X-Men '97 is phenomenal (But I have one concern moving forward)

 

By: Hector (HeJaWolf) 

    Hi everyone. My name is Hector (HeJaWolf being my username), and welcome to my first blog ever!

I discuss a bunch of things that I am passionate about, whether it be movies, comics, TV shows, books, 

etc. For this topic, today I thought it would be exciting to discuss the recently released animated show, 

X-Men '97! X-Men '97 is a Disney Plus animated Marvel show that is a continuation of the beloved 90s 

X-Men cartoon that focuses on the titular team and their ongoing fight for people that hates and fears

them! 

    Upon announcement, it was cool to hear, but there was some skepticism on how it will continue the 

90s cartoon, and whether it or not it will be any good. But after seeing the show, coming from someone

who adores the X-Men, I can happily say that not only is it one of the best Disney Plus shows, but also 

one of the best Marvel and X-Men shows ever. It adapts the source material with love and appreciation, 

the animation and art style is beautiful, the action sequences are breathtaking, the cast are all given time 

to shine and character development, it's ambitious, and the storyline is unpredictable and engaging! 

The only issues in X-Men '97, though very minor, are that some aspects of the story are more 

interesting than others, and without spoilers, the ending, while awesome and presents a lot of 

possibilities for season 2, ends on a cliffhanger. An exciting cliffhanger, but regardless, it was a bit

annoying. Not to mention that the show needed more of Beast as he's my favorite member of the

X-Men, though he did have his moments to shine thankfully. 

    Minor gripes aside, X-Men '97 has brought the X-Men back with a vengeance and are here to stay!

So, with all of the praise I'm giving the show, why am I concerned? For anyone who doesn't know, 

the show's writer/producer, Beau DeMayo, was fired from the series before it premiered. According to 

Beau DeMayo, now that season 2 is happening, with a third season also announced, while he did write 

a lot of season 2, he won't be involved with the production of it but will honor what Beau had in mind. 

For why Beau DeMayo was fired has not been clear and is vague at best, that's not the point of this 

article, but more to do with whether or not his presence, or lack thereof, will affect the show's quality 

moving forward. 

    Having a showrunner be replaced and or fired is nothing new. It happens for a variety of reasons, 

but what is concerning about this is that it happened right before the show premiered, and on top of

that, the show has garnered a ton of love and acclaim from fans and critics, so you think they would 

have kept Beau around, but of course, they didn't. Based on what Beau said, he was heavily involved 

in the development process of the first season and if the final product is any indication, it's clear that he 

was talented and respected the source material. At the time of this writing, no showrunner replacement 

has been announced as of yet, but whoever replaces Beau DeMayo has a heavy task of retaining the 

quality of the first season moving forward. 

    

    It's relieving to hear that Beau DeMayo did write the majority of season 2, so the quality shouldn't be

affected too much, but the reason I'm concerned is because a lot of popular have sadly declined

in quality despite having a strong start. There are a lot that come to mind, like Simpsons, SpongeBob, 

and many more. Even the 90s X-Men cartoon suffered from that as well, as season 5 was poorly 

received. The one that sticks out to me in particular though is the Flash from the CW, as the show had a 

great start and rarely slowed down (no pun intended), but once the fourth season rolled around, it was 

clear the show was running out of steam, and aside from some moments, the show just lost the magic 

the first few seasons had. How the Flash lasted for nine seasons is beyond me, but aside from that, 

when you have a show that last for a while, things will inevitably change, for better or worse, and it's 

a challenge trying to keep a show, or anything for that matter, consistent and interesting. 

    With all of that said, there is hope for X-Men '97 moving forward. As mentioned earlier, season 2 

will retain what Beau DeMayo had written, and from what Beau has teased in the first season, it's 

promising to say the least. Outside of Beau being fired, everyone else who has worked on X-Men '97

is still involved, so everything else from the animation to the voice acting and more should still be 

good. And based on the response the show is getting, I believe Disney will find the best showrunner 

possible and make sure they honor what has been established, but also expand upon it as the X-Men 

lore is vast and full of endless possibilities, so as long as they keep that in mind, we should be good, 

though I will say please don't adapt that awful Beast storyline where he goes bad for some reason. 

I want more Beast but use him in a way that doesn't assassinate his character please!  

    The X-Men are arguably the most important Marvel team ever, as they have so many iconic 

storylines, the 90s cartoon inspired many kids and others, the original X-Men movie back in 2000 made 

superhero movies popular again, along with Blade and Spider-Man (not to mention that movie, along 

with X-Men Evolution, was what got me into X-Men, as well as the superhero genre), and the audience 

resonate with the X-Men due to its themes of tolerance, prejudice, family, and how everyone can relate 

to the X-Men and their struggles on trying to fit in. X-Men '97 perfectly encapsulates on what the 

X-Men are, and seeing the show and the response its getting makes me so happy, as the X-Men are my 

favorite superhero team (along with Gargoyles), and has been a huge influence on me, as well as many 

others out there, which is why it's important for the show to be as consistently great as possible. 

With how things have been the past few years, the X-Men could not be more relevant than ever!

    Hope you enjoyed my piece regarding X-Men '97. I don't know how often I will post, but I have a lot 

more to say in regards to other things I love, so we'll see what happens! Thank you so much for taking 

your time to read this and stay tune for some more of my shenanigans in the future. 

  

Sources used: 

• Fired X-Men '97 Creator Beau DeMayo Clarifies Involvement With Season 2 - IGN
• Marvel Fires X-Men ‘97 Creator Beau DeMayo Weeks Before Premiere (hollywoodreporter.com)