Jeremy Slater, head writer for the recent Moon Knight Disney+ show, hyped the upcoming X-Men ’97 show in an interview with Comicbook.com’s Adam Barnhardt.
“Beau DeMayo, who’s doing X-Men ’97, is one of the best writers I have ever worked with in my life. He’s an absolute genius. And the other day, we had our writers’ dinner, and he was telling me some of the things they have planned for X-Men ’97. I can’t say a single thing, except you guys have no idea how excited you should be for that show.”
Jeremy Slater
DeMayowas a contributor in the writer’s room for Moon Knight under Slater, who went on to say it is “going to be f—ing awesome. That’s all I can say about it. But the stuff he was saying — every episode — it was blowing my mind of what he was sort of pitching. So you guys have no idea how excited you should be for that show.”
The show, which will be the first official X-Men content in the MCU, is rumored to pick up directly where the original series left off. Excitement for the project is growing following Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier returning in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. As of now, there is not a known release date for X-Men ’97.
If there’s ever a question on everyone’s mind when a new Marvel series or project is announced: is it canon? As it is a continuation of the original 90s series, it seems very unlikely that the series is connected, but in an interview with The Direct, head writer Beau DeMayo may have hinted that there is more to this than may meet the eye. While he doesn’t confirm anything, he does hint that their place within the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe could be revealed.
The one thing I can say towards that is, I know sometimes we say, No comment,’ and it’s like, ‘They’re just being obstinate.’ I’m gonna go with no comment here because part of the surprise will be finding that out when you experience the show.
Beau DeMayo
It definitely would make for a great surprise to find out that the X-Men have been around since the 90s. It is the first time that Marvel Studios gets to work with the IP since Disney purchased the rights back through 20th Century Fox. It’s still unclear how exactly the X-Men might arrive within the ever-expanding MCU at this point.
What does stand out is that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will feature the return of Patrick Stewart as Professor X. We’ve gotten glimpses of what looks like his iconic yellow chair from the animated series and comics. So, the show might potentially lead to the events of his upcoming introduction. For now, we’ll have a lot of fun speculating.
While most of our focus remains on the many live-action projects from Marvel Studios, we also have some exciting animated offerings on the horizon. While we know very little about the Marvel Zombies adaptation, the X-Men ’97 adaptation is quite exciting for those that grew up with the original animated series from the 90s. Adapting such a cult classic, head writer Beau DeMayo and his team have quite the challenge ahead of them.
In an interview with The Direct’s Russ Milheim, the series head writer talked about their approach to bringing the original to life while also talking about what elements they want to carry over from the original. The core of the potential lies in “honoring that earnestness” and keeping the emotional core of that original story.
And so I think the challenge to me was honoring that earnestness, that emotional sincerity in the show where it wasn’t just about the big bad of the day. That was almost, in some cases, an afterthought. It was really about the relationship of this found family, and how they cared about each other and had disagreements. And I always just come back whenever we’re talking in the writer’s room, or we’re talking to the directors, it’s just like, we have to have earnest emotion in every scene. Cause I really do think that was the secret sauce to the original series.
Beau DeMayo
He goes on to highlight that they aren’t approaching the project to “improve” upon the original. Rather, they have a simple message that truly reflects what the X-Men have always stood for in the comics.
And so, it is more a question of, what does that show look like knowing what we know now? And how it looks like, in today’s world, with everything that has changed, and everything that hasn’t changed, sadly—in our world.
Beau DeMayo
It certainly sounds like the team is definitely sticking to what made the original so iconic. So, we’ll get more than just the iconic opening but the same heart that made the original so memorable. With most of the cast also returning, it does add that special feeling once we get our first look at what this animated continuation has to offer.
One of the biggest revelations from the first ever Disney Plus day was the revival of one of Marvel’s most beloved animated series, X-Men, which ran for 76 episodes over 5 season from 1992-1997. The new series, X-Men ’97, will see the return of not only many members of the original voice cast, but also many of the original creatives behind the show.
Two of those creatives, consulting producers Erica and Julia Lewald, recently discussed the revival in an interview with YouTuber Justin Underwood and gave some insight into the new season’s episode count and when fans can expect to see it on Disney Plus.
I believe they’re looking at 10 episodes for the first season that’s going to come out mid-next year. They’re starting it soon after ours ended…”Where is [Professor X?]”
Eric Lewald
A mid-2023 debut it is! It’s also great to get confirmation that the series will pick up right where it left off as Lewald’s comments are in reference to the ending of the original series, which saw a badly injured Charles Xavier leave Earth with Shi’ar Empress, Lilandra Neramani. According to Lewald, the new season will start there and “bulld off that.”
The animated series represents the first X-Men content produced by Marvel Studios since the Fox merger and just the tip of the iceberg of the studio’s plans for the huge roster of characters.
Marvel Studios had its first venture into animation last year with What If…? but that was just the beginning. During Disney+ Day, we got the announcement that they will revive the classic X-Men: Animated Series. It’ll continue the 90s nostalgia classic under the new title X-Men ’97. Of course, they went the extra step and will have the original cast return. We already learned that Le Zann started recording her lines for Rogue, but it looks like Cal Dodd, the original Wolverine voice actor, shared a picture of his work on the project.
Dodd continued to voice the character in the Marvel vs Capcom game series and has been what everyone thought of when it came to the character before Jason Blum and Hugh Jackman reinvented the characters in other animated and live-action projects. It’s great to see him return and there’s a lot of hope for the animated live-action revival. It’ll also be Marvel Studios’ first time tackling the X-Men characters and Wolverine since they purchased 20th Century Fox. It’ll be interesting to see how they tackle the revival, as well as his eventual live-action return.
It would seem that production on Marvel Studios’ animated X-Men’97 revival series is already well underway. Lenore Zann, the voice actress known for bringing Rogue to life in the original seasons of X-Men: The Animated Series, has revealed she’s already started work on her dialogue for the first three episodes of the new show. The news would indicate that X-Men ’97 is not only done being written but is already a good chunk of the way into the recording stage. It also double confirms that Zann will return to her iconic role, re-joining a cast that is mostly comprised of her fellow X-Men alumni, after earlier reports stated that most of the surviving Animated Series line-up would be back for more mutant mayhem.
Outside of playing Rogue in numerous Marvel projects, Zann is best known for her vocal work on animated series like Rescue Heroes, Animal Mechanicals, and the short-lived Avengers: United They Stand. She has also spent time as a politician in her home country of Canada, serving as a Member of Parliament for the riding of Cumberland-Colchester in the House of Commons of Canada.
This week, we were lucky enough to have Adam Barnhardt join us for the Team-Up. Adam is the creator of the Scout Comics book Sh*itshow and the upcoming Keepers of the Cosmos. Adam also writes at Comicbook.com, where he covers Marvel, comics and Mountain Dew!
If the rollout of Disney+ and the past two years have taught us anything, it’s that we’re more than ready to reboot Gargoyles. The show itself instantly trended once the service launched and now, it’s beginning to dominate collecting circles each time a new toy is released. It was the first of its kind — a dark and gritty series with a world that was intricately crafted and story arcs that lasted any number of episodes. In a world where IP is king, and Hollywood runs on reboots, reimaginations, and continuations, there’s little reason to not bring Gargoyles back into the mix.
Filip Manka
As a huge fan of Marvel’s space side, I would love to see a revival of the Silver Surfer animated series. The 1998 series has its charm and I have a lot of nostalgia for it, thanks to the great voice cast (James Blendick as Galactus!) and the many references to Stan Lee and Moebius’ series. I would love to see a series about Galactus’ herald again, especially since What If…? appealed to me a lot in terms of style and portrayal of cosmic scale. Silver Surfer in a similar animation technique would look insane. Especially since this concept allows for different visual plays and animation techniques. One series that I have in my mind as a potential foundation for animation would be the Silver Surfer: Black series by Donny Cates and Tradd More. This kind of psychedelic and surreal imagery would look great in an animated series that could creatively portray the philosophical dimension of the Silver Surfer story.
Nathan Miller
I’m gonna have to go with another ‘90s show in Spider-Man: The Animated Series as that was not only the Spider-Man of my youth but also some of the first serialised television programming I remember watching. The series showed a great progression in it’s version of Peter over its 5 seasons and covered a great array of comic stories. It also showed an early version of translating the Marvel comics team-ups to screen in a crossover with X-Men: The Animated Series in Season 2. It also featured a couple of memorable multiversal crossovers in Season 5 with Secret Wars and an early version a Spider-verse story which it mashed together with the Clone Saga which started in the comics at the same time, resulting in the ‘90s Peter meeting Stan Lee in ‘our world’ which blew my young mind. Occasionally the ambient themes of the series still pop into my head so I would love to see a return of that or at least see what became of Spidey in that world through X-Men ‘97perhaps.
John Sabato
An animated series is love to see revived on Disney+ would be Gravity Falls. Whether it be a film or another season I’d like to see those characters return and explore even more of the secrets behind the town. I feel like show needed quite prematurely and still had a lot more room to breath. If they were to bring it back it would be cool to see a bit of a time jump, with adult Dipper and Mable returning to Gravity Falls after all those years.
Charles Murphy
I grew up in the 80s when Saturday morning cartoons ruled. I could wake up and get a couple solid hours of cartoons in before my Mom rolled out of bed: Smurfs, Voltron, Jem (my God was Jem so cool!), Thundercats, Transformers, He-Man and my absolute favorite (which I almost always actually watched on weekday mornings before school) G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. We got 95 glorious episodes that brought almost every one of my action figures to life but it was Doctor Mindbender usurped control of Cobra from Cobra Commander that shit got real. The animated series embraced the surreal aspects of the comics and line of action figures in a way the incredibly disappointing efforts at bringing the characters to life in live-action have been to scared to do and the pinnacle of that was in the beginning of season two when they introduced Serpentor. Seeing that bad sum’bitch flying around in his air chariot, carrying the DNA of the world’s greatest conquerors was the high point of the series and among my favorite memories of cartoons as a kid. With the people in charge of the live-action rights incapable of understanding that G.I. Joe isn’t a franchise that needs to be “grounded in realism”, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is the best version where likely to ever get, so bringing it back with all of its wild ideas is the best bet for the future of the franchise.
Anthony Canton III
One of the more unsung animated series in comic book lore was Green Lantern, as we followed the adventures of Hal Jordan and Kilowog through space. The series only went one season and had a fascinating story with Hal and Kilowog welcoming Razer, a character with shades of gray to the team. The series chronicled battles with the Red Lanterns Corp who was trying to eliminate Green Lanterns. The animation was smooth and the story was sound. The characters were so fun and full of life I’d love to see that series brought back to the screen. Considering the live action Green Lantern series that’s coming, it wouldn’t be a bad companion.
Mary Maerz
The original Teen Titans animated series from the mid-2000s will always be one of my favorite series of all time. Maybe I’m not giving enough credit to the Powerpuff Girls, but I think for me Teen Titans is the reason I ever fell in love with superheroes and their stories. Plenty of it was silly, but they also had some dark storylines from the comics like Judas Contract and introducing Trigon. Deathstroke was only known as “Slade” but he was pretty damn great and is still one of my favorite villains of all time. Unfortunately, Teen Titans got the Teen Titans GO! treatment, so a genuine revival seems like it’s been off the table for a while.
Hunter Radesi
If Marvel Studios wants to revive X-Men: The Animated Series, why not bring back even more of the Marvel Animated Universe and revive Spider-Man: The Animated Series as well? Yes, there’s already an animated MCU spider-series on the way, but if history has taught us anything, it’s that people will take as many versions of the web-head as they can swallow. If the X-Men series picks up where the old show left off, a new Spider-Man cartoon could serve to move the universe forward. I would start the series decades after the end of the last season, with Peter and MJ’s daughter Mayday taking up the mantle as Spider-Girl. Throw in an arc for Miles and use elements of both the MC2 and Ultimate comics to create an original and fresh new take on the Spider-Man mythos.
Ever since the announcement came that Marvel Studios is reviving the popular X-Men animated series from the 90s. With the new title X-Men ’97, it’ll join a bunch of animated projects announced during Disney+ Day. After their first venture with What If…?, it was clear that they saw a future in this new direction and it seems some from that team are even joining the newer projects.
What If…?‘s Lead Character Designer Amelia Vidal has shared on Twitter that she’s also carrying over her role in bringing the classic 90’s incarnations of the X-Men to life. It does open the question if she’ll return for an eventual third season of What If…? or she will juggle both projects moving forward. Still, it’s great to see the team continue to work with their talent and let them test out their talents on other projects.
It’s great to see Marvel Studios venturing out of the MCU and developing projects that won’t be connected directly to the original franchise’s timeline. Of course, there’s always the chance it is part of the ever-expanding multiverse introduced in Loki. We’ll see how the projects develop but, for now, we’re getting a clearer picture of how long these projects may have been in development, such as artist Chase Conley promoting his love for the original series only to confirm his involvement recently.
X-Men ‘97 is Marvel Studios’ first X-Men production. As a continuation of the ‘90s animated series that many adults grew up with as kids, the show has an in-built fan base. The announcement along with creative collaborators and returning cast means there will be more opportunities to talk about the project with the public. Brad Winderbaum, Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation at Marvel Studios appeared on Marvel’s podcast This Week in Marvel to talk about some of their animation announcements.
Winderbaum suggested that the original animated series has been a “touchstone” for many filmmakers Marvel Studios had conversations with over the years. He also talked about how head writer Beau DeMayo pitched the show, teasing an emotional shift at the end of the ‘90s and an important event that seemingly frames the new series:
He pitched us a show that didn’t just honor the original series, but also brought it into the modern world and talked not only about the 90s, but about the emotional shift that happened at the beginning of the new millennium, and how the show is actually going to explore that and see how the characters change, you know, after a very impactful event. And he talked about the soap opera of it all and was really compelling to us, but also the true emotional stakes to these characters.
Brad Winderbaum
All of that seems like an intriguing set of circumstances with which to evolve the original series. We’ll have to wait quite a while longer to see it play out as the show is set to release on Disney+ in 2023. As animation takes quite a while, it can perhaps be expected the show is already reasonably far into production so we might start to hear more from the creators soon!
The Marvel section of Disney’s much-hyped Disney+ Day event came with plenty of exciting first looks and project announcements. Perhaps one of the most surprising announcements was the revival of the 90s X-Men: The Animated Series. It now received the new title X-Men ‘97. Unfortunately, aside from revealing the series’ existence, not much was made known about the creative team behind the big comeback outside of the original voice cast is making a return to bring these characters back to life. Luckily for fans, an Instagram post from artist Chase Conley has confirmed at least one episodic director for the show.
Conley recently made waves in the comic book community when he unveiled a new redesign for Miles Morales. Before that, the graphic designer and storyboard artist worked on projects involving The Death of Superman, Teen Titans, and Black Dynamite. Two years ago, Conley posted a workshop image of the iconic X-Men character Storm to his page. Depending on how long he’s secretly been attached to X-Men ‘97, the artwork could be an indicator of the revival’s style, but we did get the classic designs in the Disney+ special. So, we’ll see how they approached the revival of this iconic series. At the very least, it shows Conley has been a passionate fan of these characters for some time.
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