There were two animated series in the 1990s that defined a generation. The first was Batman: The Animated Series, which is one of the shows that genuinely revolutionized television. In fact, announced on Batman Day, HBO is bringing a new, mature version of that series to HBOMax. The other groundbreaking cartoon? X-Men. But it looks like Disney+ thought HBO was onto something because they just announced, among other Marvel animated series, a revival of the animated series called X-Men ’97 – with original cast members!
Why Disney+ Bringing X-Men ’97 The Animated Series Back Is So Great
Image Credit: Marvel Studios & Disney
The original X-Men animated series was not a Super Friends show – not in the slightest. Not was it Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which took a kind of dark comic and turned it into the loveable cartoon we know it as. X-Men, aside from keeping it a hard PG, was a serious show, for the most part. Like Batman, the show had no problem working with adult themes and even violence. But where Batman dealt with more human drama, X-Men embraced the civil rights metaphor that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby wove into their original comics. The first season started with the US government taking Beast as a political prisoner. There were demonstrations, protests, riots, and more. Many of these scenes mirrored real-world events, such as the LA riots.
Today, right-wing trolls would call the show “propaganda from the woke liberal mob” or something like that. Never mind that X-Men was always a political metaphor. And that’s the reason why Disney+ reviving the animated series as X-Men ’97 is perfect for today. The fact that there are still people who view any message of equality as propaganda indicates that we need our X-Men back to teach kids how the world works.
And maybe those trolls are right. After all, nearly everyone on Comic Years has been called SJWs (please, keep calling us warriors), and we’ve all seen X-Men as a kid.
Are you excited for Disney+ to debut X-Men ’97, ushering in a new generation of SJW? We are!
(Featured Image: The staff of Comic Years Fox Animation)