REVIEW: X-Men '97 Got It Right

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The 90s X-Men animated series was one of my first portals into the world of comics, not just superheroes, and the original run on Fox, overlapping with Batman WORK_OF_ART the animated series, realized the characters in a way that no other X-Men WORK_OF_ART movie or adaptation had been able to do until its continuation, X-Men 97, which just wrapped up its first season on Disney Plus ORG. I'm not going to lie, I was a little scared when I heard they'd be doing a continuation.How many times have we seen a franchise return to the well with a cynical cash grab follow-up that can't hold a candle to the original? But X-Men 97 WORK_OF_ART doesn't just measure up to the original series, in my opinion, it surpasses it. And since the original series was already the best TV or movieversion of the characters that we already had, that makes X-Men 97 WORK_OF_ART peak X-Men. This episode's brought to you by Factor. Go to FactorMeals.com slash Merle ORG 50 for a special offer, and stay tuned after the show for more info. Let's get this out of the way up top. I will be talking about plot details of X-Men 97 WORK_OF_ART up to and including the season finale. So if you haven't watched the first season, go watch it. It's great. But if you have, let's break down the many, many things this season got right. And one of thosethings is a continuation of what the original animated series did and what the live action movies often didn't do, which is to service all of the X-Men characters equally. And to start with, let's look at one of the characters who really got screwed over in the movies, especially, Cyclops. No, don't!I surrender! Hmm, not. Cyclops was always my favorite when I was a kid,! I surrender! Hmm, not. Cyclops was always my favorite when I was a kid because, well, I'm a dork, and it was disappointing when he got next to nothing to do in any of the movies, a complete waste of James Marsden PERSON. In just one season of X-Men 97, Cyclops got more character development and emotional growththan in all of the movies put together. He goes through a real journey this season, first with the birth of his son and the continued challenges of mutant persecution, then the revelation that he possibly married and definitely had a kid with a clone of Gene Gray PERSON, followed by the decision to send his son to the future without a father mirroring his own past. I won't be like my father. I won't abandon my son.Don't any of you know how it feels to be abandoned? We also get his struggle to detach from Jean Grey's clone, Madeline Pryor PERSON.

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The music's changing and you need a chair.

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Leader, father, husband.

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And you, you don't trust your memories.

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Do you even love me?

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And his parallel feelings of betrayal

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that Professor X left the X-Men to Magneto PERSON in his will, seemingly discarding his devotion to the team. No matter what, I'll always end up here. Don't you know that? The show understands that being the Stoic leader doesn't mean Cyclops has to be boring, and this season did a great job of challenging his worldview and everything he holds dear which also allows him to act in ways that would be considered out of character if the show weren't so well written. I lie because the truth is we're nothing like you.Thank God because it's the only reason you people are still alive. On top of that we also get to see Cyclops actually use his powers in a functional and cool way, and there's a reference to a joke in 2000s X-Men WORK_OF_ART live action movie that's just pretty much perfect. You actually go outside in these things?

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What would you prefer?

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Yellow spandex?

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Am I going to war or a circus?

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What'd you expect?

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Black leather?

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This careful attention to characters and their relationships extends beyond Cyclops to other people

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like Storm and Gene, who strengthened their bond of sisterhood in this season.

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Make them mind your weather, sister.

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And them weather your mind.

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Not a whole lot of animated shows would stop and take a moment to allow these two characters

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to just sit around and talk about their insecurities regarding the future.

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How do I tell him he's different?

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That the world will remind him of it every day.

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That he must always be careful, always be on guard or else...

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You wish him to be born human.

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We also get more than we've ever gotten of Nightcrawler PERSON outside of his supporting role

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in X2 X-Men United WORK_OF_ART, and he's given an actual role to fill on the team, spiritual advisor and counselor, which is a perfect fit for his character.

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Blood is blood.

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Family is a choice.

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It's also pretty cool that he can wield three swords when he needs to.

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The one character who mainly takes a back seat this season is Wolverine PERSON, who doesn't really come into play until the end of the season, and even then, it's mainly to set up but looks like a major storyline for him in season two. And you know, I'm actually okay with that. The X-Men movies shifted Wolverine PERSON to basically become the main character, and we've already had three Wolverine solo movies with a Deadpool team- up coming this summer. And this is not to say that Wolverine is ignored, but he's mostly still caught up in the Scott Gene Love Triangle LOC and

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still coming out on the wrong side of it. I'm... Your Gene Gray, he's Scott Summers PERSON. Those are the

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rules. You just forgot him for a sec. Enough said. I'm happy to let Logan PERSON slide out of the spotlight

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for a bit and allow other characters

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some time in the sun, and we still got some pretty badass Wolverine moments out of the season.

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Why resist the inevitable?

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Lady, I got six reasons why. One of the main things this season got right was the understanding that it wasn't enough just to replicate the original X-Men WORK_OF_ART series. To really connect with fans, it also had to grow along with them. And what surprised me most about X-Men 97 WORK_OF_ART was how mature it was. The original X-Men was one of the more mature animated shows on the air back in the 90s, but it went to an entirely different level with X-Men 97, and it showed something that a lot of these revivals haven't had. Respect for its original audience.There's a version of this show that's just a continuation adapting well-known and familiar storylines in a passable copy of the original that probably would have been well-received, but X-Men 97 WORK_OF_ART is much, much more. The show does this gradually with a first episodethat feels largely like one of the original adventures from the 90s, albeit with upgraded animation and action. The second episode gets a little more mature with Magneto's trial at the UN ORG. All the X ORG-Men have done is use their awesome power to protect a world that hates and fears

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them. What must we do to be good enough?

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Episode 3 starts bringing more darkness into the show with the X-Men fighting Madeline Prior PERSON as the Goblin Queen, and you also start to see some heavy anime influence creeping in here. I actually like that the show blended the original animation style with some anime touches. It makes X-Men 97 WORK_OF_ART feel more modern and less retro, while still maintaining a consistent style from the 90s.Episode 4's first part, Motendo WORK_OF_ART, is closer to what I expected the entire revival to be, with Jubilee and Sunspot sucked into a video game created by Mojo PERSON. But it's still a good episode, with some really inventive 16-bit style animation, even if it feels the most disposable of this first season. The second part of the episode, Life Death Part 1, returns to the more mature side of the show where we see Storm PERSON grappling with her power loss and beginning a fight with what may very well be a manifestation of her own personaland her demons, reminiscent of her encounter with the Shadow King back in the original series. But it turns out that these first few episodes were really just lolling us into a false sense of security before the events of episode 5 called Remember It WORK_OF_ART, which is one of the best episodes of any animated series that I can think of.

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The name's Gambit PERSON, Bona Mi. Remember it.

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Look, we all knew that the realized dream of a mutant paradise in Genosha was not going to turn out well. Anytime a celebration scene is being overseen by the Watcher, you know something's about to go down. He usually doesn't just hang around for the good vibes. But I was definitely not prepared for how bad and how dark things would get.We've been trained to believe that all of our main characters will fight hard, maybe get hurt, but ultimately be okay. The closest thing to death that these X-Men have really had to deal with was morphed seeming demise in the first season, but they turned out not to be dead. So Gambit's death at the end of Remember It WORK_OF_ART was an absolute gut punch because it pierced that illusion of safety that we all think that our favoritecharacters have. Now, this is a comic book show, so it's highly unlikely that Gambit PERSON is gone for good, as teased by Apocalypse PERSON's appearance in the mid-credit scene of the finale episode. So much death. But it's not just Gambit PERSON's death, temporary or not, that had an impact. It's how we saw it affecting those who loved him, especially Rogue PRODUCT. Like Cyclops, everything that Rogue loves and knows is challenged this season,and I like that we see her struggling to cope with the death of a man whose heart she had broken on the night he died, and who died without knowing that she had effectively chosen him. Roke has always been one of the most powerful X-Men WORK_OF_ART but also the person who has to hide her powers the most and here she's given the opportunity to unleash her full rage and her full power. Whether it's breaking into a Hulp-proof facility, yeeding Captain America's shield into the wilderness, or choosing to kill Trask PERSON, which would have worked, by the way, if he wasn't already a Sentinel. Part of growing with the audience means giving these characters permission to do things that might not have flown on the Fox Network on Saturday morningsin the early 90s, and Rogue PRODUCT's journey was a fascinating one to watch. It's not your kind were the good guys.

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You killed those, Sugar PERSON. Now you get me.

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It seems like nearly every character had a major emotional arc that landed,

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including Cable Gene, Madeline, and Scott PERSON,

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learning how to deal with their broken family,

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ending in an emotional conversation in the finale.

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I'll tell you, those legends really didn't do my folks justice.

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And Beast's own crisis of confidence, going from the Mr. Rogers PERSON quoting optimist that we all know,

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to seriously questioning Xavier's dream upon seeing what happened in Genosha FAC.

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Perhaps the professor's vision for the future was too near-sighted, and begging for your tolerance was our first mistake.

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Even Jubilee got a decent storyline with Sunspot, and that might be a first for this show. Looking at the big picture, season one in general does some serious exploration of a viewpoint that previously only villains had been allowed to have. What if Professor X PERSON is wrong? What if a piece between humans and mutants isn't possible? What if mutants should be using their powers to assert dominance in order to survive? These are tough questions without easy answers, and I'm glad this season had the ability to poke holes in the fundamental belief of the entire series. Making Magneto PERSON theleader of the X-Men ORG wasn't just done for shock value. It allowed everything and every character to be re-evaluated. I particularly liked how Magneto PERSON's roots as a child of the Holocaust EVENT were brought front and center as his own personal proof of the danger of hoping that humanity will show its best self. Run and hide before someone starts

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dreaming of camps. If you don't challenge the rules underlying a show, then those rules become stale, and the show

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becomes predictable.

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X-Men 97 WORK_OF_ART deserves a lot of credit for daring to show us a world where things aren't as

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clear between good and evil, as we've always been led to think that they are.

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Most other nations don't allow a terrorist to be their leader.

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Yet so many allow their leaders to be terrorists.

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Okay, so far this has all sounded really serious,

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and a lot of the show is, but there's more to X-Men 97

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than just the drama.

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In addition to the elevated storylines,

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the show also matured by becoming a lot more, um, well, for lack of a better word, horny. Two always better than one, and far better than three. Most times. These are characters with obvious sexual identities identities in addition to their superhero ones, from Magneto's seductive Ace of Base Dance with Rogue on Genosha to Morph PERSON's declaration of theirlove for Wolverine, albeit as Gene PERSON.

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I love you, Logan PERSON. Stay with me.

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It even strays into the kinky side with Professor X and Lelandra PERSON giving us a sneak peek into what they might be up to in the sultry depths of space.

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Your man speaks as if I am your pet. Not an entirely displeasing thought. Hush now, beloved.

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You may bark later.

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Don't think of Professor X PERSON in a dog collar. Don't think of Professor X PERSON in a dog collar. Nope. Too late. Humor has always played a big part in the series two, and we get some great laughs this season, like Morp antagonizing Cyclops for being a stick in the mud as Professor Xavier.

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Scott PERSON, while I trust that all my students would gladly die for my dream of a better future, where both human and mutant live free of your total disdain for fun. I would prefer it be avoided.

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Beast waxing philosophical while fighting the Sentinels. Suppose the question. What is the sound of one hand clapping? And learning the hazards of trying to banter with Magneto PERSON over breakfast.

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Someone's daddy didn't get him a pony for his sweet 16th.

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My parents perished when I was a child.

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I also love that the animation upgrades allowed for the action scenes to be much bigger

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and to show off the X-Men's powers in ways that previous technology didn't allow.

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This led to several of what I can only describe as badass moments,

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like Storms give them the forecast moment in episode 1, where her omega-level powers turn the sand into glass. And moments like storms give them the forecast moment in episode one where her omega-level powers

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turn the sand into glass. And moments like this are spread across pretty much every major fight scene, which could now include things like an inside look at what night crawler's powers look like, or the epic scale of Rogan Gambit fighting in Genosha FAC, the intensity of Scott unleashing his full range of powers at Bastion in the finale, or Gambit charging up Wolverine's Adamantium Clause so he can take down a Sentinel PRODUCT. I mean, come on, that's awesome.While these things are extensions of what the original show was already doing, one thing that has changed is the X-Men's much more solid connection to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as an established multiverse, which allows it both access to the visual language of the MCU, like Forge PERSON using sorcery straight out of Comertage, and access to show more Marvel characters like Black Panther PERSON, Spider-Man, Doctor Doom, Daredevil, Captain America, and others, who all appear for maybe one sceneor even just brief cameos with no dialogue. I love that they also used Morph's powers as a chance to throw even more Marvel ORG characters into the action. My personal favorite was their transformation into the Hulk to fight Sentinels in episode 9. Rights issues have always prevented comic book shows and movies from feeling like the comics themselves when you never really knew who could pop up from panel to panel and issue to issue. With the MCU now in control of nearly every Marvel ORG character, that unified animated world is now a reality.

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Vote yes and you best pray our children read their textbooks more than their Bibles PRODUCT. For only history could be conned into forgiving us.

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One thing that didn't change was of course the classic X-Men WORK_OF_ART theme and opening sequence, which was merely tweaked and upgraded for the new series. I actually really loved the little build-up to the theme that played out over the Marvel Animation ORG logo, and I'd love it if that just became the music that always plays out underneath Marvel ORG animation. The opening sequence itself was fun to watch from episode to episode with mutants popping in and out depending on whether or not they were in the episode or had powers or were well aliveas well as new snippets from X-Men's WORK_OF_ART stories past future and days of future past. Like Game of Thrones, the skip intro button never got used because I wanted to see who and what would be in that week's intro. Plus, you never skip the X-Men WORK_OF_ART theme song. Never. So much of what makes X-Men 97 WORK_OF_ART work is the melding of past and future. On one hand, we have the advancements in technology and more mature storylines,but they're paired with throwbacks to X-Men WORK_OF_ART history, including continuing storylines from the animated series like Mr. Sinister's obsession with Scott and Gene PERSON, new adaptations of existing comic book storylines, and the use of classic 70s and 80s X-Men costumes like Cyclops hooded uniform, Storms Mohawk PERSON, and her classic 70s uniform, and Wolverine finally dawning his brown and orange 80s uniform.This melding of past and future extends to the creative team as well, with animated series showrunners Eric PERSON and Julia Lewald and producer director Larry Houston PERSON, consulting on the series alongside new showrunner Bo DeMayo and credited writers J.B. Ballard, Anthony Salitty, and Charlie Feldman PERSON, whose early days back at Screen Junkies ORG, I'm confident, had, well, no bearing on their great work with this show. It's just great to see them as part of this team. By merging these two teams of creatives, X-Men 97 WORK_OF_ART becomes a real hybrid of what worked in the pastand what was necessary for the show to grow. Domeo PERSON completed preliminary writing work on season two before being fired by Marvel ORG shortly before the debut of season one, and it will be interesting to see how the show progresses in these seasons ahead without him as part of the everyday creative team. But I'm already excited by what looks like a very apocalypse-centric story in the second season with X-Men ORG spread across time and apocalypse looking ready to reassemble his horsemen in the show's present day. Some may find DeMeo's absence to be a bad sign for the future, but if the X-Men ORG themselves have shown us anything,it's that it takes a team, not just one person, to accomplish greatness. There's one thing, though, that has remained consistent across every iteration of X- ORGMen and across every medium, and that's its importance as a metaphor for real-life persecution, prejudice, and helping those who have been outcasts from society and are looking for a place to belong. X-Men WORK_OF_ART 97 doesn't shy away from that legacy, but embraces it fully, maybe more so than any other X-Men adaptation has in the past. The X-Men have long been seen as a metaphor for being part of the LGBTQ plus community, and we get those references.I didn't ask for this, okay? I was born this way. Ain't that the rub. But X-Men 97 WORK_OF_ART also takes on topics like

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colonialism. You strike at the knees and claim you can help them walk again. But only if they

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assimilate. Religious persecution. As a boy, my people's homes were burned to ash because we

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dared to call God by another name. And the exploitation of citizens by those in power who use their fears to turn them against

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those whom they've deemed societally unacceptable.

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They've been told over and over that the future is leaving them behind, but I invite them to be relevant again.

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But as is usually the case with X-Men, these references and metaphors never come off as obvious or preachy. Maybe it's because by their very nature, the X-Men are built to be able to talk about these things in ways that are literally ingrained in their very DNA. To do X ORG-Men without social commentary would be a disservice to everyone involved, especially the audience.

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How can we entrust our mighty empire to a ruler descended of Simeans NORP?

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Have our blood mixed with his inferior freak fluids. We live in a time of peak IP where so many franchises and characters have been bought or taken away from their original creators and strip mine for every dollar with no real thought to legacy or consistency. And X-Men 97 WORK_OF_ART could have been just another name on that list, but it achieves that rare feat of not only being worthy of the original,but surpassing it. It's easily one of the best things that the MCU ORG has ever produced and injects some fresh hope into the veins of fans like me who were worried that Marvel ORG just wasn't willing and or able to make anything approaching its peak again. Instead, X-Men WORK_OF_ART 97 is a reminder of the importance of trust, trusting creators to do justice to a franchise,trusting executives to get out of the way and let them do it, and trusting the audience with material that's both challenging and rewarding. It's something that is rare now, as rare as it's been in a very long time, and it's a reason why shows like X-Men 97 WORK_OF_ART need to be celebrated and appreciated. X-Men 97 isn't just a great animated show, it's a jewel in the crown of the X-Men's ORG legacy. And for my money, when it comes to X-Men WORK_OF_ART movies and TV shows, it's the brightest jewelof them all. So those are my thoughts on X-Men 97 WORK_OF_ART. What did you think of the show? Let me know down to the comments below, and before we go, I'm going to thank the sponsor for this video, Factor PRODUCT. The summer is calling, which means a lot of folks are pushing for those last-minute fitness goals in time to hit the beach, the pool, or just the mirror.And Factor PRODUCT is great for anyone looking to meet their wellness goals this summer with their chef-crafted meals that include options like calorie smart, protein plus, and keto. With over 30 different dietitian approved meals and add-ons to choose from each week, Factor PRODUCT helps keep you fueled from breakfast to dessert with easy, nutritious options. We're talking restaurant-quality meals like filet mignon and salmon, already in two minutes without having to worry about shopping, prep, cooking, or cleanup.When it comes to starting a healthy routine, a lot of people say they just don't have the time. While time isn't a factor with factor, because you'll always have the time to enjoy nutritious, great tasting meals. Every week, you can get as many or as few meals as you need, and you can pause or reschedule your delivery anytime. Head to factormeals.com slash Merle 50 and use the code Merle 50 to get 50% off your first boxplus 20% off your next month while your subscription is active. That's code Merle 50 at factormeals.com slash Merle 50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month. Thanks for watching my review of X-Men 97 WORK_OF_ART, and stay tuned right here for more movie news reviews, box office, and more. Until next time, stay safe, and I'll see you then.