How ‘X-Men ’97’ Contextualizes Morph’s Gender Identity in the ’90s

Morph can change into any being he wants. That makes Morph one of the best X-Men characters. And with X-Men ’97, we have gotten to learn a bit more about how Morph identifies and there needs to be some clarification in how we all talk about the character.

Before the show premiered, we got news that Morph, a.k.a. Kevin Sydney, identified as nonbinary. Though with the show being set in the ’90s, that means that Morph doesn’t use they/them pronouns. In fact, you probably don’t hear “nonbinary” in the series. In an interview with CBR, Morph’s voice actor J.P. Karliak (who identifies as genderqueer) talked about how terminology was different in the ’90s and says the show will reflect that.

“Two things about that,” said Karliak, “one, as far as I know, we’re never going to say the word ‘nonbinary’ because nobody said the word ‘nonbinary’ in the ’90s. It’s not that it didn’t exist; it was just in no way a mainstream term at the time. Morph’s understanding of who he is could equate to what a modern person would say is nonbinary, but he just doesn’t have the terminology for it. At the same time, they/them wasn’t a concept in terms of using it as a pronoun.”

Karliak went on to talk about his own connection with Morph. “There are so many ways I identify with Morph, but one of them is that I personally identify as gender-queer, which some might say is an offshoot of nonbinary, but I use he/him pronouns,” he continued. “A lot of that has to do with the fact that I’m in my 40s and I came into my full understanding of my gender in my late 30s. I’ve always used he/him pronouns, and they feel like an old college sweatshirt, where maybe they don’t fit all that well, but they’re still really comfy and, until I find something better, I’ll just keep using that.”

In our own interview with Karliak, he spoke about Morph’s identity as well and said that Morph’s pronouns are he/him while he still identifies as nonbinary.

You can watch Morph’s journey on X-Men ’97, currently airing on Disney+!

(featured image: Disney+)