I knew very little about the X-Men comics when I first started watching this show, so I didn't really have too many preconceptions.
Having watched a couple of episodes recently (both halves of "The Cauldron"), I know it felt "wrong" for more reasons than I even remembered before I did some episode watching.
You're right that some elements of XME are very different from the comics - it's an AU/adaptation in the same way that the movies are.
And X-Men: First Class was the first of the movies I really liked. In fact, having watched those episodes of XM:E, I was reminded that one of the things that bothered me was the feeling that the character design for Wolverine in XM:E already showed influence from the casting of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. I hate the fact that the movie Wolverine is 6'2", I love Wolverine being only 5'2", and he's definitely taller than that in XM:E. Hell, it isn't just his height that feels "wrong" in XM:E. There's also the fact that, while Scott and Jean (two of the founding X-Men) are just teenagers, Wolverine and Storm are two of the instructors. It's so very definitely an alternate universe. Reminds me, I've been meaning to check what XM:E's Universe designation is. It might not be 616, but I bet it does have a designation in the Marvel multiverse. :D
One of the reasons why I call it the "canon high school AU" is that the teenage X-Men live and train at the Xavier Institute, but...
Just the use of "Xavier Institute" rather than "Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters" is enough to bother me a bit. It's not as bad as some of the other stuff because it's a change I know has happened in the books, but I still prefer the place to actually be called a school rather than an institute.
...it's a departure from pretty much any other version of canon.
Yeah, I think the main reason it's one of the less jarring changes to me is that it is a cartoon. I'd worry about the actual safety of the normal human kids if it were something more adult, but being a kids show I expect that none of the mutant kids is really going to lose control badly enough to endanger all of the normals that they're going to school with. I mean the "pretty much any other version of canon" separation isn't just about keeping the mutant kids in a "safe" environment. It's about keeping them from being unintentional dangers to others while they're learning to control their powers.
I remember those issues! I liked Magneto's interactions with the New Mutants.
A good portion of how Magneto and Magik are two of my all time favorite X-Characters are how they interacted before Doug Ramsey's death was used by the writers to drive them both back in the direction of being villains rather than being heroes.
Unfortunately, although X-Men: Evolution's Magneto does have a few compelling and interesting moments, he spends a lot of time being a stereotypical megalomanical villain.
No great surprise. There are lots of fans who seem to prefer him as a one note super villain rather than anything more complex. It's why I'm very grateful that Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender seem to appreciate that Magneto is a more complicated character than that. I mean Stan Lee has said he never meant for Magneto to be a villain, an antagonist to Charles, but not a villain. I always choose to remember that Magneto was one of the "Heroes For Hope" in the African Famine Relief book.
I've known some Magneto fans who happen to like this version regardless, so I would leave you to judge for yourself.
I've only watched "The Cauldron" so far, but from it the character I was most interested in seeing more of was actually Mystique. She's another character who's presentation has gone all over the map over the years. I haven't got strong feelings about her being presented a particular way because I felt like she was in flux when I started reading the books. It helps.
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Date: 2013-11-08 09:27 pm (UTC)Having watched a couple of episodes recently (both halves of "The Cauldron"), I know it felt "wrong" for more reasons than I even remembered before I did some episode watching.
You're right that some elements of XME are very different from the comics - it's an AU/adaptation in the same way that the movies are.
And X-Men: First Class was the first of the movies I really liked. In fact, having watched those episodes of XM:E, I was reminded that one of the things that bothered me was the feeling that the character design for Wolverine in XM:E already showed influence from the casting of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. I hate the fact that the movie Wolverine is 6'2", I love Wolverine being only 5'2", and he's definitely taller than that in XM:E. Hell, it isn't just his height that feels "wrong" in XM:E. There's also the fact that, while Scott and Jean (two of the founding X-Men) are just teenagers, Wolverine and Storm are two of the instructors. It's so very definitely an alternate universe. Reminds me, I've been meaning to check what XM:E's Universe designation is. It might not be 616, but I bet it does have a designation in the Marvel multiverse. :D
One of the reasons why I call it the "canon high school AU" is that the teenage X-Men live and train at the Xavier Institute, but...
Just the use of "Xavier Institute" rather than "Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters" is enough to bother me a bit. It's not as bad as some of the other stuff because it's a change I know has happened in the books, but I still prefer the place to actually be called a school rather than an institute.
...it's a departure from pretty much any other version of canon.
Yeah, I think the main reason it's one of the less jarring changes to me is that it is a cartoon. I'd worry about the actual safety of the normal human kids if it were something more adult, but being a kids show I expect that none of the mutant kids is really going to lose control badly enough to endanger all of the normals that they're going to school with. I mean the "pretty much any other version of canon" separation isn't just about keeping the mutant kids in a "safe" environment. It's about keeping them from being unintentional dangers to others while they're learning to control their powers.
I remember those issues! I liked Magneto's interactions with the New Mutants.
A good portion of how Magneto and Magik are two of my all time favorite X-Characters are how they interacted before Doug Ramsey's death was used by the writers to drive them both back in the direction of being villains rather than being heroes.
Unfortunately, although X-Men: Evolution's Magneto does have a few compelling and interesting moments, he spends a lot of time being a stereotypical megalomanical villain.
No great surprise. There are lots of fans who seem to prefer him as a one note super villain rather than anything more complex. It's why I'm very grateful that Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender seem to appreciate that Magneto is a more complicated character than that. I mean Stan Lee has said he never meant for Magneto to be a villain, an antagonist to Charles, but not a villain. I always choose to remember that Magneto was one of the "Heroes For Hope" in the African Famine Relief book.
I've known some Magneto fans who happen to like this version regardless, so I would leave you to judge for yourself.
I've only watched "The Cauldron" so far, but from it the character I was most interested in seeing more of was actually Mystique. She's another character who's presentation has gone all over the map over the years. I haven't got strong feelings about her being presented a particular way because I felt like she was in flux when I started reading the books. It helps.
TBC