A new Lego set promoting the upcoming animated Disney Plus showX-Men ‘97has given fans a peek at what they can expect Wolverine to look like.
X-Men ‘97will function more as a revival than a reboot, picking up where the showX-Men: The Animated Seriesleft off.X-Men: The Animated Seriesfeatured characters like Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Beast, Cyclops, Gambit, Jubilee, Jean Grey, Magneto, and Professor X. The series lasted for five seasons, ending with Magneto fighting for mutant dominance and Professor X fighting against anti-mutant legislation. After nearly dying at the hands of Henry Peter Gyrich, Professor X leaves the team and Magneto behind to receive care from the Shi’ar - a group of avian-descended aliens who are the only ones able to treat Professor X and keep him alive in his fragile state. The new show’s story will start a few months after Professor X’s departure.
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Ahead ofX-Men ‘97’s Disney Plus release,LEGOannounced a Wolverine set that features art from the new show on the box. The art shows a new-and-improved Wolverine who looks almost identical to hisX-Men: The Animated Seriescounterpart. The design is similar - except this Wolverine looks a little cleaner and sleeker. The art also shows offWolverine’s signature adamantium claws, which look plenty menacing.
The new show shares more than just character design with its predecessor.X-Men ‘97will not only continue the plotfromX-Men: The Animated Seriesbut will include several members of the show’s cast. Returning members of the cast include Cal Dodd as Wolverine, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, George Buza as Beast, Chris Potter as Gambit, Lenore Zann as Rogue, and Catherine Disher as Jean Grey. Alyson Court will also return, but will not voice the character Jubilee. According to a post by @XMenUpdateon Twitter, Wolverine and Storm will be taking point, leading the team in Professor X’s absence.
The release of the Wolverine Lego figure should reassure fans who have been wondering aboutX-Men ‘97’s release. Although previous announcements stated that the show would premiere on Disney Plus before the end of the year, the show still has no official release date. This has led fans to wonder if the newX-Menshow will have its release date pushed back, something quite a few Marvel Studios shows are facing after Disney’s financial troubles forced the company to scale back their projects and focus on quality over quantity.
Though it’s not a good sign that the show still doesn’t have an official release date halfway through the year in which it’s supposed to premiere, the release of a piece of merch depicting one of the show’s main characters could be a promising sign. At the very least, Marvel Studios doesn’t want fans to forget aboutX-Men ‘97and doesn’t want fans to think that Marvel itself has forgotten about the show. For now, fans must hang tight and hope that the twenty-six-year gap between the finale ofX-Men: The Animated Seriesand the pilot ofX-Men ‘97doesn’t become a twenty-seven-year gap.
