2. X-Men '97
"Comeback" may be our operative word for Marvel this year, but no show brought the idea of a comeback to life quite like X-Men '97. Yes, this was the first season of the Disney Plus series, but the show is a revival / continuation of the beloved X-Men: The Animated Series that aired on our TV screens from 1992 until 1997. That show is a critical masterpiece, standing the test of time as one of the most powerful and informative animated shows of all time. It's a heck of a legacy but an impossible one for any successor to live up to. Well, impossible if you're not X-Men '97, that is.
It took the sequel series only one episode to prove that it was a wise choice to bring the most beloved incarnation of the X-Men back to our screens. The writing of the original series was already of an impossibly high standard but X-Men '97 very quickly matched it, producing some absolutely gripping narratives over the course of its first season. From the season opener and the second episode's hard-hitting look at humanity's long-standing hypocritical mistreatment of mutants to the thoroughly compelling "Magneto was right" arc, the series' writing team just didn't stop delivering.
The season's biggest episode caught us all by surprise, as "Remember It" left us all an emotional mess by the time that the credits rolled (with absolutely no warning at all). And any show capable of doing that just six episodes in is nothing short of incredible.
It's darker, and more mature than its predecessor, but X-Men '97 makes it work for it, offering up something that is every bit as revolutionary and new as it is nostalgic and classic. You couldn't ask for anything more from the X-Men than this.