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X-Men: Evolution
X-Men Evolution
Beginning date November 4, 2000
End date October 25, 2003
Number of Episodes 52
Season One
Season Two
Season Three
Season Four
Producers Rick Ungar
Avi Arad
Stan Lee
Original Channel Kids' WB
Previous Series The Avengers: United They Stand
Next Series Spider-Man: The New Animated Series

X-Men: Evolution is a series that ran from November 4th, 2000 to October 25th, 2003. It was the first series after the Marvel Animated Universe ended. It was the second series, and third attempt, at a series based on the X-Men after "Pryde of the X-Men" and X-Men.

Background[]

The entire X-Men roster

The series was put in production following the release of the original X-Men film. The designs were initially inspired by their first appearances in the comics, despite consisting of a different line up. Character designer Steven E. Gordon admitted to having purposely changed the looks of each character for individualistic unique faces and figures that would make everyone stand out from each other. His art style for the series was inspired by the art of Adam Hughes, who's art he enjoyed for the different facial designs for each of his characters.

X-Men: Evolution is the third longest running Marvel series, alongside The Super Hero Squad Show, Iron Man: Armored Adventures and The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. By the time of the fourth season, the series would no longer have the episode titles aired onscreen. During the time that the third X-Men film, X-Men: The Last Stand, was coming out, the series was rumored to be making a return.

The main X-Men of the series are Charles Xavier, Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Rogue, Spyke and Beast. The Brotherhood of Mutants are show's most recurring villains and include Toad, Blob, Avalanche, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. The last members of both groups, Beast and Scarlet Witch, are introduced and become members of the team in the second season and stay members for the rest of the series.

The New Mutants were incorporated into the show for the second season, including Iceman, Magma, Boom Boom, Multiple, Berzerker, Cannonball, Sunspot, Jubilee and Wolfsbane. Iceman was originally included as a member of the main group in a draft for the series, though was removed once the producers felt they needed an African-American character for the sake of diversity. As the third season was put into production, it was decided that the cast was getting too large to do every character some justice, and as such, removals occurred. The no longer main or supporting characters were Spyke, Jubilee and Wolfsbane. This is notable for being the only time in a X-Men cartoon that the line up has changed, as the original series kept the same characters the entire run and Wolverine and the X-Men was cancelled before it could add Colossus and Jean Grey to the main cast in the second season.

The fourth season introduced some last few characters that served for the episode's plot, including Gabby Haller, David Haller, Leech and Danielle Moonstar. This was reportedly done in an attempt to bring the show more in line with the comics. The series last episode, ""Ascension, Part Two"", revealed some character designs of the X-Men as adults. This included Cyclops, Colossus, Rogue, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, X-23, Storm and Beast. These costumes and designs were believed to have been planned for the fifth season, though Steve Gordon confirmed that they were designed when the producers and show staff knew the fourth season was the last one. Character designs for Emma Frost and Psylocke have surfaced since the show's end, and both were planned for the firth season. However, the designs have been debated as being their character designs for the series or merely a request by the fans of the show produced by Steve Gordon.

Jean being possessed by the Phoenix Force

Of note, was another scene depicted in the final episode, which had Jean Grey seemingly being possessed by the Phoenix Force. This was revealed later on to be the planned main villain of the unproduced fifth season, though was scheduled to have others as a side villains as well, possibly including Mister Sinister. A character design for Jean as Phoenix and possibly her Dark Phoenix guise was designed by Steve E. Gordon, though never planned for the series in any capacity. Other characters to have been hinted at making appearances sometime down the fifth season's run were Cable, Bishop and the Shi'ar, though it is unknown if Lilandra would have appeared with the group.

Cast[]

Actor Role(s)
David Kaye Charles Xavier
Apocalypse/En Sabah Nur
Scott McNeil Wolverine/Logan
Kirsten Williamson Storm/Ororo Munroe
Michael Kopsa Beast/Hank McCoy
Kirby Morrow Cyclops/Scott Summers
Venus Terzo Jean Grey
Brad Swaile Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner
Maggie Blue O'Hara Shadowcat/Katherine "Kitty" Pryde
Meghan Black Rogue
Neil Denis Spyke/Evan Daniels
Andrew Francis Iceman/Bobby Drake
Bill Switzer Cannonball/Sam Guthrie
Alexandra Carter Magma/Amara Juliana Olivia Aquilla
Chiara Zanni Jubilee/Jubilation Lee
Chantal Strand Wolfsbane/Rahne Sinclair
David A. Kaye Multiple/Jamie Madrox
Tony Sampson Berzerker/Ray Crisp
Michael Coleman Sunspot/Roberto da Costa
Colleeen Wheeler Mystique/Raven Darkholme
Christopher Grey Avalanche/Lance Alvers
Noel Fisher Toad/Todd Tolansky
Michael Dobson Blob/Fred Dukes
Richard Ian Cox Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff
Kelly Sheridan Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff
Christopher Judge Magneto/Erik Magnus Lehnsherr
Michael Donovan Sabretooth/Victor Creed
Caliban
Alessandro Juliani Gambit/Remy LeBeau
Michael Adamthwaite Colossus/Piotr Rasputin
Trevor Devall Pyro/John Allerdyce
Campbell Lane Mastermind/Jason Wyngarde
Megan Leitch Boom Boom/Tabitha Smith
Saffron Henderson Callisto
Andrea Libman
Britt Irvin
X-23
Mark Hildreth Angel/Warren Worthington III
Samuel Vincent Forge
Matt Hill Havok/Alex Masters
Tabitha St. Germain Danielle Moonstar
Ellen Kennedy Destiny/Irene Adler
Lisa Ann Beley Madame Hydra
Deborah Risman
Richard Newman Omega Red
Mark Gibbon Gauntlet
Ron Halder Mesmero
Paul Dobson Juggernaut/Cain Marko
John Novak Bolivar Trask
Dale Wilson Edward Kelly
Vincent Gale Duncan Matthews
Blu Mankuma Hungan
Moneca Stori Amanda Sefton
David Hayter Captain America/Steve Rogers
Nichole Oliver Risty Wilde
Jim Byrnes Nick Fury
Pauline Newstone Agatha Harkness

Episodes[]

The series ran for fifty-two episodes over four seasons. It is the third longest running Marvel series after X-Men and Spider-Man. A fifth season was reportedly in the original contract for the show, but was cancelled.

Reception[]

Because of its changes and different aesthetic from the original series, it was poorly received by longtime X-Men fans when it first premiered. A common complaint were the different attitudes portrayed for the characters from the comics, which was complaint only Spyke was able to avoid. Various fans of the series have found the portrayals of Nightcrawler and Shadowcat in the series to be annoying or otherwise removed from the attitudes and attributes of their comic counterparts.

However, despite these changes, as the series progressed into its later seasons, the show gained generally positive reception as it improved, and is now regarded as one of the best superhero animated series of all time.

The series has also recently been receiving more praise due to the fact of how little in focused on Wolverine in relation to the other incarnations of the X-Men, some even deeming this version of the character as more likable than the one from the Wolverine and the X-Men series.

Rotten Tomatoes ranked the series among its top one-hundred superhero series with this series at sixty-six above Big Hero 6: The Series at one-hundred Spider-Woman at eighty-nine, Iron Man: Armored Adventures at eighty-six, Ultimate Spider-Man at eighty-three, Spider-Man Unlimited at seventy-three, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes at sixty-nine, The Super Hero Squad Show at sixty-eight and below Fantastic Four at sixty-four, Avengers Assemble at fifty-eight, Guardians of the Galaxy at fifty-five, The Marvel Super Heroes at fifty-one, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends at forty-eight, The Spectacular Spider-Man at forty-six, Spider-Man at forty, Spider-Man at nineteen, and X-Men at five.[1]

References[]

External links[]

X-Men: Evolution Episodes
Season One "Strategy X" • "The X-Impulse" • "Rogue Recruit" • "Mutant Crush" • "Speed and Spyke" • "Middleverse" • "Turn of the Rogue" • "Spykecam" • "Survival of the Fittest" • "Shadowed Past" • "Grim Reminder" • "The Cauldron, Part One" • "The Cauldron, Part Two"
Season Two "Growing Pains" • "Power Surge" • "Bada-Bing Bada-Boom!" • "Fun and Games" • "Beast of Bayville" • "Adrift" • "On Angel's Wings" • "African Storm" • "Joyride" • "Walk on the Wild Side" • "Operation: Rebirth" • "Mindbender" • "Shadow Dance" • "Retreat" • "The HeX Factor" • "Day of Reckoning, Part One" • "Day of Reckoning, Part Two"
Season Three "Day of Recovery" • "The Stuff of Heroes" • "Mainstream" • "The Stuff of Villains" • "Blind Alley" • "X-Treme Measures" • "The Toad, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" • "Self Possessed" • "Under Lock and Key" • "Cruise Control" • "X23" • "Dark Horizon, Part One" • "Dark Horizon, Part Two"
Season Four "Impact" • "No Good Deed" • "Target X" • "Sins of the Son" • "Uprising" • "Cajun Spice" • "Ghost of a Chance" • "Ascension, Part One" • "Ascension, Part Two"
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