The announcement of X-Men ’97 brought with it many questions. Where would the series pick up? What would happen to Charles Xavier? Who would lead the X-Men if he was truly gone? Could a new show recapture the magic X-Men: Animated Series once had? And the first few episodes of X-Men ’97 have answered these questions admirably. But the one thing they have not touched upon is the intro issue, which fans from Latin America might say was the most important.
For anyone who grew up watching X-Men: Animated Series in Spanish, the Latin American version of the intro was always the definitive version. Unlike the English version, which just showed the X-Men, with the name of the character appearing on screen as each character was being introduced, the Latin American version called out their names one by one in Spanish: “Cícople, Gepardo, Titania, Tormenta, Bestia, Gambito, Júbilo, Jean y el Profesor X.”
The fact that their names were in Spanish wasn’t what made the Latin American version superior, though. It was the theatrics of it all that worked well. The show was introduced in the region at a time when anime reigned supreme and became a fan favorite, not despite things like the intro they chose for Latin America, but because of it.
X-Men: The Animated Series is, at heart, a soapy cartoon, with ridiculous love triangles, broken friendships, and absurd plot points that just keep getting more and more preposterous. It just so happens that the characters at the center of it have superpowers and happen to wear suits. How could the region that invented telenovelas be immune to the charms of such a show? And how could a show like that be what it is without the intro it has?
The same fans who loved the show love the intro, and to this day, love it so much that intro discourse pops up online out of nowhere every few months.
But now, there’s another wrinkle to add to the equation when it comes to X-Men ’97, the sequel to X-Men: The Animated Series. The voiceover intro for the Latin American dub is nowhere to be seen or heard. The English dub doesn’t have the voiceover either, but we expected that. What we didn’t expect is for Disney+/Marvel to rob us of the greatness that is the OG voiceover.
For some fans, that makes the entire show a hard pass. For others, it certainly makes it less likely that they’ll watch. Some just find it hard to think of this show as a continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series without it. But one thing seems certain. X-Men ’97 is, in many ways, as much of a tale of messy characters engaged in almost telenovela-style plots, told in animated form. If you want to appeal to a Latin American audience with that, it’s always better to own it and embrace it wholeheartedly. X-Men: The Animated Series did, and that’s why its intro remains superior, all these years later.
Our X-Men intro is fun. It’s a little bit (okay, maybe a lot) dramatic. It’s got flair. And yes, it’s got the characters we grew up watching, with the names we got to know them with. But the new intro is lacking. And though X-Men ’97 is still a fun show, the intro leaves a lot to be desired. Just ask anyone in Latin America.
