X-Men ’97 Lead Character Designer Amelia Vidal Confirms Characters Were Redesigned With “Body Diversity” In Mind

X-Men ’97 Lead Character Designer Amelia Vidal confirmed that the characters for the show were redesigned with “body diversity” in mind.

In an interview with Animation Magazine, the outlet’s Tom McLean wrote, “Lead character designer Amelia Vidal says she took advantage of the revival to bring in a full variety of body diversity.”

Vidal informed him, “For example, if we take Jean, Rogue, Storm and Jubilee, they all have different body proportions, heights, age, physical builds and posture attitudes.”

“[The] X-Men are so different from each other; celebrating those differences makes each character unique and special,” she added.

READ: ‘X-Men ’97’ Alters Storm’s Design From Original ‘X-Men: The Animated Series’

On top of Vidal confirming the characters were redesigned due to “body diversity,” the show’s director Jake Castorena also explained the show’s art style was changed in order to “stay relevant.”

He told the outlet, “It needs to be the show we remember, but it has to be in 4K, because the reality is we’ve learned so much just in the art form of TV animation itself — from what works, what doesn’t work, technical advancements, production advancements, artistic advancements.”

“To do the show, verbatim, as it was, it would be difficult to stay relevant,” Castorena said.

One of the more bizarre comments in the interview came from producer Brad Winderbaum while discussing the change in art style.

First, he revealed how they are making it look like the 90s show despite changing the art style, “Part of the design of the overall look of the show is to create a small video transfer effect over the animation to give it a little bit of that television in the ’90s patina.”

Next, he claimed, “We have a strict code of ethics.” However, in his very next sentence he made it clear that they don’t, “But there are specific points where we crack it on purpose for what I think is great dramatic effect.”

READ: As The Walt Disney Company Faces EEOC Complaint For Discriminatory Racial And Sexual Hiring Practices, X-Men ’97’s Morph Voice Actor Exposed As Radical Queer Activist

On top of all these design changes, showrunner Beau DeMayo claimed the real key to the show is melodrama.

He explained to the outlet, “It’s the melodrama. We will have the cool powers and villains, but at the end of the day you’re more curious about why Apocalypse rearing his evil head complicates Jean and Scott’s marriage more than you are about what is Apocalypse trying to do and how are they going to beat him.”

DeMayo would make another interesting comment as well claiming, “I think it’s very smart to bring this show back to take us back to the core truths about who these characters are … why we fell in love with them in the first place, before then seeing how they enter the MCU in a larger capacity.”

He provided no details as to what the core truths about the characters are, but based on previous comments he’s made, he will be rewriting the core truths rather than staying true to the original series.

READ: ‘X-Men ’97’ To Embrace Evil Transgender Ideology By Describing Morph As “Non-Binary”

Specifically, DeMayo claimed the series was being informed by him being a gay, black man.

During Marvel’s X-Men: 60 Uncanny Years Live Virtual Event, DeMayo revealed, “Came up with a pitch, pitched it to Kevin Feige and, you know, him and Brad [Winderbaum] could not have been more supportive and also just encouraging to make sure we got it right.”

“I think one of my favorite parts was like they were truly interested in like what my experience as a black gay man was and how it was going to inform the story we were telling. And that to them was like that is how we’re going to make this authentic,” he said.

The showrunner then explained, “Because really what you’re talking about with X-Men — I don’t care what your religion, your nationality, your sex, your gender — you walk into a room full of people and you’ve gone, ‘Oh my gosh there is no one in here like me,’ and I think that is ultimately what X-Men is trying to get at.”

He went on, “And so then I went into the desert for about two weeks, came up with the entire first season, and then came back, and, you know, we got Eric [Lewald], Julia [Lewald], and Larry [Houston] to come aboard and be like, ‘Am I screwing this up?’ Such amazing, creative partners, parents I call them. Just moral and creative support.”

There’s also confirmation that the show will be pushing the evil of transgender ideology something the original 90s show did not do.

Empire Magazine’s Helen O’Hara detailed in the outlet’s April 2024 magazine, “The death of shapeshifter Morph in the original animated series (it didn’t stick, obviously) was shocking for young viewers, and it stuck with DeMayo.”

DeMayo then added, “He really set the stakes and he had a very interesting relationship with the team because of trauma.”

O’Hara then added, “This is a lighter take on the character, who is nonbinary and has an interesting buddy relationship with Wolverine. The character’s past with Mister Sinister, the show’s villain could also come into play.”

READ: X-Men ’97 Showrunner Confirms Show Embraced Woke Casting

During the X-Men ’97 panel at San Diego Comic-Con in 2022, DeMayo introduced Morph saying, “Morph decided to show a little bit of a different side to themselves this season. We’re going to go with the changeling look.”

DeMayo made it clear to use “themselves” rather than refer to him as a male.

Back in July 2022 DeMayo was asked by The Direct how the series would improve upon or differ from the original. He responded, “I don’t know if improve would be a word I would use. I think that show is amazing in so many different ways. I think what I would say is that the generation who grew up watching that show, we have grown up, and the world is a very different place than when that show was first made. And so, it is more a question of, what does that show look like knowing what we know now?”

He continued, “And how it looks like, in today’s world, with everything that has changed, and everything that hasn’t changed, sadly—in our world. That is where I believe my focus has been as a storyteller, has really been that.”

What do you make of the reasoning behind the character redesigns and the change in art style? What about the focus on melodrama?

NEXT: Stan Lee Debunks Widespread Myth That X-Men Were Always Woke