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s10127470 · 2 years ago

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Cartoon Idea: X-Men: The Next Mutation

I'm pretty sure most of you are familiar with the X-Men...

Ever since their creation back in 1963 by legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, they've been a major cornerstone in the grand scheme of the Marvel Universe.

For about sixty years now, this merry band of mutants have drew in millions of readers from all over the world through their interesting characters, their colorful personalities and abilities, their engaging stories, and most importantly of all...their parallels towards the real world prejudice of minorities, being created with the intention to reflect the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

It's honestly weird to think that there was a time when the X-Men were the premiere superhero team of Marvel, while the Avengers were mostly B or C-Listers.

Undoubtedly, the peak of the X-Men popularity was during the 1990s and 2000s. During that time, the X-Men would be launched more into the mainstream thanks to the success of the still acclaimed and beloved X-Men: The Animated Series, which ran on Fox Kids from 1992 to 1997.

Along with that, the team had several appearances in video games such as Children of the Atom and Marvel vs. Capcom.

And of course, they had....

In the 2000s, the team would make their jump to the big screen with the help of 20th Century Fox, and their films not only ended up being major successes, but also helped revived the superhero genre in film.

They would also have several video game adaptations and appearances, from the X-Men Legends duology to the Ultimate Alliance series.

Not to the mention that they would have two more animated series, one at the beginning of the decade and one at the end of the decade.

Those shows being X-Men Evolution, which ran on Kids WB from 2000 to 2003.

And Wolverine and the X-Men, which ran throughout 2009 on the somehow still existing Nicktoons Network.

Along with them still being popular and frequently used in the comics, the X-Men were on top of the world and nothing could stop them no-

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So yeah.....in 2009, Marvel was bought out by the Walt Disney Company, giving them ownership of all their IPs, including the X-Men.

But besides that, the X-Men were perfectly fine. Still frequently appearing in the comics and Marvel media outside of it.

So in despite the purchase, things were overall still fine for the X-

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So yeah in 2012, "The Avengers" came out, became a hit (both critically and financially), made the Marvel Cinematic Universe into a cinematic powerhouse, and launched the Avengers into mainstream popularity.

So in spite of all that, things were still pretty good for the X-Men....But the over the next few years, the cracks would start to show.

As ths MCU became more popular, Marvel became focusing on pushing the Avengers as their premiere superhero team, with the X-Men essentially being dethroned.

Along with that, their relevance in the comics notably began to degraded, and barely began making appearances in media outside the comics.

The reason for this, apart from Marvel focusing on cashing in on the Avengers, was because despite still owning the overall rights for the X-Men (which, why wouldn't they?), their film rights were still owned by 20th Century Fox..

Since Fox was pretty much a rival company to Marvel until Disney bought them out, Marvel basically saw any form of X-Men representation as free-marketing for Fox.

So they decided to essentially not to allow any X-Men related characters to appear in any media outside the comics and even reduced their overall presence as well.

This also happened to the Fantastic Four as well, since their film rights were also owned by Fox.

Though after that last movie, Marvel should've instantly gotten those rights back....

However, the person who essentially responsible for all was none than.....

IKE PERLMUTTER!

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If you're a Marvel fan, there's a strong chance you know about Ike Perlmutter.

He's basically to Marvel fans (specifically X-Men) what Ken Penders is to Sonic fans.

This guy essentially helped keep Marvel from filing for bankruptcy in the late 1990s and has never did anything good for the company again.

Putting aside the fact that's notorious for being racist, misogynistic, homophobic, insanely cheap, and just being overall difficult to work it, Ike was essentially the one who led the anti-mutant crusade during the 2010s.

Since Marvel couldn't quite cash in on the X-Men as much the Avengers, combine with their film rights being owned by a rival company, Perlmutter made it his goal to remove the X-Men from any kind of media and even reduced their presence in the comics.

Not helping was Perlmutter infamously trying to replace the X-Men with the Inhumans.

So yeah during the 2010s, the Inhumans got a notable representation boost, appearing in just about any form of Marvel media at the time (cartoons, video games, merchandising, etc).

While the Inhumans have made appearances prior to this, it more occasional if anything.

These appearances were much more common and happening rapidly.

That was all part of Perlmutter’s plan fo phase out the X-Men as much as possible and essentially have the Inhumans take their place. Along with that, it also served as promotion for then upcoming Inhumans tv show, which would’ve introduced the characters into the MCU.

If you know the Inhumans tv show, you’d probably know how much of a massive failure it was.

It received negative reviews all across the board by the critics and audiences alike, and got abysmally low ratings, resulting in the show getting cancelled after just one season.

To this day, it still remains as MCU’s biggest flop and has virtually been retconned out of the franchise’s continuity.

The failure of the tv show, combined with Disney announcing that they would be buying out Fox not long after the show’s cancellation, essentially destroyed Perlmutter’s Inhuman plans, and the Inhumans haven’t played a major role in any form of Marvel media ever since.

But on the plus side, the X-Men were finally allowed to be used again.

Ever since 2019, they’ve seen a massive resurgence in the comics thanks to writer Johnathan Hickman.

They’ve appeared in video games like Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order and Midnight Suns.

And most importantly, they’ll be making their grand return to animation in the form of the upcoming X-Men ‘97, a continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series and the team’s very first show in over a decade, coming this Fall.

And while it is cool to see the X-Men coming back in a major way after essentially having their existence pretty much ignored and downplayed for the better half of a decade, I do sort of wish it was in the form of a new take on the mutant team, rather than a continuation of an already existing iteration.

Well that’s why I’m here today! To share you with you all an idea I had for an all new X-Men cartoon that I like to call….

X-Men: The Next Mutation!

The best way I could describe this series is as a spiritual successor to Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Just like that series, it feature will an all-new take on the X-Men. Though they wouldn’t nearly as drastically changed. Along with that, the series will make the X-Men more powerful than most of their other iterations through secondary and tertiary mutations.

In the comics, from what I’ve read, additional mutations are rather rare, only happening to few mutants.

Essentially this series will be expanding on the concept of secondary mutations, as in this universe, they’re far more common among mutants, with most them often experiencing it during early adulthood.

Tertiary mutations, however, are a lot rarer, with only some mutants experiencing them in their lives.

The animation for this series would be done by Flying Bark Studios, the same studio that not only did the animation for Rise, but also other shows like Glitch Techs and Monkie Kid.

And I mean….are you guys telling me you wouldn’t want a Marvel cartoon with animation like this?!

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As for the art-style, in contrast to the more realistic (and obviously MCU adjacent) style that Marvel’s previous cartoons had used during most of the 2010s, X-Men will have a far more stylized and exaggerated.

And for the artist of this series, I think Boris Grovez aka ArtFrenzyBoris would be perfect for the job.

His art-style isn’t like anything I’ve seen before. It looks like something right out of a comic book, but with a more exaggerated and somewhat cartoonish flair.

And to prove my point, here’s some X-Men related art he’s done.

Similar to Rise of the TMNT, the series will sport a more comedic, light-hearted tone than its previous iterations and be more episodic with some story arcs sprinkled about. I know some people are gonna have a problem with the first detail thanks to one particular show that I’m not gonna mention making people think that anything remotely comedic involving long-existing superheroes is automatically bad. But similar to Rise, despite being more light-hearted and comedy focused, it won’t shy away from dramatic or emotional moments. As for the latter, that won’t be problem since the 90s show and X-Men Evolution did the same thing as well.

Also, might be a bit controversial, but the way mutants are viewed in this universe is a bit more neutral than most iterations. While some of humanity still hates and fears them, others are actually fine and even like them. I’ve always liked it when the X-Men actually had human supporters (or at least humans who actually appreciate what they do), which most adaptations almost never really explore.

The series will also feature various romantic relationships. Some iconic, some rare, some that were set up but never explored, some popular with the fans, and even some that have never really been considered. Also, there will be no relationship drama (or at least drama that isn’t melodramatic or shit). Yes…that does mean you-know-what will be not featured in the series in any kind of way…..and I think we will all be better off for it.

As for the X-Men themselves, the roster of this series will consists Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Beast, Rogue, Gambit, Psylocke, Nightcrawler, Angel (who is a female in this universe), Emma Frost, Colossus, Iceman and Jubilee.

As for what they can do in this universe.....

.Cyclops-Thanks to his secondary mutation, Cyclops can now channel the energy of his concussive beams through his beam. Giving him greater physical strength and speed, and allowing him to shoot the beams from any part of his body (he mostly does it with his hands and feet). He can also alter size and density of his beams, allowing them to bounce off surfaces.

.Storm-Thanks to her secondary mutation, Storm can now transform into the elements of wind, water, electricity and ice. Not only giving her even greater control of the water, but also enhancing her physical abilities as well. Her elemental forms virtually make her invulnerable to harm and gives her a boost in some physical areas (like ice giving her superhuman strength and durability and wind and electricity giving her superhuman speed and agility).

.Wolverine-Thanks to his secondary mutation and some experimentation, Wolverine now possesses superhuman physicality and special berserker rage factor that greatly increases his physicality when entered. His healing factor is also even more powerful, being able to heal and recover from the most fatal of injuries.

.Beast-Thanks to his secondary mutation, Beast was given the hairy blue look we now him for today. Along with that, his already impressive superhuman physicality was greatly enhanced, he now has animalistic senses (similar to Wolverine, but not quite on that level), and a supersonic roar.

.Rogue-Thanks to her secondary mutation, Rogue can call upon the powers and abilities of those she has previously touched for a limited amount of time.

.Gambit-Thanks to his secondary mutation, Gambit can now uses his kinetic energy manipulation in different kinds of way. He can channel it throughout his body to give himself greater strength, speed and reflexes, and even create physical constructs like throwing cards and a staff.

.Psylocke-Thanks to her secondary mutation, Psylocke can now create various solid energy weapons that can do actual damage, enhance her physicality, and even create giant energy projections that do physical damage.

.Nightcrawler-Thanks to his secondary mutation, Nightcrawler can now manipulate darkness, using it to blend into the shadows and create physical constructs like swords.

.Angel-Thanks to her secondary mutation, Angel possesses superhuman physicality and is able to generate and manipulate light from her body, which also has a healing factor.

.Emma Frost-Thanks to her tertiary mutation, Emma can now combine her psionic powers and diamond form to create physical constructs of varying shapes and sizes.

.Colossus-Thanks to his secondary and tertiary mutation, Colossus can now morph his limbs into various shapes. He can also alter his body density and switch between a liquid steel and a flaming steel form.

.Iceman-Thanks to his secondary mutation, Iceman can now alter the temperature and even weather of his surroundings, and control the other elements associated with snow and ice, that being water and wind. He can also transform into whatever element he's controlling, making him virtually invulnerable to damage, just like Storm.

.Jubilee-Jubilee....sadly, hasn't gone through her secondary mutation yet.

Well that's all for now! I'll go into more details about the X-Men (their appearances, their backgrounds, their voice actors, etc), as well the other characters in their world, including their fellow mutants, their non-mutant allies, and villains (both mutant and non-mutant).

Let me know what you guys think and if you could, send me some ideas on elements I should implement into this show.

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