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''X-Men: Evolution'' is an American Animated Television Series about the Marvel Comics Superhero team '' X-Men '', with the characters as teenagers and young adults. The series ran for a total of four seasons (52 episodes) on Kids WB despite the fact that Warner Bros. is the owner of DC Comics , the major rival of the Marvel Comics. The story is set in an Alternate Marvel Universe . PLOT OUTLINE Most of the first season is spent introducing the characters. During this time, the X-Men recruit Rogue. She is frightened and then angry at the X-Men to begin with, but slowly learns to trust the others over the course of several episodes. Although it is immediately clear to most fans of X-Men that the mysterious leader of Mystique's team is Magneto, this information is not explicitly revealed until the end of the season, in a two-part episode called "The Cauldron." In the second season, the Xavier Institute took on a number of additional students, sometimes known as "The New Mutants." For the most part, they are fairly minor characters in the series. Bobby Drake, aka Iceman, eventually becomes a full member of the X-Men. Most of the episodes focus on characters developing relationships, as well as themes of loyalty and the importance of teamwork. The second season concludes with the two-part episode "The Day of Reckoning" in which the X-Men and the Brotherhood join together to fight Magneto's new team and end up revealing the existence of mutants to the world in the process. The third season moves the story closer to traditional X-Men continuity, in that many of the stories are about overcoming hatred, intolerance and racism. There is a strong streak of revenge related plot lines in this season as well. The season concludes with the two-part episode "Dark Horizon" in which the powerful mutant Apocalypse is finally freed from captivity. Season four, for the most part, is rather chaotic in structure. Many fans believe that this is because the creators of the series knew they were likely to be cancelled at the end of the season. Several interesting plot lines are created, but never given the chance to advance. The only real focus to the season is the slow build of power that Apocalypse is working towards. The final episodes in the season (and the series) are called "Ascension," in which Apocalypse kidnaps Professor Xavier, Magneto, Storm and Mystique to serve as his agents in the destruction of humanity. Series finale , , Storm , Professor Charles Xavier , Wolverine , Shadowcat , and Beast .]] The series ends with a speech by Charles Xavier, who had caught a glimpse of the future while being mind-controlled by Apocalypse. Boyd Kirkland confirmed on ToonZone.net that the unrealized Season 5 would have expanded on several of these plot threads, with Dark Phoenix being the season's main villain. The following future scenarios were foreseen:
COMIC BOOK SPIN-OFFS In January 2002 , Marvel Comics began publishing a Manga -style Comic Book series partially based on the show. Written by Devin Grayson , it was abruptly canceled after the ninth issue due to low sales. The comic received mixed reviews from fans due to the fact that Grayson overlooked distinct character quirks (Spyke now called Storm "Aunt Ororo" instead of "Auntie O"), omitted certain supporting characters entirely (Duncan Matthews and Taryn Fujioka were removed in favor of a love triangle between Scott, Jean, and Warren Worthington), and had striking continuity errors (the public knows about the existence of mutants before the series technically begins; in the show proper, mutants are not "outed" until the second season finale, "Day of Reckoning"). The comic introduced the Evolution version of the Morlocks before they appeared on the show, and their appearances and motivations were radically different in both versions. An ongoing plot line would have introduced the Evolution version of Mr. Sinister , but the comic was canceled before it could be resolved. The cover of the unreleased issue 10 does reveal his intended character design, however. Evolution characters in the comics '' or Marvel's own Firestar of '' Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends '', she was a character created for the cartoon but was eventually incorporated into Canon . The comic book X-Statix featured an African-American mutant with the same codename and abilities as Spyke; however, this "other" Spike was not related to Storm, had a very different personality (modeled after popular Gangsta Rappers ), and is generally interpreted to be a completely separate character. AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS ''X-Men: Evolution'' won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing - Live Action and Animation at the 30th figure ( Beast ). It was nominated for several Golden Reel awards as well as other Emmys. Steven E. Gordon , the director of this show, was nominated for the best individual achievement for ''X-Men: Evolution''. COMPARISON WITH CANON HISTORY The ''X-Men: Evolution'' series was targeted at a younger audience, and portrays Cyclops , Jean Grey , Nightcrawler , Rogue and Shadowcat from the original comic book, as well as Spyke , a new character created for the series. These characters are shown as teenagers attending regular high school in addition to the Xavier Institute. At the latter, Professor X , Storm , Wolverine and later Beast were their teachers. The first season mainly concerned the characters' conflict with Magneto 's Brotherhood of Mutants. Later seasons predominantly featured Apocalypse as an adversary and introduced versions of The New Mutants and Magneto's Acolytes. ''X-Men: Evolution'' is set in the generic city of Bayville , rather than Salem Center (though both exist in New York State ). Furthermore, in the early part of the series (until the end of season 2) most people are unaware of the existence of mutants. It is also important to note that "The Brotherhood" team is not known as "The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants" within the context of this series. They are not a team of terrorists or mutant supremacists. Instead, the Brotherhood is made up of misfit mutants who often oppose the X-Men (in physical, social and philosophical realms). Because of its independent story line, there were complaints about the show not being faithful to the comics (for example, the re-imagining of Rogue as a bitter young Goth without the added powers of Ms. Marvel was initially unpopular), although there was general acceptance of the series and its new storylines within online communities. The show consistently held high ratings for its intended audience at Kids WB, with the initial episode receiving the highest ratings the network had seen in an entire broadcast season. The series did reveal a detailed knowledge of the original storyline in several small ways, however, so it might be better to call it a reinterpretation. An example of this is the evolution of Cerebro from a console device, Shadowcat's initial uneasiness around Nightcrawler, and Forge's scientific arrogance along with his devices causing unintended consequences. In ''Day of Recovery'', Toad is seen to be quite comfortable with technology, and in ''Operation Rebirth'', the "POW camp" Magneto is held in as a child is visually similar (in the opening shot) to Auschwitz , but the narration shies away from identifying it as such. CHARACTERS ''See '' MUSIC & SONGS X-Men: Evolution featured several songs that were produced for the show and not part of the original score. Some of the most recognizable songs are:
In addition, individual characters had distinct musical cues, such as Mystique, Storm, and Magneto. EPISODE LIST See: . TRIVIA
MERCHANDISE ''X-Men: Evolution'' was to have its own line of merchandise, but lack of sales forced Marvel to cut back on them. Some believe that, had the merchandise still been in production past Season 2 (largely considered to be the point where the show gathered a large fan base), it would have turned a profit. Toy Biz created a line of Action Figures which included Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Cyclops, Storm, Sabertooth, Toad, Spyke, Magneto, Juggernaut and Blob. Hard Hero also released Maquettes of Storm, Professor X, Juggernaut, Magneto, Wolverine, Colossus, Cyclops and the X-Men: Evolution design of Captain America. Burger King ran a Kid's Meal promotion which included X-Men: Evolution toys. Each toy included a mini-disc with games, screen-savers, and a mini-comic related to the character. The lineup included Rogue, Mystique, Cyclops, Wolverine, Magneto, Quicksilver, Nightcrawler, and Toad. Taco Bell also featured an X-Men: Evolution themed promotion for its Kids Meals. DVDS
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