X-Men Archives | Otaku No Culture

What’s Next for X-Men 97? And A Wish List for Storylines to Adapt

There’s still a lot of questions that needs answering in X-Men 97 when it comes to connecting with the original Fox series. But as it leaves one legacy era behind, what’s next is promising.

X-men 97 Logo With more than twenty years of new source material to draw from, there are plenty of new arcs to consider adapting for X-Men 97. Not everything has to be from the Chris Claremont years, and now that season one is over, fans, and critics can debate over what worked and did not. I’m glad the series recovered with the next arc being from Grant Morrison’s “E is for Extinction” from the New X-Men. Here, viewers learn Professor X’s evil twin sister Cassandra Nova is getting into the thick of things, and after the lacklustre “Inferno,” (review link) all hell breaks loose in Genosha! A lot of mutants die! Also, when the series is moving into storylines that I’m not as familiar with, I’m open to new interpretations.

That includes the eventual return of Apocalypse and a new team of Horseman for season two. Apparently, I still want answers to two lingering issues. Jean Grey’s connection to The Phoenix was never fully severed, and I’m wondering if that means some kind of return down the road.

Kitty Pryde and Wolverine Vol 1 Also, I miss Shadowcat aka Kitty Pryde. She’s quite important in the comic book version, and has had the quite the adventure and for some readers, they saw her grow up from being that not so confident teen hero in the X-Men to a Guardian of the Galaxy, and even has a few ninja type skills to boot! Although she didn’t have much to do other than be a damsel in distress in the non-canonical pilot for the animated series, and I still find it strange that there’s still no mention of her. She did appear in X-men: Evolution, set in an alternate universe, but when will she be in X-men 97?

Whether this series wants to address that or not, I’m still hoping! With the past days of Claremont no longer a reference point, what’s presented so far has me considering if I should try to get caught up with everything printed from 98 on up. In this series, I like that Bastion is a figure hard to deal with. He’s not your typical 90s style villain. Whether he’s been stopped for good in the season one finale, I shan’t say. Hopefully the next season’s arcs will consider his villain’s ongoing influence to build on the teased made.

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When X-Men 97 Forgets What Made the Original Tales Special, Is This Animated Series Worth Watching?

As long as the viewer isn’t a long time fan of the comic books, they won’t be wise to recognise how X-men 97 changes story beats around.

X-men 97 Logo Spoiler Alert

The rebranded version of X-Men the Animated Series off to a rocky start. Although I enjoyed the first two episodes of X-Men 97, the next pair were not as good. After seeing how the Inferno storyline got compressed and spat out, it seems nobody in the writers’ room really understands the key moments that define that story arc.

In the original tale, S’ym and N’astirh plan to invade Earth. These demons need Illyana Rasputin’s powers to make it happen, and along the way, Madelyne Pryor, becomes part of this entourage after she realises her relationship with Scott was a sham. In all her grief and loathing, Mr. Sinister appears to explain why he created her, and soon afterwards, she would become the Goblin Queen instead of what the cartoon has changed around.

This moment in the life of being an X-Men ranks as #2 of my most favourite storylines from the Chris Claremont years. And without that without the invasion plan in place, the Rasputin storyline and her becoming Darkchylde wouldn’t be as impactful. Morph’s transformation into her really makes no sense as there’s no acknowledgement concerning why the Goblin Queen is important to the grander scheme. As for why she could awaken Illyana’s evil side, I’d have to reread the Uncanny X-men and New Mutants comics (Amazon Kindle links) to know.

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Want More X-Men? Keith Sutliff has The Story of Scott Summers Ready to Roll…

As for keeping up with how the X-Men evolved throughout the decades, from Uncanny to X-Treme to Astonishing to ResurrXion, it’s just become impossible since they’re not meant to overlap. Ask anyone if they’ve kept up. Most will say no, including Sutliff.

Coming Early April across multiple streaming platforms.

The Cyclops Chronicles: The Story of Scott Summers is a passion project for Keith Sutliff. He’s an actor and filmmaker who loves the X-Men universe that currently has nothing live-action in development. This particular IP is vast, and his plan with this character is to explore what motivates this leader in new ways that respects the lore and also be original at the same time.

He started up his own company, KS Pictures LLC in 2016, and was quick to establish himself in Hollywood, appearing in works from the Lifetime Channel when not producing or acting in independent works himself. Some of his past works include The Mason Brothers (2017). From the Internet Movie Database, The Hollywood Weekly Magazine recognized him as an emerging talent, and his next work, The Refuge (2019), showed where he wanted to go in this career as an entertainer. Coming this Summer is Suitcase City for sci-fi fans, but for comic book readers, he’s hoping his take on the leader of the X-Men will be one to talk about.

Sutliff acknowledges what he’s producing, starring in and directing is a fan film. He said, “The number one thing going into the film business and in Hollywood is you have to entertain.” The gamble with his work is in him making it free to view on YouTube. He’s not sure how many episodes will be made, but has a game plan should it go beyond three.

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The Best Animated Announcements From Disney Plus Day

There were lots of announcements on what’s coming on Disney Plus, and we present our most favourite news from this event!

On Disney Plus Day, a lot of new works announced will come flooding into the streaming service next year. I’m more excited for the animated material than the others. Yes, Marvel Entertainment and Star Wars will get their expanded universe treatment, and all I can say is, “What, no more Clone Wars type material? There’s no tease for what the next season of The Bad Batch will entail?”

Out of the entirety of everything’s announced, it’s Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers which excites me the most. I’ve always loved their nostalgia laden pulp fiction adventures. It’s going to be a live-action / CGI hybrid work, and I’m okay with that. Ever since their cameo in the updated Ducktales, I’ve been hoping their return isn’t being delayed because of finding replacement voices or rights management.

Other works include:

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On X-Men: Dark Phoenix and Tales of Future Past

X-Men

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Writer-Director Simon Kinberg redeemed himself from his involvement in the lamented X-Men: The Last Stand, the third chapter of the saga about mutants just looking for a place to belong in modern human society. This subtext has been running throughout the films and it’s been explored in the past films to varying degrees of success.

His film, The Dark Phoenix, gets a treatment that is not too out there and it works without having to resort to sending the mutants to the moon.

When I have seen all the movies to date and followed the saga of the Phoenix up till the mid-90s (Excalibur, Series one), I had specific expectations in mind. While Kinberg’s work lightly touches upon a few things coming full circle, I suspect The New Mutants will have to provide some answers about the human and mutant relationship before Marvel Entertainment rewrites the mutant chapter for Phase Five of their narrative plan.

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An X-Nerd’s Guide and Review of X-Men: Apocalypse

X-Men_Apocalypse_International_Poster By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

* Spoiler alert!

When X-Men: Days of Future Past (DoFP) introduced a young En Sabah Nur building a pyramid in ancient Egypt after the movie credits, I was very excited for the next film. While I knew the film would not be set entirely in the past, the introduction of this character was all too brief in that past instance and only a few new details are revealed in X-Men: Apocalypse.

He’s the world’s first mutant who has a god complex and he wants to wipe out humanity to forge a new empire. In the comics, he’s out to create a new world order and he is a lot more patient about it. Many months passed in his quest to find his ideal knights. In the film, he’s rushing the end of days and whom he chooses to be the four horsemen are not necessarily those of the biblical version of the four horseman of the apocalypse. The title of which, Nur uses as his codename.

Angel (Ben Hardy) transformed into Archangel and he’s easily recognizable as the Horseman of Death. He’s the only character from the original X-Factor comic book arc when the villain made life tough for the team. Unlike the source, Angel lost his wings (those fragile bones were shattered) and Apocalypse offered to regenerate them at the cost of becoming a servant. Little is known about the character in the film. He’s a slave forced into cage sports. He looked very cool at the start, but once he became evil, the punk look does not suit him well.

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