While a lot of modern superhero projects claim to adapt the comics faithfully, it’s still rare to find an adaptation that actually lives up to that promise. Shockingly, it’s X-Men ’97 that’s emerged as a kind of paragon of the practice. Sure, it chops and screws some storylines — and outright ignores others, despite its first season teasing the coming of Onslaught and “feral” Wolverine — but the soul of the X-Men comics has never felt so fully realized on-screen.
That’s especially true in its second season, which leaps into far more ambitious territory and still sticks the landing. By scattering the X-Men across the time stream, the animated series gets the chance to adapt storylines that have lived almost exclusively on the pages of comics. Some, like the villain Apocalypse’s early days in Ancient Egypt, are somewhat well-known. But then there’s the short-lived, frequently forgotten comic that inspires the season’s future-set events. X-Men ’97 is bringing The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix to the screen for the first time, rebooting a crucial-yet-underrated comic for a new audience. Spoilers ahead for X-Men ’97 Season 2 Episode 1.
