History WesternAnimation / XMenEvolution

** A scene of "Impact" has Toad knocking on the head of the petrified Mystique shouting "[[Film/BacktoTheFuture Hello? McFly?]]"

The show has the distinction of introducing ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s younger female clone ComicBook/{{X 23}}, who proved to be popular enough that [[CanonImmigrant she was later introduced to the comics]] (eventually making her live-action debut in ''Film/{{Logan}}''). It also broke with previous ''X-Men'' works by portraying the Brotherhood of Mutants as a group of JerkWithAHeartOfGold street kids rather than a gang of murderous terrorists. And since it was the first ''X-Men'' adaptation to include ComicBook/KittyPryde and ComicBook/{{Nightcrawler}} in the main cast (Kitty was AdaptedOut of the '90s animated series, and Kurt [[RecurringCharacter only appeared in a few episodes]]), it introduced both characters to many non-comic book readers.

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

** This version of the comic book character Apocalypse may be the strongest, and he's slightly less evil.

The second major attempt at bringing the ''X-Men'' franchise to television (the third if you count [[WesternAnimation/PrydeOfTheXMen the unproduced 1989 pilot]]), the series functions as a franchise reboot, taking place in a significantly reimagined version of the Marvel Universe. In stark contrast to most previous versions of the franchise, most of the famous mutants are depicted as [[AgeLift teenagers]]--and in a notable departure from the comics, they attend an ordinary local high school in addition to living at the Xavier Institute, where they hone their powers under the tutelage of Professor Charles Xavier. The show's setting is Bayville, a middle-class suburb of New York City.[[note]]Presumably, Bayville was chosen because the X-Men's canonical hometown, Salem Center, is upper-class in the real world.[[/note]]

* TerribleTrio: The Brotherhood is briefly reduced to three members: Avalanche, Toad, and Blob. They even do a PowerWalk together in the finale.

* SpiritualSuccessor: After the series ended, Marvel pushed two different AU titles with the plot essentially following the path of the series, focusing on a younger version of X-Men, ''X-Men First Class'' (which focused on the Original Five's early days, and may or may not be canon), and ''Acadamy X'', focusing on a large number of characters de-aged to teens, with the creators specifically citing the show as inspiration. Unlike the show, however, most of the students at the 'Worthington Academy' were humans, with both Xavier and Magneto using it to recruit the students and train them in secret, with Magneto becoming pure evil by the end, and had Beast, Storm, and Wolverine among the teens.

The show was partly made to take advantage of the resurgence of interest in the ''X-Men'' comics sparked by Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox's [[Film/XMen1 live-action movie]], which hit theaters just a few months before the series began. Although it's not an official tie-in, it does take a few noticeable cues from the movie series. Among other things: Professor Xavier is depicted with a British accent, ComicBook/{{Rogue}} is depicted as a teenage {{audience surrogate}} who only has energy absorption powers, and ComicBook/{{Mystique}} and ComicBook/{{Sabretooth}} are both portrayed as minions of ComicBook/{{Magneto}}.

* BareYourMidriff: They're in ''high school'', so of course you get this to some extent. Hell, the only female characters who regularly appear and ''don't'' seems to be limited to [[OneOfTheBoys Jubilee]], [[DemotedToExtra Rahne]], and [[BrokenBird X-23]]. The other girls all have at least one civilian outfit that shows off their stomach, and all three of Jean's do. Ironically, when some of the female X-Men form the [[AmazonBrigade Bayville Sirens]] and get some HellBentForLeather outfits, Jean ends up showing the least amount of stomach out of everyone on the team, despite her normally being the biggest offender.

** In the first season, Mystique wore a costume similar to her comics version which was a sleeveless white dress with a high neck over a dark blue bodysuit, thigh-high white boots, and white gloves along with the signature skull belt. When she came back in the second season, her uniform was now a black leather two-piece FanservicePack that shows off [[BareYourMidriff extreme midriff]], [[LegFocus plenty of leg]] and [[SleevesAreForWimps lacking sleeves]]. The overall changes to her new outfit give her a more DarkerAndEdgier look.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** 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.

* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: An unsettling example with Blob in his debut episode, where he kidnaps Jean out of the belief she loves him, just because she stood up for him against some bullies.

* AstralProjection: Charles Xavier and Jean Grey have been shown to do this especially since their both telepaths.

** Wolverine owns two that change when he’s in and out of costume and while he is an X-Man, he’s also an Anti-Hero so he's no goody-toe-shoes, either.

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Bayville's sewers are quite large, but unlike most examples the characters have to wade through the grime and dirty water in most cases and many of the pipes are rather cramped. Still big enough for the Morlock's to have a decent sized camp, though.

* NoPronunciationGuide: Wolfsbane has her real name Rahne spoken twice. Kitty says "rah-nee", while Logan says "rain", [[http://rahnesinclair.blogspot.com.br/2008/12/how-do-you-pronounce-her-name.html which is the correct way]].

* ReTool

''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]]

** In the first season, Mystique wore a costume similar to her comics version which was a sleeveless white dress with a high neck over a dark blue bodysuit, thigh-high white boots, and white gloves along with the signature skull belt. When she came back in the second season, her uniform was now a black leather two-piece FanservicePack that shows off [[BareYourMidriff extreme midriff]], [[ShesGotLegs plenty of leg]] and [[SleevesAreForWimps lacking sleeves]]. The overall changes to her new outfit give her a more DarkerAndEdgier look.

*** 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:[[FriendshipMoment That episode also reveals that Kurt, at least, considers Evan his friend and was very upset at the prospect of Spyke leaving the team]].]]

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In the first season, Mystique has a different design that is closer to her classic comic appearance.

* CharacterDevelopment: Most of the cast after Season One.

* BadassBiker: Wolverine, of course. Also Captain America, Sabertooth, Colossus, Gambit, and even [[BikerBabe Rogue]].

* StockSubtitle: "Evolution".

** Despite them both getting love interests in season 2, Kurt and Kitty had a lot of ShipTease throughout the show. There is some debate over whether the writers did this deliberately to please (or torture) the Kurt/Kitty shippers, if it's a case of RelationshipWritingFumble, or if [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Kurt and Kitty would have gotten together]] had there been a season five.

*** Her parents decided for that Kitty would stay home after the previous night’s incident while Kitty begged her mother to let her go to school as she tries to play it off like nothing has happened, and she was in total denial of her powers being a gift.

While the previous (and very popular) ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'' 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.

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 regularly find themselves in over their heads when tangling with bad guys--greatly increasing the tension in every battle.