Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige seriously wondered if the X-Men ‘97 fit in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In a recent interview with Emi Yonemura, director of Episodes 3 and 5, she shared: “That has always been something we know was on Kevin Feige’s mind, do we make this part of the MCU? Do we not make this part of the MCU? It’s actually gone back and forth quite a few times.”
X-Men ‘97 eventually followed its predecessor, X-Men: The Animated Series, in the continuity of Earth-92131, while the MCU operates in Earth-616. Former showrunner Beau DeMayo also previously confirmed on social media that “We are our own thing.”
Viewers cannot help but wonder about the possibility of having X-Men ‘97 as part of the MCU, especially after Marvel dropped a teaser of Captain America’s arrival in the show. Charles Xavier and Hank McCoy have also made their MCU movie debuts in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Marvels, respectively.
Marvel has recently confirmed that Netflix’s The Defenders Saga is MCU canon, covering Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, and The Punisher. What If…?, another Marvel Animation series on Disney+, is also considered canon, although it does not affect the main timeline.
The showrunners maintain their stance on X-Men ‘97’s independence from the MCU. Yonemura adds, “I think we did land in a smart place because [X-Men: The Animated Series] was its own thing, and I think that to continue it, we needed to be our own thing.”
Head director Jake Castorena further adds, “We’re getting the X-Men in this format and we’re doing it justice not just by ourselves, but also other fans as well, and we’re starting to get a resurgence of the X-Men in film again.”
Critics and audiences seem to agree, with overwhelmingly positive reviews highlighting how X-Men ‘97 elevates the franchise's storytelling, successfully introducing it to new audiences while evoking the nostalgia of the original animated series.
“I think it’s great that we can have different things; let them be different,” Castorena says.
X-Men ‘97 is now streaming on Disney+.