So recently, I realized something that's been plaguing nearly every X-Men adaptation for the last 25 years.
That being the lack of focus on the actual X-Men.
Or more specifically, their dynamics and their relationships, which has always been one of the core elements of the franchise.
The most egregious and notorious example (and the one that started it all) was the Fox film franchise.
These films are infamous how much they just bended over backwards to barely focus on anyone that wasn't Wolverine, Xavier, Magneto, and eventually Mystique.
That's largely because Fox wanted to capitalize on the newfound star power of Hugh Jackman and Jennifer Lawrence.
As for Xavier and Magneto, that was because they were played by already big names like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.
Another factor was their utter reluctance to actually have the movies feel like the comics in any sort way.
Which went strong for 20 years straight.
Next up is Wolverine and The X-Men.
Like, dude.
It's literally in the title of the show!
While this show does a slightly better job at actually focusing on The X-Men.
However, besides you know who, the only X-Men that really get any sort of spotlight are Cyclops (which is unfortunate since he sucks in this show), Emma Frost and Nightcrawler (the best character in this whole series).
I already went over why the show was like this in my rewrite for the series, but just for recap.
The executives initially wanted WATXM to be a Wolverine solo cartoon, in order to tie-in with the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
But the crew wanted to make it a new X-Men cartoon.
So they ended up compromising.
The show would have The X-Men as the main cast, but have Wolverine as the focal character.
Now we come to X-Men '97.
At first, it seemed like it was gonna finally be focusing on The X-Men and their dynamics.
Unfortunately, we didn't really get that.
Admittedly, a large part of that is unfortunately due to the pitiful episode count.
Seriously, can we get an animated streaming show that can have a season with more ten fucking episodes?
And as a result of that, the series was pretty much all plot with barely any breathing time and more importantly, scenes where we see how the team bounce off each other and their relationships with one another.
The closest we've gotten to that is the romance.
Cyclops and Jean's was really the only one that was handled pretty well.
Same goes for the homoerotic tension between Wolverine and Morph.
But everything else wasn't.....
Rogue and Gambit got done REAL dirty because they unfortunately had to be dragged into an unnecessary love triangle.
Storm and Forge just.....existed.
And Jubilee and Roberto is so boring I keep forgetting they even got together.
(Side note: Roberto sucks.)
Their relationship is one of the best examples of heteronormativity I can think of.
Unfortunately, a major reason why is due to this geezer.
Yeah.....
Signing my death wish, I really don't like Magneto in this show.
And for a few reasons.
The most important is how much he overshadows the other X-Men.
The only ones that aren't are Cyclops, Jean, Nightcrawler and Morph.
And to a slight extent: Storm and Rogue.
Wolverine, Gambit, Beast, Jubilee, and ESPECIALLY Bishop all get kinda shafted.
Though I don't mind in Wolverine's case (probably because he spent the better of a decade hogging everyone's spotlight).
Another major reason is how he's portrayed and treated by the show.
The original animated series was pretty sympathetic towards the guy, but still regularly called him out for his bullshit.
But '97 is clearly much more in favor of Magneto.
They barely show any of his flaws.
And anything he does is completely justified, no matter how disastrous it may seem.
And almost any interaction and moment involving him is either him being glazed or aura farming.
And if that wasn't proof enough, the show even says the iconic phrase.....
"Magneto was right."
This is unfortunately the result of main showrunner (and resident creep) Beau DeMayo, who's pretty clearly a huge Magneto stan.
And unfortunately, he falls into the trap I've seen with other Magneto fans of portraying him as the damn Messiah, who's has never done anything wrong in his entire life.
The only thing I can give Beau is that unlike most Magneto fans, he doesn't portrayed Xavier like the spawn of Satan.
Two moments that really grinds my gears are when he denies Jubilee from celebrating her birthday, and of course, the whole love triangle between him, Rogue and Gambit.
Starting off with the latter, I've already talk about how much the "romance" between Magneto and Rogue just sucks.
It came right the fuck out of nowhere (and was obviously a retcon).
It has incredibly creepy and predatory vibes and undertones.
They have no damn chemistry with each other.
And worst of all, it ended up being incredibly pointless since they don't even end up together.
I have no clue why these two are into each other.
Apart from physical appearance, in Rogue's case, Magneto can actually touch her.
But even then, it still feels pretty shallow.
But in Magneto's case, I have no clue why he's even into Rogue.
Even putting aside the blatant retcon.
I saw someone point out how heteronormative their relationship feels, and dear God, they're right!
Like, Magneto was the only other person Rogue could hook-up with besides Gambit?
I mean, I know there's one person on The X-Men that Rogue could've gotten with if she couldn't get with Gambit.
But let's real, if these two got together, heads would fucking roll at the thought of any of The X-Men not being traditionally straight.
Even among The X-Men fans.
Trust me, I have seen people in that fandom like that.
Also, the Magneto and Rogue relationship couldn't have come at a funnier time because have you seen what 2024 was like?!
Anyway, him also denying Jubilee doing anything for her birthday was a massive dick move.
I wouldn't mind these moments if Magneto got any sort of callout for them.
Plus maybe these could show us more about his character and even lead to some character growth.
Like, the reason why Magneto wants to get back with Rogue is because he's deeply lonely.
I mean, given his life so far, can't you blame him.
He's definitely spent most of it alone.
And the times he's been around other people, it unfortunately usually ended up in some kind of tragedy.
And given from the relationships we've seen with the guy, Rogue's the only one that didn't go south.
But he eventually gives up on his feelings for her and let's Rogue be with Gambit because he genuinely respects her.
And in the case of denying Jubilee her birthday, that could be the result of Magneto not really understanding how important those can be.
I mean, you can't tell me you couldn't see Magneto being kinda socially ignorant and inept, especially how lonely his life has been.
Hell, Magneto's arc over the course of '97 could've been him forming genuine bonds with The X-Men.
Finally becoming one of them.
And even becoming a more humble person.
That would've been so cool, and it would definitely fit given that one of Magneto's flaws is his superiority complex.
You know, actual character development!
And as the comics haven shown us, Humble Magneto is PEAK Magneto.
But anyway, that's all have to say.
For the next X-Men cartoon, let's make it a slice-of-life cartoon.
I want to see these guys actually interact with each other and the bonds between each other!
Also, before you ask, yes, X-Men Evolution doesn't count because it actually focuses on the relationships among the team.
And it slaps because it.
