There’s an Interesting Reference to the X-Men Animated Series in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’

We know, tangentially, that Professor Xavier is going to be in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and by that I mean that we’re all just assuming it’s him. And rightfully so. First, we heard Patrick Stewart’s voice. Then, he basically confirmed it, followed up by confirmation that the Illuminati are showing up, which Xavier is a part of, and now, in a new TV ad, we see the iconic yellow wheelchair from the X-Men cartoons.

The teaser revealed quite a few little twists for fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one being that a live-action Captain Carter is coming our way from Marvel’s What If…? series that premiered in 2021. It isn’t surprising, given the popularity of the character mixed with how much of that series seems to be playing into Stephen Strange’s movie storyline.

But we also did get that further confirmation about Professor X.

The thing is: It’s the iconic chair that he used in the animated series, which was a staple for many young X-Men fans growing up in the ’90s. For me, it was my first introduction to these characters, and I know I’m not alone in that. It gave so many their first taste of this world, and to see the yellow chair, even if it’s just a nod to that era of X-Men, is exciting.

Homage or a connection to the new cartoon?

What we know about X-Men ’97 (the new animated show for Disney+) is that it is a revival of the animated series that we loved growing up, so having Charles Xavier seemingly show up in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness with a yellow chair that is reminiscent of the cartoons seems like a deliberate choice to tie things together, since this multiversal version of Xavier could even be the one from the animated series, for all we know.

Does this mean that we’ll have a connection to the live-action films? Will Sir Patrick Stewart be taking on the voice of Charles in the show? Who knows? But seeing the yellow chair really does get the gears turning in my head to try to figure out why they’d change to that version of Charles Xavier for the movie. Until we know for sure, we can all just sit back and think of the joy we’ll have when we see Charles in action in either Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and/or X-Men ’97.

(image: Marvel Entertainment)