X-Men ’97 fans pay respects to two characters removed show’s intro
Marvel/Disney+X-Men ’97 brings the all-time classic X-Men: The Animated Series intro into the modern era, but fans are quick to memorialize two characters who no longer appear.
The release of X-Men ’97 has also heralded a new take on the series’ iconic opening credits.
The series uses a new intro with a slightly rearranged twist on the original theme. It’s a few seconds longer to account for the inclusion of new series regulars such as Morph and Bishop.
However, the intro also updates one of the more confusing parts of the intro, something Reddit was quick to jump on.
Reddit pays homage to characters removed from X-Men ’97 intro
The post, shared to the X-Men subreddit by Hyaman 86, just says “Gone but not forgotten. RIP Thunderbird and little Megamind bloke.”
Hyaman86 places screenshots of the final moments of the intro, where the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants is shown racing towards a confrontation with the X-Men. However, the new intro removes two characters from the original series intro, replacing them with Lady Deathstrike and Emma Frost.
The Reddit thread is full of comments on the changes, with many confused as to why the line-up shifted so much.
“Even as a young kid who started reading 70’s X-Men after watching the series… Was wondering why Thunderbird was on the villains side, and there in the first place.” Intelligent_Creme 351 said.
“It’s Gargoyle who never should’ve been there to begin with,” added SuddenlyThirsty
Others are confused by the design of the new characters, with kohin000r asking “why is Lady Deathstrike so much smaller? Shouldn’t she be around the same size as Emma..if not more because she’s an android? Or is it an issue of perspective..?”
“Surprised they didn’t use Toad.” said DwarfFlyingSquirrel, referencing one of the Brotherhood’s most common members of the ’90s.
Who are the two characters removed from the X-Men ’97 intro?
The two characters have fleeting, at best, appearances in X-Men: The Animated Series, but they’ve always been a point of contention for fans. One character, Thunderbird, is actually a traditionally heroic X-Man who joined the team in Giant-Size X-Men #1 and infamously died in battle a few issues after his debut.
The other is an original, unnamed character who is often incorrectly stated to be either Brainchilde or Gargoyle, two obscure, classic Marvel villains.
The reality is that both characters are simply there for convenience’s sake. As detailed in Brian Cronin’s Comic Book Legends Revealed column, the original intro was imbalanced, as the Brotherhood only has a handful of members in the series.
Marvel ComicsWhen the intro was animated alongside the show’s seventh episode, they chose two characters from that episode–Thunderbird and a random background mutant of original design–to make up the difference.
Both characters are briefly seen as prisoners on the island of Genosha in episode seven and never again. With the newly animated X-Men ’97 intro, the decision was obviously made to replace them with more recognizable characters.
So far, the X-Men ’97 intro has been different for each installment, too, rotating the roster to reflect who joins the team. Fans can find out if there’s another change in store when X-Men ’97 airs its third episode, Fire Made Flesh, on Disney+.
