X-Men ’97 Is Perfect And Marvel’s Live-Action X-Men Are In Trouble

X-Men 97’ which directly continues the beloved X-Men: The Animated Series ‘90s cartoon, doesn’t star random, underused mutants from the comics. It stars the most famous and well-known X-Men characters like Wolverine, Jean Grey, Storm, Cyclops, Rogue, and many more. The depictions of these characters are so endearing and spot-on that many consider them the definitive versions outside of the comics.

Marvel is undoubtedly going to include many of these big-name mutants in its live-action version of the team, so now the MCU has the unenviable task of making these characters just as likable and iconic as the X-Men ‘97 versions. Now, the good news is that the MCU does already have a few aces to lean on when it comes to live-action X-Men. For one, Hugh Jackman is returning as Wolverine, and the characters that were introduced in the previous Deadpool movies, like Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, seem likely to make a return as well.

But Hugh Jackman is probably going to dip out after Deadpool & Wolverine, and while characters like Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Colossus are awesome, they’re not necessarily going to be the lead characters that we see in a blockbuster MCU X-Men film. Hugh Jackman will inevitably need to be recast, and then there are other roles like Jean Grey, Storm, Cyclops, Rogue, Magneto, Professor Xavier, Gambit, and many more that would need to be cast. And with X-Men ‘97 so fresh in everyone’s minds, especially with a second season on the way, the MCU is going to need to deliver in a big way.

Now, the good news is that the MCU has recently been making some pretty agreeable decisions in the casting department. The recently announced Fantastic Four cast was met with a lot of praise from fans, so there’s certainly a chance that the MCU could nail the casting for the X-Men too. It’s also not necessarily a bad thing to have different versions of the characters from X-Men ‘97, as it allows the animated series to continue to do its own thing while Marvel forges a unique path for the live-action characters.

In any case, the casting and the writing of the MCU’s live-action X-Men team is definitely going to be under some heavy scrutiny after the success of X-Men ‘97. Obviously, there will be plenty of people who watch the MCU films without seeing the animated X-Men series, but the fans who watch all the content will certainly have sky-high expectations. Here’s hoping that the MCU can pull it off so that we get a great animated X-Men team and a great live-action team too.