X-Men: Evolution

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X-Men: Evolution (2000-2003) was an X-Men animated series that, like Marvel's Ultimate Universe and the movies, rebooted/retooled the universe to one where many important characters were teenagers. This show's setting was Bayville, a generic, fictionalized town in New York (not California, as often assumed), where the famous mutants went to school along with more mundane folks (presumably because the X-Men's canonical hometown, Salem Center, is upper-class in the real world).

While the previous (and very popular) X-Men series spent a lot of time condensing the mythology of the long-running comics, this series purposefully tried to go its own way. It was an effort to not bog the story down to Continuity Lock Out and keep most stories individualized. The animation and story scripting was consistently high but it was also impossible to ignore the Spinoff Babies vibe, though it was nice to see a franchise supposedly based around a school for mutants actually spend time in school for once.

The series started off mostly going with the With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility theme, while later seasons started to get more into the "outcasts and racism" topics that permeated the regular X-Men stories. The writers eventually tried to address these concerns in the last season by bringing it more in line with familiar X-Men storylines, and even teased at the regular comics continuity in the Grand Finale.

Does have the distinction of producing the Canon Immigrant X-23, and a more openly sympathetic take on The Brotherhood as a group of Jerk with a Heart of Gold street kids more than absolute evil. And while it isn't responsible for creating Kitty "Shadowcat" Pryde, this series did help popularize her with the non-comic readers.

Here's a character sheet for more in-depth bios and tropes of the characters.

Tropes used in X-Men: Evolution include:

• Aborted Arc: Because the fourth season had nine episodes, we never really got to see the conclusion to Legion's (presumably planned) story arc.
• Academy of Adventure: Both Xavier's Institute and Bayville High get into all sorts of trouble.
• Adaptational Badass: The Sentinels. The first prototype caused no end of trouble for both the X-Men and the Brotherhood. It was only when Magneto took control of it that they were able to eventually destroy it, but first they had to fight him and the power he was enjoying with his new toy. Normally, sentinels are depicted as giant, intentionally human-shaped robots whose effectiveness always varied between being an actual threat to laughably weak. In this series, they were giant, bi-pedal highly-weaponized war machines designed for nothing less than to ruthlessly and effectively hunt down mutants.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Toyed with in regards to Avalanche and Shadowcat. One of the writers on the show mentioned how Avalanche and Shadowcat was a classic good girl and guy from the wrong side of the tracks love story. So while Kitty was turned-off from the angry and violent Lance, she was attracted to the Jerk with a Heart of Gold Lance who was still a jerk,. but at least tried not to be.
• Anti-Villain: Magneto, as usual. At his heart, all he wants is to make mutants better off in the world, he's just a real dick about it. However, due to the Composite Character nature of Avalanche in this series, he settles as this: He's angry, bitter, and quick to annoy and has a noted antagonistic relationship towards the X-Men and a criminal past, but at his core he comes off as a big brother to the other Brotherhood members and is the member most likely to team up with his enemies when needed.
• Arch Enemy: The X-Men and The Brotherhood, though later it's almost as if they are hostile to each other out of habit. Scott and Avalanche definitely hated each others guts at first, then Scott and Duncan, later. Even Rogue and Jean, over Scott. And the series tries to characterize Quicksilver as The Rival to Spyke, in their first, and later appearances, resulting in a lot of Foe Yay...
• Art Shift: A slight one between the Madhouse/DR Movie episodes and the Mook DLE episodes, which was pretty much every other episode.
• Ascended Extra: Berzerker, an obscure Morlock in the comics, left the sewers to join the New Mutants in this version.
  • Iceman could count as an in-show example. See "Under Lock and Key", where he stows away in the X-Jet, and thus we have the five original X-Men onscreen.
• Badass Boast

Rogue: "My powers are your powers, an' I can take more than one!"

• Badass Cape: Magneto and Storm.
• Badass Longcoat: Gambit, as usual. Also Wanda, Angel, Sabertooth, Mastermind (though his is usually buttoned up), Callisto, and Rogue on occasion.
• Badass Teacher: Even before mutating into his Beast form, Hank McCoy was Bayville High's uber-muscular gym coach, and a science teacher whose first lesson was a stinkbomb.
  • Later, Jean and Scott become this to the younger students. Say what you want, but if your teacher could effortlessly lift the whole class into the air or split an apple in half by ricocheting a blast off the walls while avoiding each student, you would be worshipping them.
• Badbutt: As in all other animated adaptations of the X-Men, Wolverine.
• Bare Your Midriff: They're in high school, so of course you get this to some extent. Every girl has at least one civilian outfit that does, and all three of Jean's do. As does Rogue's and a good number of extras.
• Batman Gambit: Magneto's plan in "Day of Reckoning".
• Beach Bury: Quicksilver does this to Spyke... granted, it's in combat, but the reference is clear.
• Beta Couple: Kitty/Lance (as UST-laden as it was), Sam/Amara, Roberto/Rahne, and Bobby/Jubilee, if the series hadn't been axed prematurely.
• Between My Legs: In the episode Shadowed Past, Rogue's legs frame Mystique when she stops her from escaping.
• Big Bad: Magneto in the first two seasons, Apocalypse in the third and fourth.
• Big Brother Instinct: Scott. His entire rivalry with the Brotherhood is based upon trying to protect the younger students from them, and motivated by past dealings. He hates Lance especially and shows aprehension about his and Kitty's relationship, likely because he remembers Lance's previous Hair-Trigger Temper tendencies and the time he tried to use Kitty's power for personal gain.
• Big Damn Heroes: Happens often, given the fact that the X-Men are... well, Big Damn Heroes. Pietro pulls off an impressive one in "Ascension pt. 2," saving Wanda in the nick of time from a Magneto that was being controlled by Apocalypse.
• Bilingual Bonus: In the episode African Storm, what viewers might write off as made-up incantations are actually Kiswahili. Furthermore, the translations are kind of cool- for example, when the Hungan is stealing Storm's powers, what he is saying roughly translates into English as "meeting of the dark night meeting of the dark night".
• Boot Camp Episode: Both the good guys and the bad guys get sent to a boot camp.
  • Several episodes have less direct ones, where it focuses on Wolverine's training from hell.
• Bullying a Dragon/Mugging the Monster: The latter in the first two seasons, the former after. And for some odd reason, the bullying gets worse after people learn mutants could kill them on a whim. Why would you keep knocking Scott's glasses off? Do you have a death wish?
  • To be fair, at least in one instance Duncan was trying to get Scott to use his powers so Scott would get kicked out of school. Of course, Duncan didn't seem to really think too hard about what would happen to him if he managed to make Scott snap. Scott took down Duncan and both of his friends, with his eyes closed, in about a second, and they still though that that they could take him.
    • It could also be that Duncan realized that the X-Men were unwilling to harm normal people, no matter what big jerks they were. He didn't go after the Brotherhood so mercilessly, because they made it clear they would.
• Broken Bird: Rogue, Scarlet Witch (until she got better from a reverse Mind Rape... It Makes Sense in Context), X-23.
  • To clarify: Magneto had Mastermind mindrape her...erasing all her bad memories, and inserting good ones.
• Butt Monkey: "What is this? Abuse the Toad Day?" Yep, just like yesterday and the day before.
  • Wolverine of all people gets a lot of torture, though so does each character at some point. A lot of humor at times is drived from slapstic-styled antics around the characters, from Scott falling down a flight of stares to Kurt being turned into a girl.
• Comic Book Fantasy Casting: David Kaye's voice as Professor Xavier seems to be based on Patrick Stewart, with just a touch of Sean Connery.
• Canon Foreigner: Several, but mainly Spyke and Duncan Matthews.
• Canon Immigrant: X-23.
• Captive Date: Jean Gray is held captive by the Blob, who thinks she's his girlfriend.
• Character Development: Most of the cast after Season One.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Dorian Leech.
• Claustrophobia: Storm.
• Clothing Damage: Scott, all the time. Whenever he was supposed to be badly hurt, half of his shirt got ripped off. Somehow. Also happens with Rogue on occasion, mostly to her sleeves, as a plot point to use her Blessed with Suck powers against her.
• Commuting on a Bus: Spyke after Season 3.
• Cool Big Sis: Jean Grey. Tabitha/Boom Boom becomes one to Amara/Magma.
  • Rogue, according to Kurt.
• Cool Car: Avalanche's green jeep. Not only the main mode of transportation for the Brotherhood, but also for the "Bayville Sirens". Also "borrowed" by Boom-Boom many times even after she left the Brotherhood. Also worth mentioning is Cyclop's red sports car.
  • More of a cool van, but the X-Van is a battle ready van that might as well be a tank.
• Cool Teacher: The Beast. Without a doubt.
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty: Wolverine, especially to the new recruits. The students, dirty and battered and complaining about his Training from Hell is a frequent occurrence. It seems that eventually they see that his training, though hard, is good for them, so he becomes more of a Stern Teacher.
  • Politically-Motivated Teacher: Jean and Scott, when they become instructors, try to bring physics, geometry and other more complex academic subjects into the new recruits' curriculum. They're not exactly thrilled about it — to the point when they even try to get Wolverine back as a teacher.
• Crash Into Hello: How Avalanche and Shadowcat first meet.
• Cursed with Awesome: All of the mutants as per tradition, but Nighcrawler has to be one of the best examples, in addition to his teleportation, he has a lottery of minor superpowers which include enhanced agility, the ability to stick to walls, and a prehensile tail that can support the weight of himself and another person. He's also the only main character (until Beast joins the cast) who can't hide in public without some kind of disguise.
• Danger Room Cold Open: Because Professor X likes watching teenagers sweat. Well, hopefully not.
• Darker and Edgier: The third and fourth seasons.
• Dating Catwoman: Shadowcat and Avalanche.
• Deadpan Snarker: Rogue. Though other characters like Logan, Gambit, Kitty, Lance, Pietro, and even Jean and Scott can be pretty snarktastic when they want to be.
• Debut Queue
• Defcon Five: Defcon 4 at the Institute means that the entire mansion is now in multi-layer steel-doors-all-around lockdown. Nothing gets out or in, and anything that tries to get in gets blasted by laser cannons. Either the writers got it wrong (probably), or Xavier is really paranoid when it comes to potential threats.
  • It's not too hard to believe such drastic measures at Defcon 4 level when one considers that Wolverine installed the security system.

Wolverine: The vents were easily breached; gonna have to fix that. Maybe electrifiers, or poison gas sprayers. Storm: Wolverine... Wolverine: Alright, alright... knockout gas, then.

• • Xavier's not being paranoid, he's being pragmatic. The Xavier Institute isn't dealing with human threat, they're dealing with Magneto and the Brotherhood. Mystique can practically come and go at will already.
• Did Not Do the Research: When Wolverine first meets Captain America, Logan is sitting in a Canadian army truck in WWII. We can tell it's a Canadian truck because the maple leaf flag is on the side. The only problem is: the maple leaf flag wasn't even designed until 1965. Although the leaf was a Canadian symbol (making the leaf on Logan's beret okay) they used the Union Jack or Red Ensign, depending on the context.
• Differently-Powered Individual: An odd example, but the m-word doesn't show up in the first episode and is used less than half a dozen times in the entire first season. Frequency increases in season two, when the plot starts to focus more on the outside world's knowledge of mutants' existence.
• Disco Dan: Forge, since he's from the seventies. He still manages to come up with some Totally Radical though.
• Ditzy Genius: Forge again, in every appearance. Possibly forgivable, given the two to three decade culture-shock.
  • Kitty as well. She's stated to be a straight A student and shows great skill at computering and is able to work outy how Forge's device works, but her bubbly personality and Valley Girl accent makes her come off as a little ditzy.
• Double Standard: According to fandom, Quicksilver can go out with several girls for the dance (and on a dare) and no one complains, but Jean is indecisive between Duncan and Scott and she's a STUPID WHORE WHO DOESN'T DESERVE SCOTT. And the less we talk about the fandom treatment of Boom Boom, aka "default slut", the better.
  • Unfortunately the fandom took a fun character trait of Boom Boom's way too far. She was seen flirting with no less than Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Avalanche, Quicksilver, just about every male New Mutant, and even Magma. And flirting makes one girl a slut, right?
  • Concerning the X-Men and Brotherhood, the fans are quick to make double standards between them. Acording to fans of the Brotherhood, its ok for them to be criminals who cheat and steal whenever they please and be outright bullies, but if Scott or Jean so much as show any aprehension towards anyone, they're automatically jerks for it.
• Drives Like Crazy: Shadowcat gives everyone heart attacks whenever she's behind the wheel of a car. This is because she does not avoid driving hazards. She phases through them.
  • She even scares Wolverine! Now there's an accomplishment!
    • Even her phasing leaves something to be desired during this driving, as evidenced by the number of road signs she left partially phased into the van at the end of the session. Jean was even willing to sacrifice Scott when Kitty was eagerly searching for someone with a license to go out on the road for behind-the-wheel experience. The result when they came back? Scott just stayed in the passenger seat, shivering, with his hands rooted to the dashboard.

Scott: I will never... get in another vehicle... as long as I live!

• Downer Ending: "Sins of the Son", Xavier ended up locking David and Ian away, leaving Lucas to do whatever he wants.
• Enemy Mine: Done repeatedly, the Boot Camp Episode being one of the first, versus Juggernaut, the Sentinel, and to stop Apocalypse.
  • The Sentinel is an unusual subversion, as it turns out that Mystique and the Brotherhood aranged for it so they can destroy the mansion, for no apparant reason. However, it was to originally take out Magneto, but then forced into battle with the Sentinel.
• Enforced Cold War
• Elite Mooks: The Acolytes — Colossus, Gambit and Pyro.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Averted for the most part, in that hardly any of the main characters actually go by their codenames (except Rogue, for lack of a real one). Sure, they get mentioned every now and then, but they seem to have no problems referring to each other by name, even in the heat of battle.
  • Largely played straight with Toad and Blob, both of whom had their nicknames before they took up costumed villainy. Toad in particular has embraced his, and uses it to refer to himself.
  • Forge plays it straight, but that's because he doesn't even have one in the comics. Almost everyone else has a name in the comics (Rogue's having been revealed as Anna-Marie), but Forge doesn't.
• Evil Teacher: Principal Kelly; Mystique when posing as Principal Darkholme.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: "Turn of the Rogue".
• Executive Meddling: Due to sensitivity after September 11th, cuts were made to the episode "Growing Pains". In the episode, Avalanche risks his life to save Shadowcat from debris; but because network censors were worried about children's reactions to a character having something fall down on them, the scene was cut. So at the end of the episode, Lance appears to be holding Kitty for no real reason. Frank Paur, who directed many episodes of the series, believes this censorship made viewers confused about the Lance and Kitty romance initially since it established why Kitty changed her opinion of him from Season One. All DVD releases restore this scene.
  • Later in the series, three of the X-Men were Put on a Bus, supposedly because the cast was too large. Wolfsbane, a character who hardly spoke, was an obvious choice. Jubilee, however, had a very minor role but did have a few subplots with Bobby & Sam, and appeared considerably more than Wolfsbane. Then later Evan decided to live in the sewers because his powers were growing out of control. The irony is that Sunspot, a character who appeared even less than Wolfsbane, stayed even though he did virtually nothing for the rest of the series, resulting in two girls being the only New Recruits dropped. This causes said New Recruits to only have one female in the group, leading to some Unfortunate Implications.
  • Word of God has also stated there was pressure put on the show at times to include more superheroes from the Marvel universe. The producers though wanted to keep their own universe small and the focus on mutants rather than having to explain how The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man or The Mighty Thor fit in. They still were forced to include Captain America (comics) in a second season episode. Executive Meddling also led to the creation of X-23. Marvel executives wanted more Wolverine, but the show's producers felt the focus should be on the kids. X-23 was seen as a compromise since she would be a young female clone of Wolverine.
  • Screwed by the Network: Apparantly, the cancelation was because the Executives at Marvel didn't feel like the show was good enough to continue. Suposedly, they were never really behind the series, which annoyed the ocasional show director and art designer Steven E. Gordon as a number of ideas in the show were stolen/adopted by writers at Marvel.
• Exposed to the Elements: In the above-mentioned episode Rogue was quite clearly wearing a see-through blouse over a bustier with her coat hanging open the whole time. On a trip into snow-covered mountains.
• Expressive Mask: Wolverine, Played with with Scott's visor and glasses, which never change shape, but can express a variety of emotions based on the angle and lighting.
• Fake American: Most of the series' voice cast were Canadian.
• Family-Friendly Firearms: Played Straight at times, especially with SHIELD, HYDRA or Military officers, however, the security guards at Juggernaut's prison as well as Nazi Soldiers seen during that Flash back episode with Logan & Captain America. Those were very clearly real.
• Fan of Underdog: Nightcrawler's classmate Amanda had a crush on him for a while, before she found out he was a mutant. Finding out only made it better.
• Five-Bad Band: The Brotherhood:
  • Big Bad: Mystique
  • The Dragon: Avalanche (sometimes de facto leader of his group).
  • Evil Genius: Quicksilver thinks he's this, and is often the group's "idea guy", but is really only marginally cleverer than the others.
  • The Brute: Blob and Toad
  • Dark Chick: Rogue, then Boom-Boom, then Scarlet Witch
  • The Man Behind the Man: Magneto in the first and third seasons .
• For the Evulz: When Mystique makes an all out plan to trick the X-Men into defeating Magneto for her, every part of her plan (replacing the Professor, freeing Wanda, putting pressure on the students to work harder, then sending them out along with the Brotherhood to find and fight Magneto) seems to have a purpose...except blowing up the mansion while students are still inside. In fairness, it could have had a use (such as making it seem Magneto had done it, and thereby motivating them into hating him more), but its never explained what, and makes it look like Mystique was crossing her Moral Event Horizon for a few people.
• Foreshadowing: Early on in the first season, Rogue makes an offhand comment about how Nightcrawler "is like an annoying little brother."
• Freaky Is Cool: Let's just say, blue is Amanda's favorite color.
  • Kitty made a similar comment about Kurt in the Evo Comic series.

"You know what I like about you? You're kinda weird... but good weird."

• Freudian Threat: Rogue catches Spyke videotaping her without her permission. She tells him that, if she sees herself in his video when he presents it to their class, "They're going to call [him] Spyke-less."
• Fun Personified: Nightcrawler, Boom Boom, Toad, and the New Recruits,.
• Future Badass: The whole team, as shown at the end. Complete with a switch to some more badass military-esque costumes.
• Genius Bruiser: Beast.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: Much of Boom Boom's dialog manages this, sometimes subtly, other times not. For example her teasing of Avalanche about taking Shadowcat to the school dance. "What's going to happen after the dance?"
  • Plus the entirety of the episode "Walk on the Wild Side". Boom Boom-centric, of course.
  • "Cuddle Bumps." Said by Toad to Wanda, in case you were wondering.
  • "Spyke Cam" features one some have never gotten over. Rogue discovers that Spyke had been filming her without her consent, and threatens that if she sees herself on that tape when he presents it to his class, "They're going to call [him] Spyke-less!" Ignoring what's clearly quite a Freudian threat, we see a close-up of Rogue's face as she says this, staring straight at the camera. She's talking to you, son... Meeeeeeep.
  • Same Episode also had him trying to record Jean getting dressed. Yes, you read me, he was trying to record Jean, AKA kinda-hot-for-animated-character-standards Jean, while she's about to get changed.
  • Pietro's Dialog, Mannerisms, and even his dress sense come off as Camp Gay to a lot of fans, with his Jerkassery possibly being a subconscious way of expressing his confusion. Similarly, Risty Wilde /Mystique was also very flirty with Rogue. Word of Gay says that yes, she was a Lesbian and was flirting with Rogue. No word on Pietro however.
    • Which would make sense, though, since Mystique was bisexual in the comics.
  • Also Cyclops, to Juggernaut: "You want it raw, tough guy? Then take it! RAW!
    • Similar to the last example, any time Lance threatens someone due to his tendency to make puns relating to his power, that really sound more like weird sexual advances. Its one of his more humourous, thought accidental, characteristics.
  • In the episode where Gambit takes Rogue to New Orleans (where of course Mardi Gras is going on), at one point it cuts back to the two of them after an aside to show that Rogue has acquired a number of strands of beads. It's okay, kids, the female X-Man with the largest breasts on the team definitely just bought those with her own money.
• Giant Spider: A mystical guardian against Apocalypse in one episode.
• Girls' Night Out Episode: "Walk on the Wild Side".
• Goth: This show's interpretation of Rogue, but justified as behavior deliberately instilled by her adoptive parents, as being Blessed with Suck meant that it was best not to have her attract attention.
• Gratuitous German: Kurt is one of the main characters. What did you expect?
• Groin Attack: Do not video tape Rogue. See above.
• Happily Adopted: Nightcrawler, who was adopted by a Bavarian couple after Mystique abandoned him.
• The Hecate Sisters: Kitty is the Child, Rogue is the Crone, and both Storm and Jean are the Mother.
• Heel Face Turn: Rogue. Attempted by Avalanche, but it doesn't work. Until the Distant Future, where he's either in S.H.I.E.L.D. or supporting them. Except for Xavier's comment at this ("Some people, never change") combined with the fact that in the comics SHIELD is known to be easily corrupted if Fury isn't taking care, may mean the opposite. Unless he's reffering to their more sympathetic take, its not really clear.
• Heel Face Revolving Door: Boom-Boom, sort of. First she's with the X-Men, later with the Brotherhood, and finally isn't affiliated with anyone. However, she never actually works against the X-Men during her time with the Brotherhood. More accurately, she's free-loading off them during their "we don't care" phase. The instant they start to look like trouble again — specifically, when Mystique comes back — she ditches them.
  • Boom-Boom didn't ditch them. Mystique kicked her out. Tabitha actually looked for support from the boys when challenged by Mystique, but their fear of Mystique kept them silent. Boom-Boom took the hint and bailed. Also to add to the door, she joined some of the X-Men on a cruise and pitched in with the final battle against Apocalypse.
• Heroes Want Redheads: Jean is very popular.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: Toad and Blob. Both of them are outcasts among outcasts as the only unattractive members of the Brotherhood.
  • Scott and Kurt have shades of this too, keep in mind that Kurt was the only other male student at the instituite for awhile.
  • Implied with Wolverine and Captain America as well.
• Hey, It's That Voice!:
  • Magneto is Teal'C.
  • Also, why doesn't expect Cyclops to ask every passing woman to bear his children? Or Quicksilver to bust out the Wind Scar?
  • Close your eyes and listen to Professor Xavier say "Yes." It's funny.
    • Don't have to--David Kaye also voiced Apocalypse and gave him a version of his Megatron voice.
    • To further the prior Inuyasha references, he was also Sesshoumaru.
      • And on that note, just to throw in two more Inuyasha references, the Scarlet Witch is Sango and Naraku is the Juggernaut, bitch!
        • Amanda is Kagome!!! It's like they approached the whole cast!
        • Out of 49 named characters in X-Men Evolution, 32 of the voice actors were also in Inuyasha. One example not yet here is Wolverine (mentioned below) as a demon wolf pack leader. It's almost as if Inuyasha and Koga traded powers.
  • Not to mention the fact that Nightcrawler is Light, and Gambit is L!
    • For even more Death Note goodness, Cyclops is also Teru Mikami and Mystique's Rem.
    • And Colossus is Raye Penber, Danielle Moonstar is Naomi Misora, and Forge is Sidoh (and HERBIE) .
  • Wolverine is Scott freaking McNeil. Pick a reference, any reference. Most notable is Dinobot and Rattrap.
    • Speaking of which, try picture Wolverine yelling "DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODGE!". Pure. Freakin'. Hilarity.
  • Alex Masters is also known as one Kira Yamato in the future.
  • Jean is Blackarachnia, or if you prefer, Female!Ranma.
    • And regarding the latter, in addition to being Inuyasha, Quicksilver's also Male!Ranma.
    • Wanda is also Ukyo. (And Barbie. ...) The Ocean Group is prolific.
      • Yeah...yeah, it's Barbie. But still, it's always nice to hear Kelly Sheridan's voice in ANYTHING....
  • It was very odd/surreal to hear Toad's voice on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. (He was CSU Tech Stuckey.)
  • Angel is Quicksilver in Wolverine and the X-Men.
    • Mark Hildreth playing a Stoic hero associated with angelic imagery? You don't say...
  • This show's dialogue was recorded by the Ocean Group, hence all of the Inuyasha and Ranma 1/2 voice actors. Said dubbing company is based in Vancouver, practically in walking distance the the Stargate SG-1 set, which is why Teal'c played Magneto. It's possible that this show helped the Ocean Group rise back up to join the dubbing company elite like Funimation and ADV (so sad, ADV).
  • You Should be Careful when messing with Bobby before he gets The Incredible Hulk to smash you;
    • Or when he goes apeshit and says he wants to BURN YOU!
  • Would you believe that X-23 is Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie?
    • And while we're on the subject of MLP: FIM cast members who worked on Evolution, Danielle Moonstar is Rarity.
  • This also includes the Gundam Wing English dub. Scott is Trowa, Kurt is Quatre, and Wolverine is Duo, just to start with.
• Hopeless Suitor: Rogue to Cyclops, and Toad to Wanda.
• Hot Mom: Mystique, according to some.
  • Storm, maybe, considering she's pretty much the Team Mom.
  • Irene (Destiny) isn't exactly bad-looking... It kinda helps that this version of Irene Adler is still pretty young, whereas the comics version was about a century old when we first met her.
• Human Ladder: Used once by Rogue and Shadowcat, so the latter could phase through the top of a box truck they were hiding in.
• Hyde Plays Jekyll
• Idiot Hero: The New Mutants, in virtually every appearance. Bobby especially. Thankfully, they do seem to get better about it near the end.
  • Nightcrawler had his moments at times of being a little too stupid, such as trying to surf the hood of the X-Jet, while moving. Not as bad, but he was hardly a genius.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Duncan and co. when they attack Spyke and the other Morlocks. A few of their shots were blocked, but most of them were complete misses, even when the target was standing still.
  • The members of The Rippers in "Cajun Spice" weren't much better.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: The Brotherhood as a whole. Unless they got them off guard or only picked on one of them, the Brotherhood lost most of their fights, mostly because, as shown when they were by themselves, were very lazy and never bothered to train. When Avalanche joined the X-Men temporarily, he was visibly terrible at it from never having had a real day's training. Lampshaded in Hex Factor, where Mystique reminds them they haven't ever won a single battle and decides to whip them into shape by having Wanda join them. Unfourtunately, Fangirls see this as them not being bad at all and just mercilessly picked on by the good guys.
• Jerkass: Quicksilver. Probably the only consistent Jerkass in the series, which makes Fan Dumb's attempt to redeem him in fanfiction so hilarious. Boom Boom was one for a while. And Avalanche in half of his appearances (mostly early) which are usually glossed over by his fangirls; thought he returned to this in the third season.
  • Let's elaborate on Quicksilver, shall we? Putting Evan in jail, betraying his team for his Magnificent Bastard father, letting said father Mind Rape his twin sister, manipulating said twin sister to cause disasters so he can make a buck... Holy CRAP, this boy DEFINES Jerkass!
• Jerk Jock: Duncan Matthews, not surprisingly. Goes hand in hand with Bullying a Dragon in the third season. He eventually bites off more than he could chew when Spyke returned, getting himself arrested after an ill-conceived attack on the Morlocks.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Wolverine, post-Character Development!Avalanche.
• The Juggernaut: Guess who filled that role...
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Less so with the show, as it is available on iTunes and YouTube, but just try to find a legal copy of the two original songs from the "Walk on the Wild Side" episode.
• King in the Mountain: Captain America is re-imagined as this. Instead of being suspected dead, he's secretly put in cryogenic storage when it turns out that the super soldier serum is slowly killing him. The implication is that he will be revived once S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists find a way to cure him.
• Laughably Evil: Pyro, who seems to communicate exclusively through a combination of maniacal laughter and incredibly lame puns. And then there's this exchange with Wolverine:

Wolverine: Where's [sic] your buddies? Pyro: Since Magneto's gone, Colossus bailed and went back to Russia, Sabretooth's out playing with a big ball of yarn somewhere, and Gambit didn't leave a note on the fridge.

• • ...keeping in mind that this happened after Wolverine interrupted Pyro's viewing of Apocalypse destroying Magneto repeatedly like it was the funniest thing ever. "I never get tired of this part!"
• Leitmotif: "T, O, A, D, TOOOOOAD!"
  • There are a few others as well, including Lance's guitar riffs and that tinkly piano bit that always plays whenever Magneto's within a hundred yards.
• Limited Wardrobe: Semi-averted. All of the main X-Men wind up with five outfits: their battle suits, a formal one, and by the third season, three normal outfits that they alternate between. Still fairly limited, but at least they change it up a bit.
• Lighter and Softer: Than the original animated X-Men, at least in the first two seasons before the series went through Cerebus Syndrome and became Darker and Edgier.
• Little Stowaway: Kurt and Kitty in "Grim Reminder", Bobby in "Under Lock and Key".
• Loads and Loads of Characters: Once the New Mutants were introduced.
• Love Redeems: To a point. Avalanche is almost a complete Jerkass until he develops an interest in Shadowcat and slowly starts getting better. He even did a Heel Face Turn, but it didn't stick, eventually settling for an Anti-Villain and Wild Card role. In the Distant Finale, we see him as a SHIELD member, so it finally did work.
  • Mystique gave it one last try in the series finale, but Rogue and Kurt just weren't interested.
• Love Triangle: Rogue/Cyclops/Jean Grey until the third season. Arguably Duncan Matthews/Jean Grey/Cyclops.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Mystique reveals that she is Nightcrawler's mother toward the end of the first season, then again to Rogue (adopted) near the end of the third.
  • Averted somewhat in that Quicksilver knows that Magneto is his father all along, contrary to other series, as does Wanda (a source of much anger for her).
• Marvel Universe: Earth-11052, according to the Marvel Wiki.
• Meaningful Background Event: Not in terms of plot, but theme. After the kids are outed as mutants, there's an episode about whether mutants should be allowed to go to the same schools as 'normal' people. In the shot when they walk back into the school for the first time, there's a black kid in the background drinking from a water fountain; a clear nod to a rather less Fantastic Racism.
• Meaningful Name: Lance Alvers. Alvers Lance. Alverslance. Avalanche. Did they change his name just for the Incredibly Lame Pun?
  • Same with Toad's new name 'Todd Tolansky', except that it doesn't go unnoticed.
  • There's also two-shot minor character Dorian Leach, who drains all power from the surrounding area.
  • New Mutant Berzerker the electrokinetic's real name is Ray Crisp. Yeah, they went there.
• Mood Whiplash: This trope has happened a few times, due to the show's mixture of comedy and action, usually happens when they cut from a dramatic and dark plot to a more humorous side-plot.
• Moral Dissonance: In the third season premiere, Wolverine abandons the group when Cyclops refuses to treat the military as the enemy and respond with appropriate force. He doesn't just cede leadership, he outright rides off and leaves them to their fate. No one ever calls him on it, but he at least admits Scott had the right idea.
• Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls: It's interesting to note that this series has, by a pretty decent margin, the most fanfics on fanfiction.net (nearly 14,000) of any X-Men property, including the movies and comics. This is likely due to the show being one of the few Marvel products that drew a strong female fanbase. Perhaps due to the youth of the characters and focus on the romantic subplots. Compare it to the recently canceled Wolverine and the X-Men which has very few fics written about it despite having been on the air since 2008.
  • Easy to see why so many are based/came from the second season, which had the Brotherhood act more sympathetic (Providing more guys to use or hook up with), more romance plots to the point some became pointless for the plot, and added more characters to be used. Also likely why the most fanfictions star Rogue (In Name Only) and Gambit.
• Motor Mouth: Quicksilver.
• Mr. Fanservice: Scott; Can you say Clothing Damage? Not to mention in "Blind Alley" Logan and Scott have a dual Shirtless Scene, talking about feelings.
• Mundane Utility: Spyke at one point convinced Rogue to use her powers to copy Kitty's dancing for a play.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: When Rogue absorbs the super strength of Blob or Juggernaut she retains her normal body type. Strangely, she does turn furry when absorbing Sabretooth's powers, even though Blob's girth is part of his mutation (specifically, it's part of what makes him resistant to harm).
• Mythology Gag: All over the place. Calling Cyclops "Slim." Showing the Blob vs. The Juggernaut onscreen and invoking the Unstoppable vs. Unmovable debate (moving is better). Coming up with an excuse to put the original team together for an episode. The list goes on.
  • There's one episode where members of the original team (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel, and Iceman) try to stop a giant spider.
    • Less hyped was the episode right before it, where the key players (with the exception of Kurt) in the episode were the original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (Magneto, Toad, Mastermind, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch).
    • Another episode had Colossus, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat team up together, members of the British based team, Excalibur.
  • Plus some of the character relationships are ripped straight from the comics, such as Kitty being a little freaked out by Wolverine and Nightcrawler before developing deep friendships with both of them.
  • The season 2 premier has Jean on the championship soccer team. In celebration of their efforts the school has a rather nifty effect of having a statue of their team mascot, a hawk, with it's wings on fire. Any X Men fan will spot this as a nod to Jean's later persona and codename, Phoenix.
  • "Blind Alley" has a scene where Scott asks Logan for advice about telling Jean about his feelings for her. Logan just rolls his eyes, and eventually threatens to tell Jean himself just to stop Scott's whining. In the comics, Logan was madly in love with Jean himself, and he was involved in a love triangle with Scott.
  • Near the end of "Speed and Spyke", the theme tune from X-Men: The Animated Series could be heard during the pool party at Xavier's mansion.
  • In "Turn of the Rogue", Kitty briefly calls Kurt "Fuzzy Elf", his nickname in the comics. When Scott hears the name, he just stares and confusedly whispers it to himself. After that episode, it's never heard again.
  • In one episode, Kitty is shown hugging a purple dragon toy before bed, referring to her friend/pet Lockheed in the comics.
• Never Say "Die": The show straddles the line between averting it and playing it straight.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Magneto destroys a Giant Spider in an effort to stop Apocalypse from reawakening. Turns out the spider was actually a guardian preventing Apocalypse from escaping. In destroying it, Magneto opened the second door for Apocalypse. Oh Crap.
  • Professor X gets one, too, combined with a possible Tear Jerker (if you're so inclined). Xavier finds out he has a super-powerful psychic son with three distinct personalities fighting for control: good boy David, psychopath Lucas, and innocent pyrokinetic Ian. Xavier helps banish Lucas and Ian within David's mind, only to learn that Lucas swapped his appearance with David during the mental battle. Cue the now unfettered Lucas flying off to raise whatever hell he wants. Nice job breaking your own son, Charles.
• One of the Boys: New Mutant Jubilee is definitely one of these. She spends the majority of her appearences alongside Bobby and Sam, and is the only girl who tends to go along with his zany schemes.
  • Kitty apparantly has a few geeky male friends outside the X-Men in the first episode of season 2, and other than the X-Grils has no female friends.
• Official Couple: Cyclops and Jean Grey, even if it took them a bit two-and-a-half seasons to get there. The ending also revealed that Avalanche and Shadowcat got back together.
  • Plus Nightcrawler and Amanda.
• Older Than They Look: Magneto, in this version. His backstory as a Holocaust survivor is kept, but he looks just as young as he did in his earliest appearances in the comics. It's eventually explained that he's using a machine to extend his natural lifespan.
• Opposites Attract: Avalanche and Shadowcat.
• Opposite Gender Clone: X-23.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: The accents can be a bit temperamental.
• Out of the Inferno: When Rogue is brainwashed by Apocalypse to steal the powers of dozens of mutants, she targets Magneto's crew. After taking out most of them, Pyro blasts her. She walks out of the fire with some Clothing Damage and Colossus' metal skin power active.
• Papa Wolf: Wolverine. Most noticeable when X-23 first shows up and arguably in "Grim Reminder". And Gambit kidnapping Rogue in "Cajun Spice" certainly brings it out.
• Parental Abandonment: A huge Berserk Button for Scarlet Witch since she is Magneto's daughter and Quicksilver's sister, the former putting her into an orphanage mental institution when her powers proved to be too unstable when she was younger. This causes her to gun for Magneto's head until he captures her and has Mastermind rewrite her memories to view him as a more loving father.
  • It's also a source of conflict for Nightcrawler, who has severely conflicting feelings about Mystique.
• Pet the Dog: While Mystique disguising herself as Risty and befriending Rogue was mostly done just to spy on the X-Men, she does seem to make a genuine effort to improve Rogue's life while doing so (namely convincing Rogue to be more social and helping her get over her crush on Scott). She's is Rogue's (foster) mother, after all.
  • Pietro has a brief one trying to make Wanda not feel so bad after Apocalypse seemingly killed Magneto. But his tough love approach just makes things worse.
  • Lance gets one by saving Kitty in a deleted scene in the first episode of season two, then saves the New Mutants in a later episode. He doesn't get much until Season Four, where he saves an old lady from a train explosion and then stays behind at the end to help out.
• Platonic Life Partners: Nightcrawler and Shadowcat.
  • Wolverine and Storm are hinted at having this kind of relationship, at the very least.
• Pragmatic Adaptation
• "Previously On..."
• Puberty Superpower
• Put on a Bus: Spyke, Jubilee, Wolfsbane; Spyke at least came back later, and the other two have a cameo in the final scene of the finale.
• Pyramid Power: Apocalypse used three pyramids as focal points to unleash his power: a Mayan pyramid, a Chinese pyramid, and the great pyramid in Giza.
  • In one episode, Kitty thought a pyramid-shaped hat would help her do better in school. It does (or at least, she got her A), but she eventually realizes how silly it made her look by wearing it.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Brotherhood. The Acolytes might count as well.
  • Don't forget the New Mutants, who act more like reckless teens than heroes-in-training.
• Retool
• Sad Clown: Nightcrawler. Sometimes.
  • Toad's had a hint of this, especially in the episode where he tries to get Kurt to help him save Wanda.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Ms. Darkholme knows this trick. Scott apparantly learnt it as well.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: Toad.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Scott (Sensitive) and Logan (Manly), Evan (Manly) and Kurt (Sensitive), thought both are arguble. Brotherhood example Blob (Manly) and Toad (Wimpy, squeals like a girl, we'd say sensitive). Older example would be Magneto (Manly) and Proffesor (Sensitive). Acolytes had Gambit, Pyro, Sabertooth (All manly) & Colossus (sensitive)
• Ship Tease: There were more than a few Gambit and Rogue moments during the show's run (namely "Cajun Spice" in the final season), but nothing much came of it. (Worth noting that in the final shot of the team at the very end of the series, he has his arm around her shoulders.)
  • Most of the second season was one big Ship Tease for Avalanche and Shadowcat, continued in the last episode.
  • Not to mention the Scott and Jean moments throughout the first two seasons and half of the third. It was inevitable, we were all just waiting for them to get to the point.
    • Lampshaded when they did get together:

Wolverine: Well, it's about time.

• • Wolverine and Storm had a little ship tease themselves, although it was much more subtle.
• Shirtless Scene: Scott and Wolverine in "Blind Alley".
  • Scott gets this a lot. Also any time they hit the beach or the pool, most of the guys will be in swim trunks.
• Shout-Out: One episode had Blob watching a cartoon with characters that suspiciously looked like the Powerpuff Girls.
  • "Survival of the Fittest", which introduced Juggernaut, also introduced us to the Danger Room program Logan's Run.
  • "On Angel's Wings" gives us a brief glimpse of Warren reading a Daily Bugle newspaper, as well as a Stark Industries building. Might be a Mythology Gag due to the fact that pretty much 90% of the major Marvel Universe players are based in New York City.
  • A scene of "Impact" has Toad knocking on the head of the petrified Mystique shouting "Hello? McFly?"
  • The Season 2 episode "Retreat" has a Bigfoot Watcher showing off his Bigfoot Caller to a buddy. He says what store you can get them in, and tells his friend to ask for Mulder. To cement the reference, a clip of the X-Files theme is played before the scene transition.
  • In Cruise Control, Bobby goofs off by creating an iceberg in front of the cruise ship specifically to rip on Titanic.
  • In the episode "Uprising" when Spyke makes his return, Xavier uses Cerebro to find him. He says he's on the corner of "Lithia" and what sounds to be "Ashland" streets, a possible reference to the town of Ashland, Oregon: the town has lithium oxide (or "lithia") in a stream found in the center of town which is pumped into certain water fountains.
  • Scott and Kurt make a very dorky and completely out of place reference to Star Trek in an early episode. Justified though, as Kurt is a fan of fantesy in the comics and the Ultimate version of Scott is a Sci-Fi fan.
  • Jean is a soccer star, and during an awards ceremony for the team we get to see their logo, a phoenix that lights up in flames.
• Shown Their Work: Despite the change in setting and the shift in the X-Men's ages, the writers definitely did their homework on the X-mythos. Even when they're not explicitly mentioned, many lesser-known elements from the comics find their way into the show, including a few that most other adaptations leave out. For example:
  • Angel is shown to be a solo vigilante before he joins the X-Men, just like he was in the earliest issues from the comics.
  • Rogue is correctly shown to be able to control Scott's optic blasts when she absorbs his powers, since Scott's inability to control them is the result of brain damage rather than a natural side effect of his power. Compare this to an early episode of the 90s cartoon, where she tries to absorb his powers and realizes that the blasts are impossible to control without the visor (which is incorrect).
  • It's revealed the Magneto lived through World War II but managed to maintain his youth by having his age artificially dialed back, which actually is accurate to the comics. By contrast, the movies sidestepped the issue by making him a much older man, and the 90s cartoon just made him a refugee from a modern-day Eastern European nation.
  • Colossus starts out as a member of Magneto's Acolytes before ultimately doing a Heel Face Turn and joining the X-Men, as a nod to the fact that he actually did briefly join the Acolytes during the "Legacy Virus" arc in the comics. Similarly, Gambit starts out as one of the Acolytes before joining the X-Men, probably as a nod to the fact that he was one of Mr. Sinister's Marauders in the comics before the X-Men met him.
• Six-Student Clique: Not a sitcom, but the original six X-kids fit this suspiciously well.
  • Three Males
    • The Head: Scott
    • The Muscle: Spyke
    • The Quirk: Kurt
  • Three Females
    • The Pretty One: Jean
    • The Smart One: Kitty
    • The Wild One: Rogue
• Sorting Algorithm of Evil: The threat level increases throughout the series; it starts with the Brotherhood (who are about as powerful as the X-Men and more Chaotic Neutral than evil), then increases to their manipulator Magneto (one of the most powerful mutants in the world) and his Acolytes, and finally to Apocalypse, the most powerful mutant ever.
• Spanner in the Works: Wanda in "Day of Reckoning", but her power in general works like this.
  • Which was exactly why Magneto had Mastermind Mind Rape her, because he couldn't have her showing up to fuck with his plans anymore.
• Spinoff Babies: Comes off as this, but only because of timing. In comic continuity, the X-Men did start out in high school, and didn't become full-fledged adults until the 70's; even then, the main team are adults, but the majority of X-Men are high-school aged students at the Xavier Institute, some even younger. When Kitty Pryde was first introduced to the comic, she was 13, even younger than her X-Men Evolution counterpart. However, when comparing it to the previous X-Men animated series, it definitely falls under this.
• Stalker with a Crush: Blob to Jean Grey in his first appearance, but he at least got over it after an ass-kicking.
  • Toad to Wanda, to an extent.
• The Starscream: Mystique becomes this to Magneto after the events of the first season finale, in contrast to her incredibly loyal movie incarnation.
• Stock Subtitle: "Evolution".
• Stuffed Into a Locker: Happens to Shadowcat in her debut, mostly as an excuse for her to discover her ability to phase past solid objects. So naturally, this causes her to bump into Avalanche to kick off the plot.
• Sunglasses at Night: Cyclops, as usual, to control his mutant powers. Lampshaded in the first episode:

Duncan (after Scott interferes in a group Toad-beating): I think me and my buds are gonna squash this slimeball. So you and your stupid sunglasses at night can bail.

• Swiss Cheese Security: Despite seeing the mansion's impressive security system, Pietro, Lance, and Toad have all walked right up to the mansion with no problem. Lance, at least, had to knock out a few turrets on the way. Justified with Pietro, who is said by Mystique and Charles to be too fast for most of the mansions security systems to detect. Played straight with Toad, who on three separate occasions has entered the mansion with absolutely no resistance, only one of which could be said to be intentional. Hell, he just jumped right through Kurt's window the third time. However, the security system is shown to be manually activated, so its possible that most of the time its just turned off. When its not, it usually at least slows down the invader and provides enough attention for the X-Men to suit up and deal with it themselves.
• Take That: Power 8, a sports drink, is discovered to harm mutants so the CEO goes into mass production of the drink because of it. The name is very similar to Powerade.
• Taking You with Me: In "Cajun Spice", Gambit threatens this when Rogue holds him out of a moving train. He charges the car as she holds him, forcing her to pull him back to save both herself and the train.
• Talking to Himself: In a rather literal example of this trope, during the episode Rogue is losing control of the powers she absorbed, Mystique and Cyclops talk to themselves while Rogue is transformed into them.
• Team Dad: To some extent, Wolverine. The way he's always looking out for the kids in that overly grumpy manner of his is kinda endearing.
• Team Mom: Storm.
• Techno Wizard: Forge.
• Teleport Spam: Nightcrawler, as per tradition.
• Temporary Blindness: Scott, whenever he loses his glasses, as the obvious destructive nature of his powers makes seeing dangerous for everyone else (noted when a doctor forces one of his eyes open in a hospital), leading to an alternate form of Blind Without'Em. Most noticeable in the episode "Blind Alley", where Mystique strands Cyclops in Mexico without his glasses, effectively blinding him for almost the entire episode. Should be noted that whenever this happens, he tends to settles matters with his fists more and usually kicks the ass of whoever has his glasses.
• There Are No Therapists: Well, there should be a good few around given that this series takes place in modern-day New York, but curiously enough, Xavier doesn't seem to think there's any need for a practicing psychologist in a house full of superpowered mutant teenagers who have to fight for their lives on a daily basis and are likely to have control and self-esteem issues. Thought, some episodes did show him providing them some form of counciling, in the form of mentally guiding them through emotional dificulties, but you'd think he'd provide more than that. Rogue even points it out in one episode:

Rogue: (Sigh). I need therapy.

• The Unfavorite: Wanda. Even after having her memory altered, Magneto still abandons her in favor of Pietro and scheming for world domination.
  • And even so, Pietro doesn't seem to be much of a Favorite either.
• The Worf Effect: Wolverine seriously suffers from this throughout the show. Which is actually progress from the comics where he's a sort of God Mode Sue.
  • It's rather refreshing, actually, since by all rights he should be getting slapped around by most of the people that get to do it in the show. The issue, as it should be, is keeping him down.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis! :

Blob: "DON'T! LAUGH! AT! ME!"

• Three-Point Landing: Nightcrawler loves doing this.
• Time Bomb: "The Institute will self-destruct in... ten minutes."
• Token Minority: Spyke.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Rogue's Tomboy to Jean or Kitty's Girly Girl.
  • Also Tabitha and Amara.
• Too Dumb to Live: Bobby and the New Mutants, more so the former than the latter. To stress just how bad it is, they stole the X-Jet and took it for a joyride. As if this in itself weren't stupid enough, Bobby, the pilot, hadn't even managed to fly the simulator successfully for longer than a minute despite several tries. Granted, he was doing dangerous stunts in said simulator and didn't repeat them outside it, but still... Thankfully, Kitty had snuck aboard with Lance to get them out of that mess.
  • Then there's "Fun and Games", where the entire mansion goes into lockdown and the people inside, standing near several windows, utterly fail to notice the giant metal shutters locking them in (or the resulting lack of light from outside, even if it is at night).
  • There's also Alex, going out surfing in a storm because there are better waves. This is Truth in Television for plenty of surfers, though.
    • Not to mention that when Alex goes overboard in said storm, he tells Scott to go out and get him himself, rather than call the Coast Guards, because calling the Coast Guards would make him look stupid.
• Took a Level in Badass: Spyke in Season 4. To clearify he dropped the Skater boy motiff, became an formidable unarmed combatant had gained the ability to created molten hot projectiles and weapons. Basically being a more rounded character version that the fans enjoyed more in one episode than all the other episodes he appeared in..
  • To a lesser degree Cyclops in "Blind Alley", when he took on Mystique with his eyes closed, Daredevil style.
  • Given that the series focuses on them learning to use their powers, several characters gain notable levels, particularly if they suffer "can't control it" spikes. Jean Gray, Rogue, and Magma are some of the more noticable ones.
  • Also, the season finale of season 1 features a little "Level in Badass" machine, which enhance Scott and Alex, but only temporarily. Mystique keeps her power-up allowing her to cloak herself from Wolverine's nose and Cerebro's mutant power detection.
  • Xavier, Mystique, Magneto, and Storm all get an evil version of this, when they are mind controlled by Apocalypse into being his Four Horsemen
• Totally Radical: Nightcrawler's and Spyke's clothing style in season 1.
  • Played with using dialogue in the episode "Middleverse", where we're introduced to Forge, who's been stuck in the eponymous dimension since the late 1970's, and still talks like it.

Nightcrawler, to himself: Oh, I swear, that homey's lingo is so whack...

• • • This is arguably even funnier with Kurt's German accent.
• Troubled but Cute: Gambit, Avalanche, Quicksilver, and arguably Toad, who is enough of a pitiful loser to be sympathetic. And on the distaff side, we have Rogue and Wanda.
• True Companions: The X-Men, big time. It helps that some of them are orphans/adopted to begin with.
  • Arguably, the Brotherhood as well- they've stuck together despite often being abandoned by their leaders and thus having no real reason to continue working together.
• Tsundere: Jean Grey gets rewritten into a Type B. She's usually a Cool Big Sis, but is crankier when it comes to Scott.
  • Mystique is also easily provoked.
• Twenty Minutes Into the Future: In the finale, Xavier reveals that he saw the future, with notes such as people still persecuting mutants, Magneto helping train some of the New Mutants, Jean becoming the Dark Phoenix (something foreshadowed a few times in the show prior), Colossus and X-23 having joined the X-Men, the Brotherhood working for SHIELD, and Nimrod leading the Sentinels.
• Tyke Bomb: X-23, who was created to be "the perfect weapon".
• Uncanny Valley Girl: Risty Wilde. She's Mystique in disguise, out to stalk Rogue and use her as a way to spy on the other X-Men.
• Unflinching Walk: AVALANCHE gets this when he carries an old lady to safety from a subway accident. Then it EXPLODES. And he just walks out calmly. Still carrying an unharmed old lady.
• The Unexpected: This show almost wiped anything non-mutant from it save from some Mythology Gags, and even made the Juggernaut into a mutant to keep a Meta Origin, so this trope came into effect when Nick Fury and Captain America (comics) appeared. We were all prepared when HYDRA showed, though.
• The Unmasqued World: After the second-season finale.
• V-Formation Team Shot: See page image.
• Visionary Villain: Arguably both Magneto and Apocalypse are examples.
• Xtreme Kool Letterz: Ignoring the obvious example, Spyke and Berzerker.
• Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World: Literally.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Scott seems to be the only character (aside from Rogue's tissue-paper sleeves) who regularly gets clothing damage. It's always his shirt. Then once him and Logan, when working in the sun, did so shirtless. Nobody else seemed to take any clothes off or wear anything to compensate for the heat, just them.
• Walk On the Wild Side Episode: The episode...Walk on the Wild Side. Jean and Amara get upset over Scott's unintentional ignorance concerning female dependance, so Tabitha easily leads them to form a female superhero squad after they foil car robbers along with Kitty and Rogue.
• Wall Crawl: Nightcrawler and Toad both do this, with Nightcrawler actually called "Wall-Crawler" once.
• Welcome Episode
• Wham! Episode: "Day of Reckoning": Mutants are finally outed, and Xavier was replaced by Mystique when the X-Men weren't looking.
  • "Dark Horizon": Apocalypse gets out, and to a lesser extent Mystique is Taken for Granite.
• What Could Have Been: At one point, Grant Morrison wanted to include Rogue in the team lineup for his run on New X-Men, and indicated that he planned to base her appearance and personality on Evolution's interpretation of the character. Had this actually happened, it's possible that the canonical Rogue would have been brought more in line with Evolution!Rogue.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Over the final season, many characters appeared, and seemed to have fairly important roles, Gambit in particular, but come the final episode, none of them seem to appear, odd, considering Leech's power was utilized in the final fight.
• Wild Teen Party: "Fun and Games".
• Wolverine Publicity: Averted! He's around but only really gets a few episodes of focus throughout all four seasons and doesn't hog the spotlight too much. We wouldn't be so lucky with the next X-Men animated series.
• Word of Gay: Mystique and Destiny, as confirmed by a few blog posts by Steven E Gordon, the art designer and ocasional director.
• Younger and Hipper: This series brought the X-Men brought the X-Men back to their roots as Teen Heroes.