It is well-known now that a noticeable segment of ‘X-Men: The Animated Series’ fans do not like Morph as a non-binary character in the upcoming X-Men ‘97 Disney+ series. The forthcoming continuation to the original X-Men series, created by Larry Houston, Eric, and Julia Lewald, has been facing criticisms of being ‘woke’ online for some time now. The overall chaotic scenario has forced Houston and Julia Lewald to speak up about the new animated series. In a recent interview with Variety, the creators discussed the show’s ‘woke’ controversy.
While talking with Variety, Larry Houston and Julia Lewald severely criticised the ‘woke’ accusations against X-Men ‘97. They also spoke about Morph.
“For me, the word ‘nonbinary’ is the same as the word ‘shapeshifter.’ Every character that can change from one gender to another, or from human to animal, that’s just another word for ‘shapeshifter’ for me.”
Lewald touched on key points like diversity and inclusion in her interview, and talked about how ‘X-Men: The Animated Series’ dealt with these matters. She also expressed her frustration about the audiences not learning anything from the original series.
“Did we teach you people nothing? Were you not watching? Did we not figure out how to be nice to each other and how to get along? It’s very odd to feel like we are still dealing with the same issues that we were dealing with 30 years ago. It’s painful.”
Marvel has regularly used X-Men to touch on real-world issues, such as homophobia, racism, sexism, and more. Right from their initial comic book days, X-Men have been fighting for mutant rights and acceptance from human beings. They believe that their identity and abilities are something that they cannot control.
When it comes to LGBTQ+ representations, Marvel has certainly gotten better in terms of comics and live-action projects. In the early comic book storylines, X-Men received insufferable hate from humans as the latter strongly believed that the mutants were nothing except ‘freaks of nature”. However, mutants are not freaks. It’s just their unique appearance and abilities make them different. This scenario aligns a lot with the modern struggles of the LGBTQ+ community. Everyone deserves a chance to be who they are and take a stand for that as strongly as possible.
X-Men ‘97 will arrive on the Disney+ streaming platform on March 20. Indian viewers will be able to watch it on Disney+ Hotstar. Stay tuned for more updates.