Marvel Studios Considered Making X-Men ’97 Part of the MCU, Reveals Directors

X-Men ’97 is a revival of the beloved ’90s cartoon, X-Men: The Animated Series, existing as part of that era’s Marvel Animated Universe. However, according to two directors of the animated revival, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige seriously considered making the series part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s sacred timeline.

Speaking with Inverse, Emi Yonemura, who directed X-Men ’97 Episodes 3 and 5, revealed that making the animated revival officially part of the MCU had been on Feige’s mind since day one. “That has always been something we know was on Kevin Feige’s mind, do we make this part of the MCU? Do we not make this part of the MCU?” she said. “It’s actually gone back and forth quite a few times, and I think we did land in a smart place because [X-Men: The Animated Series] was its own thing, and I think that to continue it we needed to be our own thing.”

Head director and supervising producer Jake Castorena added that he was glad X-Men ’97 was kept separate from the MCU, stating that he loves how fans have been embracing the different interpretations of the X-Men from Marvel Studios. “We’re getting the X-Men in this format and we’re doing it justice not just by ourselves, but also other fans as well, and we’re starting to get a resurgence of the X-Men in film again,” he shared. “I love that. And I think it’s great that we can have different things, let them be different.”

Marvel Is Going All in on the X-Men

After reacquiring the rights to the X-Men in 2019, Marvel Studios wasted no time bringing the beloved mutants to the MCU, beginning with Patrick Stewart’s Professor Charles Xavier in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The Disney+ series Ms. Marvel then revealed that its title character was a mutant (a change later adopted by the comics), while Black Panther: Wakanda Forever established Namor as one of the world’s first mutants. The latest MCU project to feature mutants was The Marvels, with Kelsey Grammer’s Beast appearing in the movie’s post-credits scene opposite Lashana Lynch’s Binary.

The upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine will further bringthe X-Men into the MCU, with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s respective title characters expected to join the sacred timeline by the end of the movie. The highly-anticipated, yet standalone sequel to Deadpool 2 will be the first time Marvel Studios has released a live-action X-Men movie. A proper X-Men reboot remains in early development at the studio.

X-Men ’97 Is Part of the MCU Multiverse

Although Marvel Studios decided not to make X-Men ’97 canon to the MCU, the animated revival seemingly still exists as part of the wider multiverse. As spotted by fans, moments before the attack on Genosha occurs in Episode 5, “Remember It,” The Watcher’s silhouette can be briefly seen in the sky. Introduced in Marvel Studios’ animated series, What If…?, The Watcher is a fifth-dimensional being who observes the MCU Multiverse from the Nexus of All Realities. His appearance in X-Men ’97 comes after executive producer Brad Winderbaum teased the “potential for connections” between the animated revival and the wider multiverse.

X-Men ’97 is available to stream on Disney+

Source: Inverse