THE MARVEL ANIMATED UNIVERSE PART 2 - THE X-MEN

Well! It was last July that I wrote a fairly long post about my dream Spider-Man cartoon series, an adaptation of the Silver Age comics by Steve Ditko, Stan Lee, and John Romita; a series that would have been set in the sixties (or at least in a pre-digital world). At the time, I said it was part one of a two-part series, and the second installment would cover my ideal X-Men animation. But, while I thought about it quite a bit in the subsequent nine months, I never got around to putting fingers to keyboard to write about it... until now.

Look, I loved the X-MEN cartoon in the 1990s. It was my companion through middle school and high school. And I really enjoyed its continuation, X-MEN 97, on Disney Plus. (Though that series is perfect encapsulation of why I loathe the current streaming model for TV series -- we had a ten episode season one in 2024 and we are still waiting for season two, two years later!! It's idiotic.) The X-Men series, at least for it's first season, took one of the most appealing aspects of the comics of the era -- namely, serialization -- and translated it to the small screen. To a kid who had never watched the likes of ROBOTECH, this was groundbreaking.

But X-MEN wasn't perfect; far from it, in fact. Even as a teen, I found it odd that the group was made up of a bunch of then-popular characters like Gambit, Rogue, and Jubilee, waltzing around like they'd always been there. Later in the series, this premise was walked back and it was established that there had been at least one prior iteration of the X-Men -- but at least early on, we were meant to believe that Wolverine and Gambit were among the first X-Men, fighting alongside Cyclops and Jean Grey against Magneto. It was weird.

And as with Spider-Man, I've long wished for an X-Men series that hewed more closely to the original comics. However, where the Spider-Man show I ruminated on last year was a somewhat straight adaptation -- not issue-to-issue, but simply in terms of the major storytelling beats -- this hypothetical X-Men cartoon would take a different route, at least at first. We would begin with the same basic premise as Spider-Man; a 65-episode series comprised of five 13-episode seasons. The first two seasons would focus on the original X-Men, and the final three would cover the era of the "new" X-Men.

So season one would hit the major beats of the early years of the series, condensed much more than our Spider-Man series. The main characters are, of course, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Iceman, Angel, and Professor X. We see their encounters with Magneto, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Ka-Zar and the Savage Land, Juggernaut, the Sentinels, the Mimic, and Count Nefaria. Somewhere in there is a story where the X-Men team up with the Avengers to battle the Brotherhood, and Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch desert the evil team to join Earth's Mightiest Heroes. The season ends with the apparent death of of Professor X, though in the interest of a thematic throughline, we might change the enemy in this story from the one-off Grotesk to Magneto.

At this point I should disclose that our X-Men series, like our Spider-Man series, is running in something resembling "real time" -- so the first season covered several months in the X-Men's lives, and season 2 opens after a few more months have passed, during which time the group has come to terms with the demise of Professor X. At this point, Cyclops reveals to his friends something he himself only learned from Xavier shortly before the professor's death -- that he has a brother named Alex, and he wants the rest of the team to meet him.

Yes, season 2 is where things really get rearranged. There are thirteen episodes, and a lot of ground to cover. First, we would meet Lorna Dane and Havok in the earliest episodes of the season, adapting the classic Jim Steranko Magneto/Mesmero story and the Neal Adams Living Monolith story into a single multi-part saga. The remainder of the season would feature an ongoing sub-plot about an impending alien invasion of Earth, with its vanguard being the myserious Mutant Master. Along the way, the X-Men -- now including Havok and Lorna among their number -- would encounter Factor Three and Banshee, as well as have a rematch with Juggernaut. Then the final chunk of the season would be more-or-less a straight adaptation of the remaining Neal Adams issues, featuring the Sentinels, Sauron and the Savage Land, Magneto, Sunfire, and the ultimate reveal that Professor X faked his death to prepare for the alien attack, with the X-Men thwarting that invasion by the hostile Z'Nox in the season finale.

When season 3 begins, more time has passed. Beast has left the X-Men to attend college. The other members of the group, save Cyclops, are considering moving on as well. But when Professor X detects a powerful new mutant on an island called Krakoa, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel, Havok, and Lorna scramble to investigate. And that's just the cold open to the season premiere! The remainder of the episode, along with the next, roughly adapts the events of GIANT-SIZE X-MEN #1, as you might imagine. Professor X recruits a new X-Men team consisting of Wolverine, Banshee, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Thunderbird, and Sunfire. The group heads to Krakoa, that it's actually a mutant, defeats it, and heads home. In the aftermath, all of the original team members except Cyclops depart, as does Sunfire.

Now. At this point, we've produced 28 of our 65 episodes. We have 38 episodes left. And guess what -- the full run of UNCANNY X-MEN from issue 94 through the end of the Claremont/Byrne run is 50 issues. It's pretty easy to excise 12 issues out of those 50, either removing certain fill-ins entirely, or by combining a two-parter or few into a single episode. Since this was the era of the 17-page comic, most multi-part stories can be pretty easily condensed.

To that end, at this point we're basically adapting on roughtly a one story to one story basis, because -- in my opinion -- that's the only way to do full justice to the material produced by Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, and John Byrne.

To wit:

• Issues 94 and 95, featuring the old X-Men (except Cyclops) leaving and then the new X-Men versus Count Nefaria and the death of Thunderbird, are combined into episode 29.
• Issue 96, featuring Kierrok the N'Garai demon, can be removed entirely, with only its sub-plot material -- Cyclops's anguish over the death of Thunderbird and the debut of Moira MacTaggart -- transplanted into subsequent episodes.
• Issue 97, featuring Professor X sensing a new threat from space, while a mystery man named Eric the Red brainwashes Havok and Lorna (now known as Polaris) to serve him and attack the X-Men, becomes episode 30.
• Issues 98 - 100, in which the X-Men battle a new generation of Sentinels and their master, Stephen Lang, are combined into episodes 31 and 32.
• Issues 101 - 103, which spotlight Marvel Girl's transformation into Phoenix and the X-Men's vacation to Banshee's ancestral castle (where they run afoul of Juggernaut and his partner, Black Tom), become episodes 33 and 34.
• Issue 104, which finds the new X-Men fighting Magneto at Muir Island, is episode 35. Note that our prior episodes didn't feature the story in which Magneto was reverted to childhood, so we would find a different reason for the Master of Magnetism to be at Muir Isle here.
• Issue 105 sees Phoenix battle Firelord at Eric the Red's command and becomes episode 36. Firelord is a weird fit for this animated adaptation, so there's a possibility of swapping him for some other character, but the basic plot would remain the same.
• Issue 106, a fill-in flashback featuring Xavier's "dark side", can be removed entirely from the narrative.
• Issues 107 and 108, wherein the X-Men travel to the far end of the cosmos, fight the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, save the alien princess Lilandra and save the universe, would become episodes 37 and 38.
• Issue 109 features the X-Men's encounter with "Weapon Alpha", sent by the Canadian government to reclaim Wolverine. This becomes episode 39, the season finale -- which also incorporates elements of issue 110 as well, in which the man called Warhawk infiltrates the X-Mansion to plant bugs for the mysterious Hellfire Club.

That's season 3 in a nutshell. The narrative throughline is the rise of Phoenix as the new X-Men learn to work together as a team. Season 4 then becomes our adaptation of the classic Claremont/Byrne "world tour" storyline...

• We open with issue 111 serving as our episode 40. A few months have passed since season 2 ended. The X-Men have gone missing, and former teammate Beast comes looking for them. He traces them to a carnival in Texas, where he helps them break free of brainwashing by their old foe Mesmero. The X-Men battle Mesmero but are in the end captured by Magneto.
• Issues 112 and 113 are combined into episode 41, as the X-Men are held prisoner by Magneto in the arctic but eventually free themselves and send him into reatreat as his base is destroyed. Phoenix and Beast are separated from the rest of the team, with each group believing the other dead.
• Issues 114 and 115 can also be combined into a single episode 42, featuring Phoenix and Beast telling Professor X that they believe the X-Men to be dead, while in truth the team arrives in the Savage Land, battles Sauron, and learns of the threat of Garokk the Petrified Man.
• Issue 116 becomes episode 43 -- the X-Men's battle with Garokk, while Professor X goes into outer space to live with Lilandra, and Phoenix and Beast tell Angel, Iceman, Havok, and Lorna about the X-Men's deaths.
• Guess what! We're jumping to another series for this episode. MARVEL TEAM-UP issues 69 and 70, by Byrne and Claremont, featured a brouhaha between Havok, Spider-Man, Thor, and the Living Monolith. Why not adapt that into episode 44?! Maybe we'd remove Spidey and the Thunder God and replace them with Lorna and Phoenix for this adaptation. I think it would work, and make for a nice mid-season one-off episode.
• Issue 117, a flashback to Professor X's younger days, does not need to be excised here, but instead it would be combined with a much older issue -- #20, if you can believe it -- to form episode 45, as Professor X tells Lilandra both his origin story and the first time he met an evil Mutant, the Shadow King, to create episode 45.
• Issues 118 and 119 are combined to become episode 46, in which the X-Men arrive in Japan and team up with Sunfire to battle the terrorist Moses Magnum and Banshee burns out his mutant power.
• Issues 120 and 121 can also be consolidated. In this episode 47, the X-Men travel to Canada and fight Weapon Alpha, now called Vindicator, along with his team, Alpha Flight, for Wolverine's freedom.
• Issues 122, 123, and 124 were originally comprised of a sub-plot issue followed by a two-part encounter with Arcade. Here, we would condense them into two episodes, 48 and 49, covering that same ground.
• This brings us to issues 125 - 128, the Proteus saga, in which Beast and Phoenix are reunited with the X-Men, who travel to Muir Island and battle the reality-warping mutant who happens to be Moira MacTaggart's son. These four issues can be consolidated into a three-part season finale in episodes 50 - 52, wrapping things on a suitably epic note.

Alternatively, we could bring in UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #3, which was set around the time of issues 122-124, to make episode 50, and condense Proteus into a season-ending two-parter. Depends whether we want one more inconsequential one-off in there prior to the big finale.

Now here's where we get a little controversial with our adaptation. I firmly believe that for thematic and dramatic purposes, the final season should end with the "Dark Phoenix Saga" -- which means that at this point, there will be some major rejiggering of the timeline as we adapt the final chunk of Byrne/Claremont stories, including breaking up "Dark Phoenix" a bit. But I think it will work. So at this point, our team consists of Cyclops, Phoenix, Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus. Children of the Atom, students of Charles, Xavier, MUTANTS -- ahem. Anyway -- time has passed since the defeat of Proteus. Our heroes are home. Phoenix has been having weird dreams about being a 19th century noblewoman. Professor X is still in space -- at least in our first episode.

• In the season premiere, Wolverine decides he should do something about his status as a rogue Canadian agent. So, in an adaptation of issues 139 and 140, he and Nighcrawler head up north, where they team up with Alpha Flight to battle the Wendigo as episode 53. Meanwhile, in space, Professor X realizes that he needs to return to Earth immediately to help Phoenix manage her powers.
• "Dark Phoenix" was originally comprised of a trio of 3-part stories. There's a lot going on those issues, perhaps more so than in most of the 17-page story era. So episodes 54 - 56 cover issues 129 - 131 -- Xavier's return to Earth and discovery of the new mutants, Dazzler and Kitty Pryde, followed by the X-Men's trips to New York for Dazzler and to Kitty's hometown of Chicago for a battle with the Hellfire Club's White Queen.
• In the comics, the X-Men go on the run after issue 131, but in our series, they instead return home, where time passes (a passage that originally took place in issue 129 of the comics after Xavier's return). During that time, Kitty is enrolled at Xavier's school, which means that episodes 57 and 58 adapt issues 141 and 142 -- "Days of Future Past". Where are Cyclops and Phoenix during this story? Possibly away visiting Angel in New Mexico, to set up his return in the next episode.
• Next we have issues 132 - 134, the X-Men's encounter with the full Hellfire Club, adapted into episodes 59 and 60 of our story. Here, the X-Men have learned of the Club's involvement in their recent troubles, and recruit Angel, a member of the Club, to help them investigate. This leads into the group's battle with Sebastian Shaw and the Inner Circle, the revelation that Mastermind has been manipulating Phoenix for months, an explanation of Warhawk's infiltration of the mansion in the season 3 finale, and Phoenix's transformation into Dark Phoenix.
• But what was Kitty doing while the X-Men were battling the Hellfire Club? Turns out she was at the mansion fighting a "Demon" in episode 61's adaptation of issue 143. Is this a weird placement for this one? Probably. But I think it works. We'd begin with a cold open set nearly three years ago, as Cyclops mourns Thunderbird's death and accidentally releases the demon with a stray optic blast to a mysterious cairn on Xavier's grounds. Then we cut to the present, as Kitty, home alone, finds herself fighting for her life against the demon.
• Then it's back to "Dark Phoenix" for its final act, as the Shi'ar come to Earth and sentence Jean Grey to death. Here we have three issues, one double-sized, to cover -- 135 - 137, which would make for a fine trio of episodes, 62 - 64.
• And then comes our season (and perhaps series?) finale -- "Elegy," adapted from issue 138. In it, the X-Men hold a funeral for Jean Grey, Cyclops reflects on their life together as X-Men, and then ultimately tells Professor X that he's leaving the team. It feels like a fitting conclusion to this 65-episode saga.

And that's it. But hey, if the series is picked up for 65 more episodes, that roughly takes us all the way up to the trial of Magneto in issue 200, and includes lots more material to adapt. But I won't get into that here.

As with the never-to-be Spider-Man series, I would say this cartoon should be held to a 1970s era level of technology -- again, a pre-digital age. And as with my Spider-Man idea, this one would never happen due to a number of factors. But I can certainly dream! Just as I can dream of a companion AVENGERS animated series adapting that series' greatest hits from its first fifteen or so years, and one for the FANTASTIC FOUR, basically adapting the full Kirby & Lee run -- plus an "anthology" MARVEL SPOTLIGHT series to cover (more loosely) adapted solo adventures of characters like the Hulk, Iron Fist, Moon Knight, Luke Cage, and so forth. I won't write entire articles about all of those, but suffice it to say that my pie-in-the-sky, bespoke, never-gonna-happen Marvel animated universe would look something like that.