1990s animated series based on the popular X-Men comics.An ambitious attempt to adapt the most famous comic storylines. One of the most popular series on Fox's Saturday morning lineup, and remembered fondly despite its limited animation quality and a few less-than stellar story arcs.The main characters were:
Jubilation Lee/Jubilee, the teenage Naïve Newcomer who, at the beginning of the series, has just discovered she's a pyrotechnic-throwing mutant.
Rogue, Southern belle whose touch drains life, memory and powers, and who begins the series after having absorbed Ms. Marvel's Flying Brick abilities (but also gaining her vengeful consciousness trapped inside her own psyche) in addition to her own.
Remy LeBeau/Gambit, smooth-talking, card-playing Cajun thief with the ability to charge up objects and make them explode.
Dr. Hank McCoy/Beast, blue, furry Genius Bruiser whose feet can stick to walls and ceilings.
Together, they fought evil mutants, giant robots, government conspiracies, cosmic forces, and occasionally each other, while protecting those who hated and feared them.Another animated series based on the X-Men comic, X-Men Evolution, was made in the early '00s, followed by Wolverine and the X-Men in the late '00s.
Tropes
Aborted Arc: In "Beyond Good and Evil, Part 2," it is clearly stated that Magneto is only aiding Apocalypse to have his "beloved wife" resurrected. This was not referred to again and a far different motivation was stated in Part 4.
Above Good and Evil: Apocalypse delivers this line in the beginning of the four-parter "Beyond Good and Evil":
The animators based his character design on a later host body of the Shadow King entity, Jacob Reisz, rather than Amahl Farouk, the body he was in when he was introduced in the comics (though perhaps not his original form).
When Warren Worthington (Archangel) is introduced, he has no connection to Xavier or the X-Men. In "Cold Comfort", a flashback reveals the first 5 X-Men and one of them has big angelic wings on his shoulders.
Cable's appearance in the first season suggests he's been in the present day for quite some time but there's no attempt to reconcile it with his later appearances where he's clearly a man from the future who dives into the present only to Set Right What Once Went Wrong. This may be the result of the series's writers being unaware of Marvel's plans for him. The first season aired 1992-1993, whereas Cable's origin wasn't confirmed in the comics until December 1993. Thus, the series writers likely adjusted to avoid any serious contradictions with the source material. Also of note, whereas there is no attempt to reconcile the two seasons' Cable appearances, the first season is not ignored. Rogue explicitly recalls her first encounter with Cable when the two battle in "Time Fugitives, Part 2." Being a time traveling commando however it can be explained away that his first appearance was him tracking down Apocalypse, who was central to that storyline.
None of which explains how, exactly, Cable exists in the first place, seeing as Jean Grey never dies at the end of The Dark Phoenix Saga. As a result, Madelyne Pryor is never created to take her place, and therefore never marries Scott and has his child. How Cable is around when his mother, by all accounts, doesn't exist, is never explained.
That can easily be explained by his mother heavily implied to be Jean Grey in the series anyway.
"Enter Magneto" was clearly the first time the X-Men encountered or had even heard of Magneto. A flashback in "Cold Comfort" shows the original five X-Men had fought him at least once.
All of the Other Reindeer: Anti-mutant hysteria, though it grows less prominent after Senator Robert Kelly's life is saved by the X-Men, just before he's elected president. It's still pretty bad, though.
American Accents: Surprisingly well-done—Xavier is completely believable for Westchester County, Gambit is stereotypical but very consistent, and (not actually American, of course) Magneto has just the right touch of Central European on top of a cultured American accent. Rogue's southern accent isn't really one at all, though.
And I Must Scream: The episodes "The Phalanx Covenant" and "Love In Vain" are good examples.
Ascended Fanboy: In "Old Soldiers," Logan objects to his general giving him backup...until he discovers that he'll get to work with Captain America. Logan's thoughts sound as close to squee as he can go without completely breaking character.
Audience Surrogate: Jubilee is meant to serve this function, assuming one identifies with her. Arguably, the Target Audience generally does.
Apocalypse as well. Even Rogue was taken aback to how nuts he is. This extended to his henchmen, particularly Death (Angel/Warren Worthington) as well. Rogue had to absorb the Ax Craziness to get him to stop.
Back from the Dead: Jean Grey, of course, as they adapted her plot arcs directly from the comics. Morph came back in Season 2 though he had been intended to stay dead.
Bad Powers, Good People: Rogue's actual mutant power is to involuntarily take energy from other people through her touch, though she is a kind person despite the influence of people like Mystique in her past.
Battle in the Center of the Mind: A rather common plot device, the most notable being Professor Xavier battling the Shadow King and Rogue dealing with the transplanted personality of Miss Marvel.
Be Careful What You Wish For: After dispatching the entire team with ease, Dark Phoenix focuses on Xavier and purposefully invokes this.
"You once told Jean Grey that the greatest joy a teacher had is to be surpassed by his own pupil. Enjoy!"
Beware the Nice Ones: Beast. You really get to know why he has that codename when a gang of anti-mutant thugs kidnap his girlfriend. And seriously, do not piss off Jean Grey when she's cooking.
Big Bad: Apocalypse in a more series-wide capacity, since Magneto's Heel Face Revolving Door was played up. Mister Sinister clearly holds this status in Season 2, though.
Bloodless Carnage: Averted in the first season finale where the Sentinels attack Magneto. When the X-Men find him under machinery later, he's a bloodied mess and clearly on the edge of death.
Bouquet Toss: When Scott and Jean get married, Beast catches it.
Brainwashed and Crazy: Morph after he was brought back to life by Mister Sinister to manipulate the X-Men, and Jean Grey being manipulated by Mastermind to join the Hellfire Club...although being possessed by the Phoenix also helped.
Especially when the previously emotionless cosmic being becomes addicted to human emotions.
Breather Episode: "Mojovision," which comes in after the emotionally heavy "Beauty & the Beast" and right before the "Reunion" two-part season finale.
British Accents: Mr. Sinister (who was born in England) and Brainchild speak with faint traces of one. However, British-born Psylocke does not.
The Scottish accents were painfully bad (including Moira MacTaggert's), which is particularly unfortunate since several episodes purport to take place in Scotland.
Pyro speaks with a sterotypical (and poor) Cockney accent, slang and all. All the weirder, since the Pyro is canonically Australian.
Broken Aesop: One episode has Wolverine exploiting the bigotry of a bunch of anti-mutant radicals by revealing their leader to be the son of Sabretooth, a mutant, causing his men to turn against him. The X-Men, after all, are trying to bring about peace and understanding humans and mutants, and Wolverine was just fueling the fire.
The Brute: Sabertooth. Particularly in Beyond Good and Evil
Wolverine to Professor X when Sabretooth was in their infirmary and Magneto was attacking. "How come we gotta trash your old enemy, but we gotta go easy on mine?"
Cyclops and Corsair, in a truly gut-wrenching scene.
Xavier gets this from Iceman during his guest appearance.
The Caligula: Its very strongly hinted that D'Ken is or was one. He, on a whim abducted a human couple (which we later find out were Cyclops' parents: Chistopher and Katherine Summers) inadvertently saving them from a plane explosion because he wanted to keep them as "live specimen". He later had Katherine killed in front of Christopher, who would escape from him and become Corsair. Lilandra often wastes no opportunity to call him a "madman", implying his rule wasn't very pleasant.
The Cameo: One of the things the series is remembered for. Various Avengers, Doctor Strange, War Machine, Spider-Man (well, his hand and shadow at least), the Punisher, Black Panther, and Deadpool are just some of the characters to pop up throughout the series. Numerous mutants from the comics also made these. Additionally, characters with speaking roles in even one episode will tend to reappear in cameos in others.
Hell, in the last season finale starring Apocalypse, a Guardian shows up as one of the psychics.
Canon Immigrant: Morph is an unusual example, as the character who eventually became Morph was originally a reformed villain called the Changeling, who died in a Heroic Sacrifice back in the days of the original X-Men team.
Storm's godson Mj'nari the Fragile Speedster from the episode "Whatever It Takes".
Subverted. In the "Captive Hearts" episode; though one of the morlocks Tar Baby exists in comics, he has a completely different look in the cartoon. Compare his Comic version to his Cartoon version◊.
Cassandra Truth: When Professor X, having previously expressed concerns about his sanity, tries to tell the X-Men that an alien woman popped out of nowhere in front of him and was immediately abducted, the response is not what he'd hoped...
Catch Phrase: Beast overdoes his "Fascinating" and "Oh dear". Also:
"The name's Gambit, remember it!"
Wolverine: "I go where I wanna go!"
"I am Storm, Mistress of the Elements!"
Chainedto A Railway; Played straight in an episode (Need episode name) where Jubilee is tied to some to subway tracks.
Chain Link Fence: The opening includes a shot of Jubilee, being chased by an Angry Mob, running into a chain-link fence.
Coming of Age Story: Technically this applies to everyone, but Jubilee especially.
Composite Character: Professor Oyama is an amalgamation of the Professor of Weapon X and Lord Dark Wind, the father of Lady Deathstrike.
On a related note, Lady Deathstrike herself has elements of Mariko Yashida, as in this incarnation, prior to becoming Deathstrike, she was Wolverine's lover.
Crossover: With Spider-Man: The Animated Series, which ran alongside X-Men. It was pretty much inevitable. In fact before his series was developed a cameo of Spider-Man can be seen in one episode saving some civilians of New York from a tidal wave (he wasn't fully shown save for an arm but it was still pretty clear who he was). The series' voice cast were even flown to LA from Canada to record their lines for the crossover.
Darker and Edgier: Compared to every other Marvel animated series (since the 1960's 'cartoons'), or rather every action animation till the time, the pilot episode itself gives you a hint that this is very unlike your average Saturday morning action animation. The Marvel equivalent of Batman: The Animated Series—admittedly toned down (largely due to censorship) in comparison, but still a lot harder than, say, Super Friends, or the original animated GI Joe and Transformers.
This happens to Professor X in season 2, as the X-Men had to deal with challenges that were originally resolved by him. A good thing that Jean's a telepath herself (if not as skilled).
Rogue had to be written out of the first episode of the Phoenix Saga, with Xavier saying she's on a mission. This may sound random until you realize that due to her Mega Manning and Flying Brick powers (which let her survive the vacuum of space and reentry into the atmosphere), she could have done everything Jean did without a single hitch. In fact, when Rogue gets back and learns what happened, she blames herself for not being there to do this. In the comics, she hadn't been created as a character yet.
Wolverine was thrown this trope during the season 2 finale and the beginning of the Dark Phoenix saga. His adamantium claws would've made breaking out all too easy. Hence why at the beginning of each fight, he is disposed of quite early (thrown off a waterfall in the one case, knocked 5 stories down into the sewers in the other) only to come back when the villains were about to dispose of the other X-Men
Disappeared Dad: Played straight with Cyclops until he meets Corsair and realizes that he is Cyclops' father.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Final Solution. The Friends of Humanity high command wear face concealing cloaks ala the Klu Klux Klan.
Downer Ending: Near the end of "Weapon X, Lies, and Videotapes'', they learn that their memories were fabricated, with implications that some might be true. Wolverine pointed out that the fake cabin didn't have the carving of "Logan+Kayla" inside a heart on the door, Wolverine believes their love for each other was real. However, Kayla (now Silver Fox) said that even if that was true "that was another lifetime". The episode ends with a pan to a tree with the carving.
Dragon Ascendant: After Mr. Sinister was defeated in the Savage Land, Sauron takes up the reins and quickly takes over the area.
Nearly every appearance of Magneto, but notably the entirety of season 2, in which he is stranded in the Savage Land with Professor X.
Beast (who is the only one left after his teammates were captured), Warlock, Forge and Amelia Voght team up with the two Big Bads Mister Sinister and Magneto against the alien threat Phalanx in the two-parter episodes.
Beyond Good And Evil sees Magneto and Mystique team up with the X-Men to stop Apocalypse's plot.
Explaining Your Power to the Enemy: After taking a few hits from Gambit's exploding cards, Bishop explains his mutant ability to absorb energy from other mutants’ attacks and transform it into energy bolts, which he then uses on Gambit.
Expy: In terms of his powers and appearance, Morph seems to be based on the obscure 1970s villain turned X-Man Changeling.
In the adaptation of The Dark Phoenix Saga, Rogue, who debuted after the original comic, takes the place of Colossus, due to both having super strength and Colossus not being a regular character in this series. Also, Beast doubles for Nightcrawler in some scenes due to their shared agility and Nightcrawler's absence.
The episode Jubilee's Fairytale Theatre was based on a comic which featured Kitty Pride instead of Jubilee. Another one changed because the TV show's line-up didn't match the comic being adapted.
Fairytale Wedding Dress: Jean's dress in the first marriage (that turned out to be invalid).
Fake Memories: The basis of the plot of the episode "Weapon X, Lies and Videotape."
Family Friendly Firearms: Lasers for everyone. Getting hit does no more damage than a punch, no matter what setting the user says it's on. Averted in Wolverine's flashback episode in World War 2, when German and American troops are shown with realistic firearms though the animation occasionally spoils it, and accuracy predictably suffers.
Fate Worse Than Death: In "Beyond Good and Evil, Part 4," Apocalypse is seemingly destroyed, but in actuality, his essence is trapped within a void. A celestial alignment and a sacrifice is required for him to be fully revived. In the end, Cortez becomes the sacrifice and his essence is shown being sent into the same void as Apocalypse is revived.
Feeling Oppressed By Their Existence: This is more or less the opinion and motivation of Graydon Creed. Keeping in mind he says the following as if it were fact;
Jubilee: What did we ever do to you‽ Creed: You were born!
Fingerless Gloves: Gambit. Of course, he probably needs his skin to make contact with whatever he's charging up, or he might end up charging his own gloves.
For Want of a Nail: In the two-parter "One Man's Worth", it's shown that the death of Charles Xavier before he formed the X-Men, eventually led to human-mutant relations souring to the point of a full blown war taking place in the 90s, and in Bishop's time, Master Mold has all but dominated the world, and nearly wiped out all mutants.
Friendly Enemy: Professor X and Magneto view each other as worthy rivals on an ideological level, having even been good friends pre-schism
Foregone Conclusion: Most of the adapted storylines, though there are exceptions, such as the Dark Phoenix Saga.
Gag Dub: None based on this series are as widely known as the "Juggernaut, Bitch!" dubs from My Way Entertainment, which redub episodes featuring the Juggernaut in the most vulgar way possible.
Go Mad from the Revelation: Rebecca, the wife of Nathaniel Essex (who would become Mister Sinister) saw what her husband's work turned him into, then realised that her health being restored was due to him experimenting on her...and then she had to discover the mutants he kept in his laboratory. After releasing them and the ensuing mob destroying Essex's home, it is said she never spoke a word again for as long as she lived.
Great Gazoo: In "Beyond Good and Evil" Bishop is stuck in the crossroads of time, and followed by a maniac who poofs in and out of existence, tormenting him. At the end when the X-Men have defeated the villains (With Bishop's help), he's regarding them in a distance and turns into Immortus. Though we never see him again in the series.
Heroic Sacrifice: Jean Grey in "The Dark Phoenix Saga" as in the comics. The Phoenix Force felt regret over what it had caused, and brought her back.
And Jean Grey as Phoenix when she flies the M'Kraan Crystal into the sun.
Also Morph who gets killed saving Wolverine in the first episode.
Near the end of the series, Mystique takes a laser shot to save her son Nightcrawler's life, and falls over a waterfall.
She survived. And was last seeing walking away in tears.
There was also Alternate timeline Wolverine and Storm who helped fix the timeline in "One Man's Worth", but erased themselves from history in the process.
I Owe You My Life: "Repo Man" plays it straight in the flashbacks, as Wolverine expresses genuine gratitude towards Heather and James/Vindicator - agreeing to work for their department out of appreciation. However, things obviously didn't work and Wolverine no longer feels this way.
If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Wolverine tells Cyclops in the wedding reception: "If she's [Jean's] unhappy, don't let me find out." before opening his claws to cut a slice of the wedding cake.
I Just Want to Be Normal: All the X-Men have had this at some point or other. but the special mention goes to Rogue, who's the one it happens to most frequently. She started feeling like this in the early part of the series, considering taking the "mutant cure", but deciding against it in the end. However, the cure was a ruse to transform mutants into Apocalypse's Four Horsemen.
A good runner-up is Beast. While generally very accepting of being a mutant, in "Beauty & the Beast," he openly laments that his powers keep him from having a normal life, associating with his family and from being with the woman he loves.
"I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Cyclops calls out to Jean after the Dark Phoenix takes control of her. Xavier does so later - requesting Jean's help during a psychic battle with the entity.
Immortal Life Is Cheap: Proteus manages to rip Wolverine in half, then melt him into a puddle.
It's Not You, It's My Enemies: This is basically why Beast decides to stop seeing Carly at the end of "Beauty and the Beast", since the nature of his very active battle for mutant rights puts the the people he loves in danger.
Magneto is excellent at being hammy. Watch "Sanctuary," parts 1 & 2, and "Graduation Day" for some prize bacon examples.
THE NAME IS LADY DEATHSTRIKE! Yes Yuriko...we know who you are* Laser-Guided Karma: Graydon Creed, the leader of the anti-mutant "Friends of Humanity" organization, after failing to eliminate his mutant family, was abducted and flown by his own group to the home of Sabretooth, his father.
Literal Genie: The Sentinels were programmed to "protect humans from mutants". However, because all humans have some level of genetic mutation, they interpreted it as "protect humans from themselves".
Limited Wardrobe A lot of characters almost never change clothes, even when it makes no sense not to.
Loads and Loads of Characters: Though not everyone in the comics at the time made an appearance, the producers did their level best.
Look Ma, No Plane!: In one episode, Rogue once sat on the wing of a plane when she needed to think, and didn't notice the a passenger was freaking out. He even tries to tell the stewardess, but she just laughs.
Rogue finding out Mystique had been her foster mother.
Nightcrawler finding out that Mystique was his mother.
Graydon Creed is a bit of a subversion as he knew Sabretooth was his father, but being the head of an anti-mutant organization, he was ashamed of it, to say the least. He goes through this for real when he learns that Mystique is his mother, however.
Mama Bear: Played straight with Ororo Munroe, a.k.a. Storm, in one episode, when her god-child (the son of Storm's best friend in Africa, whom she has known from birth) who's also a mutant (more exactly, a Fragile Speedster a la Quicksilver) is kidnapped and possessed by her arch-nemesis, the Shadow King.
Also with Mystique when she takes a laser shot to save her son Nightcrawler's life.
This is Xavier's primary form of combat in the series, though he does mention abhorring it and feel guilty when he's forced to do so. He applied it to Magneto, by having him relive his memories of the Holocaust. It may have had a point in teaching him that violence is wrong, but it is still forcing someone to relive his darkest memories.
In the two-parter involving Proteus, he rapes both mental and physically the hell out of Wolverine. Afterward, even Wolverine, the archetype of the Nineties Anti-Hero, was horrified by the psychic attack.
In "A Rogue's Tale", Rogue's mind is invaded by Miss Marvel and she is tormented by it.
Then there's what Dark Phoenix did to Mastermind after realizing he was trying to control her.
More than Mind Control Sinister (and to a lesser extent Morph) both imply that Morph was genuinely angry with the X-Men for leaving him behind, and wanted revenge on his own, though his own mind rejected this to the point that he developed a split personality. At first, Sinister did little more than draft the Evil Morph to help him out (albeit with a mechanical backup). Of note, is the scene where he specifically targets Jubilee (whose death would not help Sinister out in the slightest). She joined the team immediately after his death and became super close with his former BFF Wolverine, and he practically snarls after her "That's for thinking you could take my place". Later in the season, after Sinister's recaptured him, he's been more properly brainwashed into being his slave, though he manages to break free several times and his loyalty to his friends eventually wins out completely.
Also of note, in the second episode he casually suggests that humans evolving into mutants is "progress", which is quite in line with Sinister's views, even if he would never voluntarily support his methods.
Most Common Super Power: Toned down a bit for the kids. Fortunately, that didn't stop the ladies' iconic costumes from being super-hot, especially Emma Frost and the Hellfire Club who keep their sexy kinky outfits from the comics.
Muggle Power: The Brotherhood and various other Anti and Pro Mutant factions' reason for fighting.
Muzzle Flashlight: A scene in the first season finale has Wolverine battle a squad of Sentinels in a dark cave, with nothing to see with except the flashes from the robots' energy blasts.
My God, What Have I Done?: Archangel (as the Horseman of Death) after Rogue absorbed some of his powers/memories, or as Rogue called it, "the evil within". Also, Jean Grey after reasserting control from the Phoenix entity, who nearly killed Wolverine and almost allowed Cyclops to be killed by Mastermind in mental battle in the Hellfire Club.
Brother Reinhart in "Nightcrawler" who leads a mob to kill Nightcrawler and his brothers, whom he believed have been corrupted by the "demon". But after Nightcrawler shows him mercy after saving him from a fall and showed him what his actions have caused (burning the monestary), he falls on his knees and cries that he has "sinned". He later repents.
My Country, Right or Wrong: Gladiator opposes the X-Men and is ordered to retrieve the M'Kraan crystal. Lilandra notes that Gladiator is a hero and a man of honor, and questions why he'd serve D'Ken. Gladiator replies (quite politely) that he serves whoever is seated on the Shi'ar throne, which is the only reason why he antagonizes the X-Men. He later turns sides and pretty much calls Lilandra the Empress of Shi'ar when D'Ken uses the M'Kraan Crystal to absorb the X-Men, Imperial Guards and the Starjammers and it becomes clear that they're won't be a throne to serve if D'Ken isn't stopped.
Mysterious Past: Gambit, to which even Wolverinelampshades. Cable also has one, though he's from the future.
Never Say "Die": Averted in the episode dealing with Gambit's backstory as he says that he left because he was sick of the endless cycle of revenge with, as he put it "Thieves killing assassins, assassins killing thieves"
More often played straight, however; the opening storyline manages to kill off an X-Man without ever saying the words.
They did semi-regularly use the words "die" and "kill" however, it seemed they were allowed use them, but only sparingly.
This is really noticeable in "Till Death Do Us Part". First and foremost, note the title. Also, Morph talks a lot about being "left to die" and Sinister angrily says he should have "let [him] die" when Morph tries to turn against him. But, when Morph is threatening Cyclops, who Sinister needs alive, he delivers the somewhat painful line "Shoot him, and I destroy you". There clearly were more prohibitions on using "kill" than "die".
The fourth episode was called Deadly Reunion. Consider this trope averted.
Averted, when Cyclops and Wolverine witness security forces confront a berserk Sabretooth. In the third episode itself.
No Endor Holocaust: The Dark Phoenix consumed a star to recharge. However, it was stated that the star system had no intelligent life around it—which was technically a good thing, given that it's a kid show. In the original story, the system was inhabited. Still, this didn't prevent the Shi'ar Empire from trying to destroy the Phoenix whatever the cost, and Jean was genuinely horrified by what the Phoenix drove her to do, since it was done largely on a whim and without concern for the lives that could have been lost.
It wasn't stated. It was declared at least five times to make the point abundantly clear.
Master Mold is an odd case of this, being a robot and everything.
Magneto pulled this off in "Sanctuary: Part 2", after he was betrayed by Cortez, weakened and sent back to Earth to be killed by the heat from re-entry. However, due to the Earth's magnetic field he survived and initiated a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Cortez.
Odd Friendship: Wolverine and Nightcrawler. Could also be said about Wolverine's close friendship with Morph.
Off Model: This was frequent, and one episode it's particularly bad in is when Wolverine goes back to Japan.
During the pilot episode(s) the height of the sentinels seems to vary a lot. Between 5 stories tall or twice the height of the average human.
Also in the last season where Jubilee's eyes are changed from brown into blue.
She also got a new hairstyle (a shoulder length bob with bangs instead of her usual crop). She never had said hairstyle in the comics. Presumably, it was changed to make it easier to draw, since they were now using a cheaper, lower quality, animation studio.
A good example of this is when The Juggernaut comes barging in, trounces Wolverine, and the Gladiator arrives for Lilandra, No Sells a hit from Juggy then painfully grabs his arm and tosses into the horizon, the X-Men collectively soil their pants.
Jubilee: I thought no-one could do that to the Juggernaut!
Gambit: (glances at the descending Gladiator) Nobody from Earth.
Apocalypse is this mixed with A God Am I and crossed with a psycho survivalist. He wants to kill everyone he deems unfit and rule over whatever's left. It's more evident in the "Beyond Good and Evil" four-parter, in which he plans to wipe out all of existence and start from scratch.
Omega Red.
Graydon Creed and the Friends of Humanity in regards to mutants. Seriously, they make Joe Mc Carthy look like a choir boy. Just look at the quote above.
On The Next: The episode preceding the Phoenix storyline ends with a shot of the earth from space; a wall of fire blazes up behind it, with a caption over the flames: "Coming soon: The Phoenix Saga".
Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Many of the voice actors are Canadian, and never is this more obvious than when Jubilee says "Sorry" like "Soh-ry" instead of "Saw-ry".
Morph's voice actor does fine in the first few eps, and his season 2 return, but starts slipping badly when the character is brought back for a cameo in season 4.
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Magneto starts out with a couple of respectably villainous attacks on a military base and a factory, and he has a brief stab at assassinating Senator Kelly, but after that, virtually every time he showed up it was in an Enemy Mine situation of some sort. And he was supposed to be the villain of the show.
Politically Correct History: Averted in an episode when Storm travels to the past and she won't be served in a restaurant because she was holding hands with a white man. As someone who's used to being persecuted for being a mutant, she comments that just plain old-fashioned racism is "so pathetic it's almost quaint." Rather daring, for a Fox Kids cartoon.
Postscript Season: Word Of God states the "Beyond Good and Evil" four-parter was originally intended to be the Grand Finale. A renewal order led to a few more episodes being produced before the final end with "Graduation Day."
Power Incontinence: Rogue is not only unable to control her ability-absorbing power, but is also frequently unable to control the powers she absorbs with it, though the latter could be due to being unfamiliar with the power.
Power Loss Makes You Strong: Professor X showed himself to be even more Badass than Magneto when they both lost their powers. Xavier did have the power to pull a spear and a boomerang from NOWHERE.
Previously On: The words were so often repeated in the series due to it having so many multi-episode-spanning storylines, that even years later, many fans say they can merely just read the words "Previously, on X-Men..." and hear them spoken in Cyclops' voice.
Puberty Superpower: The backstories of most of them, but Jubilee especially.
Pulling Themselves Together: Sinister's body is almost totally indestructible, and when blown to pieces he begins to reform immediately. Jean scatters his components all around the globe, and it takes literal years for him to reform.
Put on a Bus After Morph's death is retconed, this happens to him a lot. First, you could kind of say this retroactively happened to him throughout season one. Then, after the reveal of his Not Quite Dead-nes and subsequent Roaring Rampage of Revenge he vanishes for most of season two, returning in the season finale. He's then promptly put on a bus to Muir Island until the final episode except...
Quickly Demoted Woman: As the series began, the USA was featured as having a female President. She didn't have too much screen time or characterization before her term was over and Senator Robert E. Kelly took over as the new President. She completely left the series after that and we never learned what she did after no longer being the President.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: In "Beyond Good and Evil, Part 2," Psylocke calls Angel out on being a self-hating mutant and wasting resources hunting "a creature that can never die."
Reluctant Mad Scientist: Heather Hudson provides a very sympathetic example as she's ordered by her superior in Department H to set a trap for Wolverine and lure him back to Canada so that he can rejoin Alpha Flight. As Wolverine would predictably refuse, she's tasked with probing him to discover how he survived the adamantium-bonding process in the Weapon X project, so that they'd create a new Weapon X. Heather only went along with it to make sure it's done humanely. In fact, when the probing doesn't reveal any answers, she's so horrified at her boss' suggestionto have Logan vivisected that she quits working for Department H.
Magneto after surviving Cortez's assassination attempt has this against Cortez, one that puts everyone on Asteroid M at risk, forcing them to evacuate.
Running Gag: Wolverine doesn't like being teleported...or ducks.
Royally Screwed Up: All the royal members of the Shi'ar Empire that were shown in the series seem to be insane and power-hungry, save for Lilandra.
Sacrificial Lamb: Morph. He returns for the second season and has a final return in the series finale, as Xavier is dying.
Sadistic Choice: "Graduation Day" provides a villain variant, as Magneto must either choose between leading his new mutant army to achieve his own dream or calling it off in order to save Xavier's life.
Save the Villain: In one episode, Juggernaut starts an all-out attack on Xavier's mansion, but is stopped when somebody else steals his powers. Cain Marko then starts to die, requiring the X-Men to find the Ruby of Cyttorak to restore his power and save his life. They do, and Juggernaut repays them by stopping the attack and leaving.
Cyclops: We're going to save the Juggernaut's sorry life. And don't bother telling me you don't like it.
Wolverine: I don't like it.
After first becoming trapped in the Savage Land, Xavier saves Magneto's life - much to the villain's astonishment.
Magneto: Your life would be infinitely easier if mine were to end, yet you saved me. Xavier: I do not yearn for an easy life, Magneto - only a just one. I would take little satisfaction in your death.
Morph, during a Story Arc where he was Brainwashed and Crazy, shapeshifts into Wolverine's most hated foes (including Sabretooth and Omega Red), trying to take advantage of Wolvie's fractured and tormented memories of said foes to drive him to insanity. Unfortunately for him, Wolvie's got plenty of experience with repressing those memories, and he only escapes by taking advantage of the one memory Wolvie can't repress: being forced to leave Morph to die after a semi-botched mission. There's also the the time when he shapeshifts into Jean, and calls him a freak compared to Scott, before laughing and running away.
Similarly, Mystique shapeshifts into Ms. Marvel to dredge up a bad memory in Rogue of her past to try and guilt her into abandoning the X-Men and hook back up with her; the memory was of Mystique ordering Rogue to fully absorb Marvel's powers and personality, an action that caused Marvel to pop up on occasion as accusatory hallucinations. Rogue eventually had to ditch Mystique as a result, joining the X-Men and having Professor X block her mind of Marvel and the incident to keep the hallucinations at bay, but since he was at this time MIA and unable to keep the block in place, Mystique was trying to convince Rogue that she was the only one in the world who could help her with it.
Take That: During an episode from a later season, a child is seen wearing a T-shirt that says "BS&P Rules". The Broadcasting Standards and Practices group had heavily censored this show, as well as Spider-Man.
Team Mom: Jean Grey. A case could be said for Storm as well.
Tentacle Rope: Magneto's former savage land base that Mr. Sinister later takes over (it's unknown who added the tentacles, though it was probably Sinister).
Terminator Twosome: A two-episode arc involved Bishop traveling from the Bad Future to the present day, attempting to prevent the outbreak of a mutant plague. His actions backfire, however, and result in the deaths of the X-Men and the complete extinction (rather than just decimation) of mutants— so Cable comes from an even further future to stop Bishop.
There was a Worf chain reaction during the Phoenix saga. Wolverine gets curbstomped by the Juggernaut... who, minutes later, is used to show that even an "unstoppable" character is no match for Gladiator. Five minutes later, Gladiator got this by Phoenix in her fabulous entrance.
They Called Me Mad!: In his Start of Darkness episode, Mr. Sinister's wild theories about human mutation cause him to be derided by his scientific peers. Then he starts ranting at all of them about how soon men will have the powers of gods, which couldn't have helped.
Third Line, Some Waiting: The subplot in which Professor X and Magneto are trapped in the Savage Land throughout season 2.
Tooka Levelin Badass: Morph apparently did while at Muir Island, if the difference in his performance in "Courage" vs "Night of the Sentinels" is any indication.
Too Powerful to Live: Apocalypse. To the point he actually believes he's "...as far beyond mutants as they are beyond you [humans]!"
Rogue: (covers Gambit's lip with her hand and kisses it) I hate you!
Gambit: (shrugs his shoulders) I don' understand dis woman.
Unresolved Sexual Tension: Toned down to Unresolved Romantic Tension, but it can be found in spades between Wolverine and Jean, as well as Gambit and Rogue.
Unexplained Recovery: No matter how badly hurt someone is, even to the point of seeming to be totally destroyed, they will always return. Part of this is the limitations of a kid's show and part of it is just Status Quo Is God.
What Measure Is a Mook?: Discussed in "Beyond Good and Evil, Part 2," after Sabretooth (who was the villains' brute) is left behind to be captured by the X-Men:
Mystique: Too bad we lost Sabretooth. Magneto: Sabretooth is an unthinking, unfeeling animal. Such refuse is easily expendable.
"Descent." The episode is mainly set in Victorian England and deals with the origin of Mister Sinister. Said origin is seen via flashbacks, as an aged ancestor of Professor Xavier's explains to law enforcement the threat posed by Sinister and what he himself witnessed. Notably, at the very end, the episode jumps to the present-day and Xavier is seemingly reflecting on events viewers had just seen.
Wolverine Publicity: Applies to almost all the characters, who appear in every intro but spend a long time being Out of Focus during the fourth season, except for Wolverine, who appears in more episodes by far than any other character.
You Are What You Hate: Graydon Creed founded the anti-mutant Friends of Humanity, but is the son of two mutants. He had already known for some time that Sabretooth, which was why he founded the group in the first place. (He has a Villainous Breakdown, however, when his supporters find out.) He later learns that Mystique is his mother - making Nightcrawler his half-brother and Rogue his adopted sister.
Discussed in "The Final Decision" between Trask and his rebelling creation.
Trask: You can't make me do this! You were designed to protect humans from mutants! Master Mold: That is not logical. Mutants are human. Therefore, humans must be protected from themselves.
A running gag in which Bishop time-travels to stop the one event that caused the dark future only to arrive back where he is, noting that "Nothing's changed. It's all just like I left it."
Additionally so for Cable, who attempted to destroy Apocalypse by destroying his Lazarus Chamber in the past. This seems to work and Cable's future is supposedly changed, but a later episode shows Apocalypse being reborn.
You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Beast's blue-black hair, to go with the rest of his fur. In the episodes where they guest-star, Nightcrawler, Psylocke, and Polaris, respectively, have dark blue, purple, and green hair.
You Shall Not Pass: In the first season finale, Wolverine and Gambit are infiltrating a Sentinel production facility. Wolverine smells some, and so he herds Gambit to relative safety—then locks the door behind him and runs back to face them. Subverted in that Gambit blows the door open and comes to Logan's rescue. Near the end of the episode, Cyclops finds the two of them standing on a pile of destroyed Sentinels, Wolverine's shirt in tatters.
Wolverine: Next time I try ta save yer life, have sense enough ta let me do it.
You Wouldn't Hit a Guy with Glasses: Some toughs in a bar are getting belligerent with Cyclops. He tries to play it cool and says the line, but one of them says "So take 'em off!", grabs Cyke's shades, and things start to go downhill from there.
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