Breaking Down the X-traordinary Details in X-Men '97's Trailer
This morning brought our first good look at X-Men ‘97 in action, and while there’s a lot you can say about Marvel’s return to nostalgia for the legendary ‘90s cartoon, one thing you can’t deny is that the trailer itself is jam-packed with tons and tons of references to years of X-Men stories—in the comics or otherwise. Let’s take a look!
Previously On
The trailer opens with an elaborately staged look back at the series finale of X-Men: The Animated Series, “Graduation Day.” Through the hazy faux-filter of a CRT TV, we see clips from the episode, which saw Charles Xavier on death’s door after being assaulted by government agent Henry Peter Gyrich—before being forced to go with his lover, Lilandra, into the stars to seek medical help from the Shiar Empire, leaving the future of the X-Men and mutantkind in his students’ hands.
Although that episode ends with Charles still alive and just seemingly not capable of returning to Earth for a very long time, a lot of this trailer goes on to act as if everyone is treating it like Charles is really, really dead. An unwise thing to assume of Charles Xavier, or anyone related to the X-Men, really!
Hated and Feared
As we cut to a dark cityscape in the first actual new footage in the trailer, we get to meet our first major returning character in a tiny glimpse: Callisto, the eyepatched leader of the underground mutant society known as the Morlocks. She’s seen briefly embracing a young, green-skinned Morlock who certainly looks like Leech—who previously appeared alongside Callisto in the original animated series—before dragging him back into the shadows of a run-down street alleyway to avoid sirens and spotlights.
Welcome to the Hellfire Gala
The scene with Callisto and Leech is quickly covered up by a passing issue of the Daily Bugle blowing across the screen, and it’s jam-packed with details. The biggest is the cover story highlighting a mutant fashion show—including a few intriguing mutants from the comics: Dust, introduced in the early aughts during New X-Men; Stacy X; Maggot; and Banshee. In a small pop-out bubble, two more young mutants are included in the form of Nature Girl and Loa, suggesting X-Men ‘97 is going to pull from a lot of comics material even beyond its late-‘90s setting.
Then of course, the other big Easter egg on the cover is twofold: this fashion show is not only called the “Hellfire Gala,” in reference to the event in the recent X-Men comics, an annual (and frequently dramatic and/or disastrous) diplomatic outreach party held by mutantkind in its sovereign nation on the living island of Krakoa, the cover story is from two very famous Bugle journalists, Eddie Brock and Peter Parker. Of course, the ‘90s Spider-Man cartoon did cross over with X-Men, so this might just be a cheeky nod, but perhaps we might see more beyond just a byline here?
If all that wasn’t enough, there’s a missing poster just out of focus in the foreground too that certainly looks a lot like Marrow, so there’s a lot going on in this set of shots!
The Trial of Magneto
The next few shots of protests, UN soldiers, and Magneto at the UN—set under voiceover from Cyclops (Ray Chase, replacing Norm Spencer) and Storm (the returning Alison Sealy-Smith) contemplating the X-Men’s place as the inheritors of Xavier’s dream—all set the stage for X-Men ‘97's adaptation of an all-timer comics arc: the Trial of Magneto.
Running in Uncanny X-Men in 1985, the storyline saw Magneto put on trial for crimes against humanity after he was captured by the former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (now Freedom Force, a U.S. government task force formed as part of a plea deal between Mystique and Val Cooper—the latter of which we know is appearing in the show thanks to art shown at San Diego Comic-Con in 2022). He’s defended by Gabrielle Haller and Charles Xavier—but the trial ends preemptively when it’s attacked by Andrea and Andreas Von Strucker, and disrupted furthermore ending with the original inspiration for the aforementioned “Graduation Day,” with a seemingly dying Xavier leaving Earth for medical aid on the Shiar homeworld.
A Mutant Paradise?
A very intriguing shot showcases an elaborate, multi-tiered palatial building fronted by statues of Magneto—unhelmeted but in his classic costume—and Charles Xavier. There’s a possibility that this could be a more advanced version of Genosha, which already briefly appeared in the original animated series, as the island haven Magneto would go on to lead after its previous anti-mutant apartheid regime was ousted until Cassandra Nova massacred 16 million mutants who lived there in the early issues of New X-Men. But given the earlier reference to the Hellfire Gala, is there a chance this is ‘97's take on Krakoa?
X-Men Assembled
Inside the cockpit of the X-Men’s legendary transport plane, the Blackbird, we see the full version of the new team: Cyclops, Beast (George Buza), Storm, Wolverine (Cal Dodd), Gambit (AJ LoCascio), Morph (JP Karliak), Rogue (Lenore Zann), and Bishop (Isaac Robinson-Smith).
We know there’s a few more mutants on the roster too: returning icon from the original series Jubilee (now voiced by Holly Chou) will be back and is glimpsed throughout this trailer, and we know at least one member of the New Mutants, Sunspot, will appear too.
A Sweet Summers Child
Also out of the picture in that shot for very different reasons is Jean Grey (now voiced by Jennifer Hale): because we see her heavily pregnant. This is, presumably, with either one of the Summers children from the comics—Rachel, who was originally from the dark future timeline seen in “Days of Future Past,” or Nathan, who would grow up to be Cable, and perhaps more importantly, was not actually birthed by Jean, but her clone and Scott’s first wife, Madelyne Pryor.
Maddie will seemingly appear in X-Men ‘97, going by Hasbro’s Marvel Legends toyline for the series, but in her more infamous form as the Goblin Queen, having turned to dark powers during the events of the legendary comics arc “Inferno.” It’s a lot, so just how ‘97 is going to approach it remains to be seen.
Rise of the Sentinels
It wouldn’t be an X-Men cartoon without at least some giant robot fighting, right? Likewise at SDCC 2022 we learned that Bolivar Trask, the creator of the anti-mutant Sentinel program, will be a major villain in the series.
A Mutant Circuit
Perhaps the coolest shot in the trailer sees Gambit leap on Wolverine’s back as he charges into battle (against, presumably, the aforementioned Sentinels), and use his kinetic energy manipulation powers to supercharge Wolverine’s adamantium claws. Superheroes have combo’d powers before, but in terms of mutants, this idea—inspired by Colossus and Wolverine’s iconic “fastball special”—has recently been codified in the modern comics era as an example of a “mutant circuit.”
Originally used as a way to describe the power combination of the five mutants behind the Krakoan resurrections protocols, it’s a breakthrough that helped establish the Krakoan age of X-Men comics. Mutant circuits are now more holistically any form of symbiotic power combination by mutants—an exploration and advancement of their powers. They also, as previously noted, just look cool as hell.
To Me, My X-Men!
Cyclops getting to rally the team with the classic cry? Also cool as hell.
X-Games
The trailer ends with the X-Men bursting in on a surprising guest, but before we get to that, their outrageous sports costumes are actually also a comics throwback: Gambit, Rogue, Jubilee, and Wolverine’s outfits are actually a direct lift from 1991's X-Men #4, which saw the quartet play a game of no-powers-allowed basketball outside the Xavier Mansion that, of course, somehow manages to culminate in Rogue getting punted through one of its windows. Womp womp.
Under New Management
But that new management is of course the more interesting part—carrying the last will and testament of Charles, and seemingly acting on its wishes, is none other than Magneto himself (Matthew Waterson), who declares everything Charles built as his own.
When Charles left for Shiar space at the end of “Trial of Magneto” this is also pretty much what happened—his final wish was for Magneto, who he could see as turning away from his villainous past, to find peace inheriting his role as the teacher of the next generation of students. Wearing the purple “M” costume we know will also appear in ‘97, Magneto did indeed go on to head the Xavier Institute and shepherd the burgeoning careers of the New Mutants—and given we know at least one of them will be in the show, it won’t be too surprising to see the same happen here.
X-Men ‘97 begins streaming on Disney + March 20.
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