X-Men '97 Season 1 (Disney+, 2024)

[shevek]

Just dropped the first 2 episodes yesterday.

Surprised nobody posted about this yet! Ya Boi Zack likes it, so I'm going to take a gander as soon as I have time (hopefully later tonight).

There was some controversy surrounding head writer Beau Mayo getting let go just before this launched, possibly for running an OnlyFans (not sure).

But if anyone has something to say before I get to this tonight, please feel free to do so.

[Mr. X]

People keep saying that the humans are acting like J6 protestors. There is a part where they beat master mold and the senator who they arrest does point out that humans are just waiting to get swept aside. That's what I liked about the old Xmen, no clear white knights.

[helstar]

This can only be liked from the original 90s series fans. Will they be enough ... ? Three seasons have been confirmed already, anyway.

[dajinx1]

As a fan of the 90s cartoon, I was pleasantly surprised of how much I enjoyed this! I'll stick around for more. It was nice to see a little peril for Storm.

[shevek]

As a fan of the 90s cartoon, I was pleasantly surprised of how much I enjoyed this! I'll stick around for more. It was nice to see a little peril for Storm.

The Storm peril was great (and technically, still unresolved as of end of Episode 2).

The heroines look shapely and beautiful, and the costumes are tight. The female voice actors for Rogue, Jean and Storm sound quite sexy.
Jubilee is cute, too, and I wonder if she'll start a little romance with Sunspot. There are a lot of just regular male/female romantic relationships in this series.

The only modernized insertion I saw so far had to do with a bit of Magneto's speech analogizing humans hating or fearing mutants to the way they hate someone of a different skin color or sex.

That's not why the humans hate or fear mutants. It's not because mutants are 'different'. It's because mutants are SUPERIOR. That's literally their genus name: Homo Superior. It's not a mere prejudice. It's a serious and quite justified fear of extinction. I think this is explored quite well in the 80s and 90s comics, and also in the original cartoon.

Mutants are not a "marginalized community". They are the exact opposite - they're an elite. Almost every single one of them has powers which gives them the ability to dominate society. And if you look at the X-Men, the Youtuber Romanian TVee said it best in his video yesterday: The X-Men are well-clothed, well-fed, beautiful and strong. They are well educated, and they live in a mansion with support from a very wealthy individual who protects and nurtures them at every turn. They also have a high social profile and considerable fame. All of that is the EXACT OPPOSITE of being "oppressed". So, any analogy to oppressed peoples just doesn't make sense, and any attempt to hijack the X-Men for a Current Year narrative is a bad look.

I hope I didn't get too "political" there, but I think I'm making sense, right?

Looking forward to the rest of the series for sure!

[Mr. X]

Not even extinction. When a human goes nuts they may do some property damage or a shoot out. When a mutant goes nuts it could be 10s to 100s to whole cities wrecked.

its like half the population is unarmed and the other half carry rocket launchers.

Diversity and equality really fall apart here. Human system relies on humans being fairly similar. How does one practice equality when people truly are not equal. Affirmative action and social justice means nothing.

[shevek]

Not even extinction. When a human goes nuts they may do some property damage or a shoot out. When a mutant goes nuts it could be 10s to 100s to whole cities wrecked.

its like half the population is unarmed and the other half carry rocket launchers.

Diversity and equality really fall apart here. Human system relies on humans being fairly similar. How does one practice equality when people truly are not equal. Affirmative action and social justice means nothing.

Ultimate X-Men #41 takes this premise to its logical conclusion. They don't even have to "go nuts" (like Xavier did). They just have to exist.
This is why humans fear mutants. And for no other reason.

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[Mr. X]

Marvel has indicated that most of the alien species are monolithic with very little diversity and implied that large variations usually resulted in extinction. Like in one hulk mini series where aliens were just waiting for humans to just wipe each other out and were just waiting for the Hulk to die. And Xmen have definitely dealt with their own issue like Xavier's child literally altering reality itself being so dangerous they had to kill him. And you see in later xmen series the people in charge of mutants tend to be the omega level ones vs the woman who can make flowers grow slightly faster.

[shevek]

Episode 3: Storm still trying to live without her powers at the end of this episode, where Forge is introduced.

But the main thrust of the episode is the Madelyne Pryor story.
It's a simple version of the complicated tale from the 80s where Mister Sinister creates Madelyne as a clone of Jean Grey.
Not knowing she's a clone, Madelyne has a baby with Cyclops.

Here, she becomes the Goblin Queen out of sheer anger and resentment when the real Jean Grey shows up.
So, we get a very sexy transformation into the Goblin Queen - one of the hottest TFs I've ever seen in animation.

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And then she fights the X-Men for a while (some very seductive moments in the fight), finally realizing that she should join up with them to oppose
Mr Sinister. The weird thing about this fight is that Illyana just randomly shows up and tags along, and Madelyne transforms her into Magik.

However, Sinister has infected baby Nathan with a techno-organic virus which can only be healed in the future.
Bishop takes baby Nathan to the future (he grows up to become Cable, of course) and Madelyne leaves the team (presumably to travel to Alaska like in the comics).

You have to see this to experience it for yourself. It's pretty great.

[DanDud88]

The weird thing about this fight is that Illyana just randomly shows up and tags along, and Madelyne transforms her into Magik.

Thats Morph, the writers make him change into who ever they need now, like episode one he became lady deathstrike.

[shevek]

The weird thing about this fight is that Illyana just randomly shows up and tags along, and Madelyne transforms her into Magik.

Thats Morph, the writers make him change into who ever they need now, like episode one he became lady deathstrike.

Oh, whoops, I should have realized that! Seems like a certain crowd will fixate on the Morph character (I think they might have done so already)
but it is what it is. Definitely enjoying this series so far.

[shevek]

Anybody watching this?

Episode 4 is the first part of the "Lifedeath" story that was drawn so masterfully by Barry Windsor-Smith in the comics: a love story between Storm and Forge.
Also. they quickly "age up" Jubilee to her 18th birthday so she can have a romance with Sunspot.
Lots of love is in the air with the X-Men!

[dajinx1]

Holy crap! Episode 5 was a game changer!!!!!

[shevek]

Holy crap! Episode 5 was a game changer!!!!!

You're not kidding. Probably some of the best writing ever in a superhero cartoon.
That use of the specific song with the quote from Psalm 117 during the Magneto/Rogue dance was perfect - it will probably cause it to climb the charts for the first time since 1992. So amazing that someone thought of that.

To be honest, I've barely thought about Rogue at all for over a decade - most people wouldn't think of her as naturally being in the Top 10 superheroines - but after watching the past couple episodes, I'm in love with her and probably so is everyone else who watched this.

There is so much romance, so much violence, so much power in this sweeping saga. Don't miss this episode!

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[shevek]

What'd everyone think of Episode 6?

I like how they continue to go with a balance of power and romance (Storm & Forge, Xavier & Lilandra).
It really helps to humanize the characters a bit.

Really enjoyed:
- the epic re-transformation of Ororo. She's so hot, and Forge is the luckiest imaginary guy I know.
- the brief sisterfly catfight between Lilandra and Deathbird. Reminds me of the dynamic between Starfire and Blackfire (regal princess vs the resentful black sheep).
- Xavier taking the Shi'ar to 'school' in their minds. Kind of amusing.

Really interested to see where this is going. We found out pretty quickly who was behind the Sentinel attacks, too (but you'll have to watch to find out for yourself!).