X-Men '97 Producer Addresses Those Marvel Cameos, Avengers vs. X-Men Rumors
We talked to Brad Winderbaum about the X-Men '97 finale.
X-Men '97's first season came to an end this week, and it featured a lot of surprises, including some epic cameos. The episode saw appearances by many big names in Marvel, including Iron Man, Captain America, and Doctor Strange. The episode also featured Daredevil, Peter Parker and MJ, Cloak and Dagger, and more. Some folks have wondered if the fan-favorite Avengers vs. X-Men storyline from the comics could be in X-Men '97's future. ComicBook.com recently had the chance to chat with Marvel's head of streaming, Brad Winderbaum, and he addressed the finale's big cameos and the possibility of Avengers vs. X-Men.
"The path is laid out for us from that," Winderbaum teased. "Larry Houston was famous for adding cameos to the original show, [X-Men: The Animated Series]. In our goal to try to emulate that original series, we were trying to do the same. We had all these great ideas. Every cameo idea you see on screen, there's 50 more that didn't make it. It's fun to look at the '90s universe through this X-Men lens and to think about the greater Marvel universe of that period. I don't want to close the door on anything. But for now, the X-Men are going to be our window into the '90s. But we'll see, we'll see what happens."
X-Men '97's Brad Winderbaum Explains Why Retro Setting Was a Major Advantage:
In another interview with Winderbaum, the producer explained to ComicBook why setting the show in 1997 was an advantage.
"Well, actually, it was kind of liberating to be able to stay in the 90s," Winderbaum began. "It allowed us to go places that we could just do what we want. To be so iterative. Things that we couldn't do if we were more MCU adjacent like What If...? is. I mean, What If...? is like we're literally remixing the MCU. So, it's harder to introduce characters. Because you want to see them in live-action. Although, we do see Bill Foster as Giant Man in the second season. That's new!"
Original X-Men: The Animated Series cast members Cal Dodd (Wolverine), Lenore Zann (Rogue), George Buza (Beast), Alison Sealy-Smith (Storm), Adrian Hough (Nightcrawler), and Christopher Britton (Mister Sinister) reprise their roles from the '90s series while returning cast members Catherine Disher (original Jean Grey), Chris Potter (original Gambit), Alyson Court (original Jubilee), and Lawrence Bayne (original Cable) voice new characters. The new cast includes Ray Chase (Cyclops), Jennifer Hale (Jean Grey), JP Karliak (Morph), AJ LoCascio (Gambit), Holly Chou (Jubilee), Isaac Robinson-Smith (Bishop), and Matthew Waterson (Magneto).
X-Men '97's first season is now streaming on Disney+.
