Evolution.
Magneto
Once the arch-villain of the X-Men, Erik Magnus Lehnsherr (Matthew Waterson) is the mutant master of magnetism: Magneto. Though he believed mutantkind’s powers made them superior to humankind, he’s now committed to carrying on Professor X’s dream as the new headmaster of Xavier’s School for the Gifted.
