SDCC: X-MEN ’97 creatives share details, first footage; Hasbro reveals new toyline.

With Comic Con International taking place, we’ve been getting new updates on Marvel Studios’ upcoming X-MEN ’97 series, which is a revival of the popular 90’s animated series. Ryan Penagos of Marvel.com spoke with executive producer Beau DeMayo, original series creators Julia and Eric Lewald, and director Larry Houston about the impact of the show and where it’s headed.

DeMayo and Houston later joined ’97 supervising producer Jake Castorena at the Designing the X-Men: This Week in Marvel Special Event panel, where they discussed the show and revealed new footage to attendees.

“We just put together kind of an internal thing, actually giving [Marvel/Disney] a taste of what the show is,” said Beau. “…and it’s weird watching your heroes freak out to something you’re doing. The size and scope of something like this, and sending a love letter to what Larry and [Eric and Julia Lewald] did is huge.”

Describing what footage they showed, Beau revealed:

“We showed a clip from the first episode that shows the X-Men going off [on] a mission to confront a new Sentinel threat, and mid-mission they are unexpectedly attacked and have to use their Danger Room practice skills to save themselves.”

There was even an amazing scene of Cyclops leading the X-Men to safety, using his power in a creative way. “[Beau] gave us a really good script and a really good scene and a really good epic moment that makes you go: ‘that’s why Cyclops is the leader of the X-Men,” said Castorena. “[It’s] going really, really well. We’re just in post-production on Season 1 and writing the finale for Season 2,” said Beau. “I cannot be happier.”

Interestingly, Castorena revealed something interesting about how they’re going to convey emotion with Cyclops, who has his eyes covered by his visor: “What happens when you have a character [like] Cyclops who’s got the visor? What it proposes is how do we get a character with no eye contact through to the audience, and something that we’ve done are the glints, the reflections on his visor. Whether it’s a sharp, snappy glint, a slow glint, a nice little twinkle with his smirk… We find unique ways to use the mutant’s powers to convey their emotion, not just for action’s sake but to also carry a story.”

In related news, Ryan Ting has clear looks at all the Hasbro action figures, including new looks at Bishop, Magneto, and Wolverine’s mask.

A release date for X-Men ’97 is TBA.