There was something about superhero shows in the 90s and early 2000s that made them the definitive versions of their respective IPs for an entire generation. Be it Batman: The Animated Series, X-Men: The Animated Series, or Justice League Unlimited, these animated shows left a lasting mark on a generation and were the definitive versions of characters like Batman, Cyclops, Martian Manhunter, and Hawkgirl.
Bruce Timm, creator of acclaimed animated series like Batman: The Animated Series, weighed in on why his show took the world by storm the way it did, and it stands to reason that his explanation can be extrapolated to all the other shows that came out during the time. After all, it’s been mentioned time and time again, that adaptations just need to do one thing right, which is echoed even today, with Marvel’s X-Men ’97.
Bruce Timm says it is all about staying true to the source material
Speaking at the New Your Comic Con to sciencefiction.com, Bruce Timm was asked whether he knew how influential his work was going to become when he and his team were working on Batman: The Animated Series, which is still one of the most influential versions of the character. His answer was thus:
“Because it seems kind of like “well it’s not brain surgery”, you know? But it seems like we cherry picked stuff from the entire history of Batman in the comics, and the movies, and the serials, and the TV show, and we took things and kind of messed around with them. But for the most part we really stayed faithful to the spirit of the character and the spirit of the comics. We had a feeling that it would go over really well! “
The essence of any good superhero animates story, according to Bruce Timm, is doing due diligence, and staying true to the source material as much as possible. Batman: The Animated Series had a lot to pull from source material-wise, but decided to stick with how the character appears in the comics.
X-Men ’97 is succeeding for that very reason
X-Men ’97 has stayed true to its source material, which has caused it to be received with much fanfare and celebration. Despite being a sequel to a beloved property, X-Men ’97 was able to retain its original audience and work with their expectations, because it stayed true to the spirit of the characters, and adapted classic storylines from the comics faithfully.
X-Men ’97 might have just restored a lot of faith in the Marvel brand, given that with just three episodes, the show was able to resurrect the hype for the fandom, all in time for the studio to officially introduce the mutants into the MCU with Deadpool & Wolverine. As rumors circulate that the show will directly tie in with Deadpool & Wolverine, the portrayal of the characters from the show might just restore the faith of the audiences in the MCU as well.
