As well as X-Men: The Animated Series holds up, its important not to let nostalgia overly color the perception of the show, which still has several very noticeable flaws upon revisiting today. For better or for worse, the original X-Men series is very much a time capsule of the 90s, which comes with some baggage that is impossible to ignore on a re-watch. Hopefully, X-Men '97 will be able to recapture what X-Men: The Animated Series did well while avoiding the key missteps that become obvious on a modern-day viewing.

10 The Accents Were A Bit Over The Top

Rogue and Gambit's dialogue can be hard to get through

The quirky and eclectic cast of mutants that made up the X-Men was one of the franchise's biggest draws from the beginning, and X-Men: The Animated Series introduced many fans to these characters for the first time. Looking back objectively, some of the voice performances the series chose to go with for certain characters can get grating fast. In particular, Gambit's intermittent Cajun accent and Rogue's southern drawl can wear on the ears after significant exposure, coming off as cheap stereotypes.

9 Some Episodes Were Definitely Duds

They can't all be zingers, but the X-Men series had some terrible entries

In lasting memory, the good episodes are what nostalgic fans will most, but it's important to note that X-Men: The Animated Series had its fair share of poorly-received episodes. As the series scoured the more obscure villains and storylines from the comics, duds like Savage Land, Strange Heart, Jubilee's Fairytale Theater and Love in Vain took the show in strange, unnecessary directions. From giant space aliens to the series' strange fixation on Marvel's Savage Land, many of the show's episodes felt distinctly "not X-Men".

8 The Series Was Hampered By Being Kid-Friendly

The mature themes of the X-Men didn't always translate into a cartoon

For as groundbreaking and faithful to the comics as the series could be, at the end of the day, X-Men: The Animated Series was limited by being a Saturday morning kid-friendly cartoon. The X-Men are an inherently political story, touching on themes like discrimination directly, littered with gruesome characters to boot. Things like Wolverine only ever being able to use his claws on robots or never getting to make the most out his healing factor limited how far the series could go in truly doing the X-Men comics justice.

7 Iceman Is Turned Into A Villain

The lovable cyrokinetic X-Man spent most of his time on the wrong side

Despite being a staple of the X-Men, Iceman wasn't introduced in the 90s animated series until halfway into the third season, with the 16th episode Cold Comfort. Here, it's revealed that Iceman's tenure on the team had already come and gone, and he had become a radicalized violent mutant comitting acts of terror against the government. Far from Charles Xavier's ideals, it's a shame Bobby Drake didn't get more time working with the good guys, turning down Professor X's offer to re- the team.

6 The Scott-Jean-Logan Love Triangle Gets Tiresome

"Will-they-won't-they" eventually became "please, don't"

The love triangle between Wolverine, Jean Grey, and Cyclops was a heavily recurring sub-plot of X-Men: The Animated Series, and quickly becomes one of the most tiring aspects of the show. The concept wasn't handled much better in the show than it was in the live-action Fox X-Men movies, ultimately ending with Cyclops and Wolverine literally arguing over who would be the one to nobly sacrifice themselves so that Jean could live. It's hard to imagine this insistence on romance was positively received by younger audiences at the time of the show's initial release, either.

5 The Series Teased The New Mutants Without Delivering

Of the famous secondary mutant team, only Cannonball got an appearance

As the series was heading to an end, X-Men: The Animated Series made the baffling decision to tease the future appearance of the New Mutants, another famous mutant team in the X-Men universe. While Cannonball got an obnoxious appearance in as late as the second-to-last episode of the entire series, none of the other famous New Mutants , like Magma or Boom-Boom, were able to even make a cameo in the 90s show. It's a shame X-Men: The Animated Series wasn't able to go all-in on the next crop of crime-fighting mutant heroes.

4 The Animation Isn't Amazing By Today's Standards

The 90s were a long time ago, and it shows

At the time, X-Men: The Animated Series was likely a visual Marvel for kids just getting into the X-Men from the comfort of their living rooms, with eye-popping character designs and colors unlike anything else. Within the hindsight of modern animation, however, it's impossible not to see the cracks X-Men: The Animated Series' art style, with stuttery, sometimes downright cheap-looking animation. For touting itself as the ultimate animated series for the X-Men, the actual animation could certainly have been improved.

3 The Show Is In Desperate Need Of A Remaster

It's painfully obvious the animated series wasn't made for modern TVs

ittedly, the inevitable advancement of technology isn't necessarily the fault of X-Men: The Animated Series itself, clearly made for the standard definition CRT TVs of the 90s. That being said, on a re-watch, its impossible not to notice the abrasive blurriness the bleeding colors of the series suffers from when displayed on a modern TV. Disney+'s stream of the series is particularly bad in this regard, making it hard to fully appreciate X-Men: The Animated Series in the face of its technical limitations.

2 The Series Picked The Worst Love Interest For Storm To Explore

The animated series did Ororo's characterization dirty

One of the most powerful X-Men, not to mention being once worshiped as a literal goddess, it's no wonder that Storm has had a rotation of prolific love interests in the comics befitting of her station. Rather than incorporating the likes of Thor, Black Panther, or even Doctor Doom into their show, X-Men: The Animated Series instead paired Storm with the tyrannical planet-conquering dictator Arkon, diminishing her character by having her fall for his terrible wiles. At least Storm nearly destroying his planet did almost make up for dillution of her strong personality.

1 X-Men: The Animated Series Was Rife With Continuity Errors

It can be hard to get into the series, which played fast and loose with continuity

Like many comic franchises, the X-Men have a sprawling comics continuity that can be decidedly unwieldy to adapt. X-Men: The Animated Series clearly struggled with this from time to time, wrestling with the timeline of when certain characters and events appear. For instance, Angel's first appearance has him presented as a new recruit, but flashbacks in future episodes depict the flying X-Man as having been with the team from the beginning. It'll be interesting to see how X-Men '97 irons out the original series' loose relationship with continuity.