X-MEN '97: Destroying Nostalgia for the Greater Good

What are your favorite comic book animated series?

This one show did with 10 episodes what fox couldn’t do in 20 years. Show the X-Men proper respect

One thing I really loved about X-Men `97 was how it effectively used one of the worst tropes of most revival series to play with expectations. In Remember It, Nightcrawler comes in at the last minute to make a save, gets hit, and you're left thinking "Oh great, here we go again. They've brought in a fan favourite minor character from the old show for one episode only to kill him off for some easy shock value". But then they hit you with the relief that he's alive, only to then turn around and kill off Gambit instead! One of the main cast members! And he doesn't go out in some sudden stupid shock death either. He gets to go out in a truly epic moment that is all his own, making a meaningful sacrifice. And he isn't just dismissed right afterward. His memory lingers across the rest of the season.

I bought that Claremont comic with my very own money and read it over and over, as a teenager. I couldn't be prouder of this story. X-Men forever.

If we get a Daredevil show with this animation style, adapting the Miller, Nocenti, or Bendis runs... His will be done 🙏🙏🙏🙏

Another fun fact. The director and storyboard artist of the original intro Larry Houston was also the storyboard artist for the new sequences in X-Men 97's intro. So anytime you see new character titles such as Magneto, Morph, Bishop, and Nightcrawler its Larry doing them.

This show needs to be studied by anyone who wants to bring back an old IP. It’s faithful to the original, while also moving it forward.

I love the Cyclops Renaissance brought on by this show.

Episode 5 was one of the biggest "oh wait Marvel is back" moments I've had in a while. It's clear the team loves the source material so much, we need more Marvel projects with creatives like this!

Pour one out for my favorite Cajun. I was not expecting the show to hit that hard.

The “I hope these cameos don’t take the eye off the X-me- OH MY GOD IT’S DAREDEVIL” comment got me, and was exactly how I felt too. For real though, this show was surprisingly outstanding, and I hope the show continues to push the envelope and keep the surprises and character evolutions coming rather than fall into the trap of tropes and treading the status quo. Great analysis as always, MD!

13:36 I felt your excitement seeing a wild Daredevil

I never grew up with X-Men TAS and only watched it in my 20s so there was no childhood nostalgia to pander to with me but I was absolutely blown away the show and its depth and emotional maturity. Not every story was adapted perfectly but the focus on character combined with a wider scope and beautiful animation was a sight to behold, especially "Remember It". While I'm personally hoping for a revival of the Silver Surfer show because that was a beautiful gem that's often overlooked, I really just hope Marvel starts remembering to take animation more seriously and to give people other than the Avengers the spotlight.

Not liking xmen in space is crazy to me, i think X-Men already have enough ti be standalone characters, stretching their influence to space is just as cool as time travel imo

One of the best reboots ever staying true to the foundation but modernizing it as well

This show converted me from a Claremont X-Men skeptic to a true believer.

What I love about this show is how it managed to bring together people who grew up with the original 90s X-Men: The Animated Series and those who may have been to young to initially see it and manages to show both what makes the X-Men who they are and why they still remain culturally relevant today.

"Destroying nostalgia for the greater good." You need to get this on some shirts man. That tagline is hard.

It's Wednesday. You know what that means, a Matt Draper banger

I like that there weren’t many distracting cameos tbh. It really shows that everyone else is counting on the X-Men