X-Men Evolution's Official Return Is Only 2 Months Away

Marvel's beloved X-Men: Evolution officially returns this January after twenty-three years of absence. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the X-Men in the 1960s, but the popularity of Marvel's mutant heroes skyrocketed in the 1990s and early 2000s, propelled by a perfect storm of cross-media victories that made them just as famous as comic book legends like Spider-Man and the Hulk. This era started with the 1992 premiere of X-Men: The Animated Series and continued with the start of Fox's live-action X-Men movie franchise in 2000, as well as other smaller gems like Raven Software and Activision’s X-Men Legends video game.

Following the massive success of the X-Men's first live-action movie, Warner Bros. and Film Roman launched X-Men: Evolution in late 2000, initially promising to rival the impact of its 1990s predecessor. X-Men: Evolution took a daring path by returning the main mutant team to their high school days as teenagers struggling with puberty alongside their emerging superpowers. Inspired by sci-fi shows of the era like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, X-Men: Evolution resonated with young audiences. However, despite its strong ratings and solid fanbase, the network abruptly canceled the series in 2003 after its fourth season.

X-Men: Evolution has remained completely absent from the Marvel multiverse for over two decades, but Marvel is finally revisiting the show in January 2027.

Marvel Teases X-Men: Evolution's Return With New Crossover Artwork

X-Men ’92: Incursions #1; Written By Christopher Yost & Craig Kyle; Art By Salva Espin

Marvel Comics' X-Men '92: Incursions is set to bring X-Men: Evolution's characters back in a battle against the mutant cast of X-Men: The Animated Series, pit against each other due to the clash of both universes. A little over two months ahead of the release of issue #1, Marvel teases X-Men '92: Incursions' release with three comic covers; two of them featuring both multiversal versions of Rogue in their iconic costumes, one recreating Gil Kane and Dave Cockrum's iconic cover for Giant-Size X-Men #1, and one depicting the two Rogues playfully interacting with each other.

Written by original series creators Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, X-Men '92: Incursions brings its two sets of X-Men teams together due to a chronological anomaly that threatens the fabric of the Marvel multiverse. As the veteran heroes from the classic X-Men: The Animated Series timeline suddenly cross paths with the younger, high-school-aged mutants from the X-Men: Evolution universe, the two generations of mutant heroes fight to comprehend the mysterious forces driving their worlds together. As usual crossovers of this kind go, their encounter will require both teams to overcome their initial friction to stop the collapse of their respective dimensions.

X-Men ’92: Incursions Opens The Door For A More Definitive X-Men: Evolution Return

Marvel Could Give X-Men: Evolution The X-Men '97 Treatment

Marvel Comics' X-Men '92: Incursions #1 is a milestone for fans of early X-Men animated shows, but it could also be the first stage in a proper revival of the 2000 series. The impressive critical and commercial success of X-Men '97 on Disney+ shows an immense public appetite for high-quality continuations of canceled Marvel animated series decades after their cancellation. Audiences responded with overwhelming enthusiasm to the revival of X-Men: The Animated Series, which logically indicates that a modern X-Men: Evolution continuation could capture the same lightning in a bottle, either as a companion streaming show or a solo comic book run.

A new animated season of X-Men: Evolution or an ongoing comic that resumes its story could finally explore the interrupted arcs that the original 2003 cancellation cut short. X-Men: Evolution's fifth season could tackle the dropped Dark Phoenix Saga adaptation heavily teased during Professor X’s brief glimpses of the future in the original series finale. The focus would be on Jean Grey’s slow unraveling as she wrestles with the Phoenix Force and her high school peers choose between saving their friend or protecting the planet. Likewise, X-Men: Evolution's continuation could explore new characters like Emma Frost and Mister Sinister, as well as bring antagonists like Magneto and the Sentinels to the forefront.

Would you like to see X-Men: Evolution return permanently?

X-Men ’92: Incursions #1 releases January 6 from Marvel Comics