X-Men 97′ is now over halfway through it’s first season and it’s safe to say now that the show is a success. It has received critical acclaim for its animation, writing and tackling of serious topics. However, one thing that’s also noticeable about it this time around is the surprising lack of Wolverine who has served as the main draw of the franchise for the last thirty years in other media.
Wolverine is a great character. We all know that. Everyone is still excited to see Hugh Jackman return to the character later this year in Deadpool & Wolverine, but for too long the character has been pushed to the forefront at the expense of many other X-Men. Especially in the films.
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Nearly every film until X-Men: First Class featured Wolverine as the main focus. In the late 2000s he had an animated film Hulk vs Wolverine and the last main animated series prior to 97′ was literally titled Wolverine and the X-Men. Even in X-Men: Apocalypse, where he’s not a main character the filmmakers still had to shoehorn him with a sequence that really has nothing to do with the rest of that film.
It has been really refreshing to watch X-Men 97′ and actually get to spend time with other characters like Storm, Rogue, Gambit and Cyclops. It’s been especially satisfying to see people talk about how cool they think Cyclops is after years of the character being viewed as boring and forgettable again mainly due to his poor portrayal in the films.
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Now, this is not a declaration that Wolverine is a bad character. Just an analysis of how he has been overexposed throughout the years. As excited as I am to see him team up with Deadpool in the upcoming film, I hope that when the MCU introduces their version of the team they treat them as exactly that…a team.
X-Men is an ensemble piece there are literally hundreds of mutant characters that still have not been adapted to the film screen. So far, there are plenty of other mutants who have not been given the live-action treatment, like Forge and even Polaris. And some that have been adapted very poorly like Rogue and Gambit. The solution doesn’t have to be to cut Wolverine entirely, but simply shine the spotlight on other characters that are just as good as him.
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