Back in October 2021, Marvel Studios announced during Disney+ Day that a continuation of the famous pop culture television show X-Men: The Animated Series was coming to the streaming platform in late 2023. Premiering all the way back in 1992 on Fox, X-Men: The Animated Series was a critical and commercial success; with scores as high as 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and other aggregate ranking sites. With an original team of Cyclops, Professor X, Wolverine, Rogue, Beast, Gambit, Jean Grey, and Jubilee, X-Men adapted many popular storylines from the X-Men comics during its seminal five season run; including the beloved story arc The Dark Phoenix Saga.

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With more than twenty-five years between the ending of the original series and the beginning of the new one, hundreds of new X-Men stories have been written and produced by Marvel Comics; giving the writers of the new show a mountain of material to choose from and adapt. Which stories should they go with? Here are a few we’d like to see.

House of X/ Powers of X

     20th Century Studios

Between roughly 2007 and 2018, Marvel’s X-Men line of comics was in a bit of a lull. Titles such as Rick Remender’s Uncanny X-Force, Keiron Gillen’s Uncanny X-Men, and Brian Bendis’s All New X-Men are the ones that stand from the crowd during the era, but the rest of the X-lines suffered, going through multiple reboots and writers. But in 2019, the X-Men titles received a massive reboot under legendary Marvel architect Jonathan Hickman, starting with House of X/Powers of X. Bringing the X-Men to their new home on the mutant island Krakoa, Hickman’s X-Men reboot has received immense critical and fan success since it began. With a new X-Men: The Animated Series premiering, what better way to reboot than with a classic story that rebooted the X-Men comics for the better.

House of M

     Marvel Studios

One of the biggest X-Men stories post-2000, House of M is a story in which Magneto, after claiming a conspiracy to get rid of Mutants by U.S. President Richard Nixon, becomes the leader of the nation of Genosha, and allows for mutants to receive the superiority he so desperately claims over normal humans. It’s revealed throughout the series that the world of House of M was created from the reality-altering powers of Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff). In the end, and what the House of M storyline is most known for, is Scarlet Witch decimating the mutant population from nearly a million down to just a few hundred. A story with serious consequences and a fleshed out world, House of M would be best adapted in television format.

The Messiah Complex

Essentially a sequel to the story of House of M (which explains why it should be adapted), The Messiah Complex is centered around the birth of the first mutant since the decimation, with nearly every faction and team of mutants going after the “Messiah” of mutants. A massive three-part saga of betrayal, suspense, and pure mutant intensity; Messiah Complex would be a worthy storyline for the animated series.

Schism

A key plot point in the original X-Men animated series was the conflict between Cyclops (Scott Summers) and Wolverine (James “Logan” Howlett), with their clashing personalities, and their fights over love their interest, Jean Grey. The clash between the two iconic X-Men comes to a head in 2011’s Schism crossover. After massive battles with evil mutants, the devilish Hellfire club, and the ever-present Sentinels; Cyclops and Wolverine finally reach their breaking point due to ideological differences, and finally fight each other. Heartbreaking to see, Schism would bring the level of stakes and emotions the new animated series would need.

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The Dark Angel Saga

With the original animated series adapting the ever-popular Dark Phoenix Saga, it seems fitting to have the new series adapt a story in a similar vein: The Dark Angel Saga. Taking place during Rick Remender’s Uncanny X-Force run, The Dark Angel Saga sees the mutant Archangel (Warren Worthington III) take the place of the famous X-Men villain, Apocalypse. He amasses new armies, along with the horsemen, to take on the X-Force. The only way for them to stop Archangel, is to go to the universe of “Age of Apocalypse”! Considered to be one of the best X-Men stories of the 2010s, The Dark Angel Saga would be fascinating to see in the new series.

With more than 60 years-worth of source material to choose from (that hasn’t already been adapted). The showrunners for X-Men ‘97: The Animated Series are going to have a difficult time picking and choosing the stories for the new show. The four listed above are just a few we’d like to see made into animation.