History WesternAnimation / XMenEvolution

While the previous (and very popular) ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' series spent a lot of time condensing the mythology of [[ComicBook/XMen the long-running comics]], this series purposely tried to go its own way. It was an effort to not bog the story down to ContinuityLockOut and keep most stories individualized. Another thing that set this series apart from its predecessor is that it's far more character-driven; time visibly passes during the series and much attention is given to the kids' development. Many episodes don't even have a villain and the focus is more on the kids having misadventures of their own.

** Near the end of "Speed and Spyke", the theme tune from ''[[WesternAnimation/XMen X-Men: The Animated Series]]'' could be heard during the pool party at Xavier's mansion.

** In "Strategy X", Mystique transforms into a monster to scare Toad, à la the '90s' ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' episode "A Rogue's Tale" where she scares a punk who's trying to steal her umbrella.

** Rogue is correctly shown to be able to control Scott's optic blasts when she absorbs his powers, since Scott's inability to control them is the result of brain damage. Compare this to an early episode of [[WesternAnimation/XMen the '90s cartoon]], where she tries to absorb his powers and realizes that the blasts are impossible to control without the visor (which is incorrect).

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep:

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Once the New Mutants were introduced, the show had quite a few characters on it.

* MoralDissonance: In the third season premiere, Wolverine abandons the group when Cyclops refuses to treat the military as the enemy and respond with appropriate force. He doesn't just cede leadership, he outright rides off and leaves them to their fate. No one ever calls him on it, but he at least admits Scott had the right idea.

While the central concept of portraying the X-Men as {{Ordinary High School Student}}s might ''sound'' like a simple gimmick, it has some surprisingly far-reaching implications for the plot and characters. Of note: in contrast to the posh {{boarding school}} of the comics, the show effectively portrays the Xavier Institute as a group home for people with special needs, considerably downplaying the elements of {{escapism}} at the heart of the comics. Since the X-Men attend an ordinary public school alongside human students (who aren't always accepting of mutants), they're forced to confront the prejudice of ordinary people far more frequently than they ever did in the comics. Above all: the series is quite up-front about the fact that the X-Men are inexperienced teenagers [[ComingOfAgeStory with a lot of growing up to do]], and they reguarly find themselves in over their heads when tangling with bad guys--greatly increasing the tension in every battle.

* AdultFear:
** In the Christmas episode, an apartment building is burning down on Christmas and a teenage girl is desperately trying to get inside and save her mother, crying and screaming since the lady in a wheelchair and cannot escape on her own. Luckily, Angel saves the lady and places her gently on a nearby bench, and soon she's reunited with her daughter.
** Jean experiences this in the Season 2 finale, discovering the mansion completely destroyed in an explosion. Her first thoughts are of the younger students who were left behind.

* BigDamnHeroes: Happens often. Pietro pulls off an impressive one in "Ascension pt. 2," saving Wanda in the nick of time from a Magneto that was being controlled by Apocalypse.

* FacePalm: In ''Walk On The Wild Side'', Jean does this when her boyfriend Duncan tells her that he got them both tickets to the Sadies Hawkins Dance next month. A dance where [[WhatAnIdiot the ''girl'' is suppose to ask the guy out.]]

** The series tries to characterize ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} as TheRival to Spyke, in the first two seasons, resulting in a lot of FoeYay...

It's also notable for being one of the only Creator/MarvelComics adaptations ever to be distributed by Creator/WarnerBros, which (ironically) is the parent company of Marvel's longtime industry rival Creator/DCComics, and the rival of Marvel's own parent company, Creator/{{Disney}}.

The series started off mostly going with the WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility theme, while later seasons started to get more into the "outcasts and racism" topics that permeated the regular ''X-Men'' stories. The writers eventually tried to address these concerns in the last season by bringing it more in line with familiar ''X-Men'' storylines, and even teased at the regular comics continuity in the GrandFinale.

The show does have the distinction of producing the CanonImmigrant ComicBook/{{X 23}}, and a more openly sympathetic take on the Brotherhood of (Evil) Mutants as a group of JerkWithAHeartOfGold street kids instead of absolute evil, and while it isn't responsible for creating ComicBook/KittyPryde[=/=]Shadowcat and Kurt Wagner[=/=]ComicBook/{{Nightcrawler}}, this series did help popularize them with non-comic readers (while the [[WesternAnimation/XMen previous animated series]] didn't feature them much or at all).

''X-Men: Evolution'' (2000-2003) is an ''Franchise/XMen'' animated series that, like Marvel's ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Universe and [[Film/XMenFilmSeries the movies]], rebooted/retooled the universe to one where many important characters are teenagers. This show's setting is Bayville, New York--a middle-class suburb of NYC--where the famous mutants attend a normal high school for mundane classes in addition to The Xavier Institute to hone their powers[[note]]Presumably, Bayville was chosen because the X-Men's canonical hometown, Salem Center, is upper-class in the real world[[/note]].

*** This becomes a plot point in the second season, where Spyke considers leaving the Institute because he has no real friends there, while Storm calls him out for never letting any of the others get close. [[spoiler:[[FridnshipMoment That episode also reveals that Kurt, at least, considers Evan his friend and was very upset at the prospect of Spyke leaving the team.]]]]

* CurbStompBattle: The way Scarlet Witch completely and utterly annihilates the X-Men in the episode "The HeX Factor" surely qualifies.

** This becomes a plot point in the second season, where Spyke considers leaving the Institute because he has no real friends there, while Storm calls him out for never letting any of the others get close. [[spoiler:[[FridnshipMoment That episode also reveals that Kurt, at least, considers Evan his friend and was very upset at the prospect of Spyke leaving the team.]]]]

* RomanticTwoGirlFriendship:
** With a slight stretch, Tabitha/Boom-Boom and Amara/Magma can be seen enacting this trope.
** Kitty Pryde and Dani Moonstar in the episode "Ghost of a Chance".
** It ''looked'' for a second that Rogue and Risty Wilde were good candidates for this trope, but it took a turn for the Squick when it was revealed that [[spoiler:Risty was Mystique in disguise, planning to use her and the X-Men for her own plans... and that she's also Rouge's mother]].

* FingerlessGloves: Avalanche, Gambit, and Scarlet Witch. Just shows how [[RuleofCool badass they look wearing them]] whether in or out of uniform.
** Also all the Bayville Sirens (except Rogue) wore these type of gloves to go with their HellBentForLeather themed uniforms.

** The series tries to characterize ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} as TheRival to Spyke, in their first and later appearances, resulting in a lot of FoeYay...

* ParentalSubstitute: Like in the comics Professor X, Storm, and Wolverine both serve as parental figures to Scott, Jean, Kurt, Kitty, Evan, Rogue, and the New Recruits. Logan also tried to do this with X-23 (as he's the genetic base for her and as such technically her father), but she refuses to let him [[TearJerker as she sees herself as a weapon, not a child]].

* MayContainEvil: Power-8 was a delicious, refreshing sports drink - unless you happened to be a mutant, in which case it was poisonous.

** ''Spykecam'' had, frame for frame, Rogue and Kitty dancing like [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy and Faith]] did in "Bad Girls". Just like The X Files example above, the music they're dancing to is about vampire love, cluing in savvy viewers to the reference

%%** X-23.

It's also notable for being one of the only Creator/MarvelComics adaptations ever to be distributed by Creator/WarnerBros, which (ironically) is the parent company of Marvel's longtime industry rival Creator/DCComics.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** Magneto steals the device that was used to create Captain America because he needs the formula to stay alive. As he says, he's an old man; he was a child during World War II, and his mutancy could only prolong his life for so long.
** When Kitty and Rogue [[SkippingSchool cut class]] when they see Gambit at their school and follow the Brotherhood to see what their up to, despite Kitty's worries about missing class. Later Scott and Professor Xavier tell them that Principal Kelly, who already has it out for them because they're mutants, has given both of them detention on Saturday for cutting class.
** In the episode, ''Self Possessed'' Rogue goes through an extremely taxing physical and mental ordeal, after learning that Mystique was her adoptive mother, then ends laid up in the infirmary at end of the episode. She remains in the infirmary and doesn't get out and completely recover until two episodes later. Such traumatic events take time to recover from, especially for a teenager.
** When the Brotherhood decides to cause accidents around Bayville to make themselves look like heroes, after one of them accidentally causes an subway accident and unintentionally save the people trapped, it is later shown how dangerous EngineeredHeroics can be if they get out of hand. When Pietro causes a runaway train by sabotaging the controls, he inadvertently puts all of Bayville in danger when the train he caused to go out control is now on a collision course with another train, one that is pulling eight tankers of gasoline, leaving the Brotherhood unprepared for something like this.

* WolverinePublicity:''Averted''. In an astonishing turn for an ''X-Men'' adaptation, ''Evolution'''s Wolverine was mostly a supporting player due to being an adult on a show where the focus was on the kids. [[ADayInTheLimelight He does get his moments in the spotlight]], but never at the expense of other chracters.

* WolverinePublicity: Averted! He's around but only really gets a few episodes of focus throughout all four seasons and doesn't hog the spotlight too much. [[WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen2009 We wouldn't be so lucky with the next X-Men animated series.]]

%%* {{Jerkass}}:

%%* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Wolverine, post-CharacterDevelopment!Avalanche.
%%* TheJuggernaut: [[MeaningfulName Guess who filled that role...]]

%%* KnightOfCerebus: Apocalypse.

%%* LittleStowaway: Kurt and Kitty in "Grim Reminder", Bobby in "Under Lock and Key".

%%* MotorMouth: Quicksilver.

%%* NotSoImaginaryFriend: [[spoiler:Danielle Moonstar in "Ghost of a Chance".]]

%%* OppositesAttract: Avalanche and Shadowcat.

%%* PlatonicLifePartners:
%%** Nightcrawler and Shadowcat.
%%** Wolverine and Storm are hinted at having this kind of relationship, [[ShipTease at the very least]].
%%* PlayingWithFire: Magma, Pyro, and Legion.

%%* PowerNullifier: Dorian Leech.

%%* QuirkyMiniBossSquad:

%%* ReTool

%%* SadClown:

%%* SaltAndPepper: Mystique and Storm are a non-friendly version of this during the first season.

%%* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Toad.

%%** Then there's Gambit and Boom-Boom...

%%* SuperStrength: Blob, Sabretooth, Juggeranut, Colossus, Wolverine, Sunspot, Beast, Captain America. All have shown various levels of superhuman strength.
%%* SuperWeight:

%%** Beast, to the New Recruits.
%%* TeamMom: Storm.
%%* TechnoWizard: Forge.

%%* TomboyAndGirlyGirl:

%%* {{Tsundere}}:

%%* TheUnmasquedWorld: After the second-season finale.

%%* VFormationTeamShot: See page image.

%%* VisionaryVillain: Both Magneto and Apocalypse are examples.

%%* WalkingTechbane: Shadowcat.

%%* WallRun: Quicksilver.

%%* WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld: Especially in Season 4.

** In the X-Mas episode, Rogue steals Magneto's powers and the two engage in an aerial chase across NYC, a nod to her flight powers in the comics.