Marvel's Animated X-Men '97 Series Drops Stunning First Trailer & Release Date
Fans of the 1990s classic "X-Men: The Animated Series" can now experience some serious waves of nostalgia, for the first trailer of the *Disney+ sequel series, "X-Men '97," is here! From the very beginning, it's extremely clear that the series is an extremely direct continuation of the classic one, which just so happened to end in 1997. In fact, the very first thing the viewer sees is an old TV set that shows the final moments of the original show — Charles Xavier's (Cedric Smith) tragic farewell to his students – before switching to a sharper, more modern version of the same animation style and continuing the story.
The mutant heroes, as always, are in dire straits. Magneto appears at what looks an awful lot like the United Nations headquarters. Sentinels and ominous armed men prepare to attack. Wolverine (Cal Dodd) throws sarcasm at Cyclops (Ray Chase), the erstwhile team leader — who, in all fairness, gets the last word in with the classic catchphrase, "To me, my X-Men." Still, even with all the challenges facing them, the trailer makes it clear that the X-Men are determined to stay together and keep Xavier's dream alive, no matter what the cost.
Something old, something new
While "X-Men '97" is happy to advertise its connection to the classic 1990s animated series, its amped-up animation also makes clear that things have progressed quite a bit in the intervening years. Similarly, the voice acting talent behind the show is a mixture of old and new. Cal Dodd (who voices Wolverine), George Buza (Beast), Alyson Sealy-Smith (Storm), Lenore Zann (Rogue), and Adrian Hough (Nightcrawler) all carry over from "X-Men: The Animated Series." Meanwhile, the central cast also features a good few new voices, including Ray Chase (Cyclops), Jennifer Hale (Jean Gray), J.P. Karliak (Morph), A.J. LoCascio (Gambit), Holly Chou (Jubilee), Isaac Robinson-Smith (Bishop), and Matthew Waterson (Magneto).
For fans who are fond of Easter eggs, the trailer should have plenty of hints about where the show intends to take things because showrunner Beau DeMayo has already confirmed that everything that unfolds onscreen has a meaning. "Every design choice is actually a clue to the storylines we're doing," he told Entertainment Weekly. "Nothing is arbitrary."
Viewers will get to see what "X-Men '97" has in store when it arrives on Disney+ on March 20.