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X-Men: Evolution

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X-Men: Evolution is an American animated television series about the Marvel Comics superhero team X-Men. In this incarnation, many of the characters were teenagers instead of adults. The series ran for a total of four seasons (52 episodes) from November 4, 2000, until October 25, 2003, on Kid's WB, which at the time made it the third longest-running Marvel Comics animated series, behind only Fox Kids' X-Men and Spider-Man animated series. The series began running on Disney XD on June 15, 2009.

Produced in the United States, the voice recording was done in Canada and the show was animated in Japan and South Korea.

Within the Marvel Multiverse, the X-Men: Evolution universe is designated as Earth-11052.

Plot
Season One

The first season introduces the core characters and lays the foundations for future storylines. Professor X, Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, and Jean Grey make up the original X-Men. As the season develops, the ranks of the X-Men are bolstered by the appearance of Nightcrawler in the first episode, Shadowcat in the second, Spyke in the fifth, and Rogue (who originally joins the Brotherhood in the fourth episode) in the third. In the later episodes of this season, Nightcrawler discovers the identity of his birth mother, Wolverine finds answers to his past, Rogue switches sides to join the X-Men, and Xavier's half-brother, Juggernaut, is released from his prison.

Confrontations are typical with the Brotherhood, who vie for new recruits with the X-Men over the course of the season. Toad is the first to be introduced, followed by Avalanche, Blob, and Quicksilver. The Brotherhood, led by Mystique, is in fact being directed by a higher power, the identity of whom was "revealed" in the two-part season finale as being Magneto. After Cyclops discovers that his brother Alex actually survived the plane crash that killed their parents, they are both taken by Magneto into his "sanctuary" on Asteroid M. Magneto captures several X-Men and Brotherhood members in an attempt to amplify their mutant abilities and remove their emotions. The Brotherhood and X-Men show up leaving Magneto, Sabertooth and Mystique trapped on the asteroid. Asteroid M is destroyed by Scott and Alex Summers, but not before two metal spheres fly from the exploding asteroid.

Season Two
The second season sees the addition of several new mutants, including Beast, who becomes a teacher at the Xavier Institute and an X-Man, as well as a version of the New Mutants: Boom Boom, Sunspot, Iceman, Wolfsbane, Magma, Multiple, Jubilee, Berzerker, and Cannonball. During the course of the season, it is revealed that the villains who supposedly perished on Asteroid M are actually alive. Sabertooth continues his pursuit of Wolverine, while Magneto continues to work his own agenda. Mystique poses as Risty Wilde, a high school student at Bayville High who befriends Rogue and breaks into the mansion to steal Xavier's Cerebro files. Using the files, she recovers Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, Magneto's daughter, and Quicksilver's sister. The mentally unstable mutant joins the Brotherhood upon Mystique's return, allowing them to defeat the X-Men in a battle at the Bayville Mall. Before the finale, a pivotal episode aired featuring the telepath Mesmero opening one of three doors that a mutant known as Apocalypse.

In the season finale, Xavier rigorously trains his X-Men to face Magneto, pairing them with the Brotherhood. Cyclops, furious with having to work with his former adversaries, leaves the team. The mansion is later set to self-destruct with Cyclops and several students still inside. Magneto, meanwhile, recruits Sabertooth, Gambit, Pyro, and Colossus as his Acolytes to fight the X-Men/Brotherhood team. At the same time, Wolverine is captured by Bolivar Trask to use as a test subject for an anti-mutant weapon, the Sentinal. Magneto continues to manipulate events by unleashing the Sentinal onto the city, forcing the X-Men to use their powers in public. Wanda tracks down Magneto and attacks him while he is trying to deal with the Sentinal that is targeting him. The Sentinal is damaged and apparently crushes Magneto as it falls. When the mutants who have not been captured by the Sentinal return to the remains of the mansion, Cyclops and the students emerge from the explosion with minor injuries. Scott throws Xavier from his wheelchair and blames him for blowing up the mansion. Everyone is shocked as Xavier calmly stands up, transforming into Mystique.

Season Three
In the third season, the show notably begins to take a much more serious tone. After the battle with the Sentinal, the mutants are no longer a secret and public reaction is one of hostility. The show is brought into more traditional X-Men lore, dealing with themes of prejudice, public misconception, and larger threats. As the season progresses, the real Xavier is found, Mystique is defeated, the mansion is rebuilt, and the X-Men are allowed back into Bayville High. Scott and Jean develop a stronger and closer romantic relationship (particularly after Mystique kidnaps Scott and brings him to Mexico), Spyke leaves the X-Men when his mutant ability becomes uncontrollable, deciding to live with the sewer-dwelling mutants known as Morlocks, and Wanda continues to search for Magneto, who she discovers was saved by Quicksilver at the last second, until Magneto uses the telepathic mutant Mastermind to change her childhood memories.

As part of the series arc, Rogue loses control of her powers, leading to her hospitalization. During this time, she learns that she is in fact Mystique's adoptive daughter. Mystique, through the visions of the mutant Destiny, foresaw that the fate of Rogue and herself lay in the hands of an ancient mutant that would be resurrected. Apocalypse emerges in the season's final episodes. Mesmero manipulates Magneto into opening the second door and uses Mystique and a hypnotized Rogue to open the last, turning Mystique to stone in the process. Now released, Apocalypse easily defeats the combined strength of the X-Men, Magneto, the Acolytes, and the Brotherhood before escaping.

Season Four
The final season contained only nine episodes. In the season premiere, Apocalypse apparently kills Magneto while Rogue murders Mystique by pushing her petrified figure off a cliff, leaving Nightcrawler without closure. The Brotherhood become temporary do-gooders, Wolverine's teenage girl clone X-23 returns, Xavier travels to Scotland in order to confront his son David, Spyke and the Morlocks rise to the surface, Rogue is kidnapped by Gambit and taken to Louisiana to help free his father, and Shadowcat discovers a mutant ghost who is found in a cave. The character Leecg is also introduced as a young boy named "Dorian Leach".

In the finale, Apocalypse defeats Xavier and Strom, transforming them, along with Magneto and Mystique, into his Four Horsemen. Apocalypse instructs his Horsemen to protect his three domes and his "base of operations", which will turn the majority of the world population into mutants. In the final battle, the Horsemen are returned to normal and Apocalypse is sent through time. Rogue and Nightcrawler refuse the excuses of their mother, Shadowcat and Avalanche find love once again, Magneto is reunited with Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, Storm, and Spyke are also reunited, and Xavier sees his students reunited as the X-Men.

Final Moments
The series ends with a speech by Charles Xavier, who had caught a glimpse of the not-too-distant future while being controlled by Apocalypse. The following future scenarios were foreseen:

  • Continued anti-mutant sentiment.
  • A reformed Magneto teaching the New Mutants, including a returned Jubilee and Wolfsbane.
  • Jean Grey eventually being taken over by the all-powerful cosmic entity, known as Dark Phoenix within her, and becoming one of the X-Men's most terrible of enemies. Had the series continued, the fifth season would have focused on the four-part Dark Phoenix saga.
  • The future X-Men team, consisting of Cyclops, Nightcrawler, X-23, Iceman, Beast, Shadowcat, Colossus, Rogue (able to fly and not wearing gloves, implying she permanently absorbed Captain Marvel's powers and has full control over her absorbing powers), and Storm. The uniforms these future X-Men wear look very much like the dark uniforms seen in the Ultimate X-Men comic, as well as that of the live-action feature films.
  • The Brotherhood, including the Scarlet Witch and Pyro, standing in front of a S.H.I.E.L.D sign (foreshadowing the Freedom Force).
  • A fleet of Sentinals led by Nimrod.
  • The last scene shows X-Men, the New Mutants, Gambit, and Colossus (former Acolytes), Boom Boom, Havok, Angel, X-23, and a returning Spyke.

Cast and Characters

  • Logan/Wolverine (Scott McNeil), though similar in most ways to the classic Wolverine, has been seriously toned down in violence, has a slightly different hairstyle, and is designed to be more of a role model for the students and appeared more as a "gruff-uncle" type character. He is also in charge of the student's combat and survival training and is famous among the students for his apparently difficult and challenging methods, as well as his strict and unyielding teaching manner.
  • Scott Summers/Cyclops (Kirby Morrow) is the X-Men's field leader. His eyes constantly emit powerful energy beams described as "optic blasts", which can only be stopped or controlled via the use of ruby-quartz lenses in his glasses and visor. Somewhat toned down from his comic book counterpart, he is less stiff and possesses a more open sense of humor. Contrasting with many other incarnations, Cyclops is not the aloof, doubtful loner, but a handsome and confident leader who exudes natural authority, although he is still somewhat standoffish. While the other students tend to look up to him, his competitive nature and closely-held temper will get in the way at times. He is the most officious and rule-abiding of the X-Men and the least likely to fool around. He is also best friends with Jean Grey and secretly harbours romantic feelings for her, but is afraid to admit how he feels. It's eventually revealed their feelings are mutual and they later begin a relationship in the third season.
  • Jean Grey (Venus Terzo) is second in command after Cyclops and possesses strong telepathic and telekinetic abilities. However, she is more insecure than her comic book counterpart and demonstrates a jealous streak when it comes to Scott Summers. Unlike many mutants who began as social outcasts and came to find their horizons expanded through their association with the institute, Jean starts out from a high position of status. She also has romantic feelings for Cyclops, but doesn't know how to tell him how she feels, but eventually works up the courage to confess and they become a couple later in the series. Unlike most of her teammates, Jean forgoes the use of a codename.
  • Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler (Brad Swaile) is the teleporting humorist of the team. The Evolution Nightcrawler is very similar to his comic version and has a friendly big-brother relationship with Cyclops. During his early days at the institute, he was still feeling very insecure about fitting in and compensated for it with excessive goofiness until the episode "Middleverse". Kurt is the biological son of Mystique but was raised by kind foster parents in Germany (instead of being abandoned by Mystique, she accidentally dropped him over a bridge while escaping Magneto, and when she saw he had been taken in by foster parents, she decided to let him remain with them). 
  • Evan Daniels/Spyke (Neil Denis) is Storm's nephew, with the ability to project bonelike spikes from his skin. He is the youngest member of the team. Spyke would much rather play basketball or skateboard than study; he has problems with authority, making him the "rebel" of the main team. Spike and Quicksilver had an ongoing rivalry since childhood that culminated when Pietro framed Evan for robbery. Later in the series, he joins the Morlocks when he loses control of his powers, but reappears as a protector of all mutants.
  • Ororo Munroe/Storm (Kirsten Williamson), like her codename implies, is able to harness and manipulate the forces of nature. Storm can summon lighting from a benign sky, manifest violent storms, call up freezing blizzards and bring all forms of precipitation to bear. She can even harness the power of wind, allowing her to fly. Ororo is known for her calm personality and regal manner, and she was even worshipped as a Goddess in Africa due to her ability to summon the rains.
  • Rogue (Meghan Black) is a reclusive, paranoid goth. She has a great deal of angst with respect to her powers, which keep her from ever safely touching anyone. Due to the machinations of Mystique, Rogue initially distrusted X-Men, but after learning that Mystique tricked her by attacking her posing as members of the X-Men, she accepted their membership. At first, annoyed by Nightcrawler's joking behavior, she becomes close to him after learning that she is his adopted sister, and both renounce Mystique for abusing them. The series established no birth name for Rogue and gave no hints to it after her introductory episode. Rogue's mutant ability allows her to draw upon the aspects of another (memories, habits, speech patterns, powers [if mutant] through bare skin to skin contact). It is uncontrollable and possibly deadly. She becomes close to Scott over their common problems with controlling their powers and develops a crush on him, but his feelings for Jean and her shyness prevent any further development of a relationship. She later becomes friends with Gambit.
  • Kitty Pryde / Shadowcat (Maggie Blue O'Hara) possesses the mutant ability to become intangible, allowing her to pass or "phase" through solid objects at will. She is the second-youngest member of the team; her culinary skills are a constant source of dismay among the others. Kitty led a very sheltered life before joining the X-Men and was initially afraid of Nightcrawler's "demonic" appearance, but she has since grown into a very open-minded and worldly young lady, and she and Kurt Wagner eventually develop a very close brother and sister friendship. She also begins dating Avalanche of the Brotherhood of Mutants, despite their opposing teams.
  • Professor Charles Xavier (David Kaye) is the team's telepathic mentor and financer. He is very similar to his comic book counterpart, only more casual. Like the comic Professor X, he is still somewhat secretive, if only for the protection of his students. He occasionally visits Juggernaut, who is in suspended animation.
  • Hank McCoy / Beast (Michael Kopsa) joins during the second season. Beast is similar to his comic counterpart in most ways, though the Evolution version speaks more casually. He was originally a gym coach and chemistry teacher at Bayville High before his latent transformation into the ape-like Beast could no longer be controlled with the medications he had formulated upon first learning of his mutation. This change of fortune forced him to retire and join the X-Men, where he could continue to teach. It was during the initial discovery of his mutation that he became acquainted with Professor Xavier.

Music
X-Men: Evolution featured several songs that were produced exclusively for the show:

  • "Only a Girl (The Bayville Sirens' Theme)" in "Walk on the Wild Side".
  • "T-O-A-D (Toad's Theme)" in "The Toad, the Witch, and the Wardrobe".
  • "Who Am I Now? (Rogue's Theme)" in "Rogue Recruit".
  • "Wolverine (Wolverine's Theme)" in a promotional video.
  • "Evolution Theme (Theme Song)" at the start of the show.

The theme and score for X-Men: Evolution was composed and produced by William Kevin Anderson. Several characters had distinct musical cues, including Avalanche (heavy guitar riffs), Storm (orchestra piece), and Apocalypse (Egyptian music). Others had special sound effects. These include Jean Grey (light chime noise), Sabretooth (roaring), Rogue (also has a unique, black and white special effect), Magneto, Gambit, Shadowcat, and Nightcrawler. The main theme song was recorded by Anderson.

Production Notes
One of the main points of the new X-Men: Evolution concept was the design of the new costumes. Early concept art sketches show the X-Men in classic gold-and-black garb. In these drafts, Spyke wears cornrows, Rogue's outfit exposes her midriff, and Jean Grey's costume is the female version of Cyclops' costume. Both Jean Grey and Shadowcat wear face masks, and Kitty is also wearing an orange miniskirt and Doc Martens over spandex. Early Storm drawings show her wearing white rather than black.

A point of controversy was the design of the blue-skinned villain Mystique. Steven E. Gordon, the character designer and director of various episodes, was never impressed with the Mystique designs for the first season. Mystique was original to be presented as nude (as in the films), but Warner Brothers did not want this included in a Kids' WB! production. However, a short scene of Mystique drawn to resemble her film counterpart (albeit clothed) appears in the Season 1 finale. Gordon stopped directing after two seasons but continued to design characters for the show. He is most satisfied with the designs of Rogue and Wanda.

The show also contained various pop culture references: in episode 9 of the first season, one of Wolverine's defensive programs for the Danger Room is referred to as "Logan's Run X13", a clear reference to the novel/film Logan's Run. The Rogue/Kitty dance in "Spykecam" was modeled after a similar dance in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Bad Girls". The play used in the first season episode "Spykecam", Dracula: The Musical, is a real play. The song used, however, is an original song made for the episode. The writers of the show have also admitted that they were fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Using Shadowcat as the catalyst, the two shows appear similar: a teenage girl with superpowers fights powerful villains in order to save her high school. Buffy creator Joss Whedon has openly credited his inspiration for Buffy as Kitty Pryde.

Starting with the first episode of Season 4, "Impact", the episode title was no longer aired on-screen at the beginning of the show, and X-Men: Evolution became the third longest-running Marvel cartoon, behind Spider-Man: The Animated Series (5 seasons, 65 episodes) and X-Men: The Animated Series (5 seasons, 76 episodes). Boyd Kirkland, the show's producer, says his favorite X-Men: Evolution season is Season 3. The monthly budget for X-Men: Evolution was $350,000.

Produced in the United States, the voice recording was done in Canada and the show was animated in Japan and South Korea. Most of the animation was outsourced to Madhouse, Mook Animation in Japan, DR Movie, and WHITE LINE in S.Korea.

Successors

The show gave birth to a new series, Wolverine and the X-Men, which began airing in November 2009. It was not a continuation of X-Men: Evolution, though the same creative team was behind the show: Craig Kyle, Chris Yost, Steven E. Gordon, Greg Johnson, and Boyd Kirkland all returned to work on the series.

In 2012, Jean Grey and Robert Kelly (voiced by their respective X-Men: Evolution actors) appeared in the Iron Man: Armored Adventures episode "The X-Factor".

Cosmetics Used in X-Men: Evolution
There are several resemblances to pop culture, which have even affected the cosmetics depicted in the series. 

As it targeted the younger audience, where students were included, there were instances to an adult audience as well with the introduction to the Wolverine as a role model to the X-Men students.

It was also a full package series with great experiences for each demographics. Ladies/Female Characters in the series like Jean Grey, Kitty, Storm, etc showed several trends like that of Colored Hairs, the use of cosmetic products like dark lipstick by Rogue, and the use of beauty products by several other female characters.

There have been instances of male-related cosmetic attires, which depicted several hairstyles and hairstyling gels and products to be introduced. It also created a trend of Side Burns inspired by Wolverine.

Also, people of all age groups and areas liked the way the series depicted characters. There was one or another character for everyone to be connected with.

References;
1. X-Men: Evolution

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