X-Men '97 Stars Ross Marquand and Matthew Waterson Talk Changes to a Pivotal Scene

The X-Men '97 voice actors reveal how a Professor X and Magneto scene changed behind the scenes.

By Timothy Adams

Two of the stars of X-Men '97 revealed how one of its pivotal scenes changed during the creative process. A lot of the drama behind X-Men '97 was due to the ongoing bromance/rivalry between Professor X and Magneto, two longtime friends who became enemies with differing opinions on what's best for mutantkind. Ross Marquand voices Charles Xavier and Matthew Waterson voices Magneto in X-Men '97, and the duo recently broke down one of the more important scenes between their characters, revealing how the scene went through various changes along the way to really nail it.

ComicBook was on hand at a panel hosted by Comicbook Men's Ming Chen at the 2024 Nashville Comicon, which had Ross Marquand and Matthew Waterson as guests. One of the questions from the crowd had to do with Marquand and Waterson having a favorite scene or line from the first season of X-Men '97.  "I loved our scene in the dream state in Magneto's mind," Marquand said, referring to the scene where Professor X went inside Magneto's fractured mind. 

"There's a whole sequence in the finale where we're literally inside Magneto's head," Marquand continued. "I loved it because we did so many different versions of that scene, had to constantly retool it. One of the versions I was much more upset with [Magneto] because of what he did to Logan, and I really lay into him. But it just kept getting retooled and I loved it because we kept finding these beautiful beats and moments. And the vulnerability that [Waterson] shows when he forgets himself. He's like, 'You hurt me. I don't remember you.' It's so beautiful to watch that scene unfold because we worked on that for months."

"There were a lot of different iterations of it," Waterson added. "We recorded a bunch of stuff that was cut out because it wasn't necessary to get to where they wanted to go. But lines flipped, and there were lines that [Marquand] was given that I had, which were much better coming from [Marquand]. Like, 'There's an importance in resemblance.' At one point Erik said that line, but it makes a lot more sense with Charles trying to pull him back, for Charles to recognize that." You can watch footage from the Nashville Comicon in the player above, and make sure to check out the website https://www.nashvillecomicon.com/.

X-Men '97 director talks Season 2 production

ComicBook's Phase Zero podcast spoke with X-Men '97 director Jake Castorena about the wild finale and the wait for another season. He confirmed they were already hard at work on another batch of mutant adventures. However, no one is trying to rush things after the well-received first salvo of X-Men '97. Fans were hooting and hollering at the work showrunner Beau DeMayo and the team assembled. While that makes all the viewers extremely thirsty for Season 2, these things take time. 

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"I equate it like, 'We're baking a cake right now.' Nobody wants to ruin a cake. I don't want to ruin a cake. Let us bake it," Castorena laughed. "The cake is well underway and being made, being fabricated as we speak. There is no rest for the wicked I guess. To use that phrase. We rolled right into Season 2, while we were on Season 1!"

Later in our conversation, the director also mentioned keeping things in line to not stray far from what folks really loved about X-Men: The Animated Series. "It's all about, we're on a team. It's something we realize that we give ourselves false parameters to make sure we're checking our math," Castorena claimed. "Whether it's nerd math, geographical math, whatever it is. We gave ourselves false parameters to make sure to keep us in check, to make sure we're not going too far away from the original DNA that is the OG show. But, also adapting it. Fresh, but familiar."

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