MANILA, PHILIPPINES — In just three episodes, X-Men ’97 has been praised by viewers as the most faithful adaptation of the source material since the original animated series.
It helps that the creative team wisely chose their inspiration from the original series Uncanny X-Men and deftly adapted these storylines.
Check out the stories here — but beware of spoilers!
From The Ashes: X-Men leader Cyclops is still grieving the loss of his lover, Jean Grey, when he meets Madelyne Prior, a dead ringer for Jean. Quicker than you can say “whirlwind,” their romance culminates into a wedding. Behind the scenes, X-villain Mastermind has been orchestrating an elaborate revenge to trick the X-Men into killing Madelyne by making them think she is Phoenix, the dark half of Jean.
LifeDeath A Love Story: After jumping in the line of fire to protect Rogue, Storm discovers she has lost her powers. She is taken in by the mutant inventor, Forge, who nurses her back to good health emotionally and physically. They fall for each other, and Storm discovers that Forge invented the same weapon that took her powers away.
Ghosts: Not much time has passed, and Madelyne is already pregnant with Cyclops’ child. She is on the verge of giving birth, but the X-Men have bigger things to deal with when Professor X makes their arch-enemy Magneto his successor. Magneto goes on trial at the World Court to prove his willingness to reform. The X-Men have no choice but to protect Magneto from both anti-mutant and mutant terrorists demanding his death.
Inferno: Evil geneticist Mister Sinister reveals that he masterminded the pairing of Cyclops and Madelyne to create a mutant child of incredible power, their son Nathan. Sinister also tells Madelyne that she was cloned from Jean Grey when she was considered dead. Driven mad by these revelations, Madelyne turns the X-Men against each other so they can’t stop her from killing Nathan.
Mutant Genesis: Cyclops and the resurrected Jean Grey are now taking care of the former’s son, Nathan. However, the evil mutant Apocalypse sees in Nathan a potential threat and kidnaps him. The X-Men attempt to rescue the baby, but Cyclops is forced to make an unimaginable choice to save his son.
