Before there was a new Marvel movie every couple months, before there were live-action versions of nearly great Marvel superhero, pretty much the only adaptations that comic-book fans had to look forward to were cartoons.

The best of the bunch was X-Men: The Animated Series, which ran for five seasons all through the middle of the ’90s. It took its cues from the popular X-Men comics of the time, adapted many classic X-Men stories like The Dark Phoenix Saga, featured incredible voice work, and was generally miles better than anything else based on Marvel Comics produced to that time. (Apologies to the big fans of Howard the Duck out there.)

The cartoon ended in 1997 — but now, 25 years later, is returning for new episodes on Disney+. First announced last fall, Marvel is working on what they’re dubbing X-Men ’97, a continuation of the old show, with many of the same actors and even a few of the old creative team. (X-Men: The Animated Series writers Eric and Julia Lewald and director Larry Houston are all consulting on the show.) Returning voice actors include Cal Dodd (Wolverine), Lenore Zann (Rogue), George Buza (Beast), Chris Potter (Gambit), Alison Sealy-Smith (Storm), Alyson Court (Jubilee).

At Marvel’s animation panel at Comic-Con 2022, they showed off some of the first character designs for the show. That included the lineup of the X-Men team: Rogue, Gambit, Wolverine, Jubilee, Cyclops, Storm, Jean Grey, and Beast.

They also revealed designs of more characters who would appear on the show, including Cable, Bishop, Forge, and Nightcrawler.

And in a surprise, the new leader of the team is ... Magneto, who’s wearing a variation of the costume he wore during the 1980s when the character replaced Professor X as the head of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.

The villains on the show will include Mr. Sinister, Emma Frost, and Calisto:

X-Men ’97 will premiere on Disney+ in the fall of 2023. At the panel, Marvel confirmed that a second season is already in development. The other important announcement: The series will use the original animated series’ theme music.

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