X-Men '97 is finally here and available to stream on Disney+. Now we all expected, even knew, that X-Men '97 would be a direct sequel to X-Men: The Animated Series (1992). The story picks up right where it left off with the death of Professor Charles Xavier and its aftermath. But despite being very well made, did the series live up to what we expected from it? Or could Marvel keep what they promised? Let's try to find out.

The very first skepticism I had about X-Men '97 was the ability of this show to live up to the legacy of X-Men: The Animated Series. However, it turns out that X-Men '97 not only lives up to the expectations people had for it but was able to do something new and cool like Gambit recharging Wolverine's claws. If you've seen X-Men: The Animated Series, trust me when I say it, watching X-Men '97 will feel like you've skipped the next season of it. The story fits in extremely well without any cracks in the flow whatsoever, which is truly remarkable.

Another notable thing here is that looking at X-Men '97, it seems like Marvel knew what they were doing. They knew this wasn't a new show but a sequel and they treated it as such. No new character is introduced exclusively or anything like that, they just appear which adds to the effect of a natural flow of picking up an incomplete story. I have to say that after what Marvel has done recently with their projects, I had no expectations from Marvel other than Deadpool 3 but X-Men '97 told me that Marvel is still in the game.

Now, since we've talked about the stakes of X-Men '97, let's talk about its animation style. In my opinion, launching a series in OG 90s animation in 2024 was a big gamble but also quite a stroke of genius by Marvel.