Mysterious X-Men #185 is one of those issues that every longtime X-Men nerd knows, like Giant-Size X-Men #1 (the introduction of Nightcrawler, Colossus, Storm), or Mysterious X-Men #4 (the debut of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants), or The New Mutants #87 (Cable’s first appearance). In Strange #185, government anti-mutant puppet Henry Peter Gyrich attempts to use a mutant power neutralizer on Rogue, but accidentally hits her teammate, Storm. The neutralizer is completely effective; Storm loses her ability to manipulate the weather, seemingly forever.
Subsequent issues follow Storm through an identity crisis as she struggles to redefine herself without her mutant abilities. She resists and proves herself to be a hero often with superpowers.
The years pass. Finally, in Mysterious X-Men #226, Storm regains her powers with the help of Forge, the same mutant genius who created the neutralizer that erased her abilities.
SEE MORE INFORMATION: The best part of X-Men ’97 was Magneto’s hair
Storm’s journey from mutant to human and back again became a huge part of her character and continues to help define her to this day. Marked by two comics titled “Lifedeath”, this subplot took more than three years of comics to be fully resolved, since Strange #185 in June 1984 for Strange #226 in October 1987.
About X-Men ’97, that entire story arc — Storm loses her powers, faces her new reality, and then manages to repair her broken abilities — was condensed into just over three weeks of television. Storm was electrocuted by Forge’s neutralizer at the end of episode 2, “Mutant Liberation Begins”, and regained her climate manipulation in episode 6, “Lifedeath – Part 2”. This amounted to just over 90 minutes of total screen time. And most of these episodes had nothing to do with Storm or her journey.
That was really the only problem with what was otherwise an excellent season of X-Men ’97, which is certainly one of the best things produced for television by Marvel Studios. The show did a genuinely impressive job of turning what could have been a cheap exercise in ’90s nostalgia into a celebration of everything good about the X-Men as a concept. Mining stories like “Lifedeath” and countless others X-Men comics, was equal parts action, adventure, social commentary, melodrama, superhero soap opera and romance.
O countless thing is not an exaggeration. “Lifedeath” was just one of a series of Marvel stories that served as the basis for this season of X-Men ’97. Other comics that were included in the first ten episodes of the series include “The Trial of Magneto” (where Magneto is tried by the United Nations for his past crimes against humanity while trying to atone for his past sins as the new leader of X – Men), “Inferno” (in which the X-Men fight the demonic Madelyne Prior and Mr. Sinister) and “Fatal Attractions”, where a Magneto who has once again returned to villainy rips Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton from his body.
Just like “Lifedeath,” all of these stories had to be heavily condensed to fit the parameters of 25 minutes of weekly television animation. “Fatal Attractions” was originally six huge issues; “Inferno” has made its way into more than 20 Marvel comics, including non-X-Men titles like Reckless It is The incredible Spider-Man.
Distilling literally years of X-Men comics in this way meant X-Men ’97 it moved like a freight train; each episode was packed with so many things that there was never a dull moment. Every week you basically got the X-Men greatest hits. This resulted in an extremely watchable and binge-worthy show that never dragged – unlike some of Marvel’s recent live-action productions. (Looking at you, Secret Invasion!)
However, there was a downside to this approach. At times, the season’s pacing bordered on manic as it moved from one massive story to the next. There was very little time for character development to breathe organically; Massive changes to the status quo were introduced and discarded in a matter of minutes. What we got wasn’t bad; far from it. But it seemed like it was also full of missed opportunities.
Take the most interesting character of the season, Magneto. As the show begins, he begrudgingly accepts his old friend Charles Xavier’s dying wish to inherit the X-Men and lead them according to Xavier’s idealistic principles of peaceful coexistence. A similar story happened in Mysterious X-Men comics during the 1980s, written by Chris Claremont, but over a period of years. Loyal readers watched Magneto weigh his responsibility to Xavier with his own beliefs, which could gradually change over time under the influence of the X-Men and the young, idealistic New Mutants.
In X-Men ’97Magneto was only with the X-Men from episodes 2 to 6, in the episodes he also had to share with ongoing subplots, such as Storm’s loss of powers. (Similarly, Xavier was only “dead” for six weeks before showing up in the Shi’ar Empire hanging out with his alien girlfriend Lilandra.) By the end of the season, Magneto has ditched his purple superhero outfit and gone back to red. . armor he previously wore as leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, along with his more militant tactics.
Some of the best X-Men comics are the ones in between the big events, when the team relaxes, tries to live a normal life, or just plays baseball together. Although the first episode of X-Men ’97 honored this tradition by showing the team facing off in a basketball game; Otherwise, there were few moments where the character’s simple humanity – so important to the central conceit about these all-powerful mutants – shone through. And the season’s big cliffhanger, as emotional as it is, also doesn’t seem to offer much room for that kind of thing to move forward.
X-Men ’97 The first season was like a glass of orange juice made by someone who squeezed each orange just once before throwing it away. Of course, the drink you prepared is refreshing. But you left a lot of juice in those oranges. And you also used a ton of oranges. If you want to keep making more cups, you will quickly run out of fruit.
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