With the new Wolverine movie coming out, I thought we’d take a look this week at the only version I can stand. Yes, there is a version I can stand.
When the first X-Men movie came out, Kids WB jumped at the chance to bring the characters to TV. Fox had already had a rather successful run years ago with their own series, entitled X-Men: Evolution, but the WB version had a few changes.
In the new version, Wolverine and Storm, arguably two of their most popular characters, are reimagined as teachers to the other X-Men, all converted or reverted to teenagers. While they live at the Xavier Institute, they go to normal high-school. The existence of mutants are mostly kept under wraps, but that was about to change in a major way. Frankly, it’s what I would have liked to have seen in an Ultimate Comics version of the X-Men, rather than what they gave us. (That one actually made me hate Logan more, if that’s possible.)
In tonight’s story, we have the rare time that the series acknowledged the broader Marvel Universe, with their own take on Captain America. I thought it would be an interesting one to choose, in light of the Marvel Movieverse preparing to bring Cap and the Avengers into the game. However, what I found were actually some flaws in an otherwise good story. Judge for yourself, first.
Overall it was a good story, and I do like Nightcrawler and Rouge’s use in the story. They’re chosen for their abilities, and Rogue’s story in particular was always pretty good in Evolution. This episode is from Season 2, but the good stuff comes from Season 1.I do have some problems with the EvolutionNightcrawler, but they have nothing to do with the character. I just really liked how the Fox version of X-Menused Nightcrawler in his two appearances (recap 1st/recap 2nd, so it’s more a personal bias. Otherwise, I do love the character, and this version of Kurt is my favorite of the Evolution X-Men.
I also like the Evolutionversion of Logan. Although he still has his feral moments, he’s the kind of Wolverine Marvel won’t let him stay as for very long before reverting him to angry feral psycho with the Swiss cheese memory. (They even created a character whose only reason for existing is keeping Wolverine at his “most marketable”:P ) He has a lot of concern towards his charges, isn’t about trying to get between Cyclops and Jean so he can have her all to himself (which would be rather creepy, since Scott and Jean are among the teen set in this series), and really allows him to be likable without losing his “badass” cred.
It’s the Captain America story that really feels wrong. In the XME version, the famed “super-soldier” project involves the use of a tube spraying the stuff on you. Fine. But where in the original the creator of the serum was killed, instead we have a dangerous experiment that was killing Captain America. Nothing really comes of this, as Cap just gets put in hibernation until a cure can be found. Big whoop. If your going the “evil government experiment route”, even in a kids show, do something with it besides a plot device. Yay, Steve and Logan blow up the machine. Boo, they have a spare, and now Magneto needs it to survive. I just couldn’t bring myself to care. It’s as if dying Cap was just there to be different, not to be useful.
Oh, the process only kills humans. On mutants, it’s the fountain of youth. (Or at least Magneto, who apparently doesn’t use the power he takes from Earth’s magnetic fields to keep himself young in this version. As any What Were They Thinking? reader knows, magnetism is magical.) I’m not sure what to think about that. However, seeing young Magnus (the mutant who would become Magneto) in the old days shows what he’s been through the best you can in a kids cartoon, and I do belive that Logan’s rescue in the past and Nightcrawler’s choosing not to kill him in the present would invoke Magnus’s response in the end. Whatever else Magneto is (and I’ve made parallels to a sort of “mutant Hitler” before ever learning he was a Nazi prisoner in the past, which actually makes things worse), he does have a strong honor code missing in many villains. Then again, Magnus sees himself as a liberator of mutants, not a would-be oppressor of humans.
All in all, maybe not the best episode I could have chosen, but not a bad episode overall. Marvel.com has most if not all the episodes up there, so give them a shot. If you can handle the changes, you’ll love what they’ve done with the place…I mean cast.
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