Season 1 of X-Men ‘97 already stands as one of Marvel Studios’ crowning achievements.
A revival of the 1992 X-Men cartoon, the show picked up from the original series finale. An ill Professor X has left the Earth with his lover, alien empress Lilandra, while a reformed Magneto has become the team’s new leader.
Lacking both the rough production values that kneecapped the original series and the undermining self-deprecating humor of many Marvel movies, X-Men ‘97 honors the colorful, soapy, and allegorical spirit of the comics.
Here are the very best moments of the first season of X-Men ‘97, ranked!
15. Cyclops Leads The Team (Season 1 Episode 1)
X-Men ‘97 Season 1 Episode 1, “To Me, My X-Men,” is the weakest episode of the season. It had to be, because it had to table set, and doing a simplistic X-Men vs Sentinels episode was the most efficient way to do that.
One way the episode sets up the season is by reminding viewers that Scott Summers/Cyclops (Ray Chase stepping up for late voice actor Norm Spencer) is the boss. Both literally (with Xavier gone) and figuratively.
His best moment comes when a Sentinel destroys the X-Men’s Blackbird jet (while he destroys the Sentinel). The flying X-Men catch their falling teammates, but Cyclops doesn’t need a rescue; he dives straight down and cushions his landing with one of his eye beams.
Cue a triumphant hero shot close-up of Cyclops, which then pulls out as he declares “To me, my X-Men” as the team assembles in the frame behind him.
The season remains very kind to Scott until the end. The first episode definitely got things off on the right foot.
14. Jubilee Says No To Nostalgia (Season 1 Episode 4)
X-Men ‘97 Season 1 Episode 4, “Motendo/Lifedeath Part 1,” features two half-episode-long segments.
The first is about Jubilee’s 18th birthday when she and Sunspot get pulled into a virtual reality by interdimensional reality TV mogul Mojo. Mojo’s pivoted from television to video games; his new “Motendo” game turns past adventures the X-Men have had into levels.
If she stays in the game, Jubilee can relive simpler days with the foreknowledge of how they play out. A digital clone of her from the beta test, Abscissa (voiced by Jubilee’s original voice actress, Alyson Court), sets her straight: “Living doesn’t get cheat codes or extra lives… life’s a total risk, and it’s on you.”
The episode is deceptively important, at least thematically.
Many expected X-Men ‘97 to be a lazy nostalgia trip. “Motendo” shows why the show isn’t reaching for those diminishing returns. It’s just as significant that this is the last episode before the mutants’ relative peace gets blown up.
13. Rogue Shows Trask No Mercy (Season 1 Episode 7)
Rogue loses her sugah Gambit in the genocide of Genosha on X-Men ‘97 Season 1 Episode 5, “Remember It.”
When we next see her on X-Men ‘97 Season 1 Episode 7, “Bright Eyes,” she spends the episode on a rampage, searching for Sentinel inventor Bolivar Trask. She debuts, tearing through a tank division and butting heads with Captain America.
When the X-Men catch up to Trask in Madripoor, Rogue catches him while he’s hanging out a window, promising to save him if he gives them info. Once he does, she drops him — her expression is angry resolve, but the rain dripping down her face looks like tears (such a comic book-y detail).
Trask doesn’t die (he’s been made into a human-sentinel hybrid), but it’s the thought that counts.
This series features the worst-case scenario for mutants, and in the aftermath, the X-Men have to question how truly committed they are to Xavier’s dream.
12. Bastion Introduces Himself with a Tune (Season 1 Episode 7)
Season big bad Bastion (Theo James), a half-human/half-sentinel, makes his presence known from the beginning, but he only shows up in person at the end of X-Men ‘97 Season 1 Episode 7, “Bright Eyes.”
After catching up with his collaborator, Mister Sinister, he checks in on a captive Magneto (who has a gag and power-dampening collar slapped on him).
How does Bastion introduce himself? He uses his technopathy to light up the room, literally, and play a record of Sheb Wooley’s The Purple People Eater. Then, he gets to work giving Magneto a shave.
The implied threat that hecouldslice Magneto’s neck open and that he’s taken away the Master of Magnetism’s power over that knife is obvious and eerie.
11. The X-Men Face The Inferno (Season 1 Episode 3)
X-Men ‘97 Season 1 Episode 3, “Fire Made Flesh,” adapts the 1988 comic event Inferno, where the X-Men face the hordes of Hell led by Jean Grey’s evil clone, Madelyne Pryor/the Goblin Queen.
The X-Men err on the science-fiction side of the Marvel Universe, so throwing them into dark fantasy is a fun change of pace.
If there’s any episode that would’ve benefited from a season-long trajectory, it’s “Fire Made Flesh,” but the results are still fun. Madelyne uses her haunted powers to turn the X-Mansion into a haunted house right out of The Shining and Poltergeist.
Their next battle is one of the season’s best actions; inside Mister Sinister’s gothic church base, Magneto pits his ferrokinesis against the Goblin Queen’s fiery telekinesis (they both use shards of stained glass as ammunition).
The episode’s MVP is Jennifer Hale, who is living for Jean 2’s heel turn. She flips the switch from team mom to sultry villainess like nothing.
10. A Happy Nation in Genosha (Season 1 Episode 5)
Ah, the calm before the storm.
The first half of X-Men ‘97 Season 1 Episode 5, “Remember It,” features local love triangle (Rogue, Gambit, and Magneto) visiting the island nation of Genosha. It’s been transformed into a mutant homeland, where several familiar faces — from Nightcrawler to Emma Frost — are living in peace.
Genosha is about to join the United Nations, heretofore unseen legitimacy for Mutantkind. The event is marked with a celebration, where Rogue and Magneto take the spotlight with an aerial dance. (Magnus’ electromagnetic touch means he’s the only man Rogue can safely touch.)
The song chosen for their dance is Ace of Base’s Happy Nation. As the song plays, the viewer starts to understand what the X-Men have been fighting for all these years.
Unfortunately, the song turns into Genosha’s funeral march, adding to the significance of the episode.
9. Magneto Tears Out Wolverine’s Adamantium (Season 1 Episode 9)
The original X-Men was diligently faithful to the comics, but being a TV-Y7 cartoon, it couldn’t be as violent as them.
X-Men ‘97, made for 90s kids who grew up with the original show, doesn’t have this burden.
The most visceral case is on X-Men ‘97 Season 1 Episode 9, “Tolerance Is Extinction Part 2.”The episode adapts the comic crossoverFatal Attractions, in which Magneto tears out the adamantium that coats Wolverine’s skeleton.
The episode follows this beat; Wolverine outright stabs Magneto (who’s gone back to being an antagonist after Genosha), blood and all, then Magneto fires back by pulling on the metal inside Wolverine’s body.
The episode ends with a shot recreating the original comic panel drawn by Andy Kubert.
8. Nightcrawler Fights As An X-Man (Season 1 Episode 8)
X-Men ‘97 recreates the original series’ unforgettable title sequence, where each of the X-Men got a title card introducing their powers and vibe. However, this revival mixes it up; the team line-up is constantly changing, and the title cards change to reflect that.
Blue-skinned teleporter Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler is an important X-Man in the comics, but he was only a two-time guest star on the OG show. This series finally adds him to the team halfway through the season, his own title card and all.
On X-Men ‘97 Season 1 Episode 8, “Tolerance Is Extinction Part 1,” Kurt shows he’s a capable X-Man by defending the mansion from Bastion’s Prime Sentinels.
He shows off his swashbuckling spirit by grabbing three swords (one with his tail) and fighting side-by-side with his best buddy Wolverine. The fight concludes when they stab the same Sentinel (Logan from the front, Kurt from behind), and Wolverine gets dragged through Nightcrawler’s teleportation (giving us a first-person POV of how it functions).
The scene is one of the season’s best-choreographed action beats and is extra satisfying for Nightcrawler fans.
7. Cyclops Loses His Cool (Season 1 Episode 5)
It’s easily forgotten after the Sentinel attack, but X-Men ‘97 Season 1 Episode 5, “Remember It,” gives Cyclops a moment to shine — not with super-heroics but stern words.
Scott is interviewed on live TV by journalist Trish Tilby (who is such a well-intentioned but condescending Liberal she comes off as antagonistic).
Eventually, Scott gets fed up with her invasive questioning, and when she says she’s only trying to show the world that Mutants are no less people, Scott says that shouldn’t need proving in the first place — especially when the X-Men have saved humanity time after time.
The TV interview setting underlines how Scott is really speaking to the whole world, giving them a message they need to hear. (We may not have Mutants in the real world, but we still dehumanize others.)
6. Magneto Was Right (Season 1 Episode 8)
Dr. Valerie Cooper is introduced as one of the X-Men’s contacts in the U.S. government. Early on, Magneto warns her: “I am trying to be better. Please, do not make me let you down.”
She does just that. Dr. Cooper is actually a member of Bastion’s Operation: Zero Tolerance. She was present on the ground during the destruction of Genosha, though, and that mass death evidently planted a seed of doubt.
On X-Men ‘97 Season 1 Episode 8, “Tolerance Is Extinction Part 1,” she frees Magneto from Bastion. When he and Sinister catch her, she tells them, “Magneto was right” — when you’re not part of a group being threatened, tragedies are just an easily-forgotten blip on the news.
Mutants will never be free by begging for goodwill from humanity but by fighting for it. So, Magneto lets loose a furious whisper of “Enough,” and unleashes an EMP, knocking out the entire world’s power grid in an unforgettable display of his power — and a reminder of how, before now, he’d always been holding back.
5. Professor X Schools The Shi’ar (Season 1 Episode 6)
I was split about the choice to bring back Professor X on X-Men ‘97 Season 1 Episode 6, “Lifedeath Part 2.” The appeal of the show was seeing the X-Men (and Magneto) try to uphold his dream without his messiah-like goodness holding them up.
Fortunately, “Lifedeath Part 2” proves worth it, if only for one scene.
As Lilandra’s consort, Xavier will become the de facto emperor of the Shi’ar, a xenophobic, imperialistic race. Halfway through the episode, tired of the controversy, Xavier declares, “Class is in session!” and pulls the Shi’ar leaders into the astral plane with his telepathy.
Creating a school classroom (complete with a chalkboard and desks), Xavier teaches the Shi’ar how their superiority is just “a harvest of stolen worlds.” Does he break through? Not fully, but it’s still satisfying and a perfect character moment for a teacher like Charles.
Xavier’s lessons on “Lifedeath Part 2″ are really for the audience and about Earth’s own empires (he references Rudyard Kipling, author ofThe White Man’s Burden). The show delivers this medicine with a spoonful of sugar, namely, humor. (“Gladiator, please raise your hand if you have a question.”)
4. Magneto Chooses Charles’ Dream (Season 1 Episode 2)
Before Magneto can become the team’s leader, he must stand trial for his past crimes at the United Nations on X-Men ‘97 Season 1 Episode 2, “Mutant Liberation Begins.”
An attack by anti-mutant protestors sees Storm shot with a weapon that steals mutants’ gifts.
An enraged Magneto kidnaps the panel of judges before him, asking: “What must we do to be good enough? Is this the high road’s destination? If so, I say as I have too many times before, never again.”
Is he going to kill them? No, just showing that he could — not to mention reminding them all, himself included, what small pieces they are in Earth’s grand design. Magneto chooses his words carefully. He’s still skeptical that there can ever be love between humans and mutants, but coexistence?
In a brilliant touch, the scene cross-cuts between Magneto speaking and Jean giving birth. It’s that child whose future the X-Men — now including Magneto — are fighting for.
3. Storm Reclaims Her Powers (Season 1 Episode 6)
After losing her powers, Storm spends half the season without them. She regains them on X-Men ‘97 Season 1 Episode 6, “Lifedeath Part 2,” overcoming a demonic hallucination that embodied her self-doubt.
Storm’s return is one of the season’s most stunningly-realized sequences, one that a near-goddess like her deserves.
She calls down a lightning strike, one so big that it is seen from orbit, then is reborn (wearing her original black Dave co*ckrum-designed costume).With the winds again under her control, she flies across the plains (homaging Superman’s first flight fromMan of Steel).Looking in the water, she sees her reflection, free of the self-doubt that had been plaguing it.
The propulsive animation and music sell that Storm is as powerful as Mother Earth herself. You can only watch in awe as she realizes her strength.
2. “The Name’s Gambit, Mon Ami… Remember It” (Season 1 Episode 5)
X-Men ‘97 Season 1 Episode 5, “Remember It,” is the episode that got viewers– besides the Marvel faithful — interested in this show.
It proves that a project that seemed risk-averse by design would blow everything up and make its leads live through the consequences.
Remy LeBeau/Gambit was always one of the most popular X-Men; he’s as cool as Wolverine and sexier too. Killing him off (at least for now) was definitely a risky move, but it’s not pure shock value.
Gambit meets his end in Genosha, skewered by the enormous Wild Sentinel. When the robot deems him a nameless Mutant, he gives it his true name and makes his final play: he uses his kinetic energy powers to atomize the entire Sentinel, preventing any further destruction.
Cue the heartbreaking final shot of the episode as Rogue sits at the explosion’s crater, sobbing and holding Gambit’s body.
The moment gets a reprise during the finale when Rogue fights Bastion, telling him to remember Gambit’s name. I think everyone who watched “Remember It” will honor Remy’s last request.
1. Magneto Lives! (Season 1 Episode 10)
Throughout the show, Magneto mentions that he and Charles first met — and shared their dreams for Mutant-kind — in a German bar many years ago.
X-Men ‘97 Season 1 Episode 10, “Tolerance is Extinction Part 3,” goes back to that bar. Sort of.
Professor X takes control of Magneto’s mind to undo the EMP but leaves his frenemy catatonic in the process. Unwilling to end things there, Charles goes into Magnus’ mind (presented as the German bar), helping him restore his forgotten memories and quelling the furious storm inside him.
At the episode’s climax, Bastion sends Magneto’s asteroid base plummeting towards the Earth. Try as they may, the X-Men fail to stop its tide. Until Charles fills in the last piece of his friend’s psyche: the savior he wished for as a child is who he was meant to be today.
Cue the orchestral music hitting as Magneto awakens and pulls the asteroid back into orbit single-handedly. Reaction shots from each of the X-Men and people on the ground sell the enormity of the moment.
X-Men ‘97 has several contenders for its MVP: Cyclops, Rogue, Storm, and Jean, but Magneto’s journey from reluctant hero to tragic villain to savior triumphs in the end.
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X-Men ’97is now streaming on Disney+ with Season 2 currently in production.
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Devin Meenan
Devin Meenan is a freelance entertainment writer. His first love was movies but he found himself writing more passionately about TV, hence him joining the Tell-Tale TV team. His favorite types of TV to sink into include prestige dramas, mystery box thrillers, sci-fi/fantasy, and anime.
