X-Men: The Animated Series | An ABS-CBN 90s American Super Hero Animated Series Retrospective

X-Men: The Animated Series or simply X-Men was a US animated television series that aired on ABS-CBN during the 90s. X-Men: The Animated Series was an American action animated television series that debuted on October 31, 1992 on the Fox Network as part of its Fox Kids Saturday morning lineup in the United States. The series dealt with mature themes which made it appeal to both kids and adults alike during its run in the Philippine airwaves. Let's reminisce this dark but yet awesome kids show from the 90s.

X-Men: The Animated Series - The Story
X-Men Plot

The show features X-Men similar in look and line-up to the early 1990s X-Men drawn by Jim Lee, composed of Cyclops, Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Beast, Gambit, Jubilee, Jean Grey, Professor X, as well as an original character, Morph.

X-Men: The Animated Series was loosely based on how the story and events unfolded on its Marvel comics popular counterpart. A number of famous storylines and events from the Marvel comics were loosely adapted in the series like the "The Dark Phoenix Saga", "Days of Future Past", the "Phalanx Covenant", and the "Legacy Virus". Beyond faithfully recreating many of the popular characters and stories from the comic books, the series also dealt fairly openly with mature social issues. The ills of prejudice, intolerance, isolation, and racism were all frequent themes in the animated series, as they were in the comics. Anti-mutant prejudice and discrimination was depicted through minor characters as well as more prominent ones, including Senator Robert Kelly, the Friends of Humanity and robotic Sentinels. X-Men featured the clash of two idealism mainly through the show's two main groups lead by two distinct mutants. Professor Charles Xavier (head of Mutant Academy for the Gifted and leader of the secret mutant group X-Men) advocates non-violence in the struggle for equality, while Magneto takes on a more aggressive 'by any means necessary' stance; the duo's differing views are the source of much discussion throughout the series.

X-Men: The Animated Series Opening Theme
X-Men 90s Instrumental Intro

As someone who at that time was not familiar with the long history and fanbase that Marvel has established with the X-Men and other popular titles alike, 90s X-Men: The Animated Series blew my mind and made me the geek that I am right now. The X-Men introduced me to mutants which were pretty rad. Almost every episode featured one new mutant with unique mutant powers that kids usually dream of having. X-Men has pretty iconic characters like the bad ass Wolverine, the later powerful Phoenix (Jean Grey), the sinister Apocalypse, and that poor old Morph which has the ability I've always dreamed off, shape shifting. X-Men features adult themes which probably appealed to me that time even though I failed to appreciate some of it during those time, I am still thankful for X-Men for subliminally educating me to never discriminate others because they are different. Accompanied by a rocking instrumental as its opening slash main theme, X-Men is one of the most nostalgic 90s animated series and one of my best super hero group and animated series of all time. Some of my most memorable episodes include those under the Phoenix Saga and a cross-over from an also familiar 90s Marvel superhero Spider-Man.

What about you guys? Who's your favorite X-Men or villain in the 90s retro cartoons? How about your fondest memories and favorite episode of X-Men? Share your thoughts about 90s X-Men: The Animated Series on the comments section below: