The X-Men TV Retrospective
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Marvel Super Heroes (1966)
A mere three years after their debut in the comics, the X-Men made their first TV appearance as... the Allies for Peace?!
Welcome to the bizarre world of animation. Because Marvel had already licensed out the rights to the Fantastic Four, the original X-Men were forced into an awkward adaptation of Fantastic Four # 6 and Fantastic Four Annual # 3 that focused on Prince Namor, the Sub Mariner.
Hilariously, someone decided to call the X-Men “the Allies for Peace” instead of their actual team name. Being used as a second rate Fantastic Four wasn’t exactly an audacious beginning for the X-Men on TV. But the team was still three decades away from achieving their small screen potential.
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Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1982)
In the early ‘80s, Marvel’s answer to DC’s “Superfriends” was “Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends;” which consisted of Spider-Man and two former X-Men: Iceman and Firestar. Of course, Firestar was created for this animated series and she wasn’t even a member of the X-Men in the comics until this year!
Regardless, Marvel used the X-Men three times and marked the first onscreen appearance of the All New Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Thunderbird and Kitty Pryde. It was a step in the right direction for the characters, but some bizarre choices were made. No one has ever been able to satisfactorily explain why Wolverine was played by a man using an Australian accent. He’s supposed to be Canadian, bub!
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X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men (1989)
Long after “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends” came to an end, Marvel finally got around to making an animated X-Men TV pilot. And from an animation standpoint, “Pryde of the X-Men” is really, really good. The writing is just okay for the time. Nothing special there. But there are a lot of moments that work really well in this stand alone pilot.
The story revolves around Kitty Pryde’s first day with the X-Men, and the team included Wolverine, Storm, Dazzler, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Cyclops and even Kitty’s dragon, Lockheed.
“Pryde of the X-Men” also inspired the 1991 X-Men arcade game that was ridiculously fun to play in spite of its hilariously bad localization and English translations.
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X-Men: The Animated Series (1992)
And here is where the X-Men became stars.
Fox had an embarrassment of riches in 1992. “Batman: The Animated Series” debuted to critical acclaim and quickly became one of its biggest hits. Fox also debuted the first three episodes of “X-Men: The Animated Series,” but the first season was plagued by animation mistakes and delays that could have derailed the series before it really began to take off.
Instead, “X-Men” only became more popular as the first season finally resumed in 1993. The show featured very comic book friendly adaptations of Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Beast, Gambit, Jubilee and Jean Grey as it set the stage for franchise to expand. “X-Men” ran for five seasons and 76 episodes, making it Marvel’s most successful TV series of all time.
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Generation X (1996)
If you don’t remember Generation X, then you’re not alone.
The Generation X comic book was an X-Men spinoff comic book that focused on Jubilee and the next group of young mutants under the care of Banshee and White Queen. It was a critical and commercial hit for Marvel. So much so that Fox decided to create a Generation X TV movie as a potential backdoor pilot for a television series to follow.
Unfortunately for everyone involved, the Generation X TV movie was a trainwreck. Nothing worked and the special effects were anything but special.Two characters (Husk and Chamber) were left out over budget constraints and the two replacement characters (Buff and Refrax) felt out of place among the rest of the team.
Before it aired, Fox envisioned “Generation X” as a the perfect companion series for “The X-Files” on Sunday nights. But poor ratings ensured that Generation X died a quick death.
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X-Men: Evolution (2000)
Just in time for the first X-Men movie, “X-Men: Evolution” was brought to The WB network as the second X-Men animated series. The animation of this series was noticeably improved compared to the previous series. However, the creative team made the odd decision to make every character except Wolverine, Storm, Beast and Professor X into contemporary teenagers.
Despite that, “X-Men: Evolution” still has a strong following that embraced those changes. The series ran for four years and introduced X-23, the female clone of Wolverine who has migrated over to the actual Marvel comics and headlined her own series.
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Mutant X (2001)
Imagine if Marvel put out its own X-Men knock-off for syndicated television.
That isn’t a hypothetical scenario. In 2001, Marvel actually partnered with Tribune to produce a “Mutant X” TV series that shared only two things in common with the comics: the title of a lesser known X-Men spinoff comic and the concept of mutants. There were no actual X-Men in “Mutant X,’ but Marvel and Tribune definitely tried to create the impression that the franchise was tied into this show.
Fox had the film and TV rights to the X-Men and they weren’t exactly pleased with the way that “Mutant X” diluted the brand. Lawsuits were filed and legal arguments were made, but nothing could hide the fact that “Mutant X” was a thoroughly mediocre show. Somehow, “Mutant X” got through three seasons before the plug was finally pulled on this one.
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Wolverine and the X-Men (2008)
Five years after “X-Men: Evolution” came to an end, the X-Men got another shot at TV stardom with “Wolverine and The X-Men.” Although the characters (and their respective ages) were slightly more faithful to the comics this time, “Wolverine and the X-Men” felt like a step backwards in terms of the stories and the overall tone of the show.
“Wolverine and the X-Men” had its occasional moments, but it lasted only a single season of 26 episodes.
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Marvel Anime: X-Men (2011)
In 2010, Marvel announced a deal with the Japanese animation studio, Madhouse to create four Marvel Anime series. One of the four focused on the X-Men, as inspired by the Joss Whedon and John Cassaday run on Astonishing X-Men.
In terms of animation quality, the X-Men anime was one of the best looking shows to date. The English dub was a little disappointing, but it’s far from the worst X-Men adaptation. The X-Men anime only ran for 12 episodes and there hasn’t been a new X-Men cartoon since.
Someday, that will change. But for now, this is the end of the road for the X-Men on TV.
