Marvel's relaunch of the X-Men animated series signals a shift after many franchise missteps.

This story contains minor spoilers for the first two episodes of X-Men '97.

As a revamped rendition of Ron Wasserman's iconic X-Men synth riff plays over the opening title sequence of X-Men '97, accompanied by flat, bright 2D animation, today's superhero-weary audience is reintroduced to a comforting familiarity. In its opening minute alone, Marvel begins its delicate balancing act: bringing a mix of nostalgia and new life to a fan-favourite series. It's a balance that has struck a chord with Marvel fans, both loyal and new.

The redux picks up where the original – X-Men: The Animated Series – left off. In the wake of the death of Professor Charles Xavier, founder of the eponymous superhero team, the remaining X-Men, including Cyclops (Ray Chase), Jean Grey (Jennifer Hale), Wolverine (Cal Dodd), Rogue (Lenore Zann), Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith) and Beast (George Buza) are left to pick up the pieces, in a world prejudiced against and hostile toward mutants.

The original animated series ran from 1992 to 1997 and is now heralded as a classic for 90s kids. When the 2024 series was first announced in 2021 it looked as though Marvel was aiming to recapture that core audience while folding the franchise into its existing IP for new and younger fans (The X-Men franchise was previously owned by Twentieth Century Fox, but was sold to Disney in a major deal back in 2017).

"We've had a series of Marvel movies and television that featured new characters or spun-off characters who had very little originality or depth to them," box office analyst David A Gross tells the BBC. "Any new Marvel film – X-Men or anything else – is going to have to navigate those challenges."

So in a media landscape riddled with reboots, revivals and adaptations, why should an animated series continuing a story about eccentric characters from 30 years ago draw acclaim?

The danger of relying on nostalgia when building the foundations of a television show or film is that leaning too hard into it can cheapen the point of the story, as well as all of the elements that go hand-in-hand with crafting something separate and distinct. Nostalgia, used too liberally, can push characters or stories into familiar tropes or story beats, as it does with the latest Indiana Jones film, or can come off as gimmicky, as it does with the live-action remake/adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

But a healthy dose of nostalgia can be a good thing, as is the case of this old-new X-Men. On the technical side, X-Men '97 uses modern animation technology to give a smoother, visually bold update to The Animated Series' comic book style – bright colours and choppy movement – which........

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