The Original X-Men: The Animated Series Team Knew Absolutely Nothing About Marvel's Mutants
by Rafael Motamayor · /FilmNowadays, it's expected that the creatives in charge of bringing beloved pop culture properties to the screen are also fans of said properties. And when they aren't, it immediately causes an uproar, like when "The Acolyte" featured non-"Star Wars" fans on its writing staff. But many times, this lack of attachment to the source material proves to be the secret ingredient behind the best adaptations. Take "Andor," for instance. Creator Tony Gilroy repeatedly confessed to not being a lifelong "Star Wars" fan, resulting in arguably the single greatest piece of "Star Wars" media of all time. Similarly, Christopher Nolan not being a huge Batman nerd led to him making some of the best comic book movies ever with his Dark Knight trilogy.
Essentially, being detached from a property frees up creatives to focus on telling the best story they can without worrying about trying to please fans with endless cameos and fan service. This is why "Andor" avoided shoehorning in well-known villains like Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine or more obscure, Glup Shitto-style characters.
This was also the case with one of the most beloved animated superhero shows of all time: "X-Men: The Animated Series." In a 2020 oral history for Marvel.com, showrunner Eric Lewald revealed that he was but one of several creatives on the show who had next to no knowledge of the "X-Men" franchise starting out:
"I didn't know a damn thing about the X-Men. I just had to smile and nod my head. Having to be in charge of the scripts and the stories, I immediately called [producer Larry Houston]. Then, [series writer] Mark Edens and I laid out the first 26 episodes. [...] But Mark was as ignorant to the X-Men as I was. We were just really big into heroic storytelling."
A lack of familiarity with the X-Men comics made the cartoon special
Granted, it's not like the "X-Men: The Animated Series" writers and producers were completely clueless. Early on, producer Larry Houston gave executive producer Eric Rollman and writer Julia Lewald photocopies of every page of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. Marvel Comics editor Bob Harras similarly worked with the show's creatives as a consultant, and he explicitly told them not to go overboard trying to stick with the franchise's previously-established canon.
"You guys take it in the direction you want to, as long as you stay with the spirit of the characters and don't go outside the world we're dealing with," Lewald recalled Harras saying. Still, the lack of intimate familiarity with the source material ended up being a blessing, at least according to Lewald. "Not being a fan, I didn't have an agenda like, 'Oh, my God. I've got 38 different characters, and I've got to get them all into each episode!'" she added.
This might come as surprising news, considering "X-Men: The Animated Series" manages to include virtually every single major "X-Men" comic book character (and a lot of minor ones, too) at some point or another during its run, but it does make sense. The show shifts its perspective and focus with every episode, which makes just about every X-Man feel important to the larger story. Perhaps it was because it hailed from a group of outsiders that it was able to become the rare superhero show that actually adapts storylines from its source material rather than creating entirely original ones. And to think it all started with a trick involving Marvel top dog Stan Lee.
"X-Men: The Animated Series" is currently streaming on Disney+.