Wolverine and the X-Men is an American superhero animated series produced by Marvel Studios. It is the fourth animated adaptation of the X-Men characters. In the show, Wolverine attempts to reassemble the X-Men and becomes their new leader, following a devastating incident that led to the disappearances of both Jean Grey and Charles Xavier.
Contents
Plot
At the start of the series, the X-Men disband following an explosion that destroys the X-Mansion and causes Professor X and Jean Grey to disappear. One year later, Wolverine and Beast decide to reunite the X-Men after witnessing the rise of the Mutant Response Division, a government-supported organization dedicated to capturing mutants.
The X-Men receive funding from Angel and reunite with junior members Iceman, Shadowcat and Forge. However, the X-Men are unable to locate the group's other members without a competent telepath to operate Cerebro. Emma Frost arrives and volunteers to join the X-Men in exchange for helping them find Professor X. Frost finds Professor X on the shores of Genosha in the care of Magneto. After their arrival on Genosha, Magneto permits the X-Men to take Professor X into their care. Upon their return, Xavier telepathically contacts a future version of the X-Men, who originate from a dystopian future twenty years from the present.
Meanwhile, Magneto welcomes new mutants to Genosha, one of whom is Nightcrawler. Magneto claims that Genosha is a safe and secure area for mutants, rather than a threat. Nightcrawler initially believes this, but later learns that Magneto is exploiting other mutants for power. Nightcrawler escapes, but is captured by Mystique when he arrives back at the mansion.
Cyclops has constant memories about Jean Grey and is depressed. He believes she is still alive, so, with the help of Frost, he seeks out Mister Sinister. The X-Men and Mister Sinister have a confrontation that does not result in them finding out any new info about Jean's whereabouts. Wolverine has Cyclops swear an oath to be in the X-Men again and promise not to go off searching for Jean. Somewhere across town, Jean is shown waking up in a hospital after months of being in a coma.
In the series finale "Foresight", it is revealed that the previously assumed attack on the X-Mansion was not from the efforts of a third party, but rather from the result of Jean Grey, who had unwittingly released the Phoenix Force in an attempt to halt an oncoming telepathic attack led by Frost (who was working as a double agent for the Inner Circle). The Inner Circle intended to obtain the Phoenix Force and destroy it before it could do any harm. Unbeknownst to Frost, the rest of the Inner Circle sought to manipulate the Phoenix Force and cater to their own agenda. Upon realizing the error of her ways, Frost betrays the Inner Circle and sacrifices herself to stop the Phoenix Force.
Characters
The overall situations and the look of the series and character designs were inspired by the Astonishing X-Men comic series.
Voice cast
Crew
Jamie Simone - Casting and Voice Director
Production
Toonz Animation India and First Serve International formed a joint venture Toonz First Serve to produce Wolverine. By November 2007, Toonz First Serve began production on the series.
On November 4, 2008, a second season, consisting of 26 episodes was confirmed as being in production by Toonz Entertainment and Marvel Animation. During Comic Con 2009, images of season 2 were shown, consisting of Bastion, Cable, Colossus, Deadpool, Havok, Jubilee, and Magik. It was announced that these characters were to appear in season 2. Colossus was set to receive a reintroductory storyline and would have been a regular character in season 2. Joshua Fine also revealed that Holocaust, Sunfire, and Unus the Untouchable would have made appearances in season 2. Joshua Fine confirmed that Deadpool would have been in a Weapon X episode also featuring X-23 / Laura Kinney, and other obscure characters.
Cancellation
On April 13, 2010, Comics Continuum reported that (according to an inside source) a second season seemed very unlikely. On April 15, 2010, Marvel Animation Age confirmed the recent report that Wolverine and the X-Men would not be returning for a second season. The reason for this was due to financial problems with their financing partner.
Later allusions in other Marvel media
Steve Blum, Tom Kane, and Fred Tatasciore reprise their respective roles as Wolverine, Professor Thornton, and Hulk in Hulk Vs. Wolverine.
Alex Désert, Gabriel Mann, Fred Tatasciore, Steve Blum, and Tom Kane reprise their respective roles as Nick Fury, Bruce Banner, Hulk, Wolverine, and Professor Thornton in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
Nolan North reprises his role as Cyclops in Black Panther.
Steve Blum, Jim Ward, and A.J. Buckley reprise their roles as Wolverine, Professor X, and Toad in The Super Hero Squad Show.
Steve Blum, Liam O'Brien, Jim Ward, and Tom Kane each return as Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Professor X, and Magneto in Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Video Game.
Steve Blum, Tara Strong, Tom Kane, Susan Dalian, Jennifer Hale, and Jim Ward reprise their roles as Wolverine, X-23, Magneto, Storm, Jean Grey, and the Sentinel in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
Steve Blum, Nolan North, Phil LaMarr, and Kari Wahlgren reprise their roles of Wolverine, Cyclops, Gambit, and Emma Frost in X-Men: Destiny.
Steve Blum, Jennifer Hale, and Fred Tatasciore reprise their roles of Wolverine, Jean Grey, and Beast in Marvel Anime: X-Men while Gwendoline Yeo reprises her role of Mariko Yashida in Marvel Anime: Wolverine.
Steve Blum, Kate Higgins, Liam O'Brien, Fred Tatasciore, Kari Wahlgren, Danielle Judovits and Jim Ward reprise their roles as Wolverine, Scarlet Witch, Nightcrawler, Beast, the Hulk, Emma Frost, Shadowcat, and Professor X in Marvel Heroes.
Steve Blum, Tom Kane, Kate Higgins, Jennifer Hale, and Liam O'Brien reprise their respective roles as Wolverine, Magneto, Scarlet Witch, Phoenix, and Nightcrawler in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order. Fred Tatasciore also reprises his roles as the Hulk and Beast.
Broadcast history
United States
On May 1, 2008, the show was pre-sold to Nicktoons Network in the United States and was set for a Spring 2009 airdate. It was also confirmed in an article by USA Today's website in which it specifically mentions the cartoon starting on January 23, 2009, on Nicktoons Network. On January 23, 2009, the show premiered in the United States, with the first two episodes shown back-to-back on Nicktoons Network, which were re-aired on Nickelodeon two days later. The next 6 episodes followed weekly before a two-month break. New episodes began on May 22, 2009, as advertised with commercials on the channel then stopped after June 19, 2009, till the network advertised that they will be showing new episodes on July 31, 2009, after or before new episodes of Iron Man: Armored Adventures.
United Kingdom
On June 23, 2008, a second preview for the series, starring the main X-Men team, was released to announce the special screening of the 3-part pilot episodes that aired at San Diego Comic-Con in late July 2008. Press releases indicated that the first episode was due to premiere on August 2, 2008, on BBC Two in the UK, however, it was postponed and premiered on January 4, 2009, on the CBBC Channel. Initially, one new episode aired every Sunday, but on January 25, 2009, CBBC started airing two new episodes every Sunday. The time slots varied, and the episodes were available for viewing on the BBC iPlayer for a limited time after they aired. As of mid-February 2009, some new episodes were shown on weekdays instead of at the weekend. Some episodes with scenes showing heavy violence were censored and Episode 17 was not shown on CBBC as there was a duel to the death in the storyline (along with one scene depicting blood). CBBC in the UK overtook Canada on March 4, 2009, when it aired the 20th episode, "Breakdown.”
In 2009, BBC Alba started broadcasting the series dubbed into Scottish Gaelic as "An Sionnach Sgianach is Na Seòid".
The show later aired on Kix, beginning in November 2013.
Canada
Early news had speculated the show to air in Fall 2008 in the United States. The series started airing on YTV on Saturday, September 6, 2008, in the 7:00 p.m. time slot. When its time slot was switched to Saturday morning programming, Crunch, it aired at 11:30 a.m. Starting in January 2009, the show was also shown on Teletoon, where only episodes that previously aired on YTV were shown.
Latin America and Brazil
In July 2008, the series was pre-sold to Jetix. starting August 25, 2008 from Mondays to Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. Unusually, all 26 episodes of the first season were aired in Brazil and Latin America before the series started in any other country. Also, the series airs in Rede Record in Brazil from Mondays to Fridays at 7:00 p.m., starting November 9, 2009. In Mexico, the series aired on Azteca 7.
Australia
In Australia, the first series aired on ABC1 Sunday mornings. The series was then repeated weekdays in early morning and late afternoon timeslots. The show then aired on ABC3, along with other series from Marvel Animation on Sunday nights.
Merchandise
Hasbro produced a Wolverine and the X-Men toyline as a tie-in to the series. The first wave consisted of Avalanche, Beast, Colossus, Cyclops, Logan (not in classic outfit), Iceman, Magneto, and Wolverine. Wave two contained the new figures Nightcrawler and a Black Uniform Wolverine. Wave Three, the final wave, added Forge and Toad to the line. The toy line ended before any of the main females of the series were given toys; notably missing were Emma Frost, Jean Grey, Shadowcat, Rogue, and Storm.
Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 67% of 6 critics gave the series a positive review.
Due in part to the abundance of advertising for the series done by Nicktoons and Marvel, the Nicktoons premiere of Wolverine and the X-Men on January 23, 2009 became one of the network's highest ratings ever. Its debut episode, "Hindsight, Part One", garnered 436,000 viewers. The following episode, "Hindsight, Part Two", garnered 589,000 viewers.
Home media
In September 25, 2007, Liberation Entertainment secured worldwide home media rights to the series except in the United States.
United Kingdom
In April 2009, it was announced that E1 Entertainment had secured distribution rights to the series. Liberation had closed down its UK branch the previous October, hence the change in distributor. E1 released their first DVD release of the series in May 2009, containing seven episodes. The company released the rest of the series in three more numbered volumes - Volume 2 on October 19 (to coincide with the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine on DVD), Volume 3 on February 8, 2010, and Volume 4 on July 26, 2010. The first two volumes contain seven episodes, while the last two contain six episodes. The complete boxed set with all twenty-six episodes was released by Entertainment One on July 11, 2011.
United States
On July 31, 2008, Marvel Entertainment announced that their long-term partner Lionsgate Home Entertainment would distribute the series on DVD in the United States. On April 21, 2009, they released Volume 1: Heroes Return Trilogy featuring the first three episodes. The next release, Volume 2: Deadly Enemies came out on July 21, 2009, and features the next five episodes. Volume 3: Beginning of the End was released on November 3, 2009, with five more episodes. Volume 4: Fate of the Future was released on February 2, 2010, with five more episodes. Volume 5: Revelation was released on May 4, 2010, along with Volume 5 of X-Men: The Animated Series. Marvel formally announced the sixth and final part of the series, Volume 6: Final Crisis Trilogy was released on August 17, 2010.
The complete series was released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 12, 2010. Alongside X-Men: The Animated Series and X-Men: Evolution, the entire series was released on Disney+ when it launched on November 12, 2019.
Canada
Liberation Entertainment released a single-disc "Season 1: Chapter 1" package on April 14, 2009, with the first four episodes of the series. A second single disc package, "Season 1: Chapter 2" holding the next four episodes was released on July 21, 2009, although the packaging mentioned a fifth episode that was not included for unknown reasons. Also, a 5-disc set of the complete first season in Steelbook packaging was released September 15, 2009. The set includes all 26 episodes in widescreen format, character bios, an image gallery and an audio commentary on the episode Overflow.
Australia
Magna Home Entertainment has announced that the full first season (26 episodes) has been released in Australia with a Limited Edition Wolverine Mold Case. Wolverine and the X-Men: X-Calibre (6 Episodes) and Wolverine and the X-Men: Wolverine VS The Hulk (6 Episodes) has been released with Wolverine and the X-Men: Hunting Grounds (7 Episodes) released on July 8, 2009. Wolverine and the X-Men: Breakdown (7 Episodes).
Italy
Panini Comics released the first season under its Panini Video imprint. It was the last DVD published by Panini.