X-Men ’97: 12 Exciting Ways to Relive Your Nostalgia

X-Mansion is exempt from the “you can’t go home again” warning. The luxurious boarding school and training center for gifted mutants was a shelter for Saturday morning cartoon watchers of X-Men: The Animated Series, and over 30 years after that series ended, it’s still the same place of belonging, arguing, and hypercompetitive basketball.

The new, endearingly backward-looking X-Men ’97 understands what now-adult viewers of the old animation desire, which is very little change. Even if it’s easy to draw in viewers with nostalgia, it’s great when it gives us what we desire. X-Men ’97, set a year after X-Men: The Animated Series ended with the assassination of Professor Charles Xavier, does precisely this with its many allusions to the original series’ plots, character tensions, and wicked soundtrack. The speech is clunky, the narratives are rushed through, and the allegory about humans being exclusive racists has never been more on the nose. It’s just as you remember X-Men: The Animated Series, and it completely rules. Here are 12 moments from the season’s first two episodes, “To Me, My X-Men” and “Mutant Liberation Begins,” that will confirm your nostalgia.

1. In X-Men ’97–the theme music is still really catchy.

That guitar riff! What a hoot! The hyperbole! The iconic Animated Series theme by Ron Wasserman is repeated here (albeit credited to Haim Saban and Shuki Levy following a recent lawsuit) to fantastic effect. The theme music is still metal as hell, especially when matched with character introductions and artwork for this series’ ensemble. They begin with Cyclops, and then after Magneto joins the squad at the end of X-Men ’97’s first episode, he receives top credit in the second episode. It’s a smart touch to put Magneto at the top, as is the clumsy metallic sound effect when the “’97” text comes in at the end of “X-Men ’97.” (The remainder of the series’ score from the Newton Brothers is very nice, too.)

2.Remy LeBeau, wearing a crop top, prepares beignets

In X-Men ’97,ep1- Our beloved Cajun going all Emeril in the kitchen is actually canon; personally, I definitely would have chosen his well-spiced holiday dish over Jean Grey’s. And I’m grateful to whoever decided that Remy’s culinary instincts should shine through, as he’s sluttily cooking beignets in a crop top, ripped trousers, and an aggressively side swept haircut. Child me, who didn’t fully grasp her crush on Gambit, and adult me, who is now quite comfortable with that thirst, both appreciate this very much.

3. Morph experiments with experiencing life as Professor X.

Morph is a divisive Animated Series character, given that most of the time he was pretty obnoxious. But it’s also a fully correct interpretation of Morph that he would turn into Professor X only to mock Scott Summers for being so self-serious about leading the X-Men. Morph’s powers will not be bound by sadness, decorum, or good taste! Also solid: The series rejuvenates Morph and Logan’s bond, in particular with a small sequence when Morph cheers up a “despondent about Jean Grey” Logan by transforming into Sabretooth so the two can joke around.

4. Some X-cellent ’90s jargon.

Jubilee criticizing someone by calling them an “arrogant yuppie”; Cyclops breaking out a “not!” after getting sarcastic during a fight; the anti-mutant vigilante named “Executioner” spelling it “X-Cutioner.” (Using “X” as a stand-alone letter to signify something as extreme really was a signature of the decade.) It’s all quite quaint.

5. In X-Men ’97– Storm telling people they suck.

I hope the Mistress of the Elements’ loss of power at the end of “Mutant Liberation Begins” will be temporary, because it would be incredibly upsetting if she really spent the full season away from this narrative. Storm imperiously insulting people and asking them to shut up whenever they dare talk to her is always a treat, and we should have more of it!

6. To me, my X-Men!”

It’s lovely when Scott, in his new status as the X-Men ’97’s commander, echoes Professor X’s catchphrase as they prepare to take down Bolivar Trask, the reanimated Sentinels, and Master Mold. That’s wonderful for him to win everyone’s respect. But it’s rad when Magneto shows up at the end of the premiere episode and informs everyone that Charles left X-Mansion and his money to erstwhile bestie turned frenemy Erik Lehnsherr. The way Magneto voice actor Matthew Waterson draws out, “Everything he built, everything he fought for, now belongs to me… my X-Men,” is a lovely variation on the sentence that Scott worked so hard to convey. Magneto being totally underwhelmed by Scott is going to be amusing to watch.

7. Let me repeat: Magneto is here!

Look at this voluminously maned anti-hero—he kind of seems like a hot version of John Noble’s Denethor, no? That is praise! Magneto is a fan favorite because, well, he’s mostly right that humans in this universe are not really deserving of the turn-the-other-cheek treatment Professor X gave them for so long, but he’s also principled enough that he’ll honor Charles’s desires and pick up the mantle of guiding the X-Men. (I’m assuming that this was actually Charles’s request rather than a long con by Magneto, but time will tell.) “Mutant Liberation Begins” is such an intriguing dive into Magneto’s new “mutant terrorist turned hero” arc because he simultaneously saves humans and Morlocks and gets the opportunity to be a messy bitch by smirking to the X-Men that maybe they didn’t truly know Charles as well as he did. “You have finally realized what I did ages ago: Even Charles Xavier can make a mistake” is a rather catty thing to say to the people Charles loved like family, but that’s Magneto for you.

8. Rogue and Magneto are a thing.

This development might be more nostalgic for readers of various X-Men comics, in which Rogue and Magneto were romantically connected, than for followers of animated series, in which Rogue and Gambit were pretty consistently together. For the rest of us, this is at least a solid source of future intragroup friction as Rogue and Erik trade meaningful, dubious looks when Scott maintains that the X-Men’s purpose is “de-escalation” and have secret amorous meetings in Charles’s old office. Rogue, Magneto, and Gambit; Jean, Scott, and Logan—so many love triangles!

9. Genosha is back on the map.

Remember how the mutants have their own nation? Magneto reminding the X-Men and us with a small sigh before the word “coexistence” is a good time.

10. Another X-Men member stands trial.

Beast spent a substantial amount of the first season of the animated series waiting to stand trial for an X-Men raid on the Mutant Control Agency, and the criminal justice system popped up a lot in that series as Charles fought to prove to humanity that mutants presented no danger to them. Magneto being taken before the U.N. Commission on Superhuman Activities in chains to defend himself is an echo of earlier story lines, as is the fact that the human demonstrators at the trial are far more aggressive than the mutants themselves. And Magneto sobbing a single tear in space while turning away from the restrained X-Cutioner and U.N. judges, whom he chastises for their ignorance and bigotry, is a magnificent moment of animation.

11. Mutants can augment each other’s powers.

Here’s another idea that comes from numerous comics: “mutant circuits” are teamwork at a higher level, with mutants working together to magnify each other’s capabilities and combine skills. They make the animation in X-Men ’97 more inventive—Wolverine’s claws shining brilliant pink thanks to his transfer of Gambit’s kinetic energy is interesting—and, like the Rogue-Magneto partnership, open up exciting places for the season to go now that the mutants can emphasize each other’s strengths. Can all the mutant circuits have an era-appropriate neon color palette, please?

12. Logan and Scott still despise each other.

It’s not an X-Men ’97 joint without these two wanting to rip each other apart over their love for Jean, their conflicting leadership tactics, and their divergent personalities. Nothing feels more suitable about X-Men ’97 than the hate these men share. Welcome home!

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