History YMMV / XMenEvolution

* FoeYay:
** The show seemed to set up a few of the X-Men and Brotherhood as having counterparts on the other side. Avalanche with Cyclops wrote itself with their rivalry. The same can be said with Toad with Nightcrawler and Spyke Quicksilver.
** Magneto with Xavier! Those to have so much UnresolvedSexualTension between them it isn't funny. There was the suggestive looks, the fact that Magneto protects him at several points in the series and Xavier's unfailing objections to putting an end to Eric. This can cross to HoYay when Magneto does a HeelFaceTurn (or in the origin when they were still on the same side).

** Duncan Matthews and his pals went from {{Jerk Jock}}s, to repeatedly physically assaulting Scott ''unprovoked'' after he was outted as a mutant, to post-graduation attempted mutant murder with mining machinery and munitions. [[spoiler:That last one got them locked up in prison though.]]

** Was Spyke an asshole who was EasilyForgiven only for being a newbie and Storm's relative, or just an budding antihero who was too young and constrained to do it right?

** Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler likewise - who was a bit better known and had been featured in a few episodes of the 90s series. But this series boosted his mainstream popularity, again leading to an appearance in ''Film/XMen2''.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The series is hugely popular in Brazil, having aired during "lunch time" (alongside WesternAnimation/StaticShock and WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited) in a popular cartoon block in public broadcast TV, with reruns still going even years after being cancelled in the US. Jokes and memes about Evolution are still frequent in Brazilian social media.

** Duncan Matthews and his pals went from {{Jerk Jock}}s, to repeatedly physically assaulting Scott ''unprovoked'' after he was outted as a mutant, to post-graduation attempted mutant murder with mining machinery and munitions. [[spoiler:That last one got them locked up in prison though. Duh.]]

** Duncan Matthews and his pals went from {{Jerk Jock}}s, to repeatedly physically assaulting Scott ''unprovoked'' after he was outted as a mutant, to post-graduation attempted mutant murder with mining machinery and munitions. [[spoiler:That last one got them locked up in prison though. [[WhatAnIdiot Duh]].]]

* WhatAnIdiot:
** Spyke:
*** Spyke honestly did a research report on ''Franchise/StarWars'' when the subject was "The Star Wars". To an outsider, that's understandable... except in high school you only get an assignment after at least five weeks on a subject!
*** He uses his camera to record Wolverine's training session... while SKATING TOWARDS HIM! Also, his recording any mutant in general, especially since in the previous episode, they mention keeping mutant activites a secret.
** Mystique:
*** Though she's typically competent, one episode has her let TheJuggernaut out of prison, after which she expects to be able to just order him around and [[BullyingADragon just plain insults when he doesn't act obedient]], even though he has no reason to listen her. This would have ended in her death if the X-Men and the Brotherhood didn't come rescue her and Xavier.
*** During her fight with Storm in "The Cauldron, Part 1". Mystique apparently decides that [[LeeroyJenkins recklessly kickboxing, drop-kicking]], and outright ''throwing'' herself at [[ShootingSuperman the powerful weather-witch that can conjure up thunderstorms on a whim]] is better than using her shapeshifting and stealth to outwit Storm or morph into an animal/person that would pose a more significant physical threat.
** Lance often uses his powers inside. His power is generating vibrations to induce seismic activity (IE, make building-destroying earthquakes). His power has, on multiple occasions, resulted in buildings collapsing. He still uses his full power when inside, and more-often-than-not has to avoid the damage he causes himself.

* TheScrappy: Spyke was an example of the crew's attempts to bring in a brand new X-Men character for the series who would be the "epitome of cool." This failed ''so'' badly (with almost all of the fans being irritated by his [[TotallyRadical "cool lingo"]][[note]]''"Yo Rogue, why don't you shed them gloves and give K-Girl a tiny tap?"''[[/note]], overall skater persona, and being kind of a jerk who often [[AesopAmnesia forgot the lessons taught to him]]). Though he got seriously RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap over time, generally in the popular census, if ''anyone'' brings up his character, its usually to say what a lame character he was.

** In regards of Wolverine's treatment, not only the series successfully avoided falling into WolverinePublicity and give him too much spotlight, but the AgeLift brought upon Jean Grey and Cyclops resulted in the removal of their controversial LoveTriangle. Many among the audience were so relieved about it, this is alone considered a big merit ''Evolution'' boasts compared to other ''X-Men'' adaptations.

* CantUnhearIt: Creator/ChristopherJudge's Magneto voice is viewed as one of the character's better portrayals.

** Wolverine x Mystique. Pretty much all the banter they have, especially in "The Cauldron, Part 2", makes them seem LikeAnOldMarriedCouple. The fact that they sit next to each other on the XM Velocity adds to this.

** Storm's fight with Mystique in "The Cauldron, Part 1" is OrgasmicCombat at its finest. Not only is there a lot of tackling, embracing, and other forms of intimate contact between the two, but the fight is accompanied by large amounts of rough grunting and panting, and when Storm finally knocks Mystique unconscious, they both [[TheImmodestOrgasm audibly climax]] at the same time.

* HilariousInHindsight: The episode [[Recap/XMenEvolutionS1E8SpykeCam Spyke Cam]] sees Spyke handing in a report on UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan's "Star Wars Program", [[NamesTheSame which he mistakenly wrote on the]] ''Franchise/StarWars'' movies. Both ''Star Wars'' and ''X-Men'' would later be under the same corporate umbrella in their entireties after {{Creator/Marvel|Comics}}, Creator/LucasFilm, and [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios Fox]] were all acquired by Creator/{{Disney}}.

* FansPreferTheNewHer: A franchise-wide example. Rogue's gothic redesign was quite popular with lifelong X-Men fans and newcomers, alike.

** It's one of the staples of the franchise that almost every named character is a woobie to some extent. Scott's parents both died in an accident that also caused him to lose control over his powers, Jean's powers are ''extremely'' dangerous and hard to control despite how much she works on them, Rogue cannot touch anyone without causing them extreme pain, Kurt has to deal with the fact that his mother is a supervillain and is ostracized because of his appearance, Kitty is bullied for being too smart, Logan has no memory and was victim to experimentation that still causes him to have episodes of PTSD... And that's just the ''important'' characters.

** In regards of Wolverine's treatment, not only the series successfully avoided falling into WolverinePublicity and give him too much spotlight, but the AgeLift brought upon Jean Grey and Cyclops resulted in the removal of their controversial LoveTriangle. Many among the audience were so relieved about it, this is alone considered a big merit ''Evolution'' boasts compared to other ''X-Men'' adaptation.

** There were a few fans who started guessing when Ristie popped up that - due to the purple hair, English accent and that her name could have just been a more modern version of 'Betsy' - she was going to be revealed as ComicBooks/{{Psylocke}}.

** [[spoiler: [[TheDragon Mesmero's]]]] introductory episode was this from the beginning to the end in episode 25 (''Mindbender''). There was no blood, no ultra violence, no huge fights... just him kidnapping and brainwashing a bunch of innocent kids ([[spoiler: Jean, Kitty, Evan and Kurt]]), using them to set off his EvilPlan to wake up [[spoiler: his master Apocalypse]] [[AdultFear and slipping unnoticed under their caretakers' watch]]. And he starts this by entering the kids's dreams and turning them into nightmares. Poor, ''poor'' Jean Grey.

** Duncan Matthews and his pals went from {{Jerk Jock}}s, to repeatedly physically assaulting Scott ''unprovoked'' after he was outted as a mutant, to post-graduation attempted [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal mutant murder with mining machinery and munitions]]. [[spoiler:That last one got them locked up in prison though. [[WhatAnIdiot Duh]].]]

* CriticalResearchFailure: The Season 2 episode, "Day of Reckoning", has Amara (Magma) fail to correctly give coordinates in metric and needing to be corrected in what it would be in miles. She even directly claims to "hate the metric system". The problem is that the United States is one of only three countries to not use metric, opting for imperial units instead. Meanwhile, Amara is from Brazil, meaning she should would be more likely to mistake distance in miles rather than kilometers.

* {{Narm}}:
** Wanda's flashback to when her father carted her off to a mental institution might have been more emotionally effective if they didn't use the exact same voice clip of her crying out to her father ''three times'' in the flashback, with those being her only lines aside from "Don't leave me...".
** When Professor X is revealed to be Mystique in disguise, the drama of her line "things are about to get much worse" is ruined when there's a pan of everyone else making scared faces that just look goofy.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: In Wanda's first extended appearance in "The Hex Factor" (when she goes berserk and tries to attack Pietro on sight), Toad half-jokingly asks Pietro if she's his ex-girlfriend. Four years after that episode came out, Creator/MarkMillar and Creator/JephLoeb rather infamously wrote Wanda and Pietro as [[{{Twincest}} an incestuous couple]] in ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'', much to the [[BrainBleach consternation]] of many fans.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** The Four Horsemen of Apocalypse in this show were Magneto, Storm, Prof. X, and Mystique. Storm and Magneto would be adapted as Horsemen again in the movie ''Film/XMenApocalypse'', with the latter two being the catalysts to their HeelFaceTurn during the film's climax.
** In "The Cauldron, Part 1", a few details in the fight between Storm and Mystique became much more amusing with time:
*** Storm says she doesn't care why Mystique chose to attack her, then hits her with a vicious punch that knocks her out. In ''Film/XMenApocalypse'', Storm says that she idolizes Mystique.
*** Storm says "This is my home, and you are not welcome here!" to a character whose real name is Raven. Then in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', the same line is spoken ''by'' a character whose real name is Raven. In both occasions, the line is delivered during a climactic battle of the season's finale.
** The Brotherhood watching the Powerpuff Girls in "Dark Horizon" ends up a bit funny as a majority of the cast from the show ended up working on ''Anime/PowerpuffGirlsZ'' later on.
** David Haller/Legion appears in one episode, with more realistic short blonde hair instead of his infamous look from the comics. Years later, [[Series/Legion2017 his only other on-screen appearance]] ''also'' went with short blonde hair.
** The episode "SpykeCam" has Spyke get a B on a test over the The Star Wars Program because he confuses it with the film it was named after. Much later, Disney would end up buying both Marvel and Lucasfilm to bring both properties under the same roof, making the joke even more humorous.
** The Season 2 episode "Power Surge" makes a throwaway reference to pineapple over pizza in ''2001'', which was ''long'' before debates over the topping would take the Internet by storm.
** Meghan Black, who voices Rogue, later starred in the 2002 remake of ''{{Literature/Carrie}}'' - also about a teenage girl with superpowers.
** The show shares half its cast with another Canadian cartoon about empowered teenagers - ''WesternAnimation/ClassOfTheTitans''. Kirby Morrow plays TheLeader in both. Colleen Wheeler plays the antagonist Mystique here, but is TheMentor in the latter.

* ContestedSequel: While not an actual sequel series, it's got a fair amount of dislike from those who grew up with ''WesternAnimation/XMen'', but some others liked this incarnation just fine, if not prefer it. Critics attack [[WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution the show]] for its lack of fidelity to the source material, its de-aging of all the mutants to teenage and YA versions of themselves, and toning down of violence. Defenders point out that it's the only animated incarnation of the X-Men that isn't bogged down by WolverinePublicity (the showrunners made it a point of making only one or two Wolverine-centric episodes per season), it also allows proper space and room for an ensemble cast of mutants, where the relationships don't take attention away from the socio-political metaphor and by introducing X-23, it produced a highly successful CanonForeigner who was ultimately adapted into ''Film/{{Logan}}'', the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful of all the entries in the ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'', and as such one can argue that ''Evolution'' made a more lasting contribution than the original Fox adaptation did.

** Nightcrawler/Shadowcat. It was mostly a side-effect of [[IncrediblyLamePun porting]] [[PlatonicLifePartners their relationship from the comics]] to the show. Kurt's canon crush on Kitty prior to dating Amanda and their consistently close friendship after probably helped, along with them being the biggest [[LauncherOfAThousandShips Ship Launchers]] in the fandom.

* ContestedSequel: While not an actual sequel series, it's got a fair amount of dislike from those who grew up with ''WesternAnimation/XMen'', but some others liked this incarnation just fine, if not prefer it. Critics attack the show for its lack of fidelity to the source material, its de-aging of all the mutants to teenage and YA versions of themselves, and toning down of violence. Defenders point out that it's the only animated incarnation of the X-Men that isn't bogged down by WolverinePublicity (the showrunners made it a point of making only one or two Wolverine-centric episodes per season), it also allows proper space and room for an ensemble cast of mutants, where the relationships don't take attention away from the socio-political metaphor and by introducing X-23, it produced a highly successful CanonForeigner who was ultimately adapted into ''Film/{{Logan}}'', the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful of all the entries in the ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'', and as such one can argue that ''Evolution'' made a more lasting contribution than the original Fox adaptation did.

** The Brotherhood watching the Powerpuff Girls in "Dark Horizon" ends up a bit funny as a majority of the cast from the show ended up working on ''Anime/DemashitaPowerpuffGirlsZ'' later on.

%%** Mystique, naturally.

** Kurt in Season 4 for trying to persuade Rogue to be okay with him keeping the petrified Mystique in the manor. Here's the deal; Mystique treated Rogue far worse than Kurt. Kurt was only accidentally abandoned as a baby when she was fleeing from the wolves - after she had expressed fury at what Magneto had done to him. And besides masquerading as his principal and later Professor X, he didn't really suffer because of her. Rogue meanwhile? Mystique knowingly abandoned her with Destiny and, when her powers awakened, resorted to {{Gaslight}}ing her to convert her to the Brotherhood. Then she posed as a friend to become Rogue's confidant for months, ostensibly to spy on the others and break into the mansion. Finally, when Rogue was still reeling from the trauma of ''that'' revelation, she willingly worked with Mesmero to MindRape Rogue into draining her friends and then reviving Apocalypse. This also gives Rogue massive second hand guilt over the world being endangered, and Kurt knows all of this - yet he brings the petrified statue back to the manor even when the reason it was sent away was because Rogue was understandably bothered by having a tribute to the woman who used and abused her multiple times. While the attempt was at BothSidesHaveAPoint (Kurt seeing more of Mystique's potential for good than Rogue), Kurt comes across as insanely insensitive to Rogue's trauma. [[spoiler: Thankfully as of the finale, he tells Mystique to get lost along with his sister]].

%%* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The completely out of nowhere music {{montage|s}} in "Walk on the Wild Side".

%%* UglyCute: Nightcrawler and Toad. Nightcrawler even has some of this in-universe - judging by Amanda's reaction when she sees his true form.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Lance's romantic subplot with Kitty starts with him saving her life — from an accident that ''he caused''. He had also previously attempted to attack Kitty, and due to the nature of his powers, he tends to cause a lot of collateral damage (sometimes near schools populated by children who [[FridgeHorror are never confirmed to have gotten out alive]]). To some people, all this makes it kind of hard to believe that Kitty would want him for a boyfriend. This also puts him in the somewhat unusual situation of being a common victim of both RonTheDeathEater AND DracoInLeatherPants.