Breaking Down How X-Men '97's Nostalgic Titles Compare to the Originals
X-Men ‘97's release on Disney+ this week brings us practically right back to where the beloved X-Men: The Animated Series left off. The nostalgia is strong with the show right out of the gate, with its lovingly updated riff on the legendary theme song and the original show’s opening sequence. Let’s take a look at just how faithful it is.
To Me...
The opening showing the Blackbird, Rogue, Storm, and the giant-sized X-font is practically identical, although of course ‘97 Storm now has her mohawk look in contrast to the original.
... My X-Men!
Similarly evocative is the panning shot into the Blackbird’s cockpit—although this time we get to see more team members in there, like newcomer Bishop, and Jean is, in true Jean style, allowed to be a bit more psychically dramatic next to Scott at the controls.
Kaboom
The power of a modern animated budget: when you need the letter X to detonate into a thermonuclear blast, you can afford to make the waves crash a little harder.
Cyclops
X-Men ‘97 plays some of these character card intros out of the order the original series did, but for the most part they are almost spot-on remakes. Never knock Scott’s glasses off.
Wolverine
Wolverine’s card is, for the most part, the same—including him starting out almost stark naked before his costume fades on, except in ‘97's opening he’s not in a random jungle while that happens.
Rogue
Rogue’s is almost beat-for-beat identical. Flyin’ high, sugah!
Storm
Once again, the major difference with Storm’s presence in these titles is that in ‘97 she has her mohawk. The elements she commands are still much the same.
Beast
It’s always very funny that The Animated Series gave Hank an almost creature-feature intro, considering he’s much more of the jovial sort in the show (unlike his dark turn in the comics). ‘97 keeps it faithful, but makes the background Beast stalks a bit more dynamic.
Gambit
Similarly for Gambit, the action is the same, but his backdrop gets a little more flair.
Jubilee
Jubilee’s energy blasts are a little more fanciful in ‘97, but you also really get to see how much the show has done redesigning her to better fit her Asian American background.
Jean Grey
Jean, like Storm, gets a hairstyle change here—in the classic show she’s wearing a ponytail in this costume, but in ‘97's her hair is down. Plus, her powers have a much more vibrant, dark undertone, perhaps hinting at something fiery to come for Marvel’s premiere swooner.
Professor X
Charles might be off recuperating in Shi’ar space by the time X-Men ‘97 opens, but he still gets a spot in the title cards, and now his vast telepathic power completely wraps around his floating chair. The combined power of psychic mastery and animation budget.
A World That Hates and Fears Them
The ‘97 titles do cut some brief action moments from the original opening, in order to accomodate new character titles for Morph and Bishop (and a sequence of Morph being haunted by the laughing spectre of Mr. Sinister, who brainwashed him into villainy after his seeming “death” in X-Men: The Animated Series’ pilot episodes). But the scenes it does keep here, like Beast being targeted by swirling helicopters, are very faithful, give or take some shading techiques.
Night of the Sentinels
Likewise, another faithful shot, although in ‘97 we get to see it a bit more dynamically, Rogue still handily turns the tables on this encroaching Sentinel.
Charging Into Battle
The only difference with this side-on sequence is that we get a few more characters added to it to reflect the growing squad, as Bishop and the newly redesigned Morph join their allies.
Enter the Danger Room
Another faithful recreation is this brief moment of Scott and Storm battling robots in the Danger Room, the X-Men’s holographic training simulator.
Fancy Footwork, Ma Chère
And another great remake sees Gambit surrounded by helicopters as he spins through the air, staff in hand.
Magneto’s Brotherhood
Although we know Magneto joins the X-Men in ‘97, having inherited Charles’ will, the opening titles still depict him as an antagonistic force alongside the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. The line up for ‘97 is mostly the same, though it has some interesting swaps, bringing in Emma Frost and Lady Deathstrike instead of the bizarrely randomly placed Thunderbird and the small man in green with a big pink head—characters brought in from background appearances in the first season of the original show to balance out the “sides.” Speaking of...
Children of Xavier
The X-Men are almost identical here, but now they have Jean running alongside them too. Back to imbalanced!
Battle of the Atom
The two teams running head-on is exactly the same as it was, save for the aforementioned swaps and additions to either side.
The Titles
And then of course, the titles are very similar, except for ‘97 adds, well... a ‘97.
