X-Men: Evolution
| X-Men: Evolution | |
|---|---|
| File:XMenEvolution.jpg The X-Men | |
| Starring | David Kaye as Professor X (Charles Xavier) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 52 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 22 Minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | The WB |
X-Men: Evolution is an animated series about the X-Men as teenagers and young adults. The series ran for a total of four seasons (52 episodes) on Kids WB (despite the fact that Warner Bros. owned DC Comics, one of the major rivals of the company that created X-Men, Marvel Comics). The story is set in an alternate Marvel Universe, in which mutants are the only form of super-powered heroes.
X-Men: Evolution portrays Cyclops, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Shadowcat and Spyke, a new character, as teenagers attending regular high school in addition to the Xavier Institute. At the latter, Professor X, Storm, Wolverine and, later, Beast were their teachers. The series, which was aimed at younger children than its predecessor, irked some longtime X-Men fans but gathered moderate ratings. The first season mainly featured Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants. Later seasons predominantly featured Apocalypse as an adversary and introduced versions of The New Mutants and Magneto's Acolytes. The series ended in 2003 after its fourth season.
X-Men: Evolution won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing - Live Action and Animation at the 30th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, on May 16 2003.
Plot outline
X-Men: Evolution is set in the generic city of Bayville. Contrary to most X-Men continuity, it is not clearly established where the city of Bayville is located, but we are led to believe it may be in the New York area. Furthermore, in the early part of the series (until the end of season 2) most people are unaware of the existence of mutants. It is also important to note that "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.
Most of the first season is spent introducing the characters. During this time the X-Men recruit Rogue, who at first is frightened and then angry at the X-Men, slowly learning to trust the others over the course of several episodes. Although it is immediately clear to most fans of X-Men that the mysterious leader of Mystique's team is Magneto, this information is not explicitly revealed until the end of the season, in a two-part episode called "The Cauldron."
In the second season, the Xavier Institute took on a number of additional students, sometimes known as "The New Mutants." For the most part, they are fairly minor characters in the series. Bobby Drake, aka Iceman, eventually becomes a full member of the X-Men.
Most of the episodes focus on characters developing relationships, loyalty and the importance of team-work. The season concludes with the two-part episode "The Day of Reckoning" in which the X-Men and the Brotherhood join up to fight Magneto's new team, and end up revealing the existence of mutants to the world.
The third season moves the story closer to traditional X-Men continuity, in that many of the stories are about overcoming hatred, intolerance and racism. There is a strong streak of revenge related plotlines in this season as well. The season concludes with the two-part episode "Dark Horizon" in which the powerful mutant Apocalypse is finally freed from captivity.
Season four, for the most part, is rather chaotic. Many fans believe that this is because the creators of the series knew they were likely to be cancelled at the end of the season. Several interesting plotlines are created, but never given the chance to advance. The only real focus to the season is the slow build of power that Apocalypse is working towards. The final episodes in the season (and the series) are called "Ascension" in which Apocalypse kidnaps Professor Xavier, Magneto, Storm and Mystique to serve as his agents in the destruction of humanity.
Series Finale
The series ends with a speech by Charles Xavier, who had caught a glimpse of the future while being mind-controlled by Apocalypse. Following future scenarios are foreseen:
- Anti-mutant sentiment continues.
- The Sentinels attack, led by a Super Sentinel which is hinted to be Nimrod, Bastion or Master Mold.
- A reformed Magneto becomes the teacher of the New Mutants.
- Jean Grey is transformed into Dark Phoenix. This happens apparently a few years after the last episode.
- The future X-Men seem to consist of adult versions of Cyclops, X-23, Iceman, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Rogue (able to fly, and, curiously, not wearing gloves), plus Storm and Colossus. Wolverine is missing and therefore hinted to have retired or passed away. The uniforms these future X-Men wear look very much like the dark uniforms in the Ultimate X-Men comic. Only X-23 (who had a dark uniform from the start) looks the same. This shot is probably from a few years after the last episode.
- The last scene (see picture to the right) shows the entire cast, thus X-Men and New Mutants, plus the previously unaligned Gambit and Angel, who are hinted to have joined the X-Mansion. Jubilee and Wolfsbane have also returned. This shot is probably set a few days after the last episode.
- The Brotherhood and Pyro join S.H.I.E.L.D..
Comic book spin-offs
In January 2002, Marvel Comics began publishing a manga-style comic book series partially based on the show. Written by Devin Grayson, it was abruptly cancelled after the ninth issue. The comic introduced the Evo version of the Morlocks before they appeared on the show, and their appearances and motivations were radically different in both versions. An ongoing plotline would have introduced the Evo version of Mr. Sinister, but the comic was cancelled before it could be resolved. The cover of the unreleased issue 10 does reveal his intended character design, however.
The comic X-23, an original character introduced in the later part of the show, first appeared in comic books in NYX, albeit in a slightly different version than in the cartoon, and got her own self-titled comic series in 2005. Much like Harley Quinn of Batman: The Animated Series, a character created for the cartoons has entered comic continuity.
The comic book X-Statix featured a Black American mutant with the same codename and abilities as Spyke; however, this "other" Spike was not related to Storm, had a very different personality (modeled after popular gangsta rappers), and is generally interpreted to be a completely seperate character.
Teams
The X-Men team
Mentors
- Professor X (Charles Xavier), voiced by David Kaye. Professor Xavier is the team's mentor and financier. He is very similar to his comic book counterpart, only more casual. Like the comic Professor X, he is still somewhat secretive, if only for the protection of his students.
- Wolverine (Logan), voiced by Scott McNeil. Though similar in most ways to the classic Wolverine, the Evolution version has been seriously toned down, and is designed to be more of a role model for the students. As a side note, he is the only X-Man to change his uniform (see picture): at the beginning, he wears an incarnation of his classic yellow-black uniform with his characteristic bladed mask, but then swaps it for a dark, maskless uniform very similar to the version found in the Ultimate X-Men comic.
- Storm (Ororo Monroe), voiced by Kirsten Williamson. Storm is very similar to her comic counterpart; in fact, there appear to be no real differences. Storm has a habit of suddenly disappearing throughout the series, apparently because the producers don't really have much for her to do.
- Beast (Hank McCoy), voiced by Mike Kopsa, (Joined in the second season). Beast is similar to his comic counterpart in most ways, though the Evolution version speaks more casually. He was originally a gym coach and chemistry teacher at Bayville High before his latent transformation into the Beast forced him to retire and join the X-Men, where he could still be a teacher.
Students
- Cyclops (Scott Summers), voiced by Kirby Morrow. Cyclops is toned down from his comic book counterpart, less stiff and with a greater sense of humor, and in contrast to many other incarnations, Cyclops is not the aloof, doubtful loner, but a handsome and confident leader who exudes a lot of natural authority. All the other students look up to him. He is the most officious and rule-abiding of the X-Men and the least likely to fool around. After season 3, Cyclops & Jean Grey began teaching the younger students at the Xavier Institute how to better control & utilise their powers.
- Jean Grey (no codename), voiced by Venus Terzo. She was (as the fans have dubbed her) the "Miss Popular" of the X-Men, smart, athletic, beautiful, popular and the second-in-command after Cyclops. She does have more insecurities than her comic book counterpart, as well as a jealous streak when it comes to Cyclops, though. After season 3, Cyclops & Jean began teaching the younger students at the Xavier Institute how to better control & utilise their powers.
- Rogue (real name unknown), voiced by Meghan Black. A serious departure from the comic Rogue, the Evolution Rogue is a reclusive goth with paranoia issues. She has a great deal of angst over her powers, which keep her from ever safely touching anyone. She had a long term crush on Cyclops, but later developed a flirtatious relationship with Gambit. In fanfiction, her name is often given as Marie (which was Rogue's name in the 2000 X-Men movie), but the series itself established no name for Rogue and gave no hints to it. In fact, after her introductory episode (where she is unable to remember her name), it's never brought up again. Rogue is popular among fans that feel they can relate to her, but there are many within the Evolution fandom who are annoying by the attention paid to Rogue.
- Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner), voiced by Brad Swaile. The humorist of the team, the Evolution Nightcrawler's very similar to his comic version and has a friendly big-brother relationship with Cyclops. The comic Nightcrawler's strong Catholic beliefs appear to have vanished, but this is likely due to censorship issues. He speaks with a German accent.
- Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde), voiced by Maggie Blue O'Hara. Kitty Pryde is the brainiac of the team, though she was given a thick valley girl accent, which was reduced and eventually phased out after the first season. Unlike her comic version, she is not the youngest member of the team, but is still very naive. The strongest departure in her character is her on-off relationship with Avalanche.
- Spyke (Evan Daniels), voiced by Neil Denis. An entirely new character (a Black American created to add ethnic diversity), Spyke is also Storm's nephew. He appears to have typical teenanger issues and is meant to be the rebel of the team. Fans have not taken kindly to Spyke, who they see as a pre-packaged and shallow character. In the third season, Spyke left to join the Morlocks and made a guest appearance in the fourth season, where he was seen as a protector of oppressed mutants. Many of Spyke's critics liked the change in his character, but he is still viewed as the posterchild for the negative aspects of the series. This character may be based on the comic character Marrow. Both project their bones out of their bodies and both have connections to the Morlocks.
New Mutants
As a whole, the New Mutants didn't have a significant role in the series. They were added in the second season of the show for two reasons; the first was to make the Xavier Institute seem more populated by having several students in the background; and the second was to please vocal fans. During the show's four-season run, the New Mutants remained in the background, and only in a few instances did any of them contribute to an episode's plot. Most often, they were relegated to sub-plots or background gags. As a result, few of them are well-developed and fans have generally assumed that they share the same personalities and traits as their comic-book counterparts. The New Mutants are listed as they appear in the image at right, from left to right.
- Iceman (Bobby Drake, later promoted to the X-Men), voiced by Andrew Francis. The most outgoing and cocky of the new recruits, and later became a standby X-Man.
- Cannonball (Sam Guthrie), voiced by Bill Switzer. The most noticeable role for Cannonball was his challenging Wolverine to a motorcycle race, with the other New Mutants using their powers to create obstacles.
- Jubilee (Jubilation Lee), voiced by Chiara Zanni. Unlike the original show, she has only a very minor role. She retained the playfulness of her comic counterpart, and was often involved with Bobby's antics. She was removed in the third season (after the public revelation of mutants, her parents no longer felt the Institute was a good place for her), but appeared in a cameo during the season finale.
- Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair), voiced by Chantal Strand. She only spoke in one episode and was altogether removed from the cast in the third season (presumably under the same pretenses as Jubilee), but returned in a cameo during the series finale.
- Multiple (Jamie Madrox), voiced by David A. Kaye. The youngest of the bunch and constantly picked on by his older peers. He also seems to have a crush on Shadowcat.
- For Boom Boom, see below
- Berzerker (Ray Crisp), voiced by Tony Sampson. A big departure from the mainstream continuity, where he is an extremely violent Morlock. Here, he is fairly mellow, though still has a temper.
- Magma (Amara Aquila), voiced by Alexandra Carter. The only New Mutant who was the lead character of an episode ("Cruise Control"). After Iceman, Magma is the New Mutant who was given the most attention by the writers. She has been altered in appearance from her comic book incarnation, where she is an older teen with blond hair and blue eyes, whereas in Evolution, she is fully Brazillian with brown hair and brown eyes.
- Sunspot (Roberto Da Costa), voiced by Mike Coleman. Like Wolfsbane, he only spoke in one episode (in fact, the same one that featured Wolfsbane), but was shown to be a perfectionist and an overachiever.
The Brotherhood
The Brotherhood are an oddity in that they started out as villains, but as the series progressed, fell more into the role of casual wild cards not because of shifting ideology, but because they had become lazy and simply stopped caring about their original cause. While the X-Men represent the ideal of mutant responsibility, the Brotherhood represent the reality, wasting their powers on selfish, small-time interests. They were little more than a plot device during the first season (often an excuse to have the X-Men fight somebody), but from the second season onward, they semi-retired from costumed villainy and were most often seen hanging out in their run-down house, only sometimes committing crimes to pay bills. Despite their on-going contempt for the X-Men, they have been known to team up with their rivals, often voluntarily. It should be noted that when acting as foes for the X-Men, the Brotherhood are depicted as fairly incompetent, but when allied with the X-Men, the Brotherhood appear to be just as good if not better than the X-Men, though this likely has more to do with plot convenience than anything else.
- Mystique (Raven Darkholme, leader, when present), voiced by Colleen Wheeler. Mystique is similar to her comic counterpart, with very few differences. In early appearances, she used her real name as the disguised principal of Bayville High, Ms. Darkholme, to spy on the X-Men and keep an eye on the Brotherhood. Despite being their leader, Mystique is not considered part of the core Brotherhood team, mainly because after the first season, she spends most of her time away from the team. As a side note, Mystique is also the only villain to change her uniform: in the beginning, she is wearing a white tunic similar to the incarnations in the mainstream comics and X-Men: The Animated Series, but later changes into a more practical outfit consisting of a tight black top with matching miniskirt and built-in knickers.
- Avalanche (Lance Alvers), voiced by Christopher Grey. This version of Avalanche has almost nothing in common with the original character. Here, he is the grungy Lance Alvers (the original was Dominic Petros), and he is the Brotherhood's unofficial field leader and has a rivarly with the straight-laced Cyclops. Avalanche is often irrational and driven by his temper, but as the series progressed, Avalanche was more reluctant to be a villain, and even started to lapse into an almost heroic position, at one point quitting the Brotherhood to enroll at Xavier's school. Most of this has been triggered by his relationship with the X-Men's Shadowcat. Some have noted that Lance Alvers is very similar to Rictor, another X-Men character.
- Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff), voiced by Richard Ian Cox. Unlike Avalanche, Quicksilver retains most of his original counterpart's personality traits, including his impatience and arrogance. The similarities end there- this Quicksilver is a self-serving villain who will betray his friends and even family to save himself. He is loyal to his father, Magneto, only out of convenience. Though he has a hand in betraying his sister Wanda, he grows to care for his sister as the series progresses. In season 3, Quicksilver became the official team leader due to Magneto's influence, and even after Magneto's demise, continued to assume leadership, giving the team some much-needed ambition.
- Toad (Todd Tolensky), voiced by Noel Fisher. Less sycophantic than the original Toad and possibly the youngest of the Brotherhood team, this one is a weasely punk kid with a very bad smell and wise guy attitude. On the show he is often used for comic effect. He seems to revel in his own weirdness with a self-deprecating humor and feigned over-confidence. While Toad is ultimately a bit of a coward who strongly depends on others for protection, this has not prevented him from participating in fights with the X-Men so long as the rest of the Brotherhood team is involved. He gets to play a heroic role in episode 37 The Toad, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, (occasionally cited as a fan favorite). This version of Toad has gathered a large fan following due to his enthusiastic nature and sense of humor. Like Avalanche, Toad is given another name in this version (the original being Mortimer Toynbee). He often tries to flirt with the Scarlet Witch. To say that his fails would be an understatement. His strongest friend in the Brotherhood is Blob, a fellow freak, and he and Nightcrawler have a nemesis relationship.
- Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff), voiced by Kelly Sheridan. In direct contrast to the original Wanda Maximoff, this Scarlet Witch is near-homicidal. She was locked in an asylum by Magneto because he could no longer control her vast powers, and she grew up bitter and vengeful. She was released by Mystique to help her in her own revenge against Magneto. Eventually, Wanda's memories were altered by Mastermind and she believed her father to be kind and caring, resulting in a more well-adjusted Wanda, though she was still very introverted.
- Blob (Fred Dukes), voiced by Michael Dobson. Like the comic version, this Blob is a bully with a big mouth and a small brain. Unlike the comic version, this Blob seems to hide a sensitive side (as seen by the rather obsessive way he treated Jean in the first episode he appeared, and his later closeness to the rest of the Brotherhood). He is also one of the few characters to change aspects of his physical appearance throughout the series (most notably his haircut).
Magneto's Acolytes
When the original Brotherhood fell out of Magneto's favor (due to both incompetence and uncertain loyalty), he created a new team. Though never named on-screen, they are referred to as The Acolytes, named after Magneto's second-most famous team from the comics (the first, of course, being the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants). Sabretooth and Quicksilver were retained, but the rest of the team was brand new and first revealed during the second season finale, "Day of Reckoning," where despite being quite smaller in number than the combined forces of the X-Men and the Brotherhood, held their own against both. They were the primary threat against the X-Men in season three, until the threat of Apocalypse sidetracks Magneto.
- Magneto (Erik Lehnsherr), voiced by Christopher Judge. A powerful, charismatic mutant supremacist, essentially unchanged from his comic book version, but toned down a bit so that he appears more a manipulator than a terrorist. In addition, the ambiguous nature of Magneto's personality has been changed to make him a more effective villain.
- Gambit (Remy LeBeau), voiced by Alessandro Juliani. Cast as a Long John Silver-type villain, this Gambit is outwardly similar to the original Gambit, but is different in that he is a willing accomplice to Magneto. The Evolution version of Gambit has also shown signs of antisocial personality disorder, and though from time to time he will do something that can be considered good, he has shown that he is not above outright manipulation of innocents to achieve his goal. He appears to have a soft spot for Rogue (originally meant only as a nod to their relationship in the comics), but whether or not he has sincere affection for her is unclear, though it is unlikely as Gambit is a sociopath. Though shown with the extended X-Men team at the end of the series, it is unlikely that Gambit ever officially joined the team, though it's possible he may be an occasional ally, like Angel or Boom Boom.
- Colossus (Piotr Rasputin), voiced by Michael Adamthwaite. Very similar to his comic counterpart. In this version, he is pressured into serving Magneto, who has abducted his family. The whereabouts of his family remain unknown at the end of the series and would probably have been touched on in future seasons.
- Pyro (St. John Allerdyce), voiced by Michael Dobson. A mad pyromaniac with a cackling laugh and a thick Strine accent. The original Pyro was more controlled, whereas this version's affinity for destruction and complete ignorance of consequence border on outright insanity. He became infamous among the fandom for a scene in the fourth season where he is seen watching footage of Magneto's supposed demise at the hands of Apocalypse, rewinding, playing back, and laughing several times.
- Sabretooth (Victor Creed), voiced by Michael Donovan. A violent brawler who has a deep enmity against Wolverine, but not the psychotic killer of the comics. Little is revealed about Sabretooth except that he had some involvement with Wolverine and Weapon X, and that he is one of Magneto's most loyal followers. Oddly, he was depicted as a loner in the first season, but from the first season's finale (The Cauldron) onward was almost never seen without Magneto. His reasons for joining Magneto have never been given, but it's likely he's well-paid.
- Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff) is a member of both the Acolytes and the Brotherhood. After his betrayal of the Brotherhood in "Day of Reckoning," he appeared with the Acolytes, but was sent back to the Brotherhood in "Stuff of Villains" to train them for future service to Magneto. Just why Magneto wanted the team back, considering he had discarded them for incompetence, is never made clear. It can speculated that perhaps Magneto found his son bothersome and wanted him out of the way.
- Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde), voiced by Campbell Lane, is the group's telepath, though his membership on the team appears to be unofficial, as he seldom appears. While his comic book counterpart could only cast illusions, this version of Mastermind is also capable of telepathy, as well as reading and even re-writing memories, as he did to the Scarlet Witch. Strangely, despite looking like a common criminal, Mastermind sounds educated.
HYDRA
- Viper
- Omega Red (Arkady Rossovich), voiced by Richard Newman.
- Gauntlet, voiced by Mark Gibbons.
Neutral mutants
- Boom-Boom (Tabitha Smith), voiced by Megan Leitch, sometime member of both the X-Men and The Brotherhood. Originally one of the New Mutants, she felt that she didn't fit in and moved in with the Brotherhood, who did nothing to stop her. Though she mooched off of them for a while, she left following Mystique's return. Since then, she appears to be living on her own, but her loyalty is with the X-Men. Her powers are making time bombs that will explode at will
- The Morlocks. The Morlocks made several appearances on the show. The characters included Callisto, the leader of the group, who has enhanced senses; Caliban, a chalk-white character able to detect the presence of other mutants; Cybelle, a Black American female with an acid touch; Torpid, the mute little girl with the huge hands, who possesses a paralyzing touch; Facade, who can blend into his surroundings and Lucid, a froglike mutant who can see through solid objects. One other Morlock, Scaleface (who can shapeshift into a fire-breathing reptillian creature) appeared in one episode.
- X-23, voiced by Brittney Irvin, noteworthy in that she was created for and made her debut on X-Men: Evolution.
- Angel (Warren Worthington) worked with the X-Men on occasional missions. He donned a costume and a mask to perform heroic deeds in New York City, but stopped after his actions garnered negative attention from Magneto.
- Forge, voiced by Samuel Vincent, in great contrast to his comic counterpart, is a Bayville High student and mutant inventor from the late 1970's who was trapped in a pocket dimension he called "middleverse" for several years. Only when Nightcrawler found his way there and the X-Men found a way to free him did Forge return, though he was twenty years late for his curfew. While he is an ally of the X-Men, he only appeared once more to test equipment that would enhance Nightcrawler's teleportation range, at the cost of releasing extra-dimensional monsters into the world.
- Alex Summers (Alex Masters/Summers, Cyclop's brother), voiced by Matt Hill. Long believed to be dead, Alex (who was adopted by the Masters family) is reunited with his brother Scott, though Alex has come under the influence of Magneto, leading Scott away from the X-Men. Eventually, Alex and Scott realize that Magneto has tricked them and help put an end to his plans. Alex turns down an offer to join the X-Men, preferring to stay in Hawaii and become a professional surfer.
Other villains
- Apocalypse, voiced by David Kaye. Hinted at during the second season, Apocalypse became the primary focus of the third and fourth seasons, overshadowing even a fearful Magneto as the primary villain. Though his backstory remains largely the same as his comic counterpart, this Apocalypse was sealed away behind three mystic doors in the Himalayas, using Mesmero to help him escape. Once free, Apocalypse quickly proved that even the combined forces of the X-Men and Magneto's Acolytes were no match for him, and set out to use the Eye of Ages to turn all humans into mutants (or as Beast put it, "reshape the world in his image"). This Apocalypse differed greatly from the original version; most notably, his initial appearances showed him as an irridescent god-like being who never spoke. During the series finale, he was altered to more closely resemble his original appearance, becoming a blue cyborg with a penchant for overly histrionic dialogue. It is believed this was due to pressure from fans of the original Apocalypse. Incidentally, his plan to create an energy field that changed all humans into mutants is very similar to Magneto's plan in the X-Men movie.
- Mesmero, voiced by Ron Halder, was little more than a servant of Apocalypse in X-Men: Evolution. While Apocalypse was sealed away in the Himalayas, Mesmero helped track down the items that would help free him. He traveled with a circus (it is implied that he worked there before his time with Apocalypse, as he is found there once Apocalypse discards him) and used his hypnotic powers to recruit the X-Men (and later, Rogue alone) to help free Apocalypse. In contrast to his comic counterpart, this Mesmero looks like a normal human with strange green tattoos, rather than a green skintone.
- Juggernaut (Cain Marko), voiced by Paul Dobson. In Juggarnaut's first appearance on the show, it took the combined forces of the X-Men & Brotherhood to stop him from harming Xavier & Mystique. Albeit, in his second appearance, a substantially more experienced X-Men team managed to defeat Juggernaut. The most noteworthy differences between the comic Juggernaut and the Evolution Juggernaut are that he is now Xavier's half-brother rather than his step-brother, and that he is now a mutant, with the Cyttorak gem emitting a special radiation that activates latent mutant powers.
- Legion (David Haller/Lucas) was altered slightly from the comics. He more closely resembled his father, Professor X, and had inherited his psionic powers, but here, Legion was also able to shape-shift between his various personalities. The dominant personality, Lucas, is a Scottish goth-type who has no basis in the comics. While originally, Legion's personalities developed due to mental disorders, in Evolution, they are manifestations of repressed feelings. Whereas David Haller is disappointed in his father's absence, Lucas demonstrates this disappointment through anger and violence.
- Bolivar Trask, voiced by John Novak. A former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Trask is a militant follower of the anti-mutant cause, and he secretly developed the Sentinel prototype underneath Bayville.
- The Sentinel only appeared twice in the series: the first time as a single prototype that was unleashed in New York, and the second time as several units in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s first line of defense against Apocalypse.
- Edward Kelly, voiced by Dale Wilson. In X-Men: Evolution, he was the second principal of Bayville High (the first, Ms. Darkholme aka Mystique, had vanished) and carried suspicions about the mutant teens which became full-blown prejudice when they were publicly revealed. Later, he ran for mayor of Bayville, competing with the falsely heroic Brotherhood for media attention.
- Duncan Matthews, voiced by Vincent Gale. A stereotypical jock/football player. In his earliest appearances, he was little more than the local high school jerk before becoming a rival to Cyclops for the attention of Jean Grey. By the end of the series, he and his buddies began terrorizing innocent mutants, drawing the wrath of Spyke and the Morlocks.
- Houngan-Witch-Doctor Storm's tribe.He is jealous of Storm because her powers over climate made her a more venerable idol in the village,he comess to America to seek revenge and is able to drain Storm's powers. It is unclear if he is a mutant, relies on magic, or a combination of the two.
Miscellaneous characters
- Amanda Sefton, another schoolmate of Kurt Wagner. Her comic book incarnation is that of an airline stewardess and gypsy sorceress. It was never directly touched on if her Evolution incarnation was similarily inclined, but she seemed to have put the pieces together about Kurt not being all that he appeared to be.
- Arcade, aka Webber Torque, a freshman computer whiz. Mystique, posing as a girl called Risty Wilde, gets him to hack into Cerebro and while he thinks it's some high-tech game, she steals data about Scarlet Witch. In the cartoon, Arcade is apparently not a villain, but just a regular student.
- Paul is a blond schoolmate of Scott Summers and was one of his good acquaintances. He made several appearances in the series, the last a look of utter bewilderment when the X-Men were outed on TV. An early joke among the fandom was that Paul appeared to be everywhere due to his constant background appearances.
- Taryn Fujioka is a black-haired, attractive girl who houses a crush on Scott. At first, she is Jean's best friend, but when Jean starts to develop feelings for Scott herself, becomes her most bitter rival. However, when Scott was outed as a mutant, she shunned him.
- Captain America and Nick Fury also make an appearance in the series.
Episode list
Season One
| X-Men: Evolution - Season 1 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Episode | Title | Description | |||
| 1 | Strategy X | General introduction of the main cast; first Nightcrawler and Toad | |||
| 2 | The X-Impulse | Introduction of Shadowcat and Avalanche. | |||
| 3 | Rogue Recruit | Introduction of Rogue. Mystique fools her into believing that the X-Men hunt her down. | |||
| 4 | Mutant Crush | Introduction of Blob. Blob crushes on Jean and abducts her, but Rogue saves her. | |||
| 5 | Speed And Spyke | Introduction of Spyke and Quicksilver. | |||
| 6 | Middleverse | Nightcrawler clashes with Cyclops and accidentally activates a device which transfers him to a parallel dimension. Introduction of Forge. | |||
| 7 | Turn Of The Rogue | Rogue and Cyclops join an excursion, set up by Mystique to kill Cyclops. First hints that Rogue is crushing on Scott. Rogue finds out the truth about Mystique, saves him and joins the X-Men. | |||
| 8 | Spykecam | Spyke films an ordinary day in life. Rogue and Shadowcat argue about a Dracula play at school. Introduction of Sabretooth. | |||
| 9 | Survival Of The Fittest | The X-Men and the Brotherhood battle each other in a summer camp, but must cooperate against a bigger threat. Introduction of Juggernaut. | |||
| 10 | Shadowed Past | Rogue has nightmares about Kurt being abducted. It turns out that she absorbed Mystique's memories, and the X-Men find out that Mystique is his mother. Wolverine also discovers that Kurt was the object of heinous experiments by Magneto, but decides not to tell him. | |||
| 11 | Grim Reminder | Wolverine is tortured by nightmares. He goes into the wilderness and stumbles upon Sabretooth and Weapon X, and is brainwashed. Shadowcat and Nightcrawler have to save the day. | |||
| 12 and 13 | The Cauldron (Part 1 and 2) | Magneto holds a tournament to find out which mutants are "worthy" of joining him on Asteroid M. The "winners" are abducted by force and offered a place in the Cauldron, in which mutant powers are increased to "their full level". Introduction of Havok. | |||
Season Two
| X-Men: Evolution - Season 2 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Episode | Title | Description | |||
| 14 | Growing Pains | The Brotherhood (sans Mystique) gatecrash a soccer match of Jean's team and threaten to expose mutantkind to the world. Introduction of the New Mutants. | |||
| 15 | Power Surge | Jean Grey loses control of her powers, and the only one able to contain her is Rogue. | |||
| 16 | Bada-Bing Bada-Boom | Boom Boom flirts with Nightcrawler, and then gets a visit from her criminal father who wants her to commit a crime for him. Tabitha reluctantly agrees, but then crosses the way of the Brotherhood. | |||
| 17 | Fun and Games | While Professor X has to mend Juggernaut's stasis cell, the younger X-Men trick Cyclops and Jean Grey to exit the Mansion in order to have a party. However, there is a guest with sinister intentions. Introduction of Arcade. | |||
| 18 | Beast of Bayville | Dr. Hank McCoy has no energy left to fight his mutation, which forces him to be a violent Beast. When he finally becomes a monster, Spyke is the only one who can possibly reach Dr. McCoy. | |||
| 19 | Adrift | When Cyclops and Havok are on a boat tour, a great storm comes and nearly kills them. | |||
| 20 | On Angel's Wings | In Christmas time, a mysterious angel is saving people's lives. Rogue and Cyclops track down Warren Worthington, who is deeply unsure about his mutation. Magneto wants to frame him, in order to instill hate against mankind into him, and the two X-Men have to set things straight. Introduction of Angel. | |||
| 21 | African Storm | Storm is tormented by Houngan, an evil African shamen who wants to take over Africa. Storm and the X-Men have to stop an enemy that knows every weakness of hers. | |||
| 22 | Joyride | Lance Alvers, aka Avalanche, wants to join the X-Men. He causes a lot of ruckus, but also pleasure with his rough-and-tumble attitude. | |||
| 23 | Walk on the Wildside | The female X-Men are fed up of playing second fiddle, and form a vigilante crime-fighting group. For a while, things go great, but in the end, an old enemy crosses their way. | |||
| 24 | Operation: Rebirth | Wolverine, Rogue and Nightcrawler track down Magneto, who building a rejuvenation machine which will restore his energy. It is the same machine that gave Captain America his powers, but which later threatened to kill him. Being a mutant, Magneto is resistant to these side effects. When Kurt has the chance to destroy the machine (and to eliminate Magneto), he hesistates. A rejuvenated Magneto spares both Kurt and Logan, stating that both saved his life. A sideplot reveals the shared history of Logan and Erik: when Erik was a child, Logan and Captain America saved him out of a concentration camp in World War II. The last scene shows Logan standing before Cap's frozen body in SHIELD. | |||
| 25 | Mindbender | A mysterious hypnotiseur named Mesmero has kidnapped Jean and brainwashed her into committing crimes for him. | |||
| 26 | Shadow Dance | The Bayville High dance arrives, and everybody is scrambling for dates. Jean is highly jealous of Scott's date. In the meanwhile, Forge constructs a device which augments Nightcrawler's teleportation, but is unaware that monsters from Kurt's bamf dimension enter Earth. Introduction of Amanda Sefton, who knows of the real Kurt Wagner and dates him. | |||
| 27 | Retreat | In order to help a depressive Beast out of his slump, Kitty arranges a field trip with the New Mutants. Hunters catch Beast, and the young mutants must save their teacher from life in captivity. | |||
| 28 | The Hex Factor | A mentally unstable, but immensly powerful mutant called Wanda is abducted from a mental institution and becomes the newest Brotherhood member, much to the horror of her brother Pietro. The new Brotherhood defeats the X-Men. Introduction of Scarlet Witch. | |||
| 29 and 30 | Day of Reckoning (Part 1 and 2) | Anti-mutant racist Bolivar Trask abducts Wolverine and introduces him to his newest invention, the Sentinels. In the meanwhile, Magneto wants to provoke all-out war between mankind and mutantkind and summons his Acolytes to create mayhem. The X-Men are shocked when Professor X teams them up with the Brotherhood to stop them, but then, a shocking twist reveals that nothing was to be as it seemed to be. Introduction of the Acolytes and Bolivar Trask. | |||
Season Three
| X-Men Evolution - Season 3 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Episode | Title | Description | |||
| 31 | Day Of Recovery | The remaining X-Men and Brotherhood members go to Area 51 to save their captive members. However, when Cyclops traps treacherous Mystique in Area 51 to blackmail her into saying where Professor X is, the squads split. The X-Men face a world alone which shuns them. | |||
| 32 | The Stuff Of Heroes | Storm and Beast step in front of the Senate and try to curb rampant anti-mutant racism. The X-Men fight have to stop Juggernaut, who was unleashed by Mystique and is threatening to destroy a dam. | |||
| 33 | Mainstream | The outed X-Men return to Bayville High and are scorned and verbally abused. The Senate decides whether to pass anti-mutant laws, causing the Brotherhood to attack. The X-Men fight them off, and the Senate decides to stay neutral. | |||
| 34 | The Stuff Of Villains | Wanda wants to find out where her father Magneto is and threatens Caliban and then her brother Quicksilver for info. When he refuses, Wanda delivers him to the police. When the Brotherhood wants to break him out of a prison transport, Rogue and Shadowcat appear and prevent Pietro from falling to his death. However, he is less then grateful and with help of Gambit, becomes new leader of the Brotherhood. | |||
| 35 | Blind Alley | Jean confesses that she loves Scott. However, Mystique abducts Cyclops to a desert in Mexico and steals his ruby quartz glasses. Jean tracks him him down, but followed by Mystique who wants to kill them both. | |||
| 36 | X-Treme Measures | Spyke joins a skateboarding contest sponsored by "Power8" soda. However, Power8 is harmful to mutants, and when Spyke drinks a swig, his mutation advances and poisons and disfigures him seriously. He is saved by the Morlocks, and in the end, Spyke joins them. | |||
| 37 | The Toad, The Witch And The Wardrobe | Wanda tracks down Magneto to his Acolyte HQ in the Alps, near the cottage where Kurt is spending holiday with Amanda Sefton. Toad steals Nightcrawler's image inducer and pursues his love, followed by an angry Kurt. However, when Wanda gets abducted by the Acolytes, the two rescue Wanda... who has been brainwashed by Mastermind into believing Magneto loved her. | |||
| 38 | Self Possessed | Rogue witnesses her crush Scott date Jean. She is consoled by her friend Risty, but when she accidentally touches and absorbs her, she finds out that she was Mystique in disguise. Thinking everybody hates her, Rogue's latent multiple personality disorder breaks through and she loses her sanity. The X-Men have to stop their colleague, who has all their powers combined and in the verge of burning herself out. | |||
| 39 | Under Lock and Key | Angel spots Gambit stealing a mysterious artifact, but when he wants to stop them, Mesmero fights him off. When the Acolytes want to steal another artifact, the X-Men fight them and discover that there is a bigger plan happening... | |||
| 40 | Cruise Control | Taking a break from superhero duty, the X-Men (sans Rogue) take a pleasure cruise. However, Magma becomes violently ill, literally suffering from earth withdrawal. When Boom-Boom transfers her to an island, she accidentally triggers a volcano. When the volcano threatens to explode again, Magma dives into its heart to silence it once and for all. | |||
| 41 | X-23 | A mysterious assassin terrorizes the X-Mansion, knocking out the X-Men one by one. Wolverine finds out that it is his clone, raised without love by HYDRA, and she wants to kill him because she makes him responsible for her miserable life. Wolverine and X-23, as she is called, square off in a battle which Wolverine does not want to win. | |||
| 42 and 43 | Dark Horizon (Part 1 and 2) | Rogue falls under mind control of Mesmero and is used as a weapon to absorb the mutant powers of every X-Man, Brotherhood and Acolyte member. The three factions reluctantly cooperate and find out that Mesmero wants Rogue to give all her powers to Lord Apocalypse to awaken him. The reluctant team tracks him down to Egypt, but cannot prevent that Apocalypse comes back to life. Mankind is in great danger of extinction. | |||
Season Four
| X-Men: Evolution - Season 4 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Episode | Title | Description | |||
| 44 | Impact | Strange phenomenon occur in the wake of Apocalypse. In the meanwhile, Nightcrawler pleas to Agatha Harkness to revive his mother Mystique, who is still turned into stone. Agatha states that a touch of Rogue will break the spell, but instead of saving her foster mother, Rogue pushes her over a cliff and smashes her. Magneto is killed by Apocalypse when he batters Apocalypse's temple's shield with cars and satelites. | |||
| 45 | No Good Deed | In order to boost their reputation, the Brotherhood decide to stage accidents and then rescue the bystanders. In the beginning, they are successful, but then, a staged accident runs out of hand. The X-Men just save the day, and the Brotherhood stops with their deeds. | |||
| 46 | Target X | X-23 returns and wants to hunt down the people who tortured her. Accompanied by a reluctant Wolverine, the two tackle HYDRA and its leader Viper and bring the terrorists down. | |||
| 47 | Sins of the Son | Charles Xavier's son David has been seemingly abducted. The X-Men track him down, and it turns out that he suffers from multiple personality disorder, and that his dominant malicious personality, called Lucas, overwhelmed him. In the end, Lucas defeats the X-Men and breaks free. | |||
| 48 | Uprising | Spyke makes his return, having turned into an angry vigilante who protects the Morlocks. He is unafraid to go in public with his disfiguring mutation, causing panic in his environment. Duncan Matthews and his friends hunt him down, and stumble on a small boy called Leech. When the X-Men fight Duncan's gang (and try to stop Evan from causing more damage), Leech stops the battle with his powers and is "outed" as a mutant. Spyke realizes that his rage has destroyed Leech's chances for a normal life. | |||
| 49 | Cajun Spice | Gambit abducts Rogue, so that her powers can aid him in finding his abducted father. The mission is a success, but Rogue finds out that Gambit had some additional, deeply egotistical goals attached. In the end, she states that he did the right thing for the wrong reasons, and that she forgives him. | |||
| 50 | Ghost of a Chance | Shadowcat meets Dani Moonstar and quickly becomes friends with her. But suddenly, she wakes up and realizes that she seemingly dreamt everything up, but then, it seems that her dreams had a deep meaning. In the end, Nightcrawler and her find out what really happened and that Dani Moonstar is more than a piece of fiction. | |||
| 51 and 52 | Ascension (Part 1 and 2) | Apocalypse wants to take over the world. He has turned Magneto, Professor X, Storm and Mystique into his Four Horsemen and has covered the world with a network of energy pyramids. The X-Men, the Brotherhood and SHIELD join forces to save humanity. | |||
Trivia
- In pre-production, Spyke was originally called "Armadillo".
- Early concept art sketches show the X-Men in classic gold-and-black garbs. 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 as well as Shadowcat wear face masks, and in addition, Kitty is also wearing an orange miniskirt and Doc Martens over her spandex in these sketches. Early Storm drawings hows her wearing white rather than black. (Reference: Image Gallery at [1])
- Boyd Kirkland, the show's producer, say his favourite X-Men: Evolution season is Season 3.
- Was the third largest Marvel cartoon.
- Was once the top rated show at Kids WB.
- Won two Emmy's.
- Steven E Gordon, the character designer and director of various episodes, was never impressed with the Mystique designs for Season 1.
- Gordon stopped directing after two seasons, but continued to design characters for the show. He is most satisfied by designs of Rogue and Wanda.
- Largest superhero related DVD releases by WB.
- Brought an evolution in restraunt toys through the use of the first ever mini-disc toys.
- Despite the fact that this show was targeted to children and had it's independent story line, fans still complained about the show not being loyal to the comics.
- The voice cast and other team members of the show reportedly had a lot of fun doing work on this series.
- Mystique was originally to be be presented as nude (as in the X-Men movies), but Warner Brothers wasn't ready for this.
- In planning of Season 2, there was to be a teenage Colossus, but the directors moved on to other plans.
- Emma Frost, Psylocke, Mr. Sinister, Hulk and Spider-Man were meant to to appear but never did due to the show's cancellation.
Merchandise
X-Men: Evolution was to have its own line of merchandise, but lack of sales forced Marvel to cut back on them. Some believe that, had the merchandise still been in production past Season 2 (largely considered to be the point where the show gathered a large fanbase), it would have turned a profit.
Toy Biz created a line of action figures, which included Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Cyclops, Storm, Sabertooth, Toad, Spyke, Magneto, Juggernaut and Blob.
Hard Hero also released maquettes of Storm, Professor X, Juggernaut, Magneto, Wolverine, Colossus, Cyclops and the X-Men: Evolution design of Captain America.
Burger King ran a Kid's Meal promotion which included X-Men: Evolution toys. Each toy included a mini-disc with games, screen-savers, and a mini-comic related to the character. The lineup included Rogue, Mystique, Cyclops, Wolverine, Magneto, Quicksilver, Nightcrawler.
DVDs
- Season 1
- UnXpected Changes
- Xplosive Days
- X marks The Spot
- Xposing The Truth
- Season 2
- Mutant Rising
- Powers Revealed
- Enemies Unveiled
- Mystque's Revenge
- Season 3
Note that this item has not yet been released.
News
- Steven E Gordon will make the 9th X-Men: Evolution DVD cover art himself. A high quality image of the boxart can be seen on the "X2B" blog.
- Season 3 will be released on May 23, two days before the release of X-Men 3.
- A possible sucessor series is in the works. This new animated series based on Marvel Comics' X-Men franchise is currently in pre-production for a Summer 2007 release. The new show, primarily focused on Wolverine, will utilize 2D and 3D animation. Twenty-six episodes have been confirmed thus far, similar to the upcoming Fantastic Four and Iron Man shows [2].
See also
External links
- X-Men:Evolution news source with pics/views/reviews
- Toon Zone's X-Men:Evolution website
- Marveldirectory.com
- UncannyXmen.net
- William Anderson a composer
- InvertedStripes.com
- X-Men: Evolution at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- X-Men: Evolution site at putfile.com
- TV.com: X-Men: Evolution episode list
- X-Men: Beyond Evolution hosted by Toon Zone
- X-Men: Evolution Page run by Kataclysm
- Original art of X-Men: Evolution by the show's very own director, Steven E Gordon - includes animations, designs, tips on drawing and much more
- X-Men: Evolution music videos at The Balcony - a website dedicated to Nightcrawler
- Company that created X-Men: Evolution macquetts
- Film Roman Official site of the show's production company.