X-Men '97 - continuation of 1992 Animated Series

Covert Agent Rodimal

Active member
Citizen
1. By making Maddie replace/be Jean for multiple years, they're already changing canon. 2. There is no reason there HAD to be a Maddie, as they could have kept Jean herself and let Nathan be their child who still got sent to the future. Considering how quickly they rushed through Inferno and how little care they actually gave Maddie; they really weren't that interested in Inferno.
Jean could have been replaced anytime after Xavier's death as well (even after she was pregnant if they wanted to). What I'm saying is that if Maddie was the Phoenix, its too much of a change (Imo).
 

Shadewing

Well-known member
Citizen
Jean could have been replaced anytime after Xavier's death as well (even after she was pregnant if they wanted to). What I'm saying is that if Maddie was the Phoenix, its too much of a change (Imo).

Technically? Jean was NEVER the Pheonix in comics. The Pheonix just copied her body, and left her in sorta a coma unknown to everyone else. So Maddie being the Phenoix is probably MORE accurate to the comics.
 

Shadewing

Well-known member
Citizen
Motendo/Lifedeath pt 1:

Okay, really don't like this split episode. This even more then reducing Inferno to a single episode; feels like they're suffering from the limited episode count. Neither part really gets enough attention. Abicissa is a complete departure from her comics counterpart, I guess they didn't want Alyson Court being an evil Jubilee. In the comics she's a bad end Jubilee that got captured by Mojo and broken into his agent. She gets sent back in time to face her younger self. And Young Jubes declares she's never gonna become her; and then Abicissa ceases to exist. I think the original comic story would have been a better fit for moral/lesson they're going for here, with Jubes both understanding what Magneto kinda fears and her getting a confidence boost in her abilities. I'm not even sure I fully understand 97's Abicssa's existance. That's not to say I disliked this; it was fun overall; but I kinda wished they'd homaged the Sega X-Men game (Who's plot is roughly similar to this episode) especially since the "Motendo" looks more like a "Moga Drive" I get the Arcade game is the more well known, but first genesis X-men game is also very well known due to its meta trick (having to soft reboot your actual console) needed to beat the game.

Lifedeath pt 1 -

This one is a good condensing of the story, gets the major beats in. I was kinda expecting The Adversary to be connected to Shadow King, since it kinda looked like him in a few flashes. My main issue is really I'd rather this be a full episode rather then having to share with Jubilee's half-hearted solo affair.
 

ZacWilliam1

Well-known member
Citizen
I felt like it was a good match. A light fun action focus on the kids episode and a serious, very action light and adult story for storm.

Little something for everyone.

-ZacWilliam, given their length both felt pretty well developed to me honestly,
 

Fero McPigletron

Feel the fear!
Citizen
Wait, that hacker person is canon in comics? Where at?

There are no trades that I read of this part of the X-Men so I have no idea what's from comics or not.
 

ZakuConvoy

Well-known member
Citizen
I was kinda expecting The Adversary to be connected to Shadow King, since it kinda looked like him in a few flashes.

Heh. It's funny you say that, given recent events in the comics.

Spoilers for Fall of X/Resurrection of Magneto 3.
They seem to be retconning the Shadow King into actually being one aspect of a Anti-Phoenix entity.

Along with The Adversary (the one in the headdress), Annihilation (The Golden Mask), the First Fallen (the "angel"), Bete Noir (the one that looks like a phoenix-owl), and The Goblin Force (from Mutant X aka that time Havoc got trapped in a alternate dimension for 3 years).

GIpsDQNXsAAft9m.jpg

Yeah, recently in the comics, the Shadow King isn't just a powerful psychic guy with a edgy user avatar. They've been turning him into a multiversal entity.

I'm not sure that actually inspired anything one way or another, but it's at least a interesting parallel idea.
 
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Covert Agent Rodimal

Active member
Citizen
Technically? Jean was NEVER the Pheonix in comics. The Pheonix just copied her body, and left her in sorta a coma unknown to everyone else. So Maddie being the Phenoix is probably MORE accurate to the comics.
I thought of that after I posted 😆

Someone on another forum (Tf2005) posted the best theory I've seen so far Imo. They believe Jean was replaced after the second wedding at the end of season 4, beginning of season 5. They point out that's when Jean started wearing her hair down on mission like Maddie in '97, where has before, she always had her hair in a poneytail in the field.
 
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LBD "Nytetrayn"

Broke the Matrix
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
Is it just me, or did some of the game scenes look more like they came from TMNT than X-Men?

So disappointed we didn't get "Master of Magnet" and "Welcome to die." Like, if you're already referencing something, then not referencing the best-known parts makes it feel kinda... slipshod? Halfhearted? I dunno.

Weird they went with Mojo here. I was expecting Arcade, for some reason...
 

Dvandom

Well-known member
Citizen
Lifedeath I, just one of many places where Rom the Spaceknight ties the Marvel Universe together.

---Dave
 

ZacWilliam1

Well-known member
Citizen
I long for someone in the comics to do a really thorough and complete take on all the Pheonix Force stuff.

I mean there the stuff everyone knows with Jean and Rachael and all that But *SO* many other books have put their hand on the ball and added things that are easily forgotten or duplicated by other desperate things that serve the same role.

From Darkhawk, To Guardians of the Galaxy, Alan Davis Excalibur, Defenders, Starhawk, Avengers all of them and have added weird bits to Pheonix lore that are easily overlooked.

I'd like to see someone make it ALL work.

-ZacWilliam, there are so many "pheonix predator" ideas floating around they really need unification
 

Dekafox

Fabulously Foxy Dragon
Citizen
Phoenix was also involved in one of the cross-publisher crossovers, the one with Malibu specifically. It wasn't just a throwaway, at least on Malibu's part as they actually launched a miniseries in their own universe on a character from it who had siphoned off some of the Phoenix's power, and was even referred to as a "Stepchild of the Phoenix"

 

Steevy Maximus

Well known pompous pontificator
Citizen
Aye, but do we know where they were in production of season 1 when the second was greenlit? That's the key.
Last summer, one of the voice actors let slip about recording for season 2, while in coverage over Beau DeMayo’s “exit”, it was reported the writing team was “brainstorming ideas for season 3”.

The vibe I got was that season 1 was planned for release last fall (Hasbro certainly thought so!), with a second slate of toys for a new season this fall. Perhaps the stalled progress on multiple Marvel projects (leaving Deadpool and Wolverine the sole notable Marvel film), the building “relaunch” of X-Men in the comics this summer and hype for XM97 in general…the higher ups decided to just make 2024 a big “X-Men year”. Especially in light of the lackluster state the X-Men films fell to and the general “side lining” they‘ve gotten as the Avengers became Marvel’s banner franchise with the MCU.
Not the best episode but still very fun and enjoyable. It would have been nice if each half was a whole.
I think Life/Death just ran too long, but not long enough (or didn’t have the budget) to do a full 2 parter.

But I still got the vibe that Motendo was originally intended as a clip show. The entire premise lended itself to options of reusing old footage to “fill in” Jubilee‘s greatest adventures. IF nothing else, I would have dug the gall to use 30 year old footage in between the freshly animated linking segments so blatantly.
 

Dvandom

Well-known member
Citizen
I think part of the problem was the loss of any real impression of the passage of time in the Storm part. If it couldn't have the entire episode, it should have had even LESS. Just show the happy domestic scene, a failed try to restore her powers, and then cut to credits. Let the inter-episode gap imply more time for the two to become close, so that the betrayal would feel more organic. Even if someone binged the season later, the break between episodes would fill in any time spent falling in love that they didn't have the ability to show on screen. (And the gap before this ep doesn't really count, because there's no real reason to expect them to fall in love from a brief meeting in a "Houston" bar. The viewer needed to see them getting along and then have time for that to feel like the normal before upsetting it.)

---Dave
 

Fero McPigletron

Feel the fear!
Citizen
Ep5.

OMXavier!

I think I know what the next storyline is.

Speculation
I was screaming at Leech to get out of the range but his being there means Magneto has a plausible survival tactic. Leech neutralizes his powers, Sentinel thinks Magneto is dead since Omega level energy signature is gone.

But Gambit? Rogue was touching him. He could really be dead.
 
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Shadewing

Well-known member
Citizen
Rememeber It

Alright, this might be one of the best episode since the second one. We got multiple storylines going on, without having to be divided up; and a lot of plot progression and character progression. We finally get some fallout from Fire made Flesh, we more development on the Rogue Love Triangle, Nightcrawler and Cable! and omg the second half. Even the sad rendition of the ending theme. This is gonna be one of those episodes people speak about for years. It truly will be remembered.
 


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