But the most notable contribution of the series to the larger X-Men franchise is the creation of X-23, aka Logan’s clone-daughter Laura, who was first introduced in this series in a couple of episodes before being brought into the comics later on. The references to other Marvel properties are deliberately few and far between, but Cap, SHEILD and Hydra still make appearances. But even in its early episodes, Evolution features well-written characters and plenty of fun action. As the younger premise implies, the show was a bit lighthearted in comparison to the 90’s series, at least at first – about halfway through its four season run, the themes of fear and bigotry start to appear and the stakes ramp up considerably. Likewise, the Brotherhood is depicted as a mischievous but likeable band of punks under the tutelage of Mystique (and later Magneto), though more traditional enemies like Legion and Apocalypse show up later on. Unlike the previous series, which stayed pretty faithful to the original comics, Evolution charted its own course, reimaging several characters as high school students and portraying Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters as a sort of specialized school and boarding house – with the kids being trained by Wolverine and Storm and attending regular classes at the fictional Bayville High. Now, this one aired on the WB, so I wasn’t able to watch it when it came out in 2000 to capitalize on the then-recent movie. Of course, the Japanese intro was pretty sweet too… Plus, that theme song (written and performed by none other than Ron “Go Go Power Rangers” Wasserman) is so iconic. Some of the dialogue and voice acting may show its age now, and the animation wasn’t exactly BTAS, but the show remains a classic, intellectually-challenging experience that helped bring Marvel’s Merry Mutants into the mainstream, and is pretty much the only one of these shows I actually watched on TV while it was airing. Marvel, and even Spider-Man (who later did a crossover with the X-Men in his own show). There were also plenty of smaller Easter Egg references for Marvel fans, with guest appearances and cameos by the likes of Captain America, Ms. It didn’t shy away from the darker aspects of the X-Men lore either, dealing with issues of prejudice, loss and trauma – heck, there was even an episode about religion, real ones to boot! This show was more or less a straight translation of the original comics, bringing classic storylines like Days Of Future Past and The Dark Phoenix Saga to screen for the first time as well as making a few memorable storylines of their own (like Magneto and Professor X getting trapped in the Savage Land and having to work together to escape, Beast being arrested and standing trial for a crime he didn’t commit, or the plight of the created-exclusively-for-the-show shapeshifter Morph) in one of the few instances of long-form storytelling among animation of the time. Produced by Saban Entertainment (yes, the same people that made Power Rangers) and airing on Fox Kids for most of the 90’s, X-Men: The Animated Series (or just X-Men) served as an entry point for many fans of that era, including me. So without further ado, here are the various X-Men cartoon shows and some of my thoughts on them – except for that Pryde Of The X-Men pilot, that was a bit before my time and was really just an unaired pilot anyway. Indeed, thanks to the franchise’s ever-relevant themes of prejudice, loss, grief, and banding together to overcome adversity being present and accounted for on most of these shows, they have provided some of the best and most impactful animated superhero moments of all time, and have even influenced the comics and movies in numerous ways. In fact, there was once a time where they were the dominant Marvel property instead of the Avengers, and along with both Spider-Man and Batman, served as a gateway point for many future superhero fans – myself included. So yeah, before the X-Men hit the big screen in 2000 they ruled the small one thanks to a number of cartoon shows that have aired over the years. Yeah, I was going to just move on after The New Mutants, but I realized I wanted to end things on a lighter note, and there’s something else I’ll get into at the end of the article… To me, my X-Men! Uncanny Fox here, wrapping up my discussion of the X-Men by sharing my thoughts on the various animated shows that have hit the airwaves over the years.
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