X-Men "97 Finally Justified Sidelining Wolverine For 7 Episodes

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Warning: This article contains spoilers for X-Men '97 episode 8.
Summary

Wolverine shines in X-Men '97 in episode 8, justifying his earlier sidelining by showing off his intense combat skills with exciting fight sequences.
Characters like Nightcrawler also get a chance to showcase their abilities, providing a fresh perspective on the classic X-Men team lineup.
The show balances old and new faces while honoring both, setting up exciting developments in upcoming episodes.

X-Men '97 justifies Wolverine being put on the backburner for most of the show's first season by giving him a perfect moment in the spotlight. The X-Men '97 character roster contains a wide range of heroes and villains, which is something of a needed feature when it comes to a show about the X-Men, especially when the sequel series needs to balance showing off the original team while also introducing some new faces to keep things fresh. However, this has meant some figures have had to be more on the sidelines, and ultimately this role appears to have gone perhaps most to Wolverine.
While Wolverine is rightfully an immensely popular Marvel hero, the decision to focus less on him can be seen to have paid off, as the show has been able to focus on some characters who otherwise wouldn't have had enough time to be fully developed or characterized in the same way. Mercifully, though, the story appears to have been set up to balance out Wolverine's lack of focal screentime later in the first season, based on his immense fight in X-Men '97 episode 8.

Related X-Men '97 Season 2: Characters, Story & Everything We Know X-Men "97 Season 1 is now available on Disney Plus, and here is everything we know about Season 2"s characters, story details, and more.
Nightcrawler & Wolverine's Fight Sequence Paid Off Logan Being Sidelined

X-Men '97 episode 8 kicked off its three-part season 1 ending with a series of action-packed moments. The most exciting of these by far consists of a fight that sees Wolverine and Nightcrawler face off against a selection of Prime Sentinels while trying to defend an unconscious Rogue. X-Men '97 season 1 showrunner Beau DeMayo even directly referenced the moment being made to provide audiences a dose of Wolverine action, stating on social media that "You wanted your wolverine moments…" when the episode released.
Even with this in mind, the sequence goes above and beyond, involving antics like Wolverine jettisoning himself on the back of a flying Prime Sentinel while slashing countless foes, and Nightcrawler using three swords - one in each hand and one held by his prehensile tail - to skirmish against their enemy with suitable teleporting flair. It's a highlight in an already masterful episode, and truly serves to balance out Wolverine being sidelined for the vast majority of X-Men '97 by showing off some of his best and most honed skills via an intense combat scenario.
Wolverine Is A War Machine In X-Men '97 Close Given Wolverine's story focus has primarily been him still struggling with his feelings for Jean Grey - or otherwise showing him rekindling his friendship with Morph - it's easy for audiences to perhaps lose sight of just how battle-hardened and ready the character really is. However, X-Men: The Animated Series went to great lengths to show Logan's combat skills and extensive history using them, meaning perhaps the best way to honor the previous series is to simply show Wolverine facing down powerful enemies armed with only his experience and his claws.
Indeed, having Wolverine pull up such impressive fighting maneuvers is a prime way for X-Men '97 to prove the show hasn't forgotten about him, and tease some potentially even more dramatic sequences in the final two episodes of the story. In this way, it seems Wolverine may have never truly been sidelined by the series at all, but rather that it waited to focus on the Marvel hero only when it would prove the most exciting - which is naturally when he's facing down some of his biggest threats yet.

X-Men '97 Where to Watch *Availability in US
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X-Men '97 is the direct continuation of the popular 1990s animated series X-Men: The Animated Series. Taking up where the third season left off, Marvel's revival brings back famous mutants such as Wolverine, Storm, Rogue, Gambit, Cyclops, Beast, Magneto, and Nightcrawler, who fight villains like Mr. Sinister, the Sentinels, and the Hellfire Club.
Cast Jennifer Hale , Chris Potter , Alison Sealy-Smith , Lenore Zann , Cal Dodd , Catherine Disher , Adrian Hough , Ray Chase , Chris Britton , George Buza Release Date March 20, 2024 Upcoming Marvel Movies
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