X-Men: Evolution

X-Men Evolution is an American animated television series created by Greg Johnson and Steve Granat for Cartoon Network. Despite its title, it is not an adaptation of Todd Dezago and Todd Nauck's X-Men Evolution series of comics, but rather, an adaptation of the entire Marvel Universe with a focus on young superheroes.

The series follows the lives of teenaged superhero sidekicks, who are members of a fictional superhero team simply known as X-Men, and their relationships with their mentors. The story is set at a time where superpowers and superheroes are a relatively recent phenomenon.

Production
The first two episodes of the series, "Strategy X" and "X Impulse" premiered on Cartoon Network as a special one hour event of the series.

X-Men Students

 * Cyclops as Kirby Morrow - A doo-Gooder and team leader, Scott loves to have control, & be in charge.
 * Jean Grey as Venus Terzo - She is confident and smart, but seems to have trouble choosing a codename. As part of the X-Men, she has helped young mutants get accustomed to their new lives, acting as a bit of a peace-maker when their emotions over being a mutant get the best of them.
 * Rogue as Meghan Black - She has a great deal of angst with respect to her powers, which keep her from ever safely touching anyone.
 * Shadowcat as Maggie Blue O'Hara - Anormal teenager Kitty deals with looking for love out side of the X-mansion while trying to do what's right by everyone.
 * Nightcrawler as Brad Swaile - His fun-loving nature can sometimes get Kurt into trouble. For example, while playing around with a machine he discovered in an abandonded lab, he was caught in the "Middleverse" created by a student named Forge, who was himself trapped in this pocket dimension.

Mentors

 * Wolverine - Logan is both brass, & brave, and is probably the toughest teacher, but most determined to keep everyone safe & alive. He pushes his students to the edge to show themselves what they are capable of. Having been an active solider for WWII, as well as many others, Logan is always ready for a challenge for himself, or in helping his charges. He doesn't do sweet too often, but he is always there.
 * Storm - Ororo is known for her calm personality and regal manner, she was even worshipped as a Goddess in Africa due to her ability to summon the rains. She is a more gentle instructor, but still firm.
 * Charles Xavier - Is the Head Master at the school for gifted youngsters. Charles own mutant power in the ability to read other peoples minds and influence theirs in he wants.
 * Beast - Hank was a very friendly and warm hearted man when he was not affected by the beast's anger. He is also very smart and he understood Egyptian Hieroglyphics. Beast remains a genius intellect and a rather refined person. He does like to have fun, including snowball fights.

Season One
The first season of X-Men Evolution follows the origins of the Team, starting from Jean Grey, and Scott Summers. The season then proceeds through the Team's missions, and how they interact with one another on and off duty. The main antagonist for the series is Mystique. Greg Johnson has stated that the overall theme of this season is "secrets and lies, and also independence."

The first season introduces the core characters and lays the foundations for future story lines. Professor X, Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, and Jean Grey make up the original X-Men. As the season develops, the ranks of the X-Men are bolstered by the appearance of Nightcrawler in the first episode, Shadowcat in the second, Spyke in the fifth and Rogue (who originally joins the Brotherhood in the third episode) in the seventh. In the later episodes of this season, Nightcrawler discovers the identity of his birth mother, Wolverine finds answers to his past, Rogue switches sides to join the X-Men, and Xavier's half-brother, Juggernaut, is released from his prison.

Confrontations are typically with the Brotherhood, who vie for new recruits with the X-Men over the course of the season. Toad is the first to be introduced, followed by Avalanche, Blob, and Quicksilver. The Brotherhood, led by Mystique, are in fact being directed by a higher power, the identity of whom was "revealed" in the two-part season finale as being Magneto. After Cyclops discovers that his brother, Alex, actually survived the plane crash that killed their parents, they are both taken by Magneto into his "sanctuary" on Asteroid M. Magneto captures several X-Men and Brotherhood members in an attempt to amplify their mutant abilities and remove their emotions. The Brotherhood and X-Men show up leaving Magneto and Mystique trapped on the asteroid. Asteroid M is destroyed by Scott and Alex Summers, but not before two metal spheres fly from the exploding asteroid.

Season Two
The second season saw the addition of several new mutants, including the Beast. During the course of the season it was revealed that the villains who supposedly perished on[Asteroid M, but were in fact alive. Sabretooth, meanwhile, continued his pursuit of Wolverine, while Magneto continued to work his own agenda. Mystique posed as Risty Wilde, a high school student at Bayville High School who befriends Rogue and breaks into the mansion to steal Charles Xavier's Cerebro files. Using the files, she recovered Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, Magneto's daughter and Quicksilver's twin sister. The mentally unstable uber-mutant joined The Brotherhood upon Mystique's return, allowing them to defeat the X-Men in a battle at the Bayville mall. Before the finale, a pivotal episode aired featuring the telepath Mesmero opening one of three doors that would unleash a mutant known as Apocalypse.

In the season finale, Xavier rigorously trained his X-Men to face Magneto, pairing them with the Brotherhood. Cyclops, furious with having to work with his former adversaries, left the team. The mansion was later set to self-destruct with Cyclops and several students still inside. Magneto, meanwhile, recruited Sabretooth, Gambit, Pyro, and Colossus as his Acolytes to fight the X-Men/Brotherhood team. At the same time, Wolverine was captured by Bolivar Trask for use as a test subject for the anti-mutant weapon, the Sentinel. The Sentinel was unleashed onto the city, forcing the X-Men to use their powers in public, but Wanda tracked down Magneto and attempted to crush him with the Sentinel. When the mutants who hadn't been captured by the Sentinel returned to the remains of the mansion, Cyclops and the students emerged from the explosion with minor injuries. Scott throws Xavier from his wheelchair and blames him for blowing up the mansion. Everyone is shocked as Xavier calmly stands up, transforming into Mystique.

Season Three
In seasons three and four, the show notably begins to take a much more serious tone. After the battle with the Sentinel, the mutant race was no longer a secret. The public reaction was one of hostility. As the season progressed, the real Xavier was found, Mystique defeated, the mansion rebuilt, and the X-Men allowed back into Bayville High. Wanda continued to search for Magneto (who was saved by his son, Quicksilver, at the last minute) until Magneto used the telepathic mutant Mastermind to change her childhood memories. Jean and Scott forged a deeper relationship, while the romance between Shadowcat and the Brotherhood member Avalanche ended. Also, Spyke left the X-Men when his power became uncontrollable, deciding to live with the sewer-dwelling deformities, the Morlocks.

As part of the series arc, Rogue loses control of her powers, leading to her hospitalization. During that time, she learned she was the adoptive daughter of Mystique. Mystique, through the visions of the mutant Destiny, foresaw that the fate of Rogue and herself lied in the hands of an ancient mutant that would be resurrected. The return of the long-awaited Apocalypse saga emerged in the season's final episodes. Mesmero manipulated Magneto into opening the second door, and uses Mystique and a hypnotized Rogue to open the last, turning Mystique to stone in the process. Now released, Apocalypse easily defeated the combined strength of the X-Men, Magneto, the Acolytes, and the Brotherhood before escaping.

Season Four
The final (and darker) season contained only nine episodes. In the season premiere, Apocalypse killed Magneto while Rogue murdered Mystique by pushing her petrified figure off a cliff, leaving her distraught son, Nightcrawler, without closure. The Brotherhood became temporary do-gooders, Wolverine's teenage girl clone X23 returned, Spyke and the Morlocks rose to the surface, Shadowcat discovered a mutant ghost, Rogue was kidnapped by Gambit and taken to Louisiana to help free his father, and Xavier travels to Scotland in attempt to defeat his evil son, Lucas. The character Leech is also introduced as a young boy.

In the finale, Apocalypse defeats Xavier and Storm, transforming them, along with Magneto and Mystique, as his Four Horsemen. Apocalypse instructs his Horsemen to protect his three domes and his 'base of operations', which will turn the entire world population into mutants. In the final battle, the Horsemen were returned to normal and Apocalypse is sent through time. Rogue and Nightcrawler refuse the excuses of their mother, Shadowcat and Avalanche find love once again, Magneto is reunited with Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, Storm and Spyke are also reunited, and Xavier sees his students reunited as the X-Men.

The Future
The series ends with a speech by Charles Xavier, who had caught a glimpse of the future while being controlled by Apocalypse. The following future scenarios were foreseen:
 * Continued anti-mutant sentiment.
 * A reformed Magneto teaching the New Mutants, including a returned Jubilee and Wolfsbane.
 * Jean Grey transforms into the Dark Phoenix. Had the series continued, the show's next season would have focused on the "Phoenix/Dark Phoenix Saga".
 * The future X-Men team consisting of adult versions of Cyclops, Nightcrawler, X-23, Iceman, Beast, Shadowcat, Colossus, Rogue (able to fly and not wearing gloves), and Storm. The uniforms these future X-Men wear look very much like the dark uniforms seen in the Ultimate X-Men comic, as well as that of the live-action feature films.
 * Adult versions of the Brotherhood, including Pyro, join S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * An attack fleet of Sentinels led by Nimrod though Bastion and Mastermold have beend suggested.
 * The next season was possibly in talks of bringing in Emma Frost and Psylocke.
 * The last scene shows the X-Men, the New Mutants, Gambit and Colossus (both former Acolytes), Boom Boom, Havok, Angel, X-23, and Spyke.

Comics


Before the X-Men, before the Xavier Institute, before the rivalry, there were two men with very different visions. Before the code names, before the secret identities, before the world learned to hate and fear mutants, there was a young woman whose most dangerous weapon was her mind. Before costumes, before the training, and before anyone had ever heard of "Adamantium," there was a frightened amnesiac searching for the truth. Now, the lives of Professor X, Magneto, Storm, and Wolverine collide as the world stands on the brink of genetic war. How do two best friends become arch-enemies? How does a goddess from Africa find her place in the world? How does a man without a past decide mankind's future? All heroes start with power and ambition they must learn to control. All villains start with ideas they believe to be just. And all great legends begin with "once upon a time..." X-Men: Evolution -- In the beginning, there was X!

Trivia
The first season was very restrictive. The network felt that action shows like Batman: The Animated Series, etc, had gotten too dark and mature for the kid audience they were trying to reach, so they really kept a tight lid on this show. Once the first season aired and proved to be a big success, they loosened the reigns a little more with each succeeding season. The good side of this, according to Producer/Writer/Director Boyd Kirkland, is that he had always wanted the show to be more character driven than big action-story driven, so the restrictions actually helped play into that. The high-stakes epochs they did later really became more meaningful and poignant because of how much time we had given the audience to get to know and empathize with the characters.

Awards
X-Men: Evolution won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Live Action and Animation at the 30th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, on May 16, 2003. It also won the Cover of the Year Award in 2004 for best-animated figure for Beast. It was nominated for several Golden Reel awards as well as other Emmys. Steven E. Gordon, the director of this show, was nominated for the for Production Design in an Animated Television Production for X-Men: Evolution at the 2001 Annie Awards.