X-Men: Evolution

X-Men: Evolution
Genre	Superhero
Created by	Marty Isenberg Robert N. Skir David Wise
Based on	X-Men by Stan Lee Jack Kirby
Developed by	John Bush John W. Hyde Jon Vein
Voices of	Meghan Black Neil Denis David Kaye Scott McNeil Kirby Morrow Maggie Blue O'Hara Brad Swaile Venus Terzo Kirsten Williamson Michael Kopsa
Composer	William Kevin Anderson
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	52 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Avi Arad Rick Ungar Stan Lee
Producers	Boyd Kirkland Greg Johnson (season 4)
Editors	Al Breitenbach (season 1) Mark T Collins (seasons 3–4)
Running time	20–22 minutes
Production companies	Film Roman Marvel Studios[a]
Original release
Network	Kids' WB
Release	November 4, 2000 (2000-11-04) – October 25, 2003 (2003-10-25)

X-Men: Evolution is an American

Produced in the United States, the voice recording was done in Canada, and the show was animated in Japan and South Korea. The series was distributed by Warner Bros. Television Distribution during its original run and is currently distributed by Disney Platform Distribution in the United States.

Plot

Season 1

The first season introduces the core characters of the series. The titular team, founded by

Cyclops and Jean grow closer, creating a love triangle when Rogue develops a crush on Cyclops, while Shadowcat and Avalanche begin dating despite being on opposing sides.

The X-Men are faced with several threats: Mystique strikes off with the Brotherhood and recruits the

The X-Men are forced to contend with numerous personal struggles: Cyclops is abducted and left for dead by Mystique; Spyke leaves the team to join the sewer-dwelling Morlocks when his mutation rapidly advances; Nightcrawler overcomes his insecurities about his appearance; Rogue learns that Mystique is her adoptive mother and loses control of her powers; and Wolverine discovers that he has a teenage clone called X-23, who was created by HYDRA to be trained and used as a weapon.

Meanwhile, Magneto enlists Mastermind to alter Scarlet Witch's memories to end her vendetta against him; and Mesmero manipulates Mystique and hypnotizes Rogue into helping him resurrect Apocalypse, who defeats the combined forces of the X-Men, the Brotherhood and the Acolytes.^[4]

Season 4

Season four focuses on the aftermath of the X-Men's failed attempt to prevent Apocalypse's revival. The Brotherhood try their hand at heroism only for their selfish tendencies to prevail; Wolverine and X-23 work together to bring down HYDRA; Xavier confronts his estranged son David; Spyke and the Morlocks begin fighting back against human prejudice; Shadowcat befriends Danielle Moonstar; and Rogue pushes Mystique's petrified statue off a cliff, creating a rift between her and Nightcrawler, which causes her to seek redemption by helping Gambit to rescue his father.

Apocalypse captures and transforms Xavier, Storm, Magneto, and Mystique into his

The series ends with a speech by Xavier, having caught a glimpse of the not-too-distant future in Apocalypse's mind that shows:

• Continued anti-mutant sentiment at Capitol Hill.
• A reformed Magneto as a new instructor at Xavier's institute.
• Jean being consumed by the all-powerful Phoenix Force. Had the series continued, the fifth season would have focused on the Dark Phoenix saga with Jean becoming an enemy of the X-Men.
• The future X-Men team consisting of Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Storm, Beast, Iceman, Colossus, X-23, and Rogue, who is now capable of flight and no longer wearing gloves.
• The Brotherhood, including Pyro, joining S.H.I.E.L.D. as the Freedom Force.
• A fleet of Sentinels led by Nimrod.
• A final photographic portrait of the full X-Men roster, including new members
  Havok
  , Angel, Gambit, Colossus, and X-23.

Episodes

Cast and characters

• Professor Charles Xavier (voiced by David Kaye) is the telepathic founder and pacifistic leader of the X-Men. Nicknamed "Professor X" by his students, he remains somewhat secretive to protect the young mutants in his care. Although he often emphasizes the importance of keeping their powers hidden from the rest of the world, Xavier remains hopeful that mutants and humans can one day coexist peacefully.
• Scott Summers / Cyclops (voiced by Kirby Morrow) is the disciplined and responsible field leader of the X-Men. His eyes constantly emit powerful energy beams known as "optic blasts", which can only be controlled by his ruby-quartz glasses and visor. Scott harbors romantic affections for his best friend Jean, but only confesses his feelings for her in the third season, after which they begin dating.
• Jean Grey (voiced by Venus Terzo) is a popular girl with powerful telepathic and telekinetic abilities. She finds herself romantically torn between Duncan Matthews and Scott, until she and Scott begin dating in the third season.
• Evan Daniels / Spyke (voiced by Neil Denis) is Ororo's playful and stubborn nephew and the youngest member of the X-Men. He has the ability to project bone-like protrusions from his skin. Evan leaves the X-Men to join the Morlocks when he loses control of his powers in the third season.
• Logan / Wolverine (voiced by Scott McNeil) is the "gruff uncle" of the X-Men and the strict instructor in charge of the young mutants' combat and survival training. He possesses heightened senses, a regenerative healing factor and an indestructible adamantium skeleton with retractable hand claws. Logan has also shown a softer side as a protective surrogate father to both his clone X-23 and Rogue after she loses control of her powers.
• Ororo Munroe / Storm (voiced by Kirsten Williamson) is Evan's aunt and a wise mentor to the X-Men who can harness the forces of nature and manipulate the weather. She was previously worshipped as a goddess in Africa due to her ability to summon the rains.
• Rogue (voiced by Meghan Black) is a sullen and reclusive goth girl who can absorb the life force, attributes, memories, and powers of anyone through physical touch. She is Mystique's adopted daughter and Kurt's foster sister. Rogue is initially tricked into joining the Brotherhood of Mutants before defecting to the X-Men. She develops an unrequited crush on Scott but eventually becomes attracted to Gambit, an Acolyte working for Magneto. Rogue's real name is never revealed in the series.
• Kitty Pryde / Shadowcat (voiced by Maggie Blue O'Hara) is an upbeat and cheerful valley girl who can become intangible. She is the second youngest member of the X-Men and develops a close friendship with Kurt over the course of the series. Despite being on opposing teams, Kitty begins dating Avalanche of the Brotherhood of Mutants in the second season.
• Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler (voiced by Brad Swaile
  ) is the blue-furred prankster of the X-Men with the ability to teleport. He is Mystique's biological son and Rogue's foster brother. Kurt develops a close friendship with Kitty and his penchant for excessive goofiness initially clashes with Scott's rule-abiding leadership. He is insecure about his appearance and given a holographic image inducer that allows him to blend in at school, though he comes to embrace his true self over the course of the series.
• Hank McCoy / Beast (voiced by Michael Kopsa
  ) is a mild-mannered intellectual with a repressed, feral alternative mutant personality. He initially works as a gym coach and chemistry teacher at Bayville High School before his latent transformation forces him to retire and join the X-Men as a mentor in the second season.

The original working title of the show while in production was Children of the Atom, a reference to the X-men comic book in circulation. However, this was scrapped as the network did not want the title to reference children.[5] One of the main points of the new X-Men: Evolution concept was the design of the new costumes. Early concept art sketches show the X-Men in classic gold-and-black garb. In these drafts, Spyke wears cornrows, Rogue's outfit exposes her midriff, and Jean Grey's costume is the female version of Cyclops' costume. Both Jean Grey and Shadowcat wear face masks, and Kitty is also wearing an orange miniskirt and Doc Martens over spandex. Early Storm drawings show her wearing white rather than black.^{[citation needed]}

A point of controversy was the design of the blue-skinned villain Mystique. Steven E. Gordon, the character designer and director of various episodes, was never impressed with the Mystique designs for the first season. Mystique was originally to be presented as nude (as in the films), but Warner Brothers did not want this included in a Kids' WB! production.^[6] However, a short scene of Mystique drawn to resemble her film counterpart (albeit clothed) appears in the Season 1 finale. Gordon stopped directing after two seasons, but continued to design characters for the show. He is most satisfied with the designs of Rogue and Wanda.^[6]

The show also contained various pop culture references: in episode 9 of the first season, one of Wolverine's defensive programs for the Danger Room is referred to as "Logan's Run X13", a clear reference to the novel/film

Starting with the first episode of Season 4, "Impact", the episode title was no longer aired on-screen at the beginning of the show, and X-Men: Evolution became the third longest-running Marvel cartoon, behind Spider-Man: The Animated Series (5 seasons, 65 episodes) and X-Men: The Animated Series (5 seasons, 76 episodes). Boyd Kirkland, the show's producer, says his favorite X-Men: Evolution season is Season 3.^[6] The monthly budget for X-Men: Evolution was $350,000.^{[citation needed]}

This is the first X-Men animated series to use digital ink and paint.

Produced in the United States, the voice recording was done in Canada and the show was animated in Japan and South Korea. Most of the animation was outsourced to

While no official statement has come down on why the show ended after season 4, the show's co-producer, Robert N. Skir, has stated that it most likely came down to WB wanting show changes as well as business strategy moves with Nickelodeon in 2003.[9]

Successors

The show gave birth to a new series, Wolverine and the X-Men, which began airing in November 2009. It was not a continuation of X-Men: Evolution, though the same creative team was behind the show: Craig Kyle, Chris Yost, Steven E. Gordon, Greg Johnson and Boyd Kirkland all returned to work on the series.

In 2012, Jean Grey and Robert Kelly (voiced by their respective X-Men: Evolution actors) appeared in the Iron Man: Armored Adventures episode "The X-Factor".

Reception

According to IGN, the show aired "much to X-fans' initial protests and lamentations."^[10] RPGnet enjoyed Evolution's second season, hailing it as the show's "transition season." An improvement over the show's first season "in every way," X-Men: Evolution, according to RPGnet, "introduc[ed] many ... re-imagined characters from X-Men lore that will certainly entertain the X-Men fans," specifically Beast and Principal Kelley. RPGnet wrote, "Some episodes could easily be cut out of the show and they would not be missed," describing the dialogue as "atrocious at times" and some of the characters as "very one dimensional."^[11] Positively, Fred Choi of The Tech hailed X-Men: Evolution as "the best incarnation of X-Men yet," admitting that "There are a few changes which will send purists howling in the streets." Choi acknowledged that "The students generally have abilities more powerful than they ever had in the comics," specifically mentioning intangible Shadowcat and telekinetic Jean Grey. While praising the show's animation and music – "cleaner than the original series" – Choi described the transformation of Rogue "into a reclusive goth chick" as " completely baffling but surprisingly palatable."^[12]

Noting the show's treatment of its characters, specifically making them high school teenagers for thematic purposes as "admirable," John G. Nettles of PopMatters concluded, "What disappoints, however, is the sheer number of missed opportunities here and the decision to subscribe to the same old social norms."^[13] Reviewing X-Men: Evolution's third season, Filip Vukcevic of IGN was mixed in his analysis, deeming it inferior to X-Men: The Animated Series and concluding, "Evolution ... will interest long-time X-fans, but the fluffy stories and underutilized character personalities ... will cause discerning viewers to zone out," suffering from its attempt "to cram everyone in." Additionally, the author felt that Evolution lacks the "visual flair" of The Batman and the "wit" of Teen Titans. The author also panned the series' "average" voice acting, feeling that Magneto, Wolverine and Beast were "miscast." He also noted that combined with "inventive gags," "the show does its best to make the most of the mutants' powers" because "The fight scenes are fun to watch if only to see how the characters interact."^[14]

Awards and nominations

X-Men: Evolution won the award for Outstanding Sound Mixing – Special Class at the 28th Daytime Emmy Awards, on May 18, 2001^[15] and won the award for Outstanding Sound Editing – Live Action and Animation at the 30th Daytime Emmy Awards, on May 16, 2003.^[16]

It also won the Cover of the Year Award in 2004 for best animated figure for Beast. It was nominated for several

Analysis

Comparison with original comics

The X-Men: Evolution series was targeted at a younger audience and as such portrays the majority of characters as teenagers rather than adults like in X-Men: The Animated Series.^[3] In the series, like many animated series based on comics, completely new characters were introduced including Spyke.^[17][18] As much of the cast were teenagers, they are shown regularly attending high school in addition to the Xavier's Institute. At the latter, Professor X, Storm, Wolverine and later Beast also acted as their teachers at the institute. Beast also served as a teacher to the cast at high school prior to his transformation.

X-Men: Evolution is set in Bayville, New York, the state established in the episode "The Beast of Bayville", where Kitty Pryde receives a package addressed to Bayville, New York. Furthermore, in the early part of the series (until the end of season 2) most people are unaware of the existence of mutants. Also, the "Brotherhood" team is not known as the "Brotherhood of Evil Mutants" within the context of this series. They are not a team of terrorists or mutant supremacists. Instead, the Brotherhood is made up of misfit mutants who often oppose the X-Men (in physical, social and philosophical realms).

The series was created as a stark contrast to X-Men: The Animated Series. The series' bible was written by Robert N. Skir and Marty Isenberg (albeit uncredited), who meant to take The X-Men back to their roots as high school students learning to control their superpowers, as when the comics termed them "The Strangest Teens of All".^{[citation needed]} Whereas the Fox series reflected the then-current role of X-Men as freedom fighters battling persecution and bigotry against mutantkind, X-Men: Evolution used the theme of mutant powers as a metaphor for the struggles of adolescence.^[3]

The look of the series was designed by Producer Boyd Kirkland and artist Frank Paur, who created new costumes for the X-Men, replacing the comics-faithful designs of X-Men: The Animated Series with anime-influenced costumes which were much more animation-friendly.

The first season mainly concerned the characters' conflict with Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants as well as served as an introductory to many of the characters to allow people to get used to these new teenage versions. Later seasons predominantly featured Apocalypse as an adversary, introduced versions of the New Mutants, Morlocks and Magneto's Acolytes as well as posed the U.S. Government as an adversary to all parties.

The series revealed a detailed knowledge of canon history in a number of small ways. Examples include the evolution of Cerebro from a console device, Shadowcat's initial uneasiness around Nightcrawler and

The comic book X-Statix featured an African-American mutant with the same codename and abilities as Spyke; however, this version of Spyke was not related to Storm, had a very different personality (modeled after popular gangsta rappers), and is a completely separate character. Another similar character appeared in X-Men: The Last Stand, but as a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants. He is listed as Spike in the credits, but is not mentioned by name in the film, and has no dialogue. When Wolverine invades the forest base of the Brotherhood, Spike is one of the characters that attacks him, demonstrating abilities identical to those shown by the Spyke character before he lost control of his mutation. Another similar character, who bears a greater resemblance to Spyke appears in X-Men: Days of Future Past, but again, he is not named. In the canon Storm has a teenaged cousin, not a nephew, named David Evans, but he is apparently too young to display any mutant abilities.

Marvel references and cameos

X-Men: Evolution weaves many references and cameos into its show. One of the masks worn by the vandals in the Season 3 episode "Mainstream", bears a suitable resemblance to the classic Marvel Comics monster,

All four seasons are available for download in SD format on iTunes (Only available for America), being released in 2009 by Marvel. All 4 seasons immediately broke into the Top 10 Animation charts on iTunes, with season 4 peaking at #3.

DVD

Streaming services

• Disney+ - All four seasons are currently available as of August 2023 in the United States only.^[23][24]
• Netflix - The series is not available on Netflix, though the DVDs were available as part of their now defunct DVD by mail service.
• YouTube - All four seasons were uploaded on YouTube, however Marvel Entertainment's YouTube channel listed them as private.
• Google Play - All four seasons are currently available on Google Play, although the show is inaccessible in some countries, such as Poland.
• Hulu - Hulu had all episodes available on streaming as early as 2009. However, it is no longer available.^[24]
• Amazon - All four seasons are currently available on
  Amazon Instant Video.^[24]
• iTunes - All four seasons are currently available for purchase on the iTunes Store.
• HBO Max - All four seasons are currently available on streaming in Latin America since September 17, 2022.^[25][26]

Merchandise

Comic books

In January 2002,

The comic introduced the Evolution version of the Morlocks before they appeared on the show, and their appearances and motivations were radically different in both versions. It also featured an appearance from Mimic who never appeared on the show.

An ongoing plot line would have introduced the Evolution version of Mister Sinister, but the comic was canceled before it could be resolved. However, the cover of the unreleased issue 10 does reveal his intended character design.

Action figurines

References

1. ^ "The History of Wolverine and the X-Men on TV". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
2. ISBN 978-1476665993
   .
3. ^ ^{a b c} Evan Levine Ten years tough for X-Men Rome News-Tribune – November 21, 2000. Retrieved June 8, 2011
4. ^ "X-Men Evolution - The Complete Third Season". dvdtalk.com.
5. ^ Bobulinksi, Andrew; Blake, Kinsey. "An Interview with Robert N. Skir". conventionalrelations.net. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
6. ^ ^{a b c} Marvel Animation Age Presents: X-Men: Evolution
7. ^ ^{a b} "Beyond Evolution: X-Men Evolution". Archived from the original on July 4, 2006. Retrieved June 27, 2006.
8. ^ Joss Whedon Talks X-Men, Firefly Movie Archived July 9, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
9. ^ Bobulinksi, Andrew; Blake, Kinsey. "An Interview with Robert N. Skir". conventionalrelations.net. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
10. ^ "The X-Men's TV History". IGN. IGN Entertainment, Inc. May 31, 2011. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
11. ^ "Review of X-Men: Evolution Season Two". RPGnet. Skotos Tech, Inc. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
12. ^ Choi, Fred (October 18, 2002). "X-Men: Evolution, Third Season". The Tech. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
13. ^ John G., Nettles. "X-Men: Evolution". PopMatters. PopMatters Media, Inc. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
14. News Corporation
    . Retrieved June 12, 2014.
15. ^ Yarbrough, Beau (May 21, 2001). "'Batman Beyond,' 'X-Men: Evolution' win Daytime Emmys". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
16. ^ IMDb.com: "X-Men: Evolution" (2000) – Awards
17. Tribune Publishing
    . Retrieved October 23, 2010.
18. ^ "The History of Wolverine and the X-Men on TV". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
19. ^ ^{a b} Curt Geda (d), Craig Kyle (w) and Chris Yost (w) (August 2, 2003). "X-23". X-Men: Evolution. Season 3. Episode 11. Kids' WB.
20. ^
    Marvel.com
    . Retrieved June 7, 2011.
21. ^
    Chris Yost (w), Jonathan Sibal (i), X-23 No. 1 (January 12, 2005), Marvel Comics
22. Gannett Company
    . Retrieved June 8, 2011.
23. ^ "Watch X-Men: Evolution | Full episodes | Disney+". www.disneyplus.com. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
24. ^
    Decider
    . Retrieved September 19, 2022.
25. ^ @HBOMaxBR (September 17, 2022). "SCOOOOOOOTTT!!!" (Tweet). Retrieved March 7, 2023 – via Twitter.
26. ^ @HBOMaxLA (September 1, 2022). "Al diablo el zodiaco, dime tu canción favorita de #Elvis 😍" (Tweet). Retrieved March 7, 2023 – via Twitter.
27. ISBN 978-0-7864-2500-6
    . Retrieved June 8, 2011.
28. ^ David Finnigan (January 1, 2001). "X-Men Dine at Taco Bell; 2001: No Big Odyssey". Brandweek. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
29. ^ Jonah Weiland (December 19, 2001). "Marvel and Burger King team up for X-Men Evolution promotion". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved October 23, 2010.

External links

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