X-Men ’97’s Magneto Actor on Love Triangle With Rogue and Gambit

X-Men ’97 has put the Magneto, Rogue and Gambit love triangle at center stage this season. ComicBook’s Phase Zero podcast spoke to Matthew Waterson, the Master of Magnetism himself, about the dynamic between the three mutants. In the voice actor’s opinion, that’s an organic outgrowth of the comics, where that dynamic was already established. Especially with the eras of the X-Men that the Disney+ show is drawing from, it would be hard not to focus on the romance between Rogue and Magneto. However, for a lot of viewers at home, this is the first time they’ve seen Gambit get his heart broken like this.

“That’s one where, again, I have to admit, I didn’t know that there was history in the canon for that,” Waterson recalled. “So we talked about it, and the explanation of that is a relation, that’s not something that came about in this interaction. That was something that was there historically before Rogue and Gambit. And it’s a revisiting of that.”

“And then, when you see the bits of the justification for why, of they can be more open, and more, for want of a better phrase, human with each other than either of them can be with a lot of other people, it makes a huge amount of sense,” he added. “In terms of knowing that it would make some people very, very upset, or very sad? That’s one where you go, ‘Yeah, this is going to drive a bunch of people crazy, and that’s just going to be fun.’”

X-Men ’97 Introduces Iconic Characters For Fans New & Old

ComicBook’s podcast also spoke to the other big mutant leader in X-Men ’97. Ross Marquand talked about how much joy he felt watching fans enjoy the show. The Professor X actor spoke specifically about how X-Men: The Animated Series affected him as a young viewer. Now, there’s a whole bunch of young Marvel fans being blown away by everything that’s happened on X-Men ’97. For them, the memories of checking in for another mind-melting episode will probably endure over the years. Maybe it will help create the next generation of creatives that mold these stories for the people who come after them.

Marquand told us last week, “You know, it’s just like it’s so heavy and I really feel like I’m grateful and I’m hopeful for the next generation of fans who are 10 or 11 years old now watching the show. For them to have the same reaction that I did. For them to be like, ‘I wanna do that or I wanna draw Marvel Comics, or I wanna be a part of that world.’ That’s my hope for this.”

Do you love all the relationship drama in X-Men ’97? Catch all of our pop culture discussion at @ComicBook on social media!