One of the great aspects about Netflix is that you can watch an entire TV series on stream. As such, I was able to relive my childhood and watch the entire X-men series (1992-1997) again this past winter. Growing up in 90s, Saturday morning cartoons were a staple of each weekend. X-Men was one of the shows that I waited all week to watch. While most things from your childhood are for a lack of a better word “childish”, I was pleasantly surprised that X-Men holds up as a great series today.
The original idea of the X-Men is a great concept and the moral themes have a lot of substance. It is about racism and discrimination. Over the course of history, people have feared and hated other people who are unfamiliar and different whether it is due to skin color, religion, sexual etc. Instead of one of those traits, the creators gave their characters mutant powers to differentiate them from the rest of society. Fans love superpowers so they will watch and wonder how anyone could hate and fear mutants because they are so cool. Ironically, human beings with powers are actually something to be afraid of. If someone can read and control your mind or can phase through a wall, how do you control them and stop them from misusing those powers? How does liberty survive if some people have those powers and others do not? It is great moral questions that the X-Men present to us. Most importantly, I admire how it clearly shows how racism and discrimination is wrong as we watch our beloved characters constantly face it.
Next, the animated series was great in telling the story from the comics. First, they did a great job depicting the complex relationship between Charles Xavier and Magneto. They were the best of friends and have the utmost respect for each other. However, they have very different visions for the world as Xavier wants to live in peace with humanity while Magneto wants to conquer it for mutants. From my perspective, Magneto is a great character because he is a not a true villain. Instead, I see him as an anti-hero. While I do not agree with his methods, I can empathize for why he felt his actions were necessary. Magneto is a Jewish character and had to endure and live through the Holocaust. As such, he has seen the worst in terms of racism and discrimination. Society has already failed him. I can truly empathize with Magneto for why he can no longer believe in peace and believes that he needs to fight for the survival of mutants.
The dynamics within the X-Men are also well done. For example, you have the love triangle between Scott Summers/ Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Logan/Wolverine. While Scott and Jean are meant for each other in the comics and the series, Wolverine is completely in love with Jean and hopelessly dreams that she could love him as well. Of course, Wolverine also has to deal with his inner demons and savage instincts due to the experiment that gave him his claws. Another great dynamic between X-Men is Rogue and Gambit. Rogue is a southern belle and Gambit is the charming, rascal Cajun. While they have a flirtatious relationship, their love is forbidden as Rogue is cursed with not being able to touch another person without draining their life energy and abilities. Similar to Wolverine and Rogue, the series does a good job of showing us the characters’ personal struggles and different perspectives on dealing with being a mutant. Obviously, some mutants have a more difficult adjusting than others. Hank McCoy/ Beast is a pretty good example. While his codename is Beast and he outwardly looks like a monster, he is gentle, moral, and a brilliant scientist. Even though he mostly overcomes his appearance, there is an episode where he has to deal with bigotry from the father of the woman he loves although she also loves him.
Of course, another aspect of a brilliant series is villains. X-Men has a long list of great ones such as Mr. Sinister and Apocalypse. Mr. Sinister is a mad scientist that has put his scientific curiosity ahead of any ethics and is nearly indestructible. His name is a perfect description of his nature. As brutal as Mr. Sinister is, Apocalypse is the series’ ultimate evil. Apocalypse has no morals. His only belief is in the survival of the fittest and the destruction of the weak.
While the above traits give the series a lot of credibility for pure storytelling, nothing defines X-Men: the Animated Series better for comic book fans than the specific mini-series. Here are my top 10 mini-series within the X-men series.
1. The Phoenix Saga
This saga was the climax of the series. First, it takes us into outer space of the Marvel Universe. Princess Lilandra, of the Shi’ar Empire, telepathically contacts Professor Charles Xavier for help. As Lilandra and Xavier are soul mates, she has a special link to him even though they have never met and are far away from each other. As such, Xavier sends a team of his X-Men to a space station to ensure Lilandra’s safe passage to Earth. On the X-Men’s return trip to Earth on the space shuttle, Jean Grey is forced to pilot the shuttle so save everyone. In the process, she comes in contact with and binds with the Phoenix entity. As we learn later in the saga, Lilandra stole the powerful M’Kraan crystal so her brother, Emperor D’Ken, cannot use its power to destroy the universe. Of course, D’Ken ultimately gets a hold of the crystal and initiates a process that starts to pull the universe inside the crystal. As the Phoenix is the child of the crystal, it ultimately has to heal the crystal. In order to keep it from falling into the wrong hands again, it takes the crystal deep into space into an environment that no living creature could exist. At the time, the task apparently takes the life of Jean and she and Scott/ Cyclops have a tearful goodbye at the end of the saga.
This miniseries had everything a comic book fan could want. Xavier loses control of his mind and inhibitions in the second episode and his sub-conscience attacks his X-Men. As such, Xaiver flies to Muir Island to his friend and scientist Moira McTaggert to regain control. In the third episode, Black Tom and Juggernaut kidnap Lilandra. The X-Men team up with Banshee, Black Tom’s cousin and Moira’s fiancé, to get Lilandra back. Ultimately, Gladiator, the leader of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard comes down to capture Lilandra in. In a seemingly impossible feat, he picks up Juggernaut and throws him far out of sight into the ocean. He also defeats the X-Men before Jean, as Phoenix, throws him back into space telling him to tell D’Ken the crystal and Lilandra are under her protection. In the fourth episode, the space pirates Starjammers enter the picture. They are led by Corsair, a human from Earth that was abducted by the Shi’ar along with his wife. He only wants revenge on D’Ken for having his wife killed. As such, he steals the crystal and uses it as a bargaining chip to get close enough to D’Ken for Cyclops to try to assassinate the Emperor. Ironically, he later learns that Cyclops is one of his two sons he thought died in the plane crash related to his alien abduction. Of course, the assassination attempt fails but the X-Men get to engage and take on the Imperial Guard. When D’Ken takes control of the crystal, he becomes all powerful and easily defeats the Imperial Guard and the X-Men before the Phoenix saves everyone.
2. The Dark Phoenix Saga
While the X-Men believed Jean to be dead, she and the Phoenix return to Earth. However, the Phoenix has become seduced and addicted to human emotion. As such, it craves feeling human sensations, especially anger, jealously, and being power hungry and delighting in destruction. As such, the Hellfire Club enters the picture to take control of her. The club is comprised of powerful mutants that use their powers and social status to accumulate wealth and power. It is led by Sebastian Shaw, who is able to absorb kinetic energy. The group includes Emma Frost, aka the White Queen, whose telepathic powers are strong enough to keep Xavier’s powers at bay. Ultimately, Jason Wyngarde, aka Mastermind, uses his power of illusion to control Jean. As such, the X-Men fight the Hellfire Club and get beaten pretty badly and captured. Of course, Wolverine is the one that gets away and eventually fights his way back to help free the X-Men who win the rematch. Moreover, Mastermind was foolish to think he can control the Phoenix as she was never really controlled by him. After she unveils Mastermind as a withering, weak individual who was using his powers of illusion to project otherwise, she easily defeats the X-Men who are trying to free Jean from the Phoenix.
After the Phoenix satisfies her desires by destroying an uninhabited solar system, the Shi’ar Empire become aware of the situation and head to Earth to destroy the Phoenix before she can do any more harm. Of course, the X-Men defend Jean which leads a trial by combat between the X-Men and Imperial Guard on the moon. The Imperial Guard easily defeats the X-Men. During the fight, Xavier laments that the fight could be the end for the X-Men. At the same time, Lilandra explains to her subordinate that the side of her that is woman wants to comfort him with all her heart. However, as Empress, she must remain cold and perform her duty as billions depend on her to do what is best for the greater good. The Phoenix starts to take over near the end of the fight but Jean intervenes enough to allow the Shi’ar to destroy her. As it releases the Phoenix, it is able to separate itself from human emotion and the darkness it was feeling. As such, it makes an offer to the X-Men to each give a little bit of their life force to restore Jean’s life. Of course, they accept.
3. Beyond Good and Evil
This miniseries is my personal favorite as it includes 4 parts and centered on Apocalypse. For most the X-Men series, Bishop and Cable are the two time travelers that consistently go back in time to alter the future for the better. In the first part of this miniseries, Apocalypse is able to corner Cable and steal his time travel device. Although Apocalypse is able to travel back in time, he collides with Bishop which causes them both to land in the axis of time. In the axis, Apocalypse devises a plan to destroy time and every being so he can rewrite all of it as he sees fit. In order to complete his plan, he recruits other villains such as Mr. Sinister, Magneto, and even Deathbird, who is the sister of Lilandra, to capture all psychics as destroying their psychic energy in the axis of time will help him accomplish his task. Through the use of time portals, Mr. Sinister and his Nasty Boys capture Jean Grey during her wedding. Apocalypse tricks Deathbird into being a decoy to capture Oracle of the Imperial Guard. Mystique and Sabretooth go after Psylocke but are met with resistance from Angel, Wolverine, and Storm. As such, Magneto is sent to finish the job but Sabretooth is captured. My favorite moment in this miniseries is when Mystique laments losing Sabretooth. In response, Magneto says “Sabretooth is an unthinking animal. Such refuse is easily expendable”. Immediately, Apocalypse steps out of the shadows and says “Your lack of sentimentality is refreshing”.
Eventually, Cable gets another time machine to go back in time. The X-Men team up with him to go back to ancient Egypt to destroy Apocalypse’s Lazarus Chamber as it will erase him from history. However, it is a trap and leads to the capture of the final psychic, Xavier. In celebration, Apocalypse called it the capture of the king. Nevertheless, Magneto learns of the true intention of Apocalypse to destroy every being in history. As Magneto is not a true villain, he objects to such an atrocity. As such, he and Mystique turn on the alliance and fight back. They also free Wolverine who jumped in the time portal but captured when Xavier was captured. While in the axis of time, Bishop finally realized what was happening and they all begin breaking the psychics free. Once the psychics are freed, Xavier leads them to push Apocalypse out of the axis. With his Lazarus Chamber gone, he ceased to exist.
4. Sanctuary
As Magneto sees no peace on Earth between humans and mutants, he creates Asteroid M so that mutants can live separately in outer space orbiting Earth. He also steals hundreds of nuclear missiles and places them on the asteroid as a deterrent against any human attack. He lands pods throughout the world to pick up any mutants that want to live on the asteroid. As the human governments are obviously concerned with the threat of the asteroid, Xavier convinces President Kelly to allow him to be the ambassador between him and Magneto. As such, Xavier, along with Beast and Gambit, agree to travel with Magneto to the asteroid to assess the situation. Along the way, Magneto also attacks Genosha to free its mutant slaves. Due to exhausting his powers to accomplish all his tasks, Magneto is severely weak. On Genosha, Fabian Cortez and his Acolytes aid Magneto’s fight. Cortez’s mutant ability allows him to reenergize Magneto and thus gains his trust. While on the asteroid, Cortez proves to be a war hawk and fires missiles at the Earth without permission which puts him at odds with Magneto. While arguing in Magneto’s quarters, Cortez takes back the energy he gave from Magneto. Without the energy, Magneto is seemingly fading out of existence as he gravely overused his powers. Cortez proclaims that “I have sustained you and I can destroy you” before jettisoning Magneto’s quarters toward Earth, seemingly to Magneto’s doom. In addition, he blames the X-Men. While Xavier and Beast get away, Gambit covers the escape and is captured.
Knowing that a mad man is now in control of the asteroid and the nuclear arsenal, Xavier takes a team of X-Men to stop Cortez. While they attacked Cortez, Beast sabotages and neutralizes as many missiles as he can. In the meantime, Xavier’s former lover and current Acolyte, Amelia Voght, becomes suspicious of Cortez and uses her powers of teleportation to find the security video that proves the real story that turns the entire asteroid against Cortez. However, Cortez launches all the missiles, not sabotaged by Beast, at the Earth. Fortunately, the magnetic fields of Earth restored Magneto and he is able to destroy all the missiles. Moreover, he destroys Asteroid M with Cortez on it while everyone else escapes. Nevertheless, Magneto is left a broken man as he had to destroy his dream.
5. One Man’s Worth
This miniseries is about the importance of Charles Xavier. In the future, Trevor Fitzroy makes a deal with the sentinel, Mastermold, to use his mutant power to go back in time to kill Xavier. Mastermold also sends the most advanced sentinel, Nimrod, to ensure the task is complete and also to attest to Mastermold the deal with Fitzroy as he would have no recollection of the agreement with Fitzroy if the timeline changes. The removal of Xavier leads to the current timeline where humans and mutants are in full out war. Magneto is the leader of the mutants. Wolverine and Storm are married and a key to the resistance. However, Bishop and his sister Shard notice the temporal disturbance and go back in time to stop it. When they jump back in time, they meet and team up with the new versions of Wolverine and Storm, who obviously have no recollection of Xavier. However, Storm believes the story and convinces Wolverine to help. Their first attempt to save Xavier fails mainly to the infighting between Bishop and Wolverine. However, they are successful the second attempt and restore the timeline.
6. Days of the Future Past
Days of the Future Past is one of the most well known storylines and it is being used for the sequel to X-Men: First Class. The story is about a dystopian future where Sentinels have taken over the World and have hunted down and killed many mutants. While the comics had Kitty Pryde/ Shadowcat go back in time to try to alter the future, Bishop goes back in time in the animated series. Bishop starts out as a mutant bounty hunter for the Sentinels and hunts other mutants. While capturing and bringing in Wolverine for elimination, the Sentinels turn on Bishop. As such, he teams up with Wolverine and Forge. While Wolverine was originally suppose to time travel, Bishop is younger and convinces Forge to send him back instead. Nimrod attacks and tries to stop Bishop but Wolverine gives his life to hold Nimrod back. However, Nimrod pursues Bishop back in time but the X-Men help defeat Nimrod and send it back to the future.
Bishop’s goal is to prevent the assassination of Senator Kelly, whose death leads to public outrage and hate towards mutants. As such, the government responds with the mass creation of Sentinels. While the assassination was blamed on Gambit in the future, it was actually Mystique in disguise. While Bishop continues to try to kill Gambit, Rogue eventually sends Bishop back to the future during the fight with Mystique and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. While Gambit stops Mystique, the future does not yet change as Magneto now kidnaps Senator Kelly. However, Mastermold sends Sentinels to save Kelly. Nevertheless, he does it to try to replace Kelly’s mind with a computer so the Sentinels can control the President once Kelly is elected. Nevertheless, the X-Men team up with Magneto to save Kelly. Xavier also flies the Blackbird full of explosives into Mastermold and destroys his body. As they save Kelly, he changes his stance on mutants. As a result, the future is changed and a past future no longer exists.
7. Time Fugitives
When Bishop returns from “Days of the Future Past” to the future, he comes back to a different nightmare in the future. Although he changed the future where Sentinels control the world, a deadly virus was unleashed. As such, Bishop goes back in time to stop it. At the same time, Cable is also in his future. He senses the temporal disturbance caused by Bishop. When Bishop goes back in time to destroy the virus, he removed crucial antibodies that are gained by the antibodies that humans and mutants develop because of it. As such, Cable’s future is being destroyed and he has to go back in time to stop Bishop. It is determined that the Friends of Humanity “FoH”, KKK type organization, created the virus and wanted to blame it on mutants. However, the FoH were manipulated by its scientist, who is actually Apocalypse in disguise, who created the virus. When Apocalypse reveals his identity and FoH leader Craydon Creed calls him a mutant, Apocalypse benevolently proclaims that “I am beyond mutant as they [X-Men] are beyond humans.” While Cable laments having to help Apocalypse release the virus in order to save his own future, he realizes that he can throw Wolverine at the tank to get infected as his healing factor will develop the antibodies needed. As such, it saves all futures and stops Apocalypse’s plan.
8. Night of the Sentinels
It was the two part series that started it all off. The Sentinels destroy a mall to try to abduct Jubilee. As the X-Men are in the mall, they save her and defeat the Sentinels. However, they learn that the government has been collecting information about mutants and storing it in a registration center. Consequently, the X-Men know they need to attack the center to protect mutants from being round up and their liberties. While they accomplish the task, they do it at a great cost as Sentinels attacked when the X-Men try to flee the center. Beast is captured and Morph is blasted by the Sentinels and believed to be dead after he pushed Wolverine out of the way to save him. Eventually, the X-Men track down the Sentinel base and destroy it. As Morph was Wolverine’s best friend, Wolverine is distraught over the death.
9. Reunion
Early in the second season, Xavier and Magneto are tricked into rendezvousing in Antarctica. Each received a message from the other, who was actually Morph using his shape shifting abilities and controlled by Mr. Sinister, asking for help and to meet. In actuality, they were being lured into the Savage Land. Mr. Sinister created a device that took away all mutant powers in the Savage Land unless they had another device to nullify the effects. As such, there was a small part of each episode in Season 2 depicting how Xavier and Magneto were faring in the Savage Land without their powers. As Magneto ruled it at a certain point, he had knowledge about it. “Reunion” is the end of the season when Mr. Sinister eventually captures Magneto and Xavier. He also has Sauron uses his powers to force Xavier into summoning the X-Men nto a trap too. When the X-Men land, they are easily defeated without their powers and brought to Mr. Sinister’s citadel but Wolverine escapes. Wolverine has his claws but it is extremely painful for him to use them without his healing factor. Mr. Sinister’s plan is to extract the powers of the X-Men and Magneto to fuse with his men. In a touching moment, it is Rogue’s turn to have her powers taken. She is scared and Gambit comforts her. Without her powers, they are finally able to touch and kiss. Before Mr. Sinister’s machine could be used on her, Wolverine breaks into the citadel and destroys the machine that was suppressing mutant powers thus restoring powers to the X-Men and Magneto who easily defeat Mr. Sinister’s men. As Cyclops and Jean are the only ones that can hurt Mr. Sinister’s body, they relentlessly attack him and blow him into small pieces so that it will take him a long time to reassemble.
10. The Phalanx Covenant
It is the last great miniseries in this X-Men series. The Phalanx invades planets and assimilate them into the Phalanx. While they have no trouble assimilating humans, mutants are a problem with their X factors. Warlock is a rogue Phalanx and befriends Beast for help to stop the Phalanx. The Phalanx spread rapidly and take over most of the world. Beast is able to escape the mansion with Warlock while the rest of the X-Men are captured by the Phalanx. Eventually, Beast is able to team up with Warlock and Quicksilver of X-Factor. While Quicksilver is captured, Mr. Sinister is able to save the rest as he has resorted to helping the good guys against such a great threat. They also fly to Magneto to ask for his assistance. However, Magneto is in isolation and is a broken man after he lost Asteroid M. While he is apathetic at first and even insulted for having Mr. Sinister brought into his presence as Magneto is disgusted by him, he changes his tune when he learns the Phalanx have taken his son, Quicksilver. With Magneto’s help, they are able to infiltrate the Phalanx spire in the Empire State Building and release a virus, concocted by Beast, that destroys the Phalanx. This miniseries one of my favorite as it is the only time Mr. Sinister and Magneto team up with the heroes as the danger presented by the Phalanx is overwhelming.
About Pat Wong
Patrick is a contributor for Rookerville. He is an avid sports fan. Before joining Rookerville, he was part of a defunct New York Yankees message board, NYYankeefans, where he was its top poster and was inducted in its Hall of Fame for his contributions. Patrick is also a passionate fan of movies. He has enjoyed reading movie reviews over the years and is excited about the opportunity to review movies. Patrick is also a passionate foodie. He is Yelp Elite for three years in a row and shares his great finds in New York and his travels.