Wolverine In Animation - A Retrospective

[Stu]

With the release of X-Men 3 and X-Men: Evolution Season Three on DVD next week, I thought it'd be fun to do a few retrospective threads on characters in the upcoming movie, and I'll be starting with Wolverine because he's my favourite. As always, the images in this thread appear courtesy of Marvel Animation Age (http://marvel.toonzone.net). Enjoy!

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Originally envisioned as an enemy to The Incredible Hulk in the 1970’s, Wolverine made his debut in the title as a villain to ol’ Jade Jaws but quickly found himself answering a plea for help from Professor Xavier after finding out that his X-Men were missing and needed rescuing. So, in Giant Sized X-Men #1, a slightly revamped Wolverine joined The X-Men and their popularity soared onto legendary levels a few short months afterwards as Chris Claremont took over the book and began a run that helped turn The X-Men from B stringers into the most popular superhero team in comics.

Due to their ever-increasing popularity, Marvel hoped The X-Men would become as popular on Saturday mornings as they were in comic stores and made a few attempts to get them on TV by having them as guest stars on Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends. Surprisingly, considering his popularity, Wolverine was not amongst those shown in their first animated appearance in the 80’s, as it was reserved strictly for the original members of the team, complete with Jack Kirby jumpsuits. Indeed, as Arsenal pointed out in The X-Men retrospective, even Toad was on the small screen before the most popular X-Man ever. It seems odd, but considering Logan’s debut later on in the show in A Firestar Is born, it becomes clear as to why this was.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/spideyfriends/episode/firestarborn/10.jpg

The episode in question sees Firestar and Iceman return to Xavier’s Institute for a reunion and they met the new members, including Cyclops, Angel, Storm, Xavier and at long last, Wolverine. Wolverine dons the traditional yellow and blue costume and oddly enough, is apparently Australian. The episode is probably best known for completely and utterly embarrassing Wolverine, making the most bad ass X-Man ever into a complete jobber for Juggernaut. After fighting Juggy for all of 5 seconds, Wolverine gets his claws stuck in the wall and spends the rest of the episode watching Spider-Man defeat Juggernaut. For shame…

It appears that the 1980’s weren’t quite sure what to do with Wolverine, as his claws were no doubt too violent for the intense standards of BS and P, who believed fighting, violence and fisticuffs had no place in action cartoons. Were I to actually finish my Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends site before I started this, you could have read Arsenal’s humorous review of the episode, but I…am running out of excuses as to why it’s not completed. Check back next week. Or the week after (I’ve to sit through yet another Video Man episode)

Back on topic, The X-Men later appeared in another backdoor pilot for their own show on Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends, dubbed The X-Men Adventure. Wolverine wasn’t present, but Thunderbird made the cut. No one was impressed after the episode aired.

Tired of pleading to networks how good an X-Men cartoon could be, Marvel decided to bite the bullet and produced a full pilot episode, which they funded themselves. Practically unheard of then and even rarer now, Pryde Of The X-Men featured a completely different X-Men cast and was worlds apart from their previous appearances. The roster included Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler, Collosus, Dazzler (?!), newbie Kitty and of course, our beloved Logan.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/pryde/51.jpg

The pilot is typical 80’s cheese despite it’s breathtaking animation, and the less said about this version of Wolverine, the better. Once again, the annoying Australian accent returns (Sorry Crow) and he spends most of the episode complaining about how annoying Kitty was, whilst the audience agreed with his every word, completely unaware that they would share the same grievances about Jubilee years later. Undoubtedly the best thing about this version of Wolverine is his costume. The tan suit makes its only animation appearance here and thanks to the high quality of the animation, it looks fantastic. In short, sounds bad, looks great. The series was never picked up, but made a killing on VHS.

Looking back, it appears the only people who didn’t want The X-Men on TV was the networks. As with the spectacular Incredible Hulk cartoon of the time, it didn’t appeal to the executives who firmly believed that The Smurfs were the future of animation. Horrifyingly enough, the same mentality that ran networks in the 80’s seems to be returning to modern children’s networks, meaning we’ll soon have a line up of children’s TV which will be as awful as it was back in the day. Yes folks, the 80’s were a bad time for children’s TV. Except The A Team, that was awesome.

Up Next: X-Men: The Animated Series

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/bios/heroes/wolverine/11.jpg

[S.C.B]

Looking forward to reading this one, as I found the earlier ones very enjoyable indeed. I too am baffled by the choice to make Wolverine Australian. Maybe the network thought kids wouldn't understand what Canada was?

The sad thing is, that actually doesn't sound to out of the question, considering the state of cartoons back then, as you said.

[RAINMAN]

The 80`s were not bad for kids shows. And I like smufes.....back then of course.:sweat:

[Arsenal]

Originally posted by Stu
annoying Australian accent returns (Sorry Crow)

I'm waiting to find out Crow's first name is Russell.

Yeah, Wolverine pre-X:TAS did not work. I don't know if there will ever be an animated Wolverine that satisfies his comic book fans. How could someone create a Saturday-morning appropriate berzerker rage?

I want a Thunderbird: Animation retrospective.

[The Overlord]

Yeah, forget the Australian accent, I like the internet flash cartoons where Wolverine has a over the top Canadian accent.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/218160

[S.C.B]

Yeah, forget the Australian accent, I like the internet flash cartoons where Wolverine has a over the top Canadian accent.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/218160

That is awesome. So very awesome.

[Crow]

I'll be thinking of you pair of comedians when I see X3 early Thursday evening.

[ifthismeansevos]

Mmm Newgrounds videos are fun.
I kbnow it's not animation but This tread will talk about the Wolverine in the video games (At least the videogames with a plot)?

[The Overlord]

Looking forward to reading this one, as I found the earlier ones very enjoyable indeed. I too am baffled by the choice to make Wolverine Australian. Maybe the network thought kids wouldn't understand what Canada was?

The sad thing is, that actually doesn't sound to out of the question, considering the state of cartoons back then, as you said.

I think they wanted Wolvie to sound foreign and a lot of Canadians sound like Americans. I mean Wolvie wasn't from Newfoundland, he was from Alberta so he would pretty well sound like an American, which is why they made him Australian.

[Stu]

Thanks for the feedback. These things are always fun to write, and Wolverine hasn't appeared as much as Spidey so it's a lot easier too! :D

I too am baffled by the choice to make Wolverine Australian. Maybe the network thought kids wouldn't understand what Canada was?

I'd wager that it had something to do with making him different from the rest of them - a Canadian voice isn't really that different from American (Sorry, Jim) and the accent made him stand out more.

I dunno what was going on with Pryde though - turning the most popular X-Man you have into a whiney little moaner isn't exactly the smartest thing to do. They probably assumed the tan suit would make up for it. They were right!

Yeah, Wolverine pre-X:TAS did not work. I don't know if there will ever be an animated Wolverine that satisfies his comic book fans. How could someone create a Saturday-morning appropriate berzerker rage?

Probably not. Despite his violent nature, the kiddies love him. Given how Saturday morning cartoons are frankly embrassing to watch nowadays, I'd doubt we'll ever seen Wolverine waying laste to hundreds of Hydra agents on TV.

I want a Thunderbird: Animation retrospective.
:D

[Stu]

Many years passed and many networks continued to turn down The X-Men, until 1991, when Margaret Loesch, a former employee of Marvel became President of FOX KIDS and finally gave Marvel the opportunity to bring X-Men to the small screen.

With 13 episodes and a fall 1992 premiere date set, the crew went to work. Done with what appears to be a tiny, tiny budget and the cheapest, most God awful animation studio you’ve ever seen, Night Of The Sentinels made it’s debut a few months later than originally planned and featured a whole glutton of mistakes that had to be corrected for future airings.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/episode/nightsentinels1/16.jpg

Now, people have conflicting opinions on this show, mainly since X-Men: Evolution came along, but there is one thing that I don’t believe anyone can deny – this shows version of Wolverine is the balls. A tortured warrior without a past, this show had everything you’d expect to see from Wolverine bar violence. People often complain that he couldn’t do much with his claws due to the increasingly annoying BS and P, but I found the character too interesting to care. He once again donned with yellow and blue costume and was obviously intended to be the favourite – which made his inclusion in the love triangle between himself, Scott and Jean all the more interesting.

“Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy” defines Wolverine. I know it was it’s a line from Spider-Man and a lyric from one of my favourite Harvey Danger songs but whoever originally wrote it probably had Wolverine in mind, even if he hadn’t been created yet. Indeed, TAS had a very flawed character on their hands, as from when the show began, Scott and Jean were the happy couple, and Wolverine loved another man’s girl. He also didn’t care for Cyclops in the slightest, partially because of Jean, and because Logan blamed him for Morph’s death and Beast jail time. His reaction, a vicious punch to the gut that I still feel every time despite having seen it dozens of times, doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. With the exception of Jean, I don’t think he liked anyone else at the school. He was jealous of Cyclops, Gambit’s arrogance annoyed him to the point where he constantly played one-ups-man-ship with him, he rarely interacted with Storm, Rogue didn’t appear to care for him, and he was pissed at Xavier for allowing Sabertooth to receive medical attention at the school.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/episode/deadly/25.jpg

Having had enough, he left the mansion, only to return and save Jubilee from Sabertooth, who was working for Magneto. Proving himself right not to let Sabertooth into the mansion, he was injured in the fight and up and left as soon as he recovered, still feeling his hatred for Cyclops and his relationship with Jean.

Attempting to find peace in Canada (remember folks, Wolverine is Canadian!) he was once again stopped by Sabertooth. His rivalry with Sabertooth was handled well here, and Sabertooth really did come across as a threat. Absolutely fabulous casting helped him tremendously. Sick of all the fighting in his life, he finally admits defeat and returns back to the mansion, where he no doubt feels he can do some real good.

It feels wrong to have talked this long about the awesomeness of Wolverine without mentioning Cal Dodd, the actor who portrayed him in the show. He was absolutely perfect in the role. Kevin Conroy Batman perfect. Many fine actors have lent their voices to Wolverine since, including Scott McNeil, Mark Hamill and Steven Jay Blum but Dodd will always be Wolverine to me. If you don’t hear Dodd’s voice when you read a Wolverine comic, there’s something wrong with you.

After realising that teamwork could indeed be useful against threats, he invited Collosus to join them, probably because he liked him more than everyone else. The following episode features an amusing scene of him being arsey with everyone else and acting like a little sweetheart to Jean.

In the season finale, he established a newfound respect with Cyclops and whooped a hell of a lot of Sentinel ass, finally delivering on his promise to Morph to avenge his death.

If he only knew what awaited him in season two.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/episode/tildeathdous/10.jpg

[Arsenal]

This post is probably the closest I've ever come to flame-bait, but...

X-Men TAS was better than Evo Wolverine. Point blank, period.

Wolverine is an anti-authoritarian. He is not a baby-sitter. (Though he does seem to have an unsettling collection of underage female apprentices... Kitty, Jubilee, X-23.) He doesn't teach kids to drive or give romantic advice. He hits on your woman and threatens to "snikt" your neck if you complain.

Wolverine's a loner. he disappears without explanation to have adventures in Japan, Canada or Madripoor. He isn't a glorified gym teacher who drills pubescents on the basics.

And, for the record, I do hear Cal Dodd's voice when I read comics.

[Nightwing]

This post is probably the closest I've ever come to flame-bait, but...


Nonsense! Blasphemy can come not from the holy Animated X-Men Bible! Rejoice in its splender!

I wanna keep praising XMEN TAS (despite the crummy animation from season 1) but I can't get over Wolverine's Animated life in the 80s! What a bum rap! lol. No WONDER his animated self was so grumpy in the 90s!!

Ya know what also comes to mind for me? My favorite arcade game of all time, Marvel vs. Capcom (and it's previous incarnations dating back to Marvel Super Heroes itself).

Play as Wolverine and CAL DODD will voice him for you! Golden!!

Stu, your summary had me rolling in the aisles as much as it provided me with much needed information I previously didn't have. A-quintuple- Plus.

[S.C.B]

I haven't seen those first season episodes in so long, it was a great blast to the past to read about them and think about all the memories. When I look at them more objectively, however, I still find this show to be one of the finest Marvel did. When I mention X-Men, chances are people will think of this Wolverine or the movie. Some people I know have said it's 'old school', which seems about right.

And reading all the info here, it seems like this show should have been called Wolverine and the X-Men. Maybe the new show will go in a similar direction.

[Stu]

This post is probably the closest I've ever come to flame-bait, but...

X-Men TAS was better than Evo Wolverine. Point blank, period.
Definatly. But I'll come back to that later.

Ya know what also comes to mind for me? My favorite arcade game of all time, Marvel vs. Capcom (and it's previous incarnations dating back to Marvel Super Heroes itself).

Play as Wolverine and CAL DODD will voice him for you! Golden!!

He voices Wolverine in the old X-Men: Mutant Academy games as well, but does more than shout BERSERKER BARRAGE!!! over and over again. When playing those Capcom games, I was convinced he was paid by the word.

I remember when the X-Men fighting games came to the PS2, they recast. I was mortified, such a heinous crime. And not one arrest was made. For shame.

BTW Nightwing, that's a hell of an avatar. Did you actually get to play as Six Armed Spidey in the SNES version of the Spidey TAS game, or did you edit those in as only you can? I only ever played the Sega version of the game, and I understand they're completly different. Rumour has it, the SNES one is actually good.

I haven't seen those first season episodes in so long, it was a great blast to the past to read about them and think about all the memories. When I look at them more objectively, however, I still find this show to be one of the finest Marvel did. When I mention X-Men, chances are people will think of this Wolverine or the movie. Some people I know have said it's 'old school', which seems about right.

It's definatly an old school show. I highly doubt something like this could find it's way to the airwaves. We actually have production values these days. Shame about the quality of most of the shows though! :)

And reading all the info here, it seems like this show should have been called Wolverine and the X-Men. Maybe the new show will go in a similar direction.

We can but hope. I seriously believe if AKOM hadn't worked on this show, it would be remembered in a similar light to Batman: The Animated Series. I wonder what it would've been like if this had aired first and not Batman...

And now for part 3!

[Stu]

Wolverine’s season opened with more of the love triangle between him, Jean and Cyclops, as they were about to get married. Logan even admits that he needs her as she stands before him in her wedding dress, ready to marry Scott. Seconds before, he was kicking the tar out of a robot who he had dressed up as Cyclops. Yup, him and Scott still had issues. Later in the episode he discovers Morph is still alive and is looking for revenge because they left him behind. After realising how screwed up his head was, Wolverine decided it was best to leave him be and let him figure everything out on his own. I remember being a little let down with Whatever It Takes, because to be blunt, it absolutely sucked. We got a cool Deadpool cameo though (must add a cameo section to The X-Men site!) I think I’ve just found yet another excuse to delay Silver Surfer. Go Stu!

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/episode/whatever/15.jpg

We had a lot more Wolverine episodes this season than last, and I’ve always been appreciative of a good solo Wolverine episode – I think he’s probably the only X-Man who could carry his own episode, and if done correctly, he could easily carry his own series. There’s talks of a solo Wolverine film, which I would be all over should it ever be released. The first introduces an old enemy in Omega Red who manages to come across just a little better than Sabertooth did, thanks to a great design and again, stellar casting. X-Men: The Animated Series often had casting issues, but they got an absolutely perfect voice for Omega Red, who’s voice made him all the more threatening. As a plus, we got to see Collosus again. Two Russians and a Canadian kicking the crap out of each other. What more could you ask for?

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/episode/reddawn/12.jpg

His next spotlight episode is arguably the highlight of the series. Wolverine returns to Canada at the request of the woman who helped him back on his feet after his Weapon X mind wipe and learns that it was all a trap to get him to return to Department H so Alpha Flight, his old team, could discover the secrets of his adamantium skeleton and how he managed to survive the procedure. The other X-Men barely appear which was great – this was the closest film we’ve ever had to Wolverine: The Animated Series and it was utterly brilliant.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/episode/repoman/18.jpg

How much cooler would that have been if he was wearing his tan suit?

After saving all mutant kind by creating anti-bodies to a lethal virus (all in a days work), Wolverine made some new enemies in The Friends of Humanity. In a rather bizarre yet perfectly expectable fashion, Beast went to town to kick their heads in whilst Wolverine concocted a plan to disgrace their leader in hopes of splitting them up. Beauty And The Beast ranks as another strong contender for the series best episode, and features my personal favourite Marvel romance, which shockingly didn’t make it into Arsenal’s top 10 Marvel romances. Diabolical, I say. I bet it would have made the list if Carly was a redhead.

Wolverine didn’t do a lot for the rest of this season, so we’ll skip to his guest appearance on Spider-Man. Spider-Man was in the opening stages of a rather ballsy arc in which he learned that the spider-bite, which originally gave him his powers, wasn’t a one time process, his powers were evolving into something that wouldn’t be human. Desperately seeking a cure Spidey turns up at Xavier’s mansion, and after a quick tussle with The X-Men, pleads for a cure from Professor Xavier. Spidey and Wolverine are instantly placed at odds with one-another, as Spidey believes that his mutation turned into a freak, which greatly offends Wolverine, who is proud to be a mutant. Feeling dissed, Spider-Man leaves and is offered advice from Beast, who once tried to cure himself of his mutation and sympathises with Spidey as it’s not a natural mutation – Beast believed Spidey had a right to seek a cure.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/spideytas/episode/mutantsrevenge/01.jpg

After Beast was kidnapped, Spidey and Wolverine had a throwdown. Given that this was Spider-Man, which had even more ridiculously harsh censorship rules than X-Men, they didn’t have much of a fight, but there is certainly a thrill to be had watching 2 of your favourite characters get together for the first time, especially when they got to team up in part 2. The ending is particularly excellent as Wolverine remind Spider-Man that he does have friends, and he should go to them when he’s in trouble. Coming from Wolverine, it was great to see, especially as he’s never been too chummy with any of his own teammates. The episodes stand as one of Spidey’s best team ups, which was no small feet I assure you.

Up next: Season Three. Maybe even season four. The suspense!

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/episode/outofpast/27.jpg

[The Overlord]

I'd wager that it had something to do with making him different from the rest of them - a Canadian voice isn't really that different from American (Sorry, Jim) and the accent made him stand out more.



That's only half true, Canada like most other counties has a lot of regional accents. Most of the people from Ontario and Western provinces sound American, but most people from Quebec and the Maritime provinces do not sound like Americans at all. However it is correct that most Canadians sound like Americans and since Wolvie is from Alberta he is likely to have Central/Western accent, which sounds American.

[S.C.B]

I would have loved to see the Wolverine/Spider-Man angle revisited. To think we could have gotten that instead of another 'Mary Jane is gone! Woe is me!' episode.

According to Hugh Jackman, the Wolverine movie is officially a go, and is a prequel. Personally, I've got my fingers crossed for some Japan stuff. I'd love to see Silver Samurai in the flesh.

Ah, the Omega Red episode. It was the first episode I ever taped. Thank God for Live & Kicking.

"I can, you stinkin' octopus. Just like last time."

Still think Wolvy looked stupid wearing his cowl with no shirt, though.

The Alpha Flight episode is one of Cal Dodd's shining moments. When Logan breaks down in front of Heather, it still gets me whenever I see it. Even on my horribly fuzzy and blurry tape.

[Arsenal]

Originally posted by Stu
Two Russians and a Canadian kicking the crap out of each other. What more could you ask for?

How about an Australian flinging a cell phone?

Stu too
my personal favourite Marvel romance, which shockingly didn’t make it into Arsenal’s top 10 Marvel romances. Diabolical, I say. I bet it would have made the list if Carly was a redhead.


Or if Beast had an orange crusty exterior instead of a blue furry one.

[Stu]

I would have loved to see the Wolverine/Spider-Man angle revisited. To think we could have gotten that instead of another 'Mary Jane is gone! Woe is me!' episode.

It would've been cool to see Wolverine again on Spidey. Shame it never happened, but I'm pretty happy with what we got in those 65 episodes.

The Alpha Flight episode is one of Cal Dodd's shining moments. When Logan breaks down in front of Heather, it still gets me whenever I see it. Even on my horribly fuzzy and blurry tape.
Dude, that episode is on DVD for dirt cheap now. With X3 hitting this week, look for Wolverine's Story in the bargain bin Wollies, I bet you could grab it for less than a fiver.

Or if Beast had an orange crusty exterior instead of a blue furry one.

I bet it would've been on the list if Beast bought her a pet elephant.

[Stu]

The season opens with a very strong Wolverine focused episode as he’s managed to piss off yet another lady from his past, the daughter of the scientist who designed the procedure which gave him his adamantium skeleton. Despite knowing very little about the operation, Wolverine seemed to have a hell of a lot of enemies because it. The episode is mainly remembered for being one of the handful of X-Men episode that didn’t look like complete crap, due to a new animation studio providing the animation for these episode. Despite some very good writing, it was often hard to overcome the numerous, sloppy mistakes found in the series including incorrect colouring, horrendously off model characters and of course, the atrocious animation and designs. I heard AKOM, the animation company behind X-Men are now out of business. Good.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/episode/outofpast/06.jpg

Wolverine spent a hell of a lot of the rest of the season making kissy faces at Jean when she became Phoenix in a storyline that seemed to last forever, and then Dark Phoenix in a storyline which still felt completely out of tone for The X-Men, which also seemed to go on and on. Space pirates, crappy shuttle fights and men in pink – I wanted out.

After we’d had our fill of Phoenix: The Animated Series, we returned back to our beloved world of mutants fighting for their place in the world and Wolverine missed out on the chance to save face after the Spider-Friends debacle when Juggernaut didn’t fancy pounding the tar out of him.

We returned to Weapon X shortly afterwards and are given more pieces of the enormous puzzle as we meet Maverick and Silver Fox and learn that not of Wolverine’s memories are real and in the end, we leave with more question than answers. Thankfully, the creative team were fully aware that Wolverine’s past is more interesting as a mystery and that we don’t really need to know it anyway – our imaginations are always going to be more interesting than whatever half baked story they were going to shoehorn in. To show how much the current Marvel regime has lost the plot with it’s characters, they’ve recently started an ongoing series in which Wolverine knows everything about his past and goes looking for answers. He’s also carrying a sword to cut things – apparently 3 gigantic claws on each hand aren’t convenient enough. How do these people get these jobs?

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/episode/weaponxlav/06.jpg

The rest of Wolverine’s season was busy, as he featured prominently in Nightcrawler, which introduces the blue demon into the cartoon and also questions Wolverine’s faith. Bitter over how life has treated him, Logan believes God shouldn’t allow things like Weapon X to exist, and even mocks Nightcrawler saying that the people he is praying for are coming to burn the church down. The powerful episode ends with Wolverine on his knees in prayer. He also finds a kindred spirit in Nightcrawler – and makes yet another mutant friend of Logan’s who doesn’t join the team. He’s just destined to be a loner, isn’t he?

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/episode/nightcrawler/28.jpg

Proteus sees yet another odd experience for Wolverine – fear. It was especially interesting to see that after Kevin did what no other man alive could do, frighten Wolverine and turn him yellow, he wanders off, barely noticing. It was an especially powerful scene that greatly surprised me as a child – who could ever do anything to make Wolverine look like a coward? There was something almost disturbing about seeing Wolverine in tears and it’s still an odd scene to watch to this day.

Season four kicked off with a two-part alternate universe story in which Storm and Logan are married. It was a slightly jarring experience since the two barely said anything to one another throughout the history of the show, and Logan’s constant “I love you darlin’!” has been the butt of an endless amount of jokes at my expense from Bird Boy (I had to get him to review those episode didn’t I, I couldn’t have settled for an episode where Wolverine simply kicks the tar out of someone which his 1990’s tough guy dialogue. Stupid website.)

Yet another stupidly long and tedious story arc followed (Beyond Good and Evil) which is notable only for having one of the most bad ass Wolverine moments with a locked up Sabertooth who refuses to tell them Apocalypse’s plan. It’s a brilliant scene, one of my favourites in the show. See it for yourself; explaining it would only ruin it.

The next Wolverine focused (yes, there was a lot of them. Deal with it and move on) episode was pretty poor. The idea was there, but the execution was hardly excellent, thanks to an embracement of a foe in Silver Samurai, who was one of the poorest bullies I’d ever seen. Seriously, Nelson from The Simpsons would’ve made for a better adversary for Wolverine here. On a cooler note, this episode actually revisits Wolverine’s troubles with Proteus, features an awesome Nightcrawler cameo and has pretty good music. The rest of it isn’t really worth your time, however.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/episode/lotus/05.jpg

He featured prominently in Have Yourself A Morlock Little Xmas. I refuse to write more than two sentences for this episode, it was that bad.

Whilst Wolverine appeared in just about every episode of X-Men (he appeared more than anyone else in the show) he didn’t really do much until the show was revamped for it’s final six episodes after Saban decided to fund the episodes themselves to give their long running, critically acclaimed series – the one that made FOX KIDS the number one kids station in the US a proper ending. Kudos to them for that. X-Men was a truly special show – even the network respected it. Imagine! A network respecting a cartoon!

Wolverine’s one focus episode of the new season didn’t make a lick of sense – it takes placed before he got his claws, in World War II in fact, meaning he shouldn’t really remember it. He also wore metal claws on his wrists, which were identical to the ones which would be grafted to him years later. Yup, it didn’t make much sense – no one cared though, it was Wolverine and Captain America fighting The Red Skull and his Nazi robots in a fun free for all. It’s pretty much written law – Wolverine + Captain America = fun episode. It’s science. God I love my Ron Burgundy quotes.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/episode/graduationday/46.jpg

Shortly after, X-Men: The Animated Series came to it’s end with the critically acclaimed Graduation Day, in which Magneto ignored his dream of a human/mutant war in order to save his friend Professor Xavier. Xavier’s parting words to Logan;

“Wolverine. Loner. You have a family. While savage, you have found dignity. Cynic – you have found faith.”

This was such a great show, and it ended with dignity. One couldn’t ask for a finer parting episode. Wolverine didn’t get a whole lot of time away from the spotlight, however. He was about to become a movie star, to be played by Australian Hugh Jackman. The irony is not lost on me.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/movie/x1/22.jpg

And, as any good network executive knows, a successful superhero movie must be followed by an all new animated series a short time later. Yes, only two years after the original series ended, The X-Men were back with a new cartoon dubbed X-Men: Evolution.

Would it be as good as TAS? Find out tomorrow. Or maybe later tonight, I haven't decided yet.

[Nightwing]

BTW Nightwing, that's a hell of an avatar. Did you actually get to play as Six Armed Spidey in the SNES version of the Spidey TAS game, or did you edit those in as only you can? I only ever played the Sega version of the game, and I understand they're completly different. Rumour has it, the SNES one is actually good.

Animated GIFs from old SNES and SEGA GENESIS games are my forte. After I did a few stand alone projects, I got more....creative. And this SpidermanTAS game for SNES is not only a great game (but not without some flaws certainly) but it has plenty of characters and plenty of GIF making opportunities. It was only a 16 bit world, but it was a fun one.

With the Six Armed Spidey I re-colored and re-shaded arms from other frames, and then sequenced them together.

My finest custom project (in which I altered the sprites) is also my favorite: Symbiot Spiderman! I don't know why I've never worn one of them as an avatar, but I made a few GIFs from it.

Lately I've been screwing around with the original Spiderman frames, to make the "I Really REALLY Hate Clones" Spidermen. The Armor one was easy, because there already are frames of that in the game. I also made a very quick "Spiderman has Ock's Tentacles and he's wearing sunglasses, huh?" one that we saw in SpidermanTAS' last two episodes. It's my first attempt at it so he's not doing much. It's only like 3 frames.

Kudos again on the Wolverine synopsis, and I couldn't have phrased ANY of the SpidermanTAS guest shot better myself. Great stuff.

I also think it's important to play Logan as Canadian. It's such a great country, and socially it feels like pop culture ignores them. Not that that makes them less great, of course. But ya know....props.

[S.C.B]

Dude, that episode is on DVD for dirt cheap now. With X3 hitting this week, look for Wolverine's Story in the bargain bin Wollies, I bet you could grab it for less than a fiver.
Thanks for the tip, I'll probably pick that up if I see it. Are the eps screengrabbed in the previous post from that DVD as well? They seem like the kind of things that would go on a DVD called 'Wolverine's Story'.

And AKOM are out of business? A sad day. It's not their fault that damn near everything they animated turned out godawful. Oh wait.

I've always been curious as to how they explain away Wolverine's hair in the live-action movie. Does Logan spend hours in front of the mirror for that look? Or are we supposed to believe he just wakes up with it like that?

[Stu]

With the Six Armed Spidey I re-colored and re-shaded arms from other frames, and then sequenced them together.

Ah, I thought it might have been a cool cheat or something. I do remember the armour suit a power up bonus in the Sega game. I remember finding symbols for getting The Fantastic Four as helpers. I vividly remember getting my ass kicked by The Alien Spider Slayer and calling in Reed for help. He filled my web shooters up and pissed off. Cheers Reed, love you too.

My finest custom project (in which I altered the sprites) is also my favorite: Symbiot Spiderman! I don't know why I've never worn one of them as an avatar, but I made a few GIFs from it.

Lately I've been screwing around with the original Spiderman frames, to make the "I Really REALLY Hate Clones" Spidermen. The Armor one was easy, because there already are frames of that in the game. I also made a very quick "Spiderman has Ock's Tentacles and he's wearing sunglasses, huh?" one that we saw in SpidermanTAS' last two episodes. It's my first attempt at it so he's not doing much. It's only like 3 frames.

Dude, pictures. Let me know if you need hosting!

Thanks for the tip, I'll probably pick that up if I see it. Are the eps screengrabbed in the previous post from that DVD as well? They seem like the kind of things that would go on a DVD called 'Wolverine's Story'.

They're all randomly picked up, some of which are confusing (how does Reunion class as a Wolverine story?) but yes, the better quality pictures are DVD grabs.

And AKOM are out of business? A sad day. It's not their fault that damn near everything they animated turned out godawful. Oh wait.
I think they went bust years ago. Studios were expecting a lot better than what AKOM could deliver. I still laugh when I remember Dick Sebast calling them "the kiss of death" in regards to a Directors piece.

[Stu]

Premiering in the fall of 2000, X-Men: Evolution featured an all new continuity with few ties to the previous FOX series and de-aged the majority of it’s characters to fit them into the teen demographic. The show was to be set in high school, with the X-Men, consisting of Cyclops, Rogue, Jean, Nightcrawler, Kitty and a new, original character Spyke trying to keep their powers a secret whilst they thought The Brotherhood and evil Head Mistress Mystique, with Magneto usually looming in the background.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmenevo/title/01.jpg

If you’re wondering why I haven’t mentioned Wolverine yet in his own retrospective thread, it’s because he’s an adult, something Kids WB! wanted very little to do with. Thankfully, the creative realised that a teenage Wolverine wouldn’t work, and they had him act as a mentor/teacher to the students. He could sometimes be found in a solo adventure as part of the B plot. A lot of these involved Sabertooth, but because they barely bothered to develop the middle-aged villain and the first season was incredibly weak in terms of story and character, most of them aren’t stuff you’ll rush to watch again.

One such plot involves Juggernaut handing Wolverine his ass once again, as he waits for the kids to come rushing to his rescue. The difference here is, Wolverine didn’t look like an assclown after his defeat, and made Juggernaut look more threatening, whereas back in the 80’s, kids were merely under the impression that Wolverine sucked.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmenevo/episode/survival/19.jpg

This version of Wolverine wasn’t too bad in the grand scheme of things however. It was a lot easier to except Scott McNeil in the role than I thought it would (Cal Dodd is Wolverine, remember folks) and his new design is easily my favourite looking version of Wolverine ever. Orange and black aren’t colours that I’d usually associate with Wolverine, but this suit simply popped every time it was on screen. Logan’s civvies design wasn’t too shabby either, despite his odd lack of facial hair. His hair wasn’t as goofy as it was in TAS, and his outfit actually suited the character, unlike the previous show. In visuals, this show has TAS’ Wolverine beat, hands down.

The best episode of the first season is the lone Wolverine focused episode, Grim Reminder in which he travels to Canada in order to discover his origins and learn more of the Weapon X programme. It does say something about the quality of this season that in a show focused on kids at school, the best episode by a wide margin is the one that focuses on an adult. Indeed, it was a thoroughly mediocre season with very few high points, but Grim Reminder was defiantly better than anything else this season had to offer.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmenevo/episode/grimreminder/58.jpg

With season two came a few changes, all of them welcomed. The show stopped with the clichéd characters and stories and really made an effort to improve its overall quality, making the show a hell of a lot more fun and watch able in the process. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of Wolverine to be found in this season. He’s more of a background character, but he does get a few starring moments in The Beast Of Bayville in which we get some beautiful fight scenes between him and a savage Mr. McCoy, but again, he spends most of the season as a teacher.

Things pick up a little with our one Wolverine episode a season (yeah, that trend didn’t last long, did it?) as we see a good old fashioned team up between him and Captain America back in their days in World War II. This one made more sense than Old Soldiers, and features a much cooler version of Captain America – despite the fact he didn’t utter a word.

One of the more embarrassing moments Wolverine has ever suffered comes in Mindbender, as he struggles to attack a possessed Kitty, who promptly kicks him in the shin as he hops in pain.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmenevo/episode/mindbender/47.jpg
Yes, Kitty managed to hurt his shin, despite the fact it’s covered with the hardest alloy ever. Even the amazing animation found in the episode could help me forgive that. It’s illogical in every sense of the word. Thankfully, the series once again improved dramatically as Wolverine came face to face with the shows most bad ass villain yet – The Sentinel. And boy, did he get his ass kicked. In one of the shows best fights, Wolverine went toe to toe with the towering tin can and helped create one hell of a threatening villain, which left me eagerally awaiting the second part, which was rare - Evo wasn't really something I looked forward to each week back in these days, it was just something I watched because I liked The X-Men.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmenevo/episode/dayofreckoning/22.jpg

Wolverine usually lost most of his fights in the show, mainly because his job seemed to be making everyone else look good. He was a jobber, plain and simple. But the fact remains, he was a very good jobber.

When season two finished, Wolverine and several members of both The Brotherhood and The X-Men had been kidnapped, and the world now knew that mutants existed. No doubt changes were afoot, but were they for the better?

Oh hell yeah.

Tomorrow, the conclusion.

[S.C.B]

To Evo Wolvie's credit, while he always got his ass kicked, he never seemed less imposing afterward, probably helped by the fact that he always put up a good fight. The Sentinel fight is a great example, and I loved watching it.

I suppose it's like the 'Superman in Season One of Justice League' situation, only handled better. If the villain can take down Wolverine, then he/she/it must be badass.

I always thought the lack of Wolverine in the show was odd, considering he was the focus of the feature films. But I suppose Marvel have learnt their lesson there, huh?

But then again, I was always clamouring for more Wolverine, which was something TAS didn't do.

[tb4000]

To Evo Wolvie's credit, while he always got his ass kicked, he never seemed less imposing afterward, probably helped by the fact that he always put up a good fight. The Sentinel fight is a great example, and I loved watching it.

I suppose it's like the 'Superman in Season One of Justice League' situation, only handled better. If the villain can take down Wolverine, then he/she/it must be badass.

I always thought the lack of Wolverine in the show was odd, considering he was the focus of the feature films. But I suppose Marvel have learnt their lesson there, huh?

But then again, I was always clamouring for more Wolverine, which was something TAS didn't do.

I actually enjoyed the show for not making him the focus, as it seemed like hte creators were more fans of the books as opposed to the movies. They know the X-Men are an ensemble, and there shouldn't be just one main character.

And yes, The Wolvie vs. Proteus thing in the '90's series got me too. I was like, man....that's freaky. Though being mentally turned inside out and melted would freak anyone out.

[Stu]

Season three began with the biggest bang possible, with several members Of The Brotherhood and The X-Men being held in Area 51, and the remaining members and Mystique attempting to rescue them. With not one teenage cliché or annoying comedy moment, Day Of Recovery was a wall-to-wall action episode done in a superb manner, no doubt about it, the episode was one the finest half hours in animation I’d ever seen, and for one of the first times, left one wondering if this series could eventually top the original.

The second episode of the season gives Wolverine some rather confusing characterisation, as he is annoyed that Cyclops has taken the leadership role from him as the kids disagree with his action. Again, this was done to show everyone that this show was about the kids – not Wolverine or any of the adults. I won’t complain anymore, because the episode in question is absolutely spectacular.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmenevo/episode/stuffofheroes/13.jpg

It was at this time however, that Marvel stepped in and asked that Wolverine’s costume be changed to fit the look he sported in their Ultimate X-Men book. The design isn’t bad by any means, but the original was so much better. I personally found it a shame they got rid of the orange suit because it looked so damn cool. I remember hearing they were revamping the suits in the comics again, and I hoped they would look towards the orange suit for inspiration. They didn’t. He’s in yellow and blue again. But wait, cheap ratings spike, he’s in his tan suit. I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a red and yellow Iron-Wolverine this time next year.

If these last few posts seem bitter, I assure you it’s not intended. Wolverine is by far my favourite X-Man and I am getting entirely sick of the Wolverine bashing that never, ever seems to stop, but as you’ve probably noticed, he didn’t really get up to all that much in this series. His very powers were difficult to use on Saturday mornings, and the network wanted everything to focus on the younger members, which meant he was rarely allowed to save the day, which reduced him to the jobber status mentioned in the aforementioned post. There’s no denying that X-Men: Evolution is a truly fantastic show; it’s just not geared towards Wolverine fans, which the previous shows and movies were.

Wolverine’s always had great chemistry with Kitty in the comics and that managed to make its way into the show, thankfully, the highlight being the episode in which he tried to teach her how to drive. Whatever faults character may have, his lack of humour is not amongst them.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmenevo/episode/xtrememeasures/14.jpg

It’s been said that Wolverine best role in this series is leadership, and one of the better examples would be Self Possessed in which Rogue’s powers overload and she begins to lose control and morphs into everyone she’s ever absorbed. The episode shows he genuinely cares about the students and doesn’t do what he does just so he can be a hard ass in the Danger Room or out in the field. It was cool to see Logan save the day, and it’s one of his finest episodes, which is especially impressive as this episode was purely focused on Rogue.

Our one Wolverine episode of the season rule got turned on it’s head a little this season, thanks to the inclusion of the new original character X23 which managed to give us fanboys our one Logan episode and still satisfy the network by having it focus on a teenager. X23 features a teenage girl who grew up unloved, created from Wolverine’s own DNA. We get to see a little into Wolverine’s past (he used to work for SHIELD, for starters) and his chemistry with X23 was actually really interesting. She had an annoying voice actor, sure, and the story itself could be found in fan fiction, but the episode was fun to watch, the score was great and the animation was probably the best the show ever reached. The fight scenes were something to behold – no small feat considering Saturday mornings are violence free now, and they had 12 adamantium claws between them.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmenevo/episode/x23/46.jpg

Everyone got in on the fun in the season finale in order to stop Mesmero unleashing Apocalypse upon the world, and Logan was no exception. Paired with Sabertooth and Gambit, our hero travelled to Tibet in order to kick Mesmero’s ass. He failed, which came as no surprise at this point in the series, but what was surprising was Mesmero, who locked about as physically threatening as Spacker Dave from The Punisher, managed to lay the smack down on Logan, Gambit and Sabertooth at the same time.

Again, a great season overall, but very little for Wolverine fans to sink their claws into. Season 4 wasn’t much different, one Wolverine focused episode in which he shared the spotlight with X23, he plays the leader in a few episodes, some hints are thrown in there about his past. Lather, rinse, and repeat to sum it all up.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmenevo/episode/targetx/23.jpg

Omega Red deserves a special mention, however. In Target X, a battered Wolverine manages to make pathetically quick work of the once fearsome Russian, and at the end of the episode, it left you rushing you to your X-Men TAS tapes (damn you Disney!) to see if Omega Red was another one of those things that you thought was cool in your childhood simply because you were too stupid to know better. Nope, Red was still awesome, but Evo really, really dropped the ball here. Few things disappointed me in this show since The HeX Factor, but Omega Red is defiantly high on the list.

So, after 52 episodes, X-Men: Evolution was cancelled and quickly disappeared. The upcoming X-Men 3 movie seems to be the only reason we’ve managed to get season 3 on DVD, and there’s no word on whether or not we’ll actually get the final season in a set.

I hope you’re not sick of Wolverine by now, because next year sees the X-Men return to the small screen on Cartoon Network in a new show, dubbed Wolverine And The X-Men. The show promises to be a blend of the two previous animated series, with great stories like TAS and a lot of character development like Evo, according to head honcho of Marvel animation Craig Kyle. The three-part opening will air next fall, and beyond that, very little else is known about the show.

But rest assured, True Believers, Wolverine’s in it, so it’ll be worth watching.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmenevo/episode/dayofreckoning/20.jpg

Hope you enjoyed the retrospective! More to come soon!

[Wonderwall]

I've said it before but it always needs mentioning whenever its brought up. But Ive never seen a character so butchered like Omega Red was. Everything was just wrong about him, a lame russian accent and no intimidating voice, a god awful design( Steve...what happened? ), and he gets his ass handed to him...by wolverine...easily...I think not! Wolverine's good but he cannot handle Omega Red alone at least not without lots of struggle, and hes reduced to being a goon..A Goon...wow I think thats all for my rant. ANyway Nice job on the Wolverine look back, I really like Wolverine but sometimes he can get a little over Xposed:p , but I never have too much of a problem with it, the new show I only dont like the title..sounds too cheesy like Spider Man and his Amazing friends.

[Arsenal]

Good work on the retrospective.

It is difficult not to sound bitter regarding Wolverine's role in Evo. You'll say the same things if you do a retrospective on Storm. The teachers, Beast excepted, were shafted.

[Ian]

Arsenal:It is difficult not to sound bitter regarding Wolverine's role in Evo.Actually, I find it pretty darn easy. He's not in it (much)! Woo-hoo!

Yeah, yeah, I know--killjoy--but c'mon: he's got his one million books a month, why can't there be one incarnation of the X-Men where he's not there like a bad rash?

[RAINMAN]

Funny how wolvie battle againts juggie in SAHAF would start a trend. In TAS when attack juggie,juggie caught his hands and throw him againt a brick wall. In EVO the juggie throw him around the manshion like a rag doll. Sort of makes you wonder whats gonna happend when they faceoff in the movie? Anyway TAS version was the best. I could careless if the only time he used his claws was againts robots. He still had a good character.

[Stu]

Actually, I find it pretty darn easy. He's not in it (much)! Woo-hoo!

Yeah, yeah, I know--killjoy--but c'mon: he's got his one million books a month, why can't there be one incarnation of the X-Men where he's not there like a bad rash?
I don't buy the overexposure excuse - if you've had enough of Wolverine, stop buying the books.

It is interesting to note that Wolverine is currently holding 2 of his own monthlies, whilst every other X-Men solo series usually ends up cancelled in an embrassingly short amount of time.

Good work on the retrospective.
Thanks. I'm planning on another one, perhaps Magneto? Xavier? Cyclops? Thunderbird? Anwsers on a post card, true believers!

It is difficult not to sound bitter regarding Wolverine's role in Evo. You'll say the same things if you do a retrospective on Storm. The teachers, Beast excepted, were shafted.
I won't be doing a Storm retrospective, as we've yet to get an entertaining version of the character besides the comics and even that's debateable. Beast would be interesting, as both versions are utterly awesome. It was a shame the teachers didn't get to do much, they were probably more interesting character wise than most of the kids.

Glad you enjoyed it, mate. :)

[RAINMAN]

Strom was not entertaning in the TAS? You got to be kidding me? Strom is the only char besides wolvirine that had more then 2 focues ep`s.

[Stu]

Strom was not entertaning in the TAS? You got to be kidding me? Strom is the only char besides wolvirine that had more then 2 focues ep`s.

I'm not kidding anyone, I thought Storm in TAS was as bland as can be. The annoying voice, overbearing scripts and .... generall blandness made the character barely worth noticing. And all of her focus episodes sucked. Badly.

[Wonderwall]

I'm not kidding anyone, I thought Storm in TAS was as bland as can be. The annoying voice, overbearing scripts and .... generall blandness made the character barely worth noticing. And all of her focus episodes sucked. Badly.

Yea Im going to have to agree with that, Storm isn't a very interesting character...like ever. To me her appeal is only in her powers, I think X Men 3 was the most interesting I've ever seen her, but still there are better characters in the X Men. Scott, Jean, Hank, the Prof, Kitty, just about anyone is more interesting than her. I didn't mention Logan cuz well...that goes without saying that hes more interesting.

[RAINMAN]

I`ll never understand what so great about kitty? She just as annoying as jubbulee and her powers are laughabile. By the way stu, is there any x-men you like or find intresting besides wolvie? Cause all I see you do is downplaying all the other muntans.

[Stu]

I`ll never understand what so great about kitty? She just as annoying as jubbulee and her powers are laughabile. By the way stu, is there any x-men you like or find intresting besides wolvie? Cause all I see you do is downplaying all the other muntans.
Pardon? I've always stated that Wolverine is my favourote X-Man, but I've never dissed other members unless I've found them dull and uninteresting, like Storm or Jubilee in TAS or Nightcrawler in Evo. I like plenty of X-Men, including Cyclops, Iceman, Collosus, Angel, Rogue and even Nightcrawler - when they're done right. In case you haven't noticed, I run two different X-Men sites.

[Spider-Man]

I don't buy the overexposure excuse - if you've had enough of Wolverine, stop buying the books. As a Wolverine fan - thank you! That's one part of the "overexposure" argument that people overlook. The fact that no one is twisting their arm to buy the books he's in which makes it even more mind-boggling when all they do is complain about the books. Besides characters like Batman and Superman appear in many more books than he does. He's a very popular character and he's basically the most popular one and that makes people complain about him being overexposed. Wolverine books sell - nuff said! I wish this would stop the complaining but it won't.

As for Storm I wish she was more interesting as a character. She hasn't been interesting since the 1980s or so but I would personally love to see her become a better character because she has the potential.

I also completely agree on how X-Men: Evolution dropped the ball on Omega Red. I know that television broadcast standards cut into some of his character but how he was taken out is arguably one of the major lowpoints of the series. One roundhouse kick and Omega Red is out like a light. He doesn't even tumble hard! He falls and that's it. It's a shame because he has such a great character design.

As a Wolverine fan and as an X-Men fan I think you did a great job Stu!

[Wonderwall]

It's a shame because he has such a great character design.

!

Not in Evolution he didn't:p , he looked like some crippled retarded ape in that show. I think I still remember the utter shock I felt when I saw him on screen the first time.

[90'sCartoonMan]

I do remember the armour suit a power up bonus in the Sega game. I remember finding symbols for getting The Fantastic Four as helpers. I vividly remember getting my ass kicked by The Alien Spider Slayer and calling in Reed for help. He filled my web shooters up and pissed off. Cheers Reed, love you too.

Sorry to be completely off-topic Stu, but how the heck did you get past Venom?! You'd hit him and he wouldn't lose any health, but he could hit you! I was hoping for a nice Human Torch summon to fry his behind, but sadly, I had to return the game to Blockbuster (this antecdote brought to you by the year 1995).

I like your Wolverine analysis and find it funny he was Australian so many times. Plus I didn't realize on Evolution he was Jobberine.

Cal Dodds is the man, although I found him a little over the top in some episodes (then again, who wasn't on that show? Storm, Xavier, Rogue, sheesh).

If you're doing another one I suggest Magneto, seeing as how he's made other animated appearances that had nothing to do with the X-Men (on Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends).

[Stu]

Sorry to be completely off-topic Stu, but how the heck did you get past Venom?! You'd hit him and he wouldn't lose any health, but he could hit you! I was hoping for a nice Human Torch summon to fry his behind, but sadly, I had to return the game to Blockbuster (this antecdote brought to you by the year 1995).

You had to time it right, but you basically jump kicked him in the air. The grenades (on a Spidey game?!) didn't do jack and punching him was simply asking for trouble. I do remember getting frustrated with the hard difficulty however, I remember counting hitting him 50 times and he still wouldn't die!

I like your Wolverine analysis and find it funny he was Australian so many times. Plus I didn't realize on Evolution he was Jobberine.

Cal Dodds is the man, although I found him a little over the top in some episodes (then again, who wasn't on that show? Storm, Xavier, Rogue, sheesh).

It got a little overebearing at times, I agree. He's still the balls though.

If you're doing another one I suggest Magneto, seeing as how he's made other animated appearances that had nothing to do with the X-Men (on Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends).

Way ahead of you (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=167480)

[Bowles]

Well, this was interesting. I hope that the new show is what they say it will be - can you imagine Evo's characterization mixed with the story of TAS? (As long as they don't stick on the Phoenix saga for oh-so-long.) I'd love to see them make the new show a follow-up to Evo, really, where now the older X-Men "graduate" to team up with Wolvie and the teachers, although they were pretty much doing that throughout the series, but still. I thought Evo laid a very nice foundation - why try building a new one?

[Spider-Man]

Well, this was interesting. I hope that the new show is what they say it will be - can you imagine Evo's characterization mixed with the story of TAS? (As long as they don't stick on the Phoenix saga for oh-so-long.) I'd love to see them make the new show a follow-up to Evo, really, where now the older X-Men "graduate" to team up with Wolvie and the teachers, although they were pretty much doing that throughout the series, but still. I thought Evo laid a very nice foundation - why try building a new one?But you could argue that the 1990's series had a great foundation they could have still built upon especially with how the last episode played out.

I like the the first opening arc is going to be a multi-parter and will be Wolverine's introduction into the team. We never really saw that in X-Men: Evolution and it was touched upon in the 1990s series. As a big Wolverine fan I think this could be a neat perspective on the X-Men much like how Wolverine's introcution to the X-Men in the movie provided a neat example.

[Rud]

Premiering in the fall of 2000, X-Men: Evolution featured an all new continuity with few ties to the previous FOX series and de-aged the majority of it’s characters to fit them into the teen demographic. The show was to be set in high school, with the X-Men, consisting of Cyclops, Rogue, Jean, Nightcrawler, Kitty and a new, original character Spyke trying to keep their powers a secret whilst they thought The Brotherhood and evil Head Mistress Mystique, with Magneto usually looming in the background.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmenevo/title/01.jpg

If you’re wondering why I haven’t mentioned Wolverine yet in his own retrospective thread, it’s because he’s an adult, something Kids WB! wanted very little to do with. Thankfully, the creative realised that a teenage Wolverine wouldn’t work, and they had him act as a mentor/teacher to the students. He could sometimes be found in a solo adventure as part of the B plot. A lot of these involved Sabertooth, but because they barely bothered to develop the middle-aged villain and the first season was incredibly weak in terms of story and character, most of them aren’t stuff you’ll rush to watch again.

One such plot involves Juggernaut handing Wolverine his ass once again, as he waits for the kids to come rushing to his rescue. The difference here is, Wolverine didn’t look like an assclown after his defeat, and made Juggernaut look more threatening, whereas back in the 80’s, kids were merely under the impression that Wolverine sucked.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmenevo/episode/survival/19.jpg

This version of Wolverine wasn’t too bad in the grand scheme of things however. It was a lot easier to except Scott McNeil in the role than I thought it would (Cal Dodd is Wolverine, remember folks) and his new design is easily my favourite looking version of Wolverine ever. Orange and black aren’t colours that I’d usually associate with Wolverine, but this suit simply popped every time it was on screen. Logan’s civvies design wasn’t too shabby either, despite his odd lack of facial hair. His hair wasn’t as goofy as it was in TAS, and his outfit actually suited the character, unlike the previous show. In visuals, this show has TAS’ Wolverine beat, hands down.

The best episode of the first season is the lone Wolverine focused episode, Grim Reminder in which he travels to Canada in order to discover his origins and learn more of the Weapon X programme. It does say something about the quality of this season that in a show focused on kids at school, the best episode by a wide margin is the one that focuses on an adult. Indeed, it was a thoroughly mediocre season with very few high points, but Grim Reminder was defiantly better than anything else this season had to offer.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmenevo/episode/grimreminder/58.jpg

With season two came a few changes, all of them welcomed. The show stopped with the clichéd characters and stories and really made an effort to improve its overall quality, making the show a hell of a lot more fun and watch able in the process. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of Wolverine to be found in this season. He’s more of a background character, but he does get a few starring moments in The Beast Of Bayville in which we get some beautiful fight scenes between him and a savage Mr. McCoy, but again, he spends most of the season as a teacher.

Things pick up a little with our one Wolverine episode a season (yeah, that trend didn’t last long, did it?) as we see a good old fashioned team up between him and Captain America back in their days in World War II. This one made more sense than Old Soldiers, and features a much cooler version of Captain America – despite the fact he didn’t utter a word.

One of the more embarrassing moments Wolverine has ever suffered comes in Mindbender, as he struggles to attack a possessed Kitty, who promptly kicks him in the shin as he hops in pain.


Yes, Kitty managed to hurt his shin, despite the fact it’s covered with the hardest alloy ever. Even the amazing animation found in the episode could help me forgive that. It’s illogical in every sense of the word. Thankfully, the series once again improved dramatically as Wolverine came face to face with the shows most bad ass villain yet – The Sentinel. And boy, did he get his ass kicked. In one of the shows best fights, Wolverine went toe to toe with the towering tin can and helped create one hell of a threatening villain, which left me eagerally awaiting the second part, which was rare - Evo wasn't really something I looked forward to each week back in these days, it was just something I watched because I liked The X-Men.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmenevo/episode/dayofreckoning/22.jpg

Wolverine usually lost most of his fights in the show, mainly because his job seemed to be making everyone else look good. He was a jobber, plain and simple. But the fact remains, he was a very good jobber.

When season two finished, Wolverine and several members of both The Brotherhood and The X-Men had been kidnapped, and the world now knew that mutants existed. No doubt changes were afoot, but were they for the better?

Oh hell yeah.

Tomorrow, the conclusion.

Season three began with the biggest bang possible, with several members Of The Brotherhood and The X-Men being held in Area 51, and the remaining members and Mystique attempting to rescue them. With not one teenage cliché or annoying comedy moment, Day Of Recovery was a wall-to-wall action episode done in a superb manner, no doubt about it, the episode was one the finest half hours in animation I’d ever seen, and for one of the first times, left one wondering if this series could eventually top the original.

The second episode of the season gives Wolverine some rather confusing characterisation, as he is annoyed that Cyclops has taken the leadership role from him as the kids disagree with his action. Again, this was done to show everyone that this show was about the kids – not Wolverine or any of the adults. I won’t complain anymore, because the episode in question is absolutely spectacular.



It was at this time however, that Marvel stepped in and asked that Wolverine’s costume be changed to fit the look he sported in their Ultimate X-Men book. The design isn’t bad by any means, but the original was so much better. I personally found it a shame they got rid of the orange suit because it looked so damn cool. I remember hearing they were revamping the suits in the comics again, and I hoped they would look towards the orange suit for inspiration. They didn’t. He’s in yellow and blue again. But wait, cheap ratings spike, he’s in his tan suit. I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a red and yellow Iron-Wolverine this time next year.

If these last few posts seem bitter, I assure you it’s not intended. Wolverine is by far my favourite X-Man and I am getting entirely sick of the Wolverine bashing that never, ever seems to stop, but as you’ve probably noticed, he didn’t really get up to all that much in this series. His very powers were difficult to use on Saturday mornings, and the network wanted everything to focus on the younger members, which meant he was rarely allowed to save the day, which reduced him to the jobber status mentioned in the aforementioned post. There’s no denying that X-Men: Evolution is a truly fantastic show; it’s just not geared towards Wolverine fans, which the previous shows and movies were.

Wolverine’s always had great chemistry with Kitty in the comics and that managed to make its way into the show, thankfully, the highlight being the episode in which he tried to teach her how to drive. Whatever faults character may have, his lack of humour is not amongst them.



It’s been said that Wolverine best role in this series is leadership, and one of the better examples would be Self Possessed in which Rogue’s powers overload and she begins to lose control and morphs into everyone she’s ever absorbed. The episode shows he genuinely cares about the students and doesn’t do what he does just so he can be a hard ass in the Danger Room or out in the field. It was cool to see Logan save the day, and it’s one of his finest episodes, which is especially impressive as this episode was purely focused on Rogue.

Our one Wolverine episode of the season rule got turned on it’s head a little this season, thanks to the inclusion of the new original character X23 which managed to give us fanboys our one Logan episode and still satisfy the network by having it focus on a teenager. X23 features a teenage girl who grew up unloved, created from Wolverine’s own DNA. We get to see a little into Wolverine’s past (he used to work for SHIELD, for starters) and his chemistry with X23 was actually really interesting. She had an annoying voice actor, sure, and the story itself could be found in fan fiction, but the episode was fun to watch, the score was great and the animation was probably the best the show ever reached. The fight scenes were something to behold – no small feat considering Saturday mornings are violence free now, and they had 12 adamantium claws between them.



Everyone got in on the fun in the season finale in order to stop Mesmero unleashing Apocalypse upon the world, and Logan was no exception. Paired with Sabertooth and Gambit, our hero travelled to Tibet in order to kick Mesmero’s ass. He failed, which came as no surprise at this point in the series, but what was surprising was Mesmero, who locked about as physically threatening as Spacker Dave from The Punisher, managed to lay the smack down on Logan, Gambit and Sabertooth at the same time.

Again, a great season overall, but very little for Wolverine fans to sink their claws into. Season 4 wasn’t much different, one Wolverine focused episode in which he shared the spotlight with X23, he plays the leader in a few episodes, some hints are thrown in there about his past. Lather, rinse, and repeat to sum it all up.



Omega Red deserves a special mention, however. In Target X, a battered Wolverine manages to make pathetically quick work of the once fearsome Russian, and at the end of the episode, it left you rushing you to your X-Men TAS tapes (damn you Disney!) to see if Omega Red was another one of those things that you thought was cool in your childhood simply because you were too stupid to know better. Nope, Red was still awesome, but Evo really, really dropped the ball here. Few things disappointed me in this show since The HeX Factor, but Omega Red is defiantly high on the list.

So, after 52 episodes, X-Men: Evolution was cancelled and quickly disappeared. The upcoming X-Men 3 movie seems to be the only reason we’ve managed to get season 3 on DVD, and there’s no word on whether or not we’ll actually get the final season in a set.

I hope you’re not sick of Wolverine by now, because next year sees the X-Men return to the small screen on Cartoon Network in a new show, dubbed Wolverine And The X-Men. The show promises to be a blend of the two previous animated series, with great stories like TAS and a lot of character development like Evo, according to head honcho of Marvel animation Craig Kyle. The three-part opening will air next fall, and beyond that, very little else is known about the show.

But rest assured, True Believers, Wolverine’s in it, so it’ll be worth watching.



Hope you enjoyed the retrospective! More to come soon!

you know what i found funny about reading this, even though Wolvorine got his ass kicked alot like you mentioned, watching this show as a kid, i always thought Wolverine was the most badass characters in this show. I always argued with my brother about it (he liked psyclops) and i always won, after reading this im thinking to myself, how the hell did i always win with the argument that Wolverine was the most badass character when he always gt his asked kicked? (i doubt my fanboy powers are THAT powerful.)

Wolverine is an anti-authoritarian. He is not a baby-sitter. (Though he does seem to have an unsettling collection of underage female apprentices... Kitty, Jubilee, X-23.) He doesn't teach kids to drive or give romantic advice. He hits on your woman and threatens to "snikt" your neck if you complain.

Wolverine's a loner. he disappears without explanation to have adventures in Japan, Canada or Madripoor. He isn't a glorified gym teacher who drills pubescents on the basics.


no truer words have ever been spoken

[Antiyonder]

you know what i found funny about reading this, even though Wolvorine got his ass kicked alot like you mentioned, watching this show as a kid, i always thought Wolverine was the most badass characters in this show. I always argued with my brother about it (he liked psyclops) and i always won, after reading this im thinking to myself, how the hell did i always win with the argument that Wolverine was the most badass character when he always gt his asked kicked? (i doubt my fanboy powers are THAT powerful.)

Wolverine is the best at what he does after all. That includes looking cool when getting beat up.

[Movie06]

Will Rogue get a Retrospective by any chance?

[Spiderman]

When I read a SPIDER-MAN comic, the voice I hear is that of Christopher Daniel Barnes (the Voice actor of spidey from the 90's animated series .) the same can be said with Kevin Conroy as BATMAN & Cal Dodd as Wolverine .

[TheVileOne]

I predict Steven Blum's version of Wolverine in Wolverine and The X-men will be the best version of Wolverine ever :D .

[Spiderman]

I predict Steven Blum's version of Wolverine in Wolverine and The X-men will be the best version of Wolverine ever :D .

Blum was awesome in X-Men Legends , X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse & Marvel: Ultimate Alliance as Wolverine .

[TheVileOne]

I know he was Wolverine in all these games, but this is his first time playing Wolverine in an episodic series.

At Anime Expo last year, Blum said this show had some of the best writing of any show he's ever worked. You can't take something like that lightly considering that Blum has worked on some of the best written and best quality animated shows ever in the last 10 years. Not to mention being a writer for animated shows himself.

People need to get over Cal Dodd. Dodd was great as Wolverine, but he's not the only actor to play the character. He didn't originate the character in animation, and a bunch of other great actors have played the character as well.

[Hypestyle]

hopefully they'll get into some of Logan's Japan past, some "Origin" stuff, and more...

but will he be seen drinking anything besides soda?

[Rick Jones]

hopefully they'll get into some of Logan's Japan past, some "Origin" stuff, and more...

but will he be seen drinking anything besides soda?Origin would have made an awesome DTV


Probably not for kids so much, but definitely for me

[TheVileOne]

I'm not a big fan of origin. So I say the more vague they keep it, the better.

[Silverstar]

Will Rogue get a Retrospective by any chance?

I'd rather see a Beast retro, myself.

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/thumb/5/57/Beast_X-Men_Animated_Series_009.jpg/180px-Beast_X-Men_Animated_Series_009.jpg

[Stu]

While this thread is in dire need of an update, I thought people might appreciate a look back at Logan's earlier animated exploits before he makes his return to the big screen.

Comments?

[stephane dumas]

While this thread is in dire need of an update, I thought people might appreciate a look back at Logan's earlier animated exploits before he makes his return to the big screen.

Comments?

I like the idea and also add some misceleanous cameos appearances of Wolverine in videogames like for example Capcom vs Marvel.