Iron Man, The Movie

Marvel Comics definitive masterpiece.

Although I'm always trying to avoid making reviews about films that are way too important(it took me years to cover Star Wars as it deserves to be), all of our previous posts have been about what Marvel Comics has done on the small and big screen at different times.However, we haven't discussed each and every single movie from Marvel Studios.Now the time has come for that which is inevitable: Covering the one film that allowed Marvel Studios begin a career of successful motion pictures based upon their beloved characters. Enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe, AKA Iron Man, the movie.

Before we get into the review properly allow me to confess memories nobody gives a shit about, but for old times' sake, let me introduce today's entry like in the old days of Blogger (you know, talking about how miserable your life is)

Growing up in South America in the 80's meant two things for kids: 

1. Dictatorship not only taking over your education but also controlling your freedom deeply.

2.Reading mostly DC Comics comic books (Marvel comic books in those days were a precious oddity)

Now, how many fucks are to be given about this? why would I bring this up?  Well, as to explain myself better.  While North America was very aware of what Marvel Comics were doing, I barely had glimpses of what a Marvel Comic character would look like. Most of the info I had as a young enthusiast comic book fan came from TV (The Incredible Hulk series, The Amazing Spiderman series & the Captain America films plus the cartoons based on Marvel characters) and since Iron Man didn't have a cartoon/movies of his own it was nearly impossible to figure out who he was until I found a few very old comic books of his own in a pawn shop. 

Hit the road terrorists!

Talk to the hand!

Later when the 90's decade began I found Iron Man being my favorite playable character of The Avengers arcade videogame, and eventually found him again in Marvel Superheroes. By the second half of the decade, a Mexican book firm began publishing Marvel Comics comic books (mostly Spiderman & X-Men but every once in a while Iron Man would show up here and there) In addition there was the Iron Man animated series (check previous post about it) Now, all of these experiences lead me to believe that Iron Man belonged to Tier B where superheroes are concerned, languishing behind easily recognizable peers who already have movie after movie being made. 

Iron Man had it very hard coming out the same year The Dark Knight came out. Nevertheless, Tony Stark may have lost his parents and inherit a big fortune, but that neither makes him Bruce Wayne nor Batman. the personality Stark has is the opposite of Wayne's. He's not hurt, he's been there but, has long since moved on to a better life, where his creative brain keeps him healthy, rich and happy. Besides, every movie that tried to copy Christopher Nolan's realistic dark universe failed miserably. This one wouldn't fail, it wasn't dark, it was about someone who was happy to save the day.

Mark II.

Mark III: Birth of Iron Man, the hero!

The writing is great as 'Iron Man' sticks to the main story all the way. I liked how Downey Jr's Tony Stark grows from this carefree business-minded tech-tycoon who's only concern is Stark Industries to a man with a mission to save the world and in the process he still stays the same person as he maintains his sense of humor, his courage and his integrity. The dialogs, especially Starks's one-liners are sharp, witty and funny. This movie is an introduction to the famous title character thus those expecting only action from start to end (like 'Transformers') may be disappointed to an extent. But for me there was enough action along with substance to make it a hugely enjoyable experience.

Jon Favreau is a versatile director and his impressive filmography, both as actor and director, prove that he's experimented with different kinds of cinema. 'Iron Man' wouldn't have been an easy film to direct but Favreau does a magnificent job. The CGI is excellent as I loved how much attention was given to detail and how the viewer is shown every step of the making of Iron Man. Of course, there's some humor added to lighten up the mood instead of technologically overloading the viewers.

CEO wars!

Ever dance with the devil...err..wrong movie!

'Iron Man' is just the movie that Robert Downey Jr. needed and it couldn't have come at a better time. At a time, when this talented actor's performances were hardly getting enough notice, 'Iron Man' brings him back to recognition. After seeing him, one would conclude that the part was made only for Downey Jr. His dialog delivery seems so natural that it would be hard to tell whether he was acting, if the scenes were taken out of context. I don't think Gwyneth Paltrow has ever looked better. Though the role does not allow her to really stretch her acting, Potts isn't just a typical superhero's dame. She is Tony's confidant and the one who supports him through thick and thin. Paltrow provides the necessary charisma, sex appeal and soul that makes Pepper Potts shine and she shares a sizzling chemistry with her male lead. Terrence Howard has a smaller role as Tony's good friend but there's a hint that he might have a more prominent role if a sequel is made. Finally, there's Jeff Bridges as the villain. An odd yet brilliant choice as the actor is refreshing and like his costar, he too needed an 'Iron Man' to give his career a boost.

I noticed that some people were complaining that Muslims/Middle Easterners were portrayed as bad guys just like in any other American movie but I would like to state that this is no 'Vantage Point'. Here, these people weren't portrayed as terrorists working on their own but as men hired for a specific reason. So I just thought to briefly clarify that this is no anti-Islamic or anti-anything (except, well okay, anti-weaponry) movie. It's a movie for everyone.

meet the Iron Monger!

Iron Monger smash!

Perhaps the story itself isn't anything novel which is what makes it somewhat similar to other superhero movies, but the treatment of it and its execution is quite unique. Add to that a fine cast and dazzling special effects among many things, this is the ultimate summer movie experience of 2008 and honestly, the one that allowed the Marvel Cinematic Universe to exist, Iron Man is the big bang!

Overall, the best Marvel Studios film to date (yes, to date, that is 2015) and you know what? What really makes Iron Man an excellent film is that the cast chosen for each role looks and sound as if they were born for it. Robert Downey Jr. is a truly believable genius millionaire that is nothing like sad & dark Bruce Wayne (yes, people tend to compare these two very often) His incredible portrayal of the character brings Iron Man from the Tier B of superheroes, to the spotlight he's always deserved, but writers and artists had constantly failed to conceive.

Stay tuned for Iron Man 2, the sequel review...

Here's the movie trailer:

And a very special bonus video featuring "Iron Man, The Movie with toys"

Iron Man (the 90's Animated Series)

The modular armor, my second favorite armor.

Despite the fact that Marvel Comics has had a long term relationship with television spin-offs/adaptations, the only character who had the longest run and success was Spiderman. Soon after the 80's were gone, the 90's would mark the second wave of Marvel Comics animated series. The Incredible Hulk, The Fantastic Four, Spiderman (again) X-Men (the most successful of them all, critically acclaimed as a masterpiece up to this day) all had their chance and did pretty well I might add. Nevertheless, one of the second class characters (that is until he had his live action film that also started the Marvel Cinematic universe) had its chance and didn't do that well in the end. Yes peeps, we're talking Ironman and his 26 episode series.

Iron Man, also known as Iron Man: The Animated Series, aired from 1994 to 1996 in syndication as part of The Marvel Action Hour, which packaged Iron Man with another animated series based on Marvel properties, the Fantastic Four, with one half-hour episode from each series airing back-to-back. The show was backed by a toy line that featured many armor variants (of course! the 80's lessons in marketing taught Marvel they could sell as many toys as they wanted if they put mediocre series based upon the action figures they wanted you to buy)

Armor time!

Mexican Moustache.

This series of Iron Man was among the few television series to be re-recorded in THX (George Lucas anyone?). This may have been usual at the time for a motion picture, but it is rare for a television series. Off the heels of the release of the live-action Iron Man film in 2008, reruns began airing on the Jetix block on Toon Disney.

Although only lasting two seasons, Iron Man was the subject of a major overhaul between seasons when its production studio was changed. The result was a massively changed premise, tone, and general approach, which left the disparate seasons scarcely recognizable as being two halves of the same series.

The first season of Iron Man featured little more than a Masters of the Universe-style battle of "good against evil", as billionaire industrialist Tony Stark battled the evil forces of the world-conquering Mandarin as the armored superhero, Iron Man. In his evil endeavors to steal Stark's technology and Iron Man's armor, the Mandarin led a group of villains consisting of Dreadknight, Blizzard, Blacklash, Grey Gargoyle (when it comes to fighting Iron Man and his team, he has a tendency to accidentally turn his fellow villains to stone), Hypnotia (Dreadknight and Blacklash were rivals for the affections of Hypnotia), Whirlwind, Living Laser, MODOK, Fin Fang Foom and Justin Hammer. To combat these villains, Iron Man had the help of his own team (based on Force Works, a then-current comic book team which has since faded into obscurity), including Century, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye (replacing U.S. Agent from the comics) and Spider Woman.

What can I wear for prom night?

Modular armor, I love thee.

Season 1: Nope, not based upon any Comic Book story arc.

Unfortunately, the first season of the series bases very few of its stories on the comic books, aside from its retelling of Iron Man's origin. In modernizing the character's origin story, Tony Stark is not injured in a Vietnamese war zone, but in an act of industrial sabotage plotted by Justin Hammer (who also orchestrated the death of Tony's father, which was later revealed to be a cover-up by S.H.I.E.L.D. in "Not Far From the Tree") and the Mandarin. Wounded not by a chunk of shrapnel near his heart, but by slivers near his spine, Stark and Ho Yinsen (whose first name is changed to Wellington) were held captive by the Mandarin, rather than Wong-Chu. Yinsen works with Arnold Brock before Arnold becomes the Mandarin. The Mandarin later captures Wellington Yinsen to use him to help Tony Stark build an invincible armor for his minions. When Tony Stark becomes Iron Man for the first time, he manages to escape, but Yinsen is killed by the Mandarin. The Mandarin himself was subject to heavy modification, altered by his rings to a much greater extent than in the comics. He gained green skin (a fate which befell other Asian villains in animation around the time, such as Doctor No in James Bond Junior and Ming the Merciless in Defenders of the Earth) and an enhanced musculature, but the show did retain the connection between his origin and Fin Fang Foom. 

The season consisted mostly of single-episode open-and-shut-case adventures, with two two-part stories late towards the end. Unlike many other Marvel animated series, despite featuring over-the-top titles that paid homage to the early Stan Lee written Marvel comics of the 1960s (for example, "The Grim Reaper Wears a Teflon Coat", and "Rejoice, I am Ultimo, Thy Deliverer"), almost none of the episodes were adaptations of comic book stories, consisting instead of original stories penned by Ron Friedman, occasionally collaborated on by Stan Lee himself. The closest the season came to adapting a comic book tale was in the two-part "The Origin of Iron Man", which recounted a (modified and modernized) version of the character's comic book origin just before the season concluded.

The dynamic duo?

Friendship is magic.

From Confusion to Oblivion.  

The late-run recounting of the title character's origin is symptomatic of what is generally thought of as the season's greatest weakness - despite (or perhaps because of) having such a large cast of characters, very few of the show's heroes and villains were actually developed in any way, leaving viewers unaware of their personal stories and powers. The show is generally held to have been at its best when filling in these origin blanks (MODOK in "Enemy Without, Enemy Within," Iron Man and the Mandarin in their self-titled "The Origin of..." episodes), but these were rare occasions, with virtually every other plot simply consisting of the Mandarin attempting to steal Stark's newest invention and being bested, often through very strange and illogical means (with the nadir perhaps being Iron Man somehow using the energy of a small tape-player to restore his armor to full power in "Silence My Companion, Death My Destination").

A small sub-plot in the first season revolves around Mandarin secretly spying on Force Works. It culminates in "The Wedding of Iron Man" when Stark realizes they have been spied on by reviewing events from previous episodes (and explaining how Mandarin's forces always knew where they would be), realizing that Mandarin has acquired enough information to potentially deduce the true identity of Iron Man. The entire episode's plot is dedicated to resolving the problem, culminating in Iron Man and his team setting up an elaborate deception where Mandarin sees Iron Man and Tony Stark in the same place with the intention being to convince him that the two men are not the same person (The 'Tony' in the situation was an android).

I must prevent Ironman 3 from being filmed in the future!

Not so tough.

Season 2: Yes, based upon some Comic Book story arcs.

The second season performed a complete turnaround, and began regularly adapting major Iron Man comic book stories including "Dragon Seed" (as "The Beast Within"), "Armor Wars" and "The Hands of the Mandarin" and introducing more characters derived from the comic books, including HOMER, Firebrand (the Gary Gilbert version), Sunturion and more. However, the artists chosen for the animation of the episodes left much to be desired.

In 1995, Marvel switched The Marvel Action Hour to a new animation studio (as previously mentioned, the animation in Season 1 was provided by the Rainbow Animation Group, while the animation in Season 2 was provided by Koko Enterprises), and with it came new writers (Ron Friedman was replaced by Tom Tataranowicz for Season 2) and new music for each sequence, coupled with a new direction for the series. The first season's subtle keyboard theme music for Iron Man (composed by progressive rock artist Keith Emerson) was replaced by an intense electric guitar theme featuring the repeated refrain of "I am Iron Man!", while showing Tony Stark beating red-hot iron plates into shape with a blacksmith's hammer (possibly to mimic the Black Sabbath song "Iron Man"). Tony Stark's longer hair style in the second season was based upon the artist Mark Bright's depiction of Stark from the late 1980s, which is where most of the episodes from Season 2 were based upon.

The new story lines spanned multiple episodes and were no longer "open and shut" cases. They formed a linking narrative, featuring themes of duplicity, consequence, and phobias. Also, the stories were no longer centered on the Mandarin, whose rings had been scattered and whose power had been depleted. While the Mandarin did appear in these episodes, his appearances were reduced to cameos in the cliffhangers at the end of the story, as he tried to retrieve each ring.

I still have this action figure.

Some of the spectacular action figures from the toyline.

Another change was that Force Works was mostly written out of the series, parting ways with Stark after he deceives them in order to work in secret with the Mandarin when Fin Fang Foom and his fellow Dragons were plotting to eliminate Earth. When Stark's counter plan against Justin Hammer, which includes faking his death without the knowledge of his teammates, leads to a disbanding of Force Works, Julia Carpenter and James Rhodes are the only ones who continue to work with Stark. This split would be revisited with Stark's ensuing conflicts with Hawkeye over the course of several episodes.

Also, War Machine develops a phobia of being trapped inside his armor (also based on a then-current comic storyline), but this is resolved before the final episode. While Rhodes was active as War Machine in Season 1, he remained out of armor for the majority of Season 2 due to reliving a tragic drowning experience while being trapped underwater in the War Machine armor in the Season 2 episode "Fire And Rain". Rhodes eventually overcomes his fear and dons the War Machine armor once again in the episode "Distant Boundaries".

Not the Avengers but close enough.

Nick Fury is white!

Prior to finding his last two rings, the Mandarin claims his eighth ring from MODOK in the episode "Empowered". "Empowered" was the clip show of the season, the purpose being that the Mandarin wanted to learn of Iron Man's recent activities. In the finale, the Mandarin, having regained all of his rings, unleashes a mist using the Heart of Darkness to render everything technological useless. Iron Man reunites with Force Works in order to stop him. The Mandarin unmasks Iron Man before their final showdown ends in his death. More specifically, Iron Man manages to reflect the power of Mandarin's rings, destroying them, and ultimately leaving the Mandarin with amnesia and helpless before a band of desert bandits who likely killed him, or at least cut off his hand/fingers for the rings. After Mandarin was killed, MODOK and the rest of Mandarin's henchmen were sent to jail.

After predictable disappointing ratings, the series was canceled for good. I for one, not being an expert but a lifetime comic book fan I can say the producers of this series totally underrated their target audience. Season 1 feels like a series made for children were the extreme paradigm  of "good prevails over evil" makes it campy. For season 2 producers noticed this, but the artists chosen for the most important task (animation) were complete unskilled noobs. Nevertheless, Iron Man had always been the thorn in Marvel's spine. Poor comic book sales, poor ratings and mediocre story arcs had the character's reputation buried six feet under until the early 2000's and most notably until Iron Man's big screen debut in 2008, where all of a sudden Iron Man was everyone's favorite!

Here's the cool intro sequence for season 2:

Howard The Duck

Bad in the 80's, good in the 21st Century.

Considered one of the most notorious box-office flops in history(Not even the "George Lucas presents" tag granted better results) , 'Howard the Duck' became the laughing stock of critics and movie-goers alike when it was released in theaters in 1986. If its executive producer, George Lucas, had his way, he would have canned that movie for good. But thanks to the home video boom in the 1980s, 'Howard' would follow suit and find his way into video stores across America. Let's just not blame him for trying, after all, Howard the Duck was and still is a rather obscure character in the Marvel Universe, and despite his kid friendly duck appearance, the comic book was way darker as it was a satire of what was going on when its first number came up.

Nearly thirty years later, 'Howard The Duck' came back to life in the after credits scenes of Guardians Of The Galaxy hinting his imminent return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Nevertheless, watching his standalone movie today, makes way more sense than it did in the 80's.

Here's how it all goes down: You are dropped onto a planet from a far-away universe, where ducks are human-like and are running the world, only to be pulled out again moments later. An everyday working-duck by the name of Howard gets sucked out of his living room on his recliner after returning to his apartment after a long, hard day.

Your friend is not from around here, right?

Wow! This Duck would make a fine addition to Disney anytime!

After the opening title is shown in the thundering tradition of cinematic heavyweights like '2001: A Space Odyssey', we see Howard's decent toward the planet Earth. Once he has reluctantly gotten his feet on the ground, he clashes with the dregs of society and saves the lead singer of an all-female glam band named Beverly, (played by 'Back to the Future's Lea Thompson). She tries to give him a hand, and help him get an explanation as to how he got sucked out of his living room and landed in Cleveland, Ohio.

That explanation never actually makes any sense, but that doesn't matter, because better plot developments hinge upon it. With the help of a goofy lab janitor Phil (played by the immortal Tim Robbins in an early comedic role) and a big time nuclear scientist Dr. Jennings (none other than Jeffery Jones), Howard finds out that a giant laser Jennings was using went haywire, and pulled Howard down instead. But going back isn't going to be so easy, because one of Dark Overlords of Evil hitched a ride on that laser, and has plans of planet domination and destruction. And who better than to save the day than the 3'1" (3'2", that is) wise-"quacking" title character, Howard T. Duck!

Shit, I'm about to fuck Marty McFly's mother!

Backdoor is not an option, is it?

Although George Lucas got ripped apart for having his hands in this one, I have yet to see a movie that is so awful, so terribly bad that I have been brought to tears crying at simply recalling scenes from this flick. The opening sequences on the duck planet contain countless parodies of American pop culture, and Howard's implausible hurtle through space is enough to make even the most serious chuckle.

Audiences back in 1986 didn't seem to, however. But something about watching this flop nearly three decades later makes all of these scenes so much funnier. The way I see it, our teen generation now has a funny fascination with the decade in which they were born, the 80s, and anything from it has a distinctive look and sound. American pop culture was throwing away Three's Company for MTV, LPs for tapes(well, vinyl is still alive and kicking) , and the Bee Gees for the Brat Pack. The youth took yet another step in distancing themselves from their parents, and although they furthered that schism, they too felt a strong connection the past few decades. Back in the 80's I was only a kid who loved Robotech, The Transformers, Atari, Nintendo and Star Wars of course.

Oh Howard, my twat melts for you.

Hey! knock before you come into our room!

Today's generation has 'Howard the Duck' as one of the most endangered time capsules of the 80s. You've got a one-of-a-kind performance by now Academy Award Winner Tim Robbins, whose his explanation of duck's evolutionary scale is priceless. George Lucas's own Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) special effects studio must be embarrassed to have itself credited with the horrendous effects (the Dark Overlord, for one). You've got a helplessly catchy theme song, revealing in all of its cheesy 80s pop-synth glory.

The jokes are terrible, the dialogue sub-par, the plot laughable. But you know what, you'll laugh you a$$ off. Still, what confuses me the host is how, at the beginning of the film, we see naked female Ducks (with very human tits) and Howard's smoking suggests the film is made for an adult audience and then all of a sudden, the film becomes a family rated sunday afternoon film. By the way, how do we explain to kids what is like to have sex with an animal? yes, peeps, Barbara Sizzles (the only character to actually appear in the original comic book, besides Howard) has sex with a duck in a film made for kids.

Not even a talking Duck can save from my powers!

OK, you fucked Marty McFly's mum and now you wanna impersonate him?

Join me in saving Howard from being pulled from video store shelves. Today's generation will love the waddling fowl more than the angry movie-goers who saw this dud in the theaters. Keep him alive!

Here's the movie trailer:

 Here the 10 most  disturbing moments in the film:

And here Howard the Duck's return to the big screen:

X-Men, the Legendary 90's Animated Series

The best X-Men adaptation to date.

The SPAM Alternative team of writers is a very educated one. In order to apologize for the previous entries (which featured some of the worst comic book adaptations of all times) we have decided to refund our connoisseurs by reviewing the number one comic book TV adaptation of all times: X-Men, The Animated Series.  

The series debuted on October 31, 1992 in the United States on the Fox Network as part of its Fox Kids Saturday morning lineup. X-Men was Marvel Comics' second attempt at an animated X-Men TV series after the pilot X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men was not picked up. The series ran for five seasons from 1992 to 1997 with an episode count of 73.

The cartoon featured quite a lot of characters from the X-Men universe.

Bishop, one of my personal favorite X-Men & Rogue's ass!

How did the X-Men become a cartoon blockbuster?

In 1991, Margaret Loesch became head of Fox Children's Network. Having championed the Pryde of the X-Men pilot in 1989, she was quick to set up an order for 13 episodes of X-Men. X-Men was originally to premiere over the Labor Day weekend in September; however, due to production delays, it was pushed to the end of October. Moreover, when the animation team AKOM turned in the first episode, it contained hundreds of animation errors, which AKOM refused to fix. Because of time constraints, the episode was aired as is. The second episode was turned in just before deadline, with 50 scenes missing and only a single day reserved for editing. The "Night of the Sentinels" two-part episode originally aired as a "sneak preview" on October 31.

Because of the production delays and animation errors in these two episodes, Fox threatened to sever AKOM's contracts. When Fox re-aired the pilot in early 1993, the errors were all corrected. The series earned top ratings throughout its first season, and was renewed for a second season of 13 episodes. X-Men stands as the longest-running Marvel Comics-based show, lasting 76 episodes. The second longest, the 1990s Spider-Man animated series, lasted 65 episodes.

After the box office success of the live-action X-Men film in the summer of 2000, Fox began airing reruns of the cartoon on weekday afternoons. At first, only episodes that primarily featured content in the movie were broadcast. Later, the series was aired in proper order, but it was pulled from the air in early 2001. Soon after, ABC Family and Toon Disney began airing reruns, due to Disney's buyout of all Saban Entertainment programs. Then later X-Men was taken off the air again after when Toon Disney was discontinued and Disney XD took over its place

Magneto!

A team like no other.

The show features X-Men similar in look and line-up to the early 1990s X-Men drawn by Jim Lee (more specifically, Cyclops' Blue Team, established in the early issues of the second X-Men comic series), composed of Cyclops, Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Beast, Gambit, Jubilee, Jean Grey, Professor X, as well as an original character, Morph (an adaptation of previous X-Men member Kevin Sydney) 

Although the majority of series' stories are original, a number of famous storylines and events from the comics are loosely adapted in the series, such as "The Dark Phoenix Saga", "Days of Future Past", the "Phalanx Covenant", and the "Legacy Virus". The third episode, "Enter Magneto", features a confrontation at a missile base: this is largely based on the X-Men's first battle with Magneto, as told in their 1963 debut The X-Men #1. The season-four episodes "Sanctuary, Parts I & II", which involve Magneto creating an orbiting haven for mutants, were influenced by several storylines from the comics, chiefly the first three issues of X-Men (Volume 2) and the "Fatal Attractions" crossover. An Age of Apocalypse-like time-line is shown in the episode "One Man's Worth". The entire saga of the Phoenix is retold and adapted in the third season, subdivided into the five-part "Phoenix Saga", in which Jean acquires the power of the Phoenix and the battle for the M'Kraan Crystal occurs, and the "Dark Phoenix Saga", showcasing the battle with the Hellfire Club, the Phoenix Force's transformation into Dark Phoenix, and the battle to decide her fate.

Meet the Sentinel from my personal collection.

My humble collection.

X-Men, season by season.

The first season of the show brought the X-Men into conflict with human conspirators building mutant-exterminating Sentinel robots, Magneto and his attempts to instigate a human-mutant war, and the powerful mutant Apocalypse's plans to eradicate the weak, both human and mutant alike. Other storylines including X-Men member Morph's death at the hands of Sentinels, Beast's incarceration, and an assassination attempt on US senator Kelly by Apocalypse's minions to turn human sentiment against the mutants. 

The second season sees Cyclops and Jean get married and become the targets of Mister Sinister, who hopes to use the genetically perfect combination of their DNA to create an army of obedient mutants. Morph returns, having been rescued by Sinister and brainwashed into forcing the X-Men apart. The season also features the growing rift between humans and mutants, spearheaded by the Friends of Humanity, an anti-mutant group who lead the persecution of all mutants. Apocalypse also returns, developing a deadly plague to be blamed on mutants, fueling mutant hatred.

The third season focuses on the cosmic force, the Phoenix, which merges with Jean Grey and eventually turns her into the malevolent and powerful Dark Phoenix. The season also introduced the Shi'ar Empire who want to stop the Dark Phoenix, including Lilandra and Gladiator. Other storylines include the introduction of Wolverine's former lover turned mercenary, Lady Deathstrike, former X-Men member Iceman, and the villainous Shadow King.

The Dark Phoenix Saga...

...My favorite story arc.

I remember back in 1992 when this show debuted, I thought it was one of the best cartoons on the air, along with "Batman: The Animated Series"(We apologize for not having it reviewed here yet). The characters had great powers but no one was so incredibly powered that they couldn't get knocked down and knocked around. Plus they were always getting on each others nerves. As cool as Wolverine and Gambit were, I always held great fondness for Cyclops and Beast, I guess because I admired Cyclops for being so stalwart and steadfast and Beast for being so damn smart, laid back and intelligent.Gambit's love/hate relationship with Rogue, the hottest virgin super-heroine in comic books, was always good for a laugh and only occasionally got dramatic but never so much that it got sappy. Professor Xavier, Storm, Jean, and Jubilee rounded out the cast of heroes with their own powers and self-doubts and dreams. 

Honestly, the X-Men cartoon series was arguably the most accurate fans could get, easily outdoing the movie adaptations. Nevertheless, as above mentioned most of the stories were "based upon" episodes, which wasn't a bad thing at all, since writers were very respectful of the original source and tried to use the cartoon as a way  to foster further interest in the original source. Did they succeed? sure they did! just remember Marvel comics was going under a very tough time (they almost went bankrupt by 1997) While the highly acclaimed films were nothing but a scam using the X-Men name and its characters, this wonderful cartoon remained loyal to the original source.

Unlike the movies (yes, by now you have realized that I don't like them at all), the animated show had a rawness and bite to each and every one of those characters that was totally devoid in the live action versions and it never managed to pussyfoot around the issues, as well as the story lines, of which again were far more realistic and believable.

Rogue literally had her suit painted on her curvy body.

Psylocke was also kick ass.

This is what the movies themselves ought to have been like, but rather than leave things as they were, the directors Brett Ratner and Bryan Singer decided to change a couple things round, without realizing how much this would put die-hard and ardent X-men fans off. Why tamper with a classic formula? Besides, the film's disappointment shouldn't take away from the fact that the cartoon series is the best on- screen version of the X-Men.

Forget the films, either stick with the comics or go for this, the animated version instead. 

A few things you may not know about the X-Men series:

-Fox initially had a lot of resistance to the cartoon series before it became a success. They felt that the target audiences, kids under 10, wouldn't be interested in a romantic love triangle between Cyclops, Jean, and Wolverine. They also thought kids wouldn't keep up with a show that was serialized. 

-After "The Phoenix Saga" aired, the remaining episodes that aired were not in the correct continuity order. Because the bulk of episodes were being animated with many different studios, the writers decided not to continue with linear storylines like the first two seasons, as many would likely air as soon as they became available. Continuity problems became so bad that episode 3.8 "No Mutant is an Island" and episode 3.10 "Longshot" did not air for two years after they should have, thanks to animation quality issues. "No Mutant is an Island" was *supposed* to explain Jean Grey's return, setting up the Dark Phoenix Saga.  

There it is, Bryan Singer, shoot to kill!

Thor? never heard of her.

-The sound effect used for Magneto's magnetic powers is the same sound effect used for the Klingon cloaking device in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984). 

-Stan Lee was not creatively active with Marvel comics at the time the series was being produced so his involvement wasn't particularly big on the series. He gave some producers notes on the first thirteen episodes 

-This series marks the first time the mutant cure plot is explored in the franchise, way before Joss Whedon's run of the comic book series or X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

The big sized Wolverines of the toy line (yep, also mine)

Overall, X-Men The Animated Series is masterpiece that easily outdoes every other X-Men (out of the original source) adaptation. The X-Men films may be entertaining but they're not nearly as good an accurate as this series is. The animation artists put a lot of effort to give each character the comic book likeness they deserve (based upon Jim Lee's portrayal as above mentioned) The soundtrack was also very 90's like and the intro music still plays in our brains after all these years, I guess we better thank Ron Wasserman (yeah, the guy from the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers music) for such a catchy and empowering tune.

Here's the legendary series intro:

 Here some cool toy ads:

The VHS home collection ad:

X-Men Children Of The Atom*, the Arcade game:

*Not to be confused with the first X-Men arcade videogame NOT based upon the animated series.

Based on the X-Men comic book, it is the first fighting game produced by Capcom using characters under license from Marvel Comics. Released around the time of the mid-1990s X-Men animated series, the game features voice actors from the series reprising their roles. The game's plot is based on the "Fatal Attractions" story from the comics - players control one of the X-Men or their enemies in their fight against the villain Magneto. They face each of the other characters in the game in best of three one-on-one fighting matches, before battling Juggernaut and then Magneto himself.

The gameplay has much in common with Capcom's previous fighting games, Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Darkstalkers. Children of the Atom adds a combo system that features long combos that can even be performed in mid-air. Also featured in the game are various tactical maneuvers, including the ability for characters to roll. Children of the Atom also introduced multi-tiered fighting environments in which the ground would crumble and characters would fall into lower parts of the level. These concepts and the fast pace of the game would provide the basis for Capcom's Marvel vs. Capcom series, which started with the game's successor X-Men vs. Street Fighter.

Select your hero (or villain)

Cyclops VS Magneto!

Ports of the game were released for the Sega Saturn, PlayStation and personal computers. Of these, the PlayStation version was not as well received as the other versions, suffering from slowdown and missing frames of animation.

Here's a gameplay video of the arcade version: