The Definitive Ranking of X-Men on TV

A never picked up pilot from 1989 makes this the oldest entry on the list, Pryde of the X-Men follows a young Kitty Pryde joining the fairly Claremont-era accurate X-Men to fight against Magneto and the Brotherhood. It’s generally pretty unremarkable and uninteresting, as you could expect from a failed late 80s cartoon pilot, but almost worth digging up for some of the absolutely insane voice acting, most notably the very first Australian Wolverine and a Toad that one could easily mistake for the source of Gollum. Despite its cancellation, it’s on YouTube in very low quality.

An over-the-top Jim Carrey impression, the worst Irish accent I’ve ever heard and a white-washed Jubilee are just some of the bizarre issues with the first ever live-action X-Men adaptation in this TV movie that never made it to series. Half of the Gen X team isn’t even in this, and none of them are overly accurate apart from maybe Emma Frost, but there’s a certain camp enjoyment to be found in it. I’d never call it good, but I’d love to see what an actual show would have looked like. It also features the most accurate X-Men costume ever put to screen…for 5 seconds.

Perhaps a controversial choice, but as someone who watched this show as an X-Men loving adult, not a child, this show does very little for me, largely just retelling classic stories a little worse. While it had a few great ideas (we wouldn’t get Age of Apocalypse without it), it’s largely responsible for setting a definitive status quo for the X-Men which has caused the line to hit several points of stagnation after the Claremont run had 17 years of constant change. The animation gets worse as it goes on too.

An odd mix of Claremont, New X-Men, and Astonishing X-Men, the X-Men anime comes from Madhouse, the studio best known for hits like Perfect Blue, Trigun, and Death Note. This is not one of those hits. A strange, ugly animated style can work pretty well in action scenes, but is often quite unappealing to look at it. To its credit, it’s the only X-Men adaptation to actually remember and centre Armor, and the Japanese setting makes it at least stand out.

The CW of X-Men adaptations, following the descendants of everyone’s favourite Nazi incest twins, the Von Struckers, and a handful of X-Men characters that most people haven’t heard of and at least a dozen they clearly just made up. They do have Polaris, Blink and Thunderbird though! The show itself is oddly entertaining at times, and sometimes tries to tell a serious story of how many attacks on minority groups people will just accept as long as they’re government backed. Oh, and also one of the main characters joins the Purifiers.

Another adaptation drawing heavily from Astonishing, this show is, unsurprisingly, a little too Wolverine centered for its own good. That being said, it’s a pretty fun time and a solid adaptation, doing its own take on a few classic stories in a very odd mix of eras that’s also unafraid to do its own take on things. Positioning Magneto as separate from the Brotherhood and the leader of Genosha and having Charles largely absent from the main, present day story, is a great example of this and allows the show to explore new territory for X-Men animation.

One of the biggest reimaginings of X-Men lore, but also one of the best. Focusing in on the school aspect, Evolution puts some X-Men, such as Wolverine, Storm, and Beast, as older mentor figures and teachers, while others like Cyclops, Jean, and Kitty are more evenly aged students enrolled in a classic high school setting. While very “of its era”, the radical changes let some lesser known mutants take the spotlight, such as Avalanche, Magma, or the show’s original mutant, Spike. It may not hold up as well to new viewers, but this was my first X-Men TV show and it will always have a place in my heart despite the very strange choices it makes at times, but what X-Men show doesn’t?

Despite my apathy toward the original series, the first season of X-Men ’97 was something special. Picking up plot points from the original while still being an easy jumping on point, doing great reimagings and remixes of stories both pre and post the original, and doing a bold reimagining of one of the most boring villains of the 90s. The second season, despite an equally strong start, couldn’t quite live up to the first and lost its focus, but I remain hopeful a third season will be able to bring it back on track.

If I was only talking about the first season of this show, there wouldn’t even be a contest. It’s one of the best seasons of television ever made, nevermind X-Men or even comic books. An incredible balance of weird and a compelling mystery as you dive into the mind of David Haller aka Legion. The following two seasons have their moments, but don’t quite live up to the first and lose that weird/compelling balance as it gets weirder and weirder. Still without a doubt the best X-Men show, and I don’t see that ever changing.