Wolverine and the X-Men (TV series)

Wolverine and the X-Men is a 2009 American animated series by Marvel Entertainment. 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.

Plot
The story begins with Wolverine and Rogue having an argument about him leaving. When Wolverine goes to Charles and Jean Grey, they get headaches. An explosion occurs, and Charles and Jean disappear. The resulting trauma caused the X-Men team to disband and go their separate ways, leaving Xavier's once highly revered league of mutant peace preservers out of commission.

Due to the loss of the Professor, Jean, and severe damage to the mansion, many of the X-Men have withered in their faith towards the stability of their former team and have since detached themselves from their former community. Some examples include Cyclops' subsequent isolation resulting from Jean's disappearance, Storm's relocation back to her home continent of Africa, and Iceman's move back into his parents' home in the quiet suburbs.

One year later, the MRD (short for the Mutant Response Division), a government-supported organization created for the detainment and subsequent registration of existing mutants, begins capturing mutants from all over the country in response to the countless human protesters determined to protect the safety of humankind. This course of action causes Wolverine and Beast to ally and resolve to bring the once defunct X-Men team back together again.

Meanwhile, Rogue is in the street and attacked by the Brotherhood of Mutants. They trick her into joining them, and she later smiles devilishly as she enters their base, appearing to have switched allegiance to become an evil mutant. Thanks to the generosity, wealth, and resourcefulness of Angel, the slowly reforming X-Men team begins to see a promising return to its former glory with the rejoining of junior members Iceman, Shadowcat and Forge along with the reconstruction of the previously demolished Xavier Institute. Unfortunately, without the necessary capabilities of a competent telepath to operate Cerebro, the possibility of locating some of the more globally scattered X-Men members along with the missing Charles Xavier and Jean seems all but a pipe dream.

Fortunately, this problem does not last for very long when Emma Frost, the beautiful former Headmistress of a now inactive mutant school of her own in Massachusetts, makes a surprising appearance on the doorstep of the Mansion with an interesting proposal: membership with the X-Men in exchange for utilizing her telepathy to pinpoint the missing Xavier's whereabouts. Upon the team's – and particularly Wolverine's – reluctant acceptance of the offer, Emma's efforts prove successful as she is able to locate a comatose Charles on the shores of Genosha in the care of Magneto. After their arrival on Genosha and a short confrontation with the Master of Magnetism himself, Magneto eventually permits the X-Men to take his old friend's body back to the sanctity of the Mansion where he is certain that Xavier will be placed in proper care. Upon their return, Xavier telepathically contacts the X-Men twenty years from the present in an alternate dystopian future and informs Wolverine that he is to lead and reunite the X-Men if they wish to successfully prevent the inevitable war that will cause the world to fall under the domination of Master Mold and the Sentinels.

Throughout the course of the entire season, Emma's role as the X-Men's primary acting telepath enables the team to relocate the rest of the other members in the hopes of reforming once again and assisting in Xavier's cause. While some were met with initial hesitancy such as with Nightcrawler, others such as Storm were more than willing to accept the offer once Xavier's vision had been put into perspective. The X-Men overcome many hardships and obstacles along the way, eventually achieving their ultimate goal of locating Jean and finally discovering the truth surrounding the mystery of what caused the Mansion's explosion, along with Xavier and Jean's subsequent disappearances.

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. At first Nightcrawler believes this, but upon closer inspection, Genosha is exposed as a method to use mutants' powers by Magneto. Nightcrawler eventually escapes, but is captured by Mystique when he arrives back at the mansion.

Elsewhere, Wolverine begins to have some visions from the past, and Emma offers to sort out his visions telepathically. In his visions, Wolverine meets a lone mutant girl, figure from the past Sabretooth, and finally discovers many mysteries about his past. Cyclops has constant memories about Jean and is depressed. He believes she is still alive, so, with the help of Emma, 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 random hospital after months of being in a coma.

It is later revealed in the three-part first-season finale "Foresight" that the previously assumed attack on the Mansion was not from the efforts of a third party, but rather from the result of Jean who unwittingly releases the immense and highly destructive strength and power of the Phoenix Force, that originally lay dormant deep within her subconscious, in an attempt to halt an oncoming telepathic attack led by Emma (who was secretly working as a double agent for the Inner Circle and the Stepford Cuckoos). Along with Sebastian Shaw, Selene, Harry Leland, and Donald Pierce, it was the Inner Circle's utmost duty to not only obtain the power of the Phoenix Force by abducting Jean from the protection of Xavier and the Mansion, but to also obliterate the ancient being's existence before it could fully mature and consequently bring forth unparalleled destruction onto the world as it had done numerous times in the past throughout Earth's history. However, in a move that was completely unknown to Emma at the time, the rest of the Inner Circle members all shared an entirely different and more sinister vision than Frost had initially believed: to control and manipulate the power of the Phoenix Force and have it cater to their own hidden agenda. Upon realizing the error of her ways, Emma betrays the Inner Circle and attempts to redeem herself in the eyes of the X-Men by not only rescuing Jean but, by also following through with her original plan of destroying the cosmic entity before it could mature. Unfortunately, her actions result in her apparent death. Rogue apologizes to Wolverine, and finally rejoins the X-Men for good.

The now fully reformed X-Men are praised for their actions by Professor Xavier, but are warned of a new danger approaching: the Age of Apocalypse. While Professor X is in his mansion, the final shot shows a high-tech pyramid as Apocalypse, Mister Sinister, and a one-eyed Cyclops are about to address a crowd.

Characters
The overall situations and the look of the series and character designs were inspired by the Astonishing X-Men comic series.

X-Men (present)

 * Logan Howlett / Wolverine (Leader)
 * Henry "Hank" McCoy / Beast (Second-in-Command)
 * Scott Summers / Cyclops
 * Ororo Munroe / Storm
 * Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler
 * Warren Worthington III / Angel
 * Kitty Pryde / Shadowcat
 * Bobby Drake / Iceman
 * Anna-Marie D'Ancanto / Rogue
 * Piotr Rasputin / Colossus
 * Jean Grey / Dark Phoenix
 * Jonathon Silvercloud / Forge
 * Emma Frost / White Queen

X-Men (future)

 * Charles Xavier / Professor X
 * Lucas Bishop / Bishop
 * Ray Carter / Berzerker
 * Neena Thurman / Domino
 * Julian Keller / Hellion
 * Kamal
 * Sarah Rushman / Marrow
 * Lorna Dane / Polaris (Magneto's daughter, and Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch's younger sister)
 * "Rover" (a Sentinel who has befriended the future X-Men)
 * Telford Porter / Vanisher
 * Logan Howlett / Wolverine
 * Laura Kinney / X-23 (Wolverine's female clone)

Brotherhood of Mutants

 * Pietro Maximoff / Quicksilver (Magneto's son, Scarlet Witch's twin brother, and Polaris' older brother)
 * Dominikos Petrakis / Avalanche
 * Fred Dukes / Blob
 * Mortimer Toynbee / Toad
 * Neena Thurman / Domino
 * Anna-Marie D'Ancanto / Rogue

Acolytes

 * Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto
 * Raven Darkholme / Mystique
 * Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch (Magneto's daughter, Quicksilver's twin sister, and Polaris' older sister)
 * Lorna Dane / Polaris
 * Sarah Ryall / Scanner
 * John Allerdyce / Pyro
 * Clarice Ferguson / Blink
 * Cain Marko / Juggernaut
 * Cessily Kincaid / Mercury
 * Seamus Mellencamp
 * Suvik Senyaka
 * Kleinstock Brothers

Marauders

 * Nathaniel Essex / Mister Sinister
 * Phillippa Sontag / Arclight
 * Michael Baer / Blockbuster
 * Kodiak Noatak / Harpoon
 * Jamie Madrox / Multiple Man
 * Vertigo
 * Warren Worthington III / Archangel

Inner Circle

 * Sebastian Shaw
 * Donald Pierce
 * Harry Leland
 * Selene Gallio
 * Emma Frost
 * Stepford Cuckoos

MRD/Project: Wideawake

 * Senator Robert Kelly
 * Warren Worthington II (father of Angel)
 * Bolivar Trask
 * The Sentinels
 * The Prowlers
 * Master Mold
 * Dr. Sybil Zane
 * Colonel Moss
 * Dr. Kavita Rao
 * Agent Haskett
 * Dr. Peterson

Weapon X

 * Truett Hudson / Prof. Andre Thorton
 * Dr. Abraham Cornelius
 * Victor Creed / Sabretooth
 * Christoph Nord / Maverick
 * Laura Kinney / X-23
 * Logan Howlett / Wolverine
 * Raven Darkholme / Mystique

Other mutants

 * En Sabah Nur / Apocalypse
 * Ashley Crawford / Big Bertha
 * Tabitha Smith / Boom Boom
 * Alison Blaire / Dazzler
 * Mark Sheppard / DJ
 * Sooraya Qadir / Dust
 * Maria Callasantos / Feral
 * Fever Pitch
 * Angelica Jones / Firestar
 * Remy LeBeau / Gambit
 * Monet St. Croix / M
 * M-Twins
 * Alison Crestmere / Magma
 * Sarah Vale / Network
 * Robert Hunter / Nitro
 * Christy Nord / Petra (Maverick's daughter)
 * Megan Gwynn / Pixie
 * Betsy Braddock / Psylocke
 * Max Jordan / Quill
 * Rachel Summers (Cyclops' and Jean Grey's daughter, and Cable's half-sister)
 * Santo Vaccarro / Rockslide
 * Jennifer Stavros / Roulette
 * Karl Lykos / Sauron
 * Amahl Farouk / Shadow King
 * Shatter
 * Kenuichio Hirada / Silver Samurai
 * Sammy Paré / Squid-Boy
 * Noriko Ashida / Surge
 * Everett Thomas / Synch
 * Tildie Soames
 * Hope Abbott / Trance
 * Vanessa Carlysle
 * Venkat Katregadda / Vindaloo
 * John Lopez / Washout
 * Nicholas Gleason / Wolf Cut
 * Rahne Sinclair / Wolfsbane

Supporting characters

 * Mojo
 * Spiral
 * Reavers
 * Angelo Macon
 * Murray Reese
 * Ricochet
 * Wade Cole
 * Nick Fury
 * Bruce Banner / Hulk
 * Wendigo
 * Mariko Yashida

Main voice cast

 * Steve Blum – Logan / Wolverine, Vanisher, Vindaloo, Fever Pitch, Reavers
 * Susan Dalian – Storm, Kavita Rao
 * Jennifer Hale – Jean Grey, Boom Boom
 * Danielle Judovits – Shadowcat, Tildie Soames
 * Tom Kane – Magneto, Professor Thorton
 * Yuri Lowenthal – Iceman
 * Nolan North – Cyclops, Colossus, Pyro, Berzerker
 * Liam O'Brien – Angel / Archangel, Nightcrawler, Nitro
 * Roger Craig Smith – Forge, Hellion, Kamal
 * Fred Tatasciore – Beast, Hulk, Blockbuster, Juggernaut, Harpoon
 * Kieren van den Blink – Rogue
 * Kari Wahlgren – Emma Frost, Magma, Dr. Sybil Zane, Kristie Nord
 * Jim Ward – Professor X, Warren Worthington II, Abraham Cornelius, Sentinels, Rover the Sentinel

Additional voices

 * Charlie Adler – Mojo, Reavers
 * Tamara Bernier – Mystique
 * Clancy Brown – Mister Sinister
 * Benjamin Bryan – Young Scott Summers
 * A. J. Buckley – Toad
 * Corey Burton – John Grey
 * Grey DeLisle – Psylocke, Spiral, Network
 * Alex Désert – Nick Fury
 * Richard Doyle – Senator Robert Kelly
 * Chris Edgerly – Agent Haskett
 * Crispin Freeman – Multiple Man, Maverick
 * Kate Higgins – Scarlet Witch, Pixie
 * Mark Hildreth – Quicksilver
 * Michael Ironside – Colonel Moss
 * Dominic Janes – Squid-Boy
 * Phil LaMarr – Gambit, Bolivar Trask
 * Peter Lurie – Sabretooth
 * Gabriel Mann – Dr. Bruce Banner
 * Vanessa Marshall – Vertigo
 * Graham McTavish – Sebastian Shaw
 * Phil Morris - Randy
 * Liza del Mundo – Polaris
 * Laraine Newman – Marjorie
 * Kevin Michael Richardson – Bishop, Shadow King
 * Crystal Scales -
 * James Sie – Sensei Ogun, Yakuza Leader
 * André Sogliuzzo – Arclight
 * Stephen Stanton – Blob
 * April Stewart – Selene
 * Tara Strong – Marrow, Dust, Firestar, X-23, Stepford Cuckoos
 * James Patrick Stuart – Avalanche
 * Gwendoline Yeo – Domino, Master Mold, Mariko Yashida
 * Keone Young – Silver Samurai

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 (a prequel to the series).
 * Alex Désert, Gabriel Mann, Fred Tatasciore, Steve Blum, and Tom Kane all reprise their respective roles as Nick Fury, Bruce Banner, the Hulk, Wolverine, and Professor Thornton in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. The MRD is also mentioned in passing.
 * 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.
 * Jennifer Hale reprise her role as Jean Grey in X-Men '97, a continuation of the 1992 animated series produced by Marvel Studios Animation.

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 the 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 turned into 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, who held worldwide rights, had closed down their UK branch the October prior, 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 coinside 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.