You know what’s funny? I have two young children at home, ages 8 and 7, and we pretty much never watch Disney+ in our household anymore. Besides Bluey, which is pretty much popular with all kids, they never turn it on.
However, I also have the Disney+ app on my phone, and while I frequently open up my MAX, Netflix, and Amazon Prime apps, I hardly ever open up my Disney+ app, unless I’m checking out something like The Marvels (which we gave a positive review), or some other movie that I happened to miss in theaters.
But then, I saw the trailer to X-Men '97, and oh, my God. I think I may be a true believer in Disney+ again since I have GOT to see this. So, here are five reasons why I will finally go back to regularly opening up my Disney+ app again.
It Is A Direct Continuation From One Of My Favorite Cartoons From The '90s
From the very first scene of the new trailer, we see the final episode of the original animated series, “Graduation Day,” where Professor Xavier was on his deathbed. And from there, we see that life has gone on for the X-Men, even after burying their beloved leader.
We get shots of all of our favorite X-Men, as well as a scene of a pregnant Jean Grey, meaning that she could be the mother of a number of different characters, such as Cable if they want to go that route (even though Cable’s mother was really Jean Grey’s clone in the comics).
We also see that the sentinels, which played such a pivotal part in the original Animated Series are a threat yet again (with a badass shot of Gambit leaping on Wolverine’s back for what will certainly be an awesome scene).
Also cool is that we get a shot of Bishop, who came much later in the original animated series, as well as Morph, who is now non-binary, which I think is a good choice for that character.
But, the coolest part is the twist at the end where we see that Magneto received everything that Charles Xavier ever built (Including the X-Men?), which should create all kinds of drama that I can’t wait to see!
Based On What I've Seen From The Trailer, The People Behind It Obviously Have A Lot Of Love And Affection For The Original Series
Now, I had heard a while ago that we were getting X-Men ‘97, but I was hesitant to get excited. While I don’t consider the original X-Men: The Animated Series to be one of the best Marvel shows of all time, I do have a huge soft spot for it since it was a major part of my childhood.
However, the one thing I didn’t think this new series would nail was the overall feeling of that show, which, while cool, kind of had a charmingly clunky vibe to it that I didn’t think would be replicated.
But, after watching this trailer, I have a new excitement since it really feels like the people behind it have a lot of love and affection for the original series, and I don’t just mean with the theme song, but also how the overall character designs look. Yes, I should have known that it would be so lovingly crafted given that the title IS X-Men ‘97, but I didn’t know they would do SUCH a good job of it.
The visuals are certainly more modernized, but the overall aesthetic still looks very reminiscent of what I used to plop down and watch every Saturday morning. The characters sound the same, too. This might be because Cal Dodd is returning as Wolverine, and Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey.
Though Norm Spencer isn’t back as Cyclops since he unfortunately passed away in 2020, Ray Chase does an amazing job of taking over the voice. So, in so many ways, I can tell that the people behind this are just as big (If not bigger!) fans of the original series as I am, which has me super pumped.
It Makes Me Want To Watch The Original Series All Over Again From The Very Beginning
When I first got Disney+, one of the immediate highlights for me was the many animated Marvel shows (and, to a slightly lesser extent, all of the Star Wars movies). The first show, believe or not, that I watched on Disney+ was X-Men: The Animated Series. And, while I got pretty far into the first season, I stopped and promised myself that I would get through the whole thing someday, since I missed some of the episodes back when I was younger.
Unfortunately, I never got back to watching it, and I still have a long way to go. Now, I probably would have gone the rest of my life not watching the rest of the series, but now that I've seen this recent trailer, my ambition to complete the series has been reinvigorated.
Because while I do remember many different aspects of the series, I don’t think I’ve seen every story arc, and I want to know in what other ways besides the final episode that this new series will connect to the old one.
Like, will there be a lot of references that are intended for all of the eagle-eyed fans that are familiar with the entirety of the original series? I want to know!
If It's Popular, We Might Get Continuations From Other '90s Marvel Cartoons, Like Fantastic Four, Iron Man, And Even Silver Surfer!
Let me tell you. Even though I, of course, watched X-Men: The Animated Series, and the 1994 Spider-Man series back when I was a kid, I also watched much more niche Marvel cartoons, like The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man and Fantastic Four (though, I’ll be honest. I didn’t even know there was a Silver Surfer cartoon until I found it on Disney+).
However, in my mind, I had already settled on the idea that we would never see any continuation to those shows, as why would we? Iron Man blew up in the movies back in 2008, and we’re just now getting another Fantastic Four movie, so I pretty much figured that the MCU’s focus was going to remain on live-action TV shows and movies.
However, X-Men ‘97 changes things, and hopefully in a substantial way. Honestly, even though I enjoyed shows like Loki and She-Hulk (and yes, I loved She-Hulk), I still have a huge soft spot for the janky Marvel cartoons in the ‘90s. I do like modern Marvel cartoons, like Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, but that cartoon is not for me. It’s more for somebody like my children, which is fine. I’m not saying it’s not.
But, if X-Men ‘97 is popular, I would LOVE to see continuations of shows like Iron Man and Fantastic Four. In fact, I think it would be cool if that was its own separate universe–‘90s Marvel, which brings me to my last point.
It Is Catering Directly To My Nostalgia, And Me Likey!
Every now and then, I still go to my local comic book store. But do you know what? I rarely EVER buy anything. I just really like perusing comic book shops, and if I pick up anything, it’ll likely either be manga or something for my kids. I don’t really want to read modern comic books these days. I’m just not into the stories being told today, since I’ll likely just see them in the movies sometime down the line anyway.
That said, I was REALLY BIG into comics back in the ‘90s. Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Sam Kieth – these guys were ROCK STARS to me back when I was younger. But, it just hasn’t been the same for me since the ‘90s, when comic books had their last big hurrah.
That’s why I really love that this new X-Men series is ostensibly harkening back to that time period, when comic books were larger than life, and super colorful and vibrant. Seeing this recent trailer really hit me in the nostalgia, and I’m super excited to marinate in that period of my life again, when life was much, much simpler.
But, what do you think? Are you also super excited for X-Men ‘97? For more news on all things X-Men-related, be sure to swing by here often!
