Let’s get this out of the way immediately: I cannot, in good faith, rank the X-Men by individual gradation or otherwise suggest that any of them deserve any explicit or implied association with the word “worst.”
It would be a different story if we were going through all mutantkind, but for the X-Men ’97 regulars, there’s little in the way of justification for anything beneath above-average, to say nothing of just how high this particular ceiling goes.
With that out of the way, here’s the X-Men ’97 cast ranked in groupings from B-Tier all the way up to X-Tier, with gradings based on what they’ve brought to the series thus far (including time spent in the original animated series, which ’97 is a sequel to), with additional consideration to the significance of the character in the wider Marvel zeitgeist when appropriate.
B-Tier: Gambit, Bishop, and Sunspot
Gambit, the walking fountain of personality, is a bona fide jack-of-all-trades, which is both his greatest strength and greatest weakness. He’s an undeniably cool character with both his explosive superpowers and charismatic personality (which itself deserves to be called a superpower), his scoundrel-to-hero backstory is all sorts of interesting, and he’s been a consistent presence in what’s soon to be six seasons of this canon. In other words, he’s the full package, but there a whole lot of other full packages here, too (hence the structure of this ranking), and he just can’t tango quite as effectively as some of these other characters, which is no fault of his own.
Next we have Bishop, whose relatively limited presence amongst the X-Men hurts his ability to move up in the rankings, but the fact that he found a place as a regular at all brings some fascinating nuances to the table. Indeed, beyond anchoring the timeless (ha!) “Days of Future Past” storyline, his integration with the X-Men—a group he once worshipped—in ’97 creates a curious subversion of the whole “don’t meet your heroes” mantra; these are people that Bishop once idolized, and now that they’re his roommates, he realizes just how flawed and occasionally dysfunctional they are. It isn’t explicit, but the very likely fact that he’s contending with that as his new normal is fun food for thought at the very least.
And shoring up B-Tier is Sunspot, who at the moment boasts similar screentime limitations to Bishop whilst filling the role of the new kid in a less magnetic way than Jubilee did back in the original animated series. That said, there’s still plenty of time for him and his challenging attitude to surprise us in ’97, and the way the show is going so far, it’s no big gamble to expect that it will; for all we know, a New Mutants-centric spinoff is on the table.
A-Tier: Rogue, Beast, Jubilee, and Morph
Kicking off A-Tier is Rogue, the X-Men’s resident charmer upon whom a whole lot of drama is being built up in ’97.
Indeed, her history with Magneto is quite blatantly being tipped as a pretty major plotline at this point in the show, and it’s only a matter of time before that comes to a front. Other than that, she’s been at the center of some pretty profound character arcs involving her struggle with loneliness on account of her powers, which puts her in an interesting position when considering what the X-Men stories have always been about; she has no shame about being a mutant, but her specific mutation leaves her with very tangible hurdles in connecting with people, which is a type of pain that’s difficult to understand if you’re not in her position. Combined with her complex history both in the ’97 canon and elsewhere, Rogue soars as a character.
Even by Saturday morning cartoon standards, Beast has always affirmed himself as perhaps the most entertaining character in the ’97 canon, with chimp-like choreography and witty references to his favorite poets and philosophers ensuring there was something for everyone to smile at. His sagacious, humanitarian essence makes him all but impossible to dislike, even if he’s gone down a somewhat questionable route in the comics. With respect to ’97 alone, though, Beast is a crucial piece of the puzzle.
Similarly, it wouldn’t be the ’97 canon without Jubilee, the flashy youngblood of the X-Men whose youthful heart drove many a plotline in the original animated series. Now with some time under her belt as of ’97, Jubilee has taken on a sort of peer mentorship role for Sunspot, the team’s reluctant new recruit.
While watching her step into this new responsibility is a great development for both Jubilee as a character and the show as a whole, there was something about her unique teenage spunk that brought a bright-eyed flair to the X-Men like no other, as though it was through her that so many young kids really got to experience all of those adventures. And with the mostly-bored Sunspot taking her place as the new kid, you can’t help but feel that something was lost there. Nevertheless, she’s still the same Jubilee we all know and love, upbeat kid sister energy and all.
Morph, meanwhile, came to be known by that name entirely because of the original animated series (they’re known as Changeling in the Earth-616 canon, first taking on the name Morph in the first episode of said series), and they’ve more than paid that favor back in full. Between getting killed off in the first episode of the original series, only to be revived and manipulated by Mister Sinister later on, to then later side with their old friends again after healing from the resulting trauma, Morph may have had the single best arc in the whole canon; if only we had gotten to spend more time with them.
X-Tier: Wolverine, Jean Grey, Storm, Cyclops, and Magneto
All hail Wolverine, the man who once effectively dethroned Spider-Man as the face of Marvel Comics for a time back in the day. That alone is all that really needs to be said about the one and only Logan, who was the cornerstone of some of the X-Men’s most inventive encounters in the ’97 canon, and whose sheer perpetuity makes him not only the best of ’97, but one of the best comic book characters, period. Who else can claim to have a solo movie that got a screenwriting nomination from the Academy Awards, after all?
Jean Grey and Storm both occupy X-Tier for similar reasons, with the two of them ranking among the most quintessential female superheroes in the history of comic books along such names as Sue Storm and Wonder Woman. And with a place in the ’97 canon that’s reflective of their importance to the wider comic book world, these two Omega-level soul-sisters have all the receipts in the world to be considered two of the most integral figures in comics history, be it the transcendental journeys that Jean has been on since her inception, or Storm’s formidable presence both as an in-universe character fighting for equality, and real-world icon whose trailblazing effect remains deeply felt to this day.
As far as importance to the X-Men as a team goes, it’s impossible to deny the raw weight of characterization that Cyclops brings to the table; the thankless task of being the level-headed leader and peerless tactician of the X-Men (who boast some hard-to-tame personalities, in a manner of speaking), together with the weight of the mutant world he constantly feels on his shoulders, makes for a supremely fascinating character whose complexity has been done plenty of justice in ’97 so far. If Cyclops doesn’t reach Captain America levels of importance by the time he’s established himself in the MCU, there is something fundamentally wrong with the franchise.
And rounding out the list is Magneto, who’s taken Professor X’s place as the latter’s pseudo-death in the original series.
It’s hard to overstate how legendary of an antagonist/anti-hero Magneto is in the realm of comics, with his horrific backstory as a Holocaust survivor acting as the perfect foundation for his place in comic book stories about systemic discrimination. Indeed, capturing this character’s mind-boggling history and magnitude would be nothing short of a herculean task, and considering what the ’97 canon is juggling right now, it’s doing an absolutely splendid job of that; the plot thread involving Magneto’s U.N. trial did not mess around.
(featured image: Marvel Animation)
Published: Mar 29, 2024 05:57 pm