This week was what many of us have been waiting for, the release of the first two episodes of X-Men ’97 on Disney Plus. Don’t know what I’m talking about?

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This was very much like a nice warm soup for my soul on a rainy New England day.

So I’ll say this if you watched the original animated series, you’re definitely gonna like this and if you didn’t, you will also like this, I think.  Here’s an in-depth review on Rotten Tomatoes. TLDR? It’s rated at 100%.

The story begins where the previous series left off, Charles Xavier, having been assassinated, and with human/mutant traffickers wearing FOH armbands (Friends of Humanity) and armed with portable sentinel blasters that make them look like a weird GI Joe/ Mega Man crossover, a charming rich kid with yet to be discovered solar powers, who hits the message on the head when he says “I was born this way”.

Anyway, the FOH folks have a lot of new tricks, gadgets, and are playing very, very dirty. You can tell by their motto ‘Tolerance is Extinction’ that they’re basically espousing the Great Replacement Theory.

So we kick off with Jean very pregnant, the X-men in somewhat of a rough spot following Xavier’s death, but everyone doing their best. Meanwhile a bunch of bigots have been amassing sentinel tech (in this case literally stockpiling arms?) in the desert.

There are several twists and turns in the first two episodes. Outstanding action sequences including some freaking amazing combination use of powers and definitely more violence than the original. Most of the original (might I add epic and the voices of my childhood) have returned. The writing is solid, and there isn’t a moment to breath during the episode.

There are some laughs, some groans, and a few moments that absolutely gave me the feels. If I try to give you hints I’ll just end up giving you a play by play of all my favorite moments so instead, please just go watch it and let me know what you think.

I will absolutely be eagerly awaiting the next episode (weekly on Wednesdays). Join me!

_{Cover Image is Official X-men ’97 Promotional Art provided by Disney+}