X-Men '97 Premieres With Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score

X-Men '97 is flying high on Rotten Tomatoes. He Disney+ revival of X-Men: The Animated Series sits at 100% on the Tomatometer in the early going. However, the Audience Score for X-Men '97 isn't lagging far behind at 89%. Almost all the reviews for the show highlight how closely the new series echoes the original animated show that a lot of Marvel fans grew up on. At the beginning of 2024, it seemed like the MCU was going to be seeing a lot more of the X-Men than usual. With this show, Deadpool & Wolverine and maybe a surprise or two waiting out in the ether. X-Men '97 has that prediction off to a great start.

ComicBook.com's Phaze Zero podcast had the chance to interview producer Brad Winderbaum last week. He talked about why the 1990s setting for the show was a major  advantage for this production. The team was really free to cut loose in the era and it seems like X-Men '97 benefitted from it a great deal.

"Well, actually, it was kind of liberating to be able to stay in the 90s," Winderbaum told us. "It allowed us to go places that we could just do what we want. To be so iterative. Things that we couldn't do if we were more MCU adjacent like What If...? is. I mean, What If...? is like we're literally remixing the MCU. So, it's harder to introduce characters. Because you want to see them in live-action. Although, we do see Bill Foster as Giant Man in the second season. That's new!" 

X-Men '97 Brings Comics Storylines To Disney+

In the same interview with the head of streaming, television, and animation at Marvel Studios, we got the chance to ask about the specific comics inspirations for X-Men '97. Winderbaum confirmed that, this show pulls heavily from the entire publishing history of the mutants at Marvel. However, there is one curious stopping point that might raise some eyebrows among fans of the X-Men. So, expect some surprises as X-Men '97 rolls onward. 

Winderbaum mused, "Just like the original series that was drafting so heavily from Chris Claremont's work, we're continuing that. We're looking at that late '70s, mid '70s to early '90s kind of era. We do start to play outside of the Chris Claremont sandbox a little bit into the '90s, almost getting to Grant Morrison. But it's definitely just like the OG series, it's drafting from the stories from the books."

What Is The Deal With X-Men '97?

Marvel Studios revealed a synopsis  for the animated series: "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."

Have you seen X-Men '97 yet? Let us know down in the comments!