X-Men 97 - season premiere

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks; between my family, the cold I caught, and the confusing weather outside, I’m really feeling down in the dumps, so let’s not talk about reality, (especially since it doesn’t get better once I move past the personal), and talk about the release of the X-Men-97 series.

It works. It works, first, because it is not so much as a reboot or a remake of the original X-Men, but rather, a flat-on sequel to the series. Instead of inventing something actually new, the Disney/Marvel creative team behind this just took the old stories and promptly continued where they ended – Xavier is in space with his alien girlfriend (a princess/queen of the Shi’ar), the rest of the X-Men and Magneto down on Earth, trying to fit the mutants into the human society. No crossovers, no multiverse, no nothing, but mutants. Oh, and Sentinel robots too.

The latter make good opponents for the mutants, (and many other Marvel entities too, if you think about it): they’re big, strong, tough, powerful, emotionless, and completely artificial, so when they go down, no one cares, and it is a big score in the X-Men collective cap. One of the exceptions to this rule is Master Mold, (who appeared in the two-part premiere, but seriously diminished, so he does not matter right now), and Nimrod, (who does not appear in the premiere at all, and so he does not count right now either). Instead, it is their maker, Gyrich, who is one of the main foes of the X-Men, and he is unsympathetic, (even if not unreasonable).

Here is the thing. The scriptwriters did their best to equalize the world of X-Men (of these X-Men, the world of Marvel is very branching) with our world, the RL world… or at least the version of the RL world that the modern U.S. (and the rest of the West) are living in. Other countries – from Russia to North Korea, from Israel to, even, Ukraine – have their own opinions on them, but in general they are not inclined to share them in public, or to openly confront the U.S. – at least not yet.

…Oh, right, Iran. This country, or, at least, its’ proxies are doing precisely this – they’re confronting the U.S. in the Middle East, and may be fighting it to a standstill. After all, between Ukraine/RF, Israel/HAMAS, and its’ own internal issues (to name a few causes), even the U.S. is stretched thin enough as to not win anytime soon, and there is one more thing.

The lack of commitment. From the mess with the Donald’s arrest/impeachment, to the whatever that is going on between the U.S. and Ukraine, the current U.S. government, (2020-?) seems to lack the will to follow to the end. They always stop at the worst possible moment, or just do not start at all. For a while, (as an example), Ms. Halley could’ve been an alternative to the Donald… if the Democrats have helped her, helped build her up as an alternative to the Donald… but they didn’t, and now the elections 2024 will be Joe vs. Donald – the latest round. Did they actually want this? It seems like they do – but are they certain that Joe will be the last on the ground standing?..

Back to the X-Men 97? I.e., what do they get to do with this? Oh, they are the latest shift in the Disney/Marvel strategy to make money: the live-action MCU-verse is failing, so it is back to the drawn cartoons. They are not the only ones – Sony’s live-action movies, (including ‘Madame Web’), are failing (unless they are Tom Hardy’s ‘Venom’, of course), while their animated Miles Morales films have succeeded – and succeeded quite formidably, too. Clearly, there is more to Spider-verse than how it appears at first, and there is something to the Multiverse too, to do it correctly, (yes, MCU’s ‘Loki’, I am looking at you – from a prince of semi-darkness to hot mess! Ouch!)

X-Men 97, by contrast, do not do multiverse or any other characters from the other corners of the Marvel franchise: we got the X-Men, we got their basic archfoes the Friends of Humanity, (aka Marvel’s KKK), we got personal drama, (unlike baseline Spider-Man, baseline X-Men have a big core cast, so they don’t need outsiders all that much), and we got nostalgia played correctly, so yay X-Men, then! We even got a few references to Spider-Man and Venom, so extra kudos, right? …Right or wrong, X-Men 97 have started strongly and should continue to go strong; the fact that they have connected only partially to RL helps too…

This is it for now, however. See you all soon!