Gallery: To Me, My Spinoffs: A History of X-Men on the Screen
01Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
In their 50-year tenure, the X-Men have spent a lot of time off the comics page. Here, we've collected thirteen of their many forays onto screens large and small — some classics, others probably best forgotten (not that we could if we wanted to). Click through for everything from cartoons, to feature films, video games, and live-action TV. __Above:__ Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends ---------------------------------- __What Was It?__ *Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends* was an animated series that aired original episodes from 1981-1983, and repeats for another several years. While it wasn't officially an X-Men series, X-characters made up two thirds of the regular cast, and the rest of the team made occasional guest appearances. __Was It Any Good?__ It doesn't hold up well in comparison to modern superhero comics, but for the era when it came out, it was pretty decent.
02Pryde of the X-Men
Pryde of the X-Men ------------------ __What Was It?__ Developed in 1989 as the pilot for an X-Men animated series, *Pryde of the X-Men* was a twenty-minute animated stand-alone about Kitty Pryde's first adventure with the team, featuring a brief and bewildering introduction from Stan Lee himself. __Was It Any Good?__ It's not half bad. Several characters are inexplicably Australian, but weird accents aside, the animation and voice acting are heads and tails better than the later X-Men animated series. The plot's not the most coherent, but well within the standard bounds of superhero cartoons.
03X-Men
X-Men ----- __What Was It?__ When people talk about "The X-Men cartoon," this is generally the one they mean. It ran for five seasons, from 1992 through 1997, and at 76 episodes, it remains Marvel's longest-running TV series. __Was It Any Good?__ Sometimes. *X-Men* was plagued by uneven quality and inconsistent animation, but when it was on, it was *on*. Stringent content guidelines and continual interference from the folks at Broadcast Standards and Practices limited what the series could put onscreen, but it consistently stayed true to the spirit, if not the letter, of the classic arcs it adapted. The fan-run Marvel Toonzone hosts a fairly extensive archive of [behind-the-scenes](http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/backstage/) material from *X-Men*, including transcripts of BS&P notes on several episodes. It's a fascinating window on both the process behind the series and the cultural factors at work at the time.
04X-Men Arcade Game
X-Men (Arcade Game) ------------------- __What Was It?__ If you don't count Wolverine's solo titles, there have been *22* X-Men video games over the years, but the 1992 side-scrolling co-op beat-'em-up was the best. __Was It Any Good?__ *X-Men* is generally recognized as one of the best co-op arcade games out there (not to be confused with the 1989 DOS and Commodore game, which actually featured the X-Men villain Arcade). Also, Magneto greets the heroes by yelling "X-MEN! WELCOME TO DIE!" and if you don't think that's awesome, I don't want to know you.
05Generation X
Generation X ------------ __What Was It?__ The X-Men's sole foray into live-action television was this 1996 stand-alone pilot. It's based roughly on the comics series of the same title, in which Emma Frost and Banshee trained a new generation of mutant kids at the Xavier School. __Was It Any Good?__ It's definitely for the best that *Generation X* was never produced as a series, but the pilot has some fun moments. At this point, it's mostly entertaining as a very, very specifically dated artifact — think of it in the same spirit as *Cool As Ice*, but with superpowers.
06X-Men: Evolution
X-Men: Evolution ---------------- __What Was It?__ A four-season animated series that cuts straight to the soap-opera appeal of X-Men by mixing superhero adventure with high-school drama, *X-Men: Evolution* ran from 2000 through 2004. The Xavier Academy students live at the institute, but attend a local public high school, and most are accordingly de-aged to teenagers. __Was It Any Good?__ Eventually. The series gets off to a rocky start, but midway through the second season, it starts to find its stride, and by the end, it's solidly decent. Unlike the original animated series, *Evolution* wasn't trying to adapt comics arcs directly, which gave it more leeway to explore alternate approaches to classic stories; it also introduced the character X-23, who later became a major figure in the comics as well.
07X-Men
X-Men ----- __What Was It?__ Although development of an X-Men feature film dates back to as early as the late '80s, it took until 2000 for Marvel's mutants to finally make their way to the big screen, in a film directed by Bryan Singer. __Was It Any Good?__ *X-Men* was deftly written and well directed, for the most part well cast, accessible enough to appeal to newcomers, and with enough nods to the comic and animated series to satisfy die-hard fans. It's generally credited with jumpstarting the wave of popular superhero movies in the aughts and teens.
08X2
X2 -- __What Was It?__ The 2003 sequel to the first Singer *X-Men*, *X2* was based heavily on the classic comics story "God Loves, Man Kills," altered to tie in with Wolverine's origin in the Weapon X program. __Was It Any Good?__ Like its predecessor, *X2* does a good job of staying rooted in the source material while retaining enough flexibility to make full use of its new medium. There are a few scenes and characters that seem shoehorned in, but, in general, it's a strong sequel, and a good X-Men movie.
09X-Men: The Last Stand
X-Men: The Last Stand --------------------- __What Was It?__ After teasing a sequel based on the Dark Phoenix Saga at the end of *X2*, director Bryan Singer abandoned the X-Men franchise to direct *Superman Returns*, leaving the X-Men in the hands of Brett Ratner. *X-Men: The Last Stand* was the most expensive film ever made at the time of its release in 2006, which is a pretty good illustration of the axiom that money is no substitute for quality. __Was It Any Good?__ Only as a cautionary tale.
10Wolverine and the X-Men
Wolverine and the X-Men ----------------------- __What Was It?__ *Wolverine and the X-Men* aired for a single season in 2009 before being abruptly canceled for reasons that may or may not have been related to Disney's acquisition of Marvel. Wholly separate from the comics and previous animated continuity, it chronicles the team's attempt to prevent a catastrophic future, radically reframing a number of core concepts from the series—Phoenix and Apocalypse, among others—in the process __Was It Any Good?__ In a just world, the fact that *Wolverine and the X-Men* only ran for one season would be an actual crime, with legal repercussions and everything. It's the hands-down best animated adaptation of X-Men, and it went out on a cliffhanger that teased a spectacular second season, set in the Age of Apocalypse—alternate-universe glam hair and all. That said, I'd probably give *Wolverine and the X-Men* full points even if the writing and animation weren't superlative: as far as I'm concerned, when you cast Nolan North as Cyclops, you earn a lot of slack elsewhere.
11The Super Hero Squad Show
The Super Hero Squad Show ------------------------- __What Was It?__ Like *Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends*, *The Super Hero Squad Show* isn't technically an X-Men series, but Wolverine's part of the main cast, and they make occasional visits to the Xavier school, so I'll allow it. Based on the toy line of the same name, *Super Hero Squad* ran for two years, from 2009 through 2011. __Was It Any Good?__ For a cartoon based on a line of toys, *Super Hero Squad* is surprisingly palatable. Its X-Men are silly and egregiously out of character—but then, so's everyone else.
12Marvel Anime: X-Men
Marvel Anime: X-Men ------------------- __What Was It?__ Pretty much what it says on the tin: a 12-episode anime about the X-Men that aired in 2011. __Was It Any Good?__ It's okay. The X-Men are pretty context-agnostic, and it's entertaining to see them translated into such a different aesthetic and cultural setting, but the story's forced, and the voice acting is hit-and-miss.
13X-Men: First Class
X-Men: First Class ------------------ __What Was It?__ Not to be confused with the comic series of the same title, *X-Men: First Class* was the X-Men's first return to the big screen after 2006's *The Last Stand*. Set in the late 1960s, it chronicles the origins of the X-Men—diverging significantly from the comics—and is ostensibly set in the same chronology as the first movie trilogy. __Was It Any Good?__ Okay, look, there's a lot wrong with *First Class*—the writers made some bewildering team-lineup decisions (Azazel? *Seriously?*), and its racial and gender politics are awful even given the period setting—but let's be clear: if you're watching this movie, you're watching it for the star-crossed bromance of Xavier and Magneto. And *that*, it nails.
