X-Men: Evolution
|
|
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 (51 episodes) on Kids WB. 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.
| Contents |
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 supremicists, 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 earning her trust 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 a number of powerful main characters to serve as his agents in the destruction of humanity.
Comic Book spin-offs
In January 2002, Marvel Comics began publishing a manga-style comic book series partially based on the show. It was abruptly cancelled after the 12th issue. 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 various teams
The X-Men team
Mentors
- Professor X, voiced by David Kaye
- Wolverine, voiced by Scott McNeil
- Storm, voiced by Kirsten Williamson
- Beast, voiced by Mike Kopsa, (Joined in the second season)
Students
- Cyclops, voiced by Kirby Morrow
- Jean Grey, voiced by Venus Terzo
- Rogue, voiced by Meghan Black
- Nightcrawler, voiced by Brad Swaile
- Shadowcat, voiced by Maggie O'Hara
- Spyke, voiced by Neil Denis
The New Mutants
(Young X-Men who joined in season 2)- Iceman (later promoted to the X-Men), voiced by Andrew Francis
- Wolfsbane, voiced by Chantal Strand
- Cannonball, voiced by Bill Switzer
- Magma, voiced by Alexandra Carter
- Berzerker, voiced by Tony Sampson
- Sunspot, voiced by Mike Coleman
- Jubilee, voiced by Chiara Zanni
- Multiple, voiced by David Kaye
The Brotherhood
- Mystique (leader, when present), voiced by Colleen Wheeler
- Avalanche, voiced by Christopher Grey
- Quicksilver, voiced by Richard Ian Cox
- Toad, voiced by Noel Fisher
- Scarlet Witch, voiced by Kelly Sheridan
- Blob, voiced by Michael Dobson
Magneto's Acolytes
- Magneto, voiced by Christopher Judge
- Gambit, voiced by Alessandro Juliani
- Colossus, voiced by Michael Adamthwaite
- Pyro, voiced by Michael Dobson
- Sabretooth, voiced by Michael Donovan
- Mastermind, voiced by Campbell Lane (only occasionally a member)
Neutral mutants
- Boom-Boom, voiced by Megan Leitch, (sometime member of both the X-Men and The Brotherhood) (comic version is currently named Meltdown)
- The Morlocks
- X-23, voiced by Brittney Irvin
- Angel worked with the X-Men on occasional missions
- Forge
Other villains
- Apocalypse
- Mesmero (servant of Apocalypse), voiced by Ron Halder
Captain America and Nick Fury also make an appearance in the series.
External links
- X-Men: Evolution (http://www.bcdb.com/cartoons/Other_Studios/F/Film_Roman_Productions/X-Men_Evolution/index.html) at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- TV Tome: X-Men: Evolution episode list (http://www.tvtome.com/XMenEvolution/eplist.html)
- Beyond Evolution: X-men Evolution, a fansight with detailed information on the series (http://x-men.toonzone.net/)
- Kataclysm's X-Men: Evolution Page (http://evolution.eracerx.com/)pl:X-Men: Ewolucja