The X-Men, a superhero team created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby that appears in comic books produced by Marvel Comics, has appeared in multiple television series since the team's inception in 1963. premiered on Fox Kids in 1992 and ran for five seasons until 1997. The series is credited with bringing mainstream attention to the X-Men. Following th conclusion of The Animated Series, a new X-Men cartoon titled began airing on Kids' WB from 2000 to 2003 for four seasons.
Across the various X-Men television series, which characters make up the team's roster and are members of the cast often changes. The only characters to have appeared as cast members and part of the X-Men across all five series are and Professor Charles Xavier, Scott Summers / Cyclops, Hank McCoy / Beast, James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine, and Ororo Munroe / Storm. Besides them, Jean Grey, Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler, and Rogue have appeared in all five shows and been cast members in three, while Warren Worthington III was a cast member in one series.
In 1992, the Fox network launched with the roster of Cyclops, Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Beast, Gambit, Jubilee, Jean Grey, and Professor X with secondary background player Morph making occasional appearances. The two-part pilot episode, "Night of the Sentinels" began a five-season series. It was an extraordinary success and helped to widen the X-Men's popularity.[1] The five seasons ended in 1997. It returned to Fox's line-up for several months after the first movie was released in 2000.[2]
In 2000, The WB launched the television series, which portrayed the X-Men as teenagers attending a regular public high school in addition to the Xavier Institute. The series ended in 2003 after its fourth season. The show focused on Cyclops, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Shadowcat, Wolverine, Storm, Beast, Professor X, Spyke (Storm's nephew), in addition to introducing the character Laura Kinney / X-23, who has since become a recurring character in the comics.[1]
In 2008, Marvel Studios released a new X-Men animated show that featured Wolverine titled Wolverine and the X-Men. This series used a mesh of 2D/3D animation for characters and backgrounds.[3] Avi Arad, CEO of Marvel Studios, stated "X-Men is one of Marvel's crown jewels and it makes sense to focus on the popular Wolverine character for our second animation project."[4] The series debuted in the United States on January 23, 2009 and in the U.K. in February.[3] [5] It also aired in Latin America and Canada. The team consisted of Wolverine, Cyclops, Beast, Storm, Shadowcat, Iceman, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Angel, Jean Grey, Colossus, Forge, and Professor X. The show was cancelled just after one season due to financing issues.[1]
As part of a four-series collaboration between the Japanese Madhouse animation house and Marvel, the X-Men starred in a 12 episode anime series that premiered in Japan on Animax and in the United States on G4 in 2011.[6] [7] The series deals with the X-Men coming to Japan to investigate the disappearance of Armor. The antagonists are reported to be the U-Men.[8] [9]
Set a year after the conclusion of The Animated Series—in which Xavier nearly died in an assassination attempt and was taken to space to be healed by the alien Shi'ar Empire—the X-Men face new challenges without Xavier, under the leadership of their former adversary Magneto.[10] [11]
In November 2021, Marvel announced that a revival of X-Men: The Animated Series, titled X-Men '97,[12] was in production and set to air on the streaming service Disney+.[13]
set to be released on Disney+ in 2024 and will be produced by Marvel Studios. Beau DeMayo will serve as the head writer and executive producer for the upcoming series with several cast members from the original animated series are set to reprise their roles and will be joined by new cast. Original animated series director Larry Houston, and its showrunners and producers Eric and Julia Lewald are announced as the consultants for the upcoming series.[14] [15] [16]
It is set to premiere on Disney+ on March 20, 2024 and run for 10 episodes.[17] A second season is in development.
The entire cast of The Animated Series reappear as main characters. Dodd, Sealy-Smith, Zann, Buza all reprise their roles as Wolverine, Storm, Rogue, and Beast, respectively.[18] At the beginning of the series Morph and Lucas Bishop also join the cast, voiced by J. P. Karliak (replacing Ron Rubin) and Isaac Robinson-Smith (replacing Philip Akin).
| Character | Series | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (1992–1997) | (2000–2003) | Wolverine and the X-Men (2009) | Marvel Anime: X-Men (2011)[19] | X-Men '97 (2024–present) | |
| Scott Summers / Cyclops | colspan="5" | ||||
| James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine | colspan="5" | ||||
| Rogue | colspan="1" | ||||
| Ororo Munroe / Storm | colspan="5" | ||||
| Hank McCoy / Beast | colspan="5" | ||||
| Remy LeBeau / Gambit | colspan="1" | ||||
| Jubilation Lee / Jubilee | colspan="1" | ||||
| Jean Grey | colspan="1" | ||||
| Charles Xavier / Professor X | colspan="5" | ||||
| Spyke | colspan="3" | ||||
| Kitty Pryde / Shadowcat | colspan="2" | ||||
| Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler | colspan="1" | ||||
| Warren Worthington III / Angel / Archangel | colspan="2" | ||||
| Emma Frost | colspan="1" | ||||
| Bobby Drake / Iceman | colspan="2" | ||||
| Hisako Ichiki / Armor | colspan="1" | ||||
| Morph | colspan="1" | ||||
| Lucas Bishop | colspan="1" | ||||
| Erik "Magnus" Lehnsherr / Magneto | |||||
| Series | Season | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100% (18 reviews)[20] | |||
| 2 | ||||
| 3 | ||||
| 4 | ||||
| 5 | 50% (10 reviews)[21] | |||
| 1 | 71% (18 reviews)[22] | |||
| 2 | ||||
| 3 | ||||
| 4 | ||||
| Wolverine and the X-Men | 1 | 67% (6 reviews)[23] | ||
| X-Men '97 | 1 | 99% (79 reviews)[24] | 82 (14 reviews)[25] |