X-Men '97 Proves That Studios Don't Give A Crap About Spanish-Speaking Fans
Kids from the '90s kids rejoice! The X-Men are back, specifically the version from the animated series. Though it's been decades since "X-Men: The Animated Series" went off the air, the new show treats it as if no time has passed (still, if the passage of time has made you forget about the details, you can catch up by reading this recap of the original here).
Despite the controversial last-minute firing of the show's creator, "X-Men '97" is exactly what you'd want it to be. In his review for /Film, Witney Seibold wrote "Just like classic rock, "X-Men '97" is familiar and comforting." Indeed, this is a rare revival that truly feels like a proper continuation of the original. Sure, the animation is a big upgrade and the action scenes are spectacular, but a lot of effort was put into making the new episodes feel like they belong to the same show as the '90s episodes.
But as someone who grew up watching the Latin American Spanish dub of "X-Men: The Animated Series", watching "X-Men '97" was a big disappointment. Not because of the quality of Studio Mir's animation. Not because of the storytelling. What is disappointing is to see the entire dub cast get changed.
A revival and a continuation
It's not to say that the original English-language voice cast remains 100% intact. Some cast members were replaced by necessity — like Norm Spencer (Cyclops) and David Hemblen (Magneto) passing away in 2020. Still, for the most part, fans of "X-Men: The Animated Series" can see their favorite characters voiced by the original cast. Cal Dodd returns as Wolverine, Alison Sealy-Smith once again plays Storm, and Lenore Zann is back as Rogue.
In the Latin American Spanish dub of "X-Men '97," however, the entire cast got replaced. A couple got to return in new roles, like Salvador Delgado who played Bishop in the original show, returns to play Magneto. Eduardo Garza played several characters, including young Charles Xavier in "X-Men: The Animated Series" now plays Morph.
Of course, this isn't entirely new. Even when "X-Men: The Animated Series" was first added to Disney+, there were several episodes that never got released in Spanish, so Disney produced a new dub with an entirely new cast. While the original dub was produced by Televisa in Mexico, the new dub is produced by Disney Character Voices International — which handles dubbing and localization for all Disney productions — and it features an entirely new cast.
It may not seem like a big deal, but for a show being billed as a big piece of nostalgia to disregard a big element of the original feels disrespectful, especially when it is clearly a choice being made.
The importance of localization
Even more than the cast, what makes "X-Men '97" feel like a missed opportunity is the changes to the localization. The original "X-Men: The Animated Series" was a product of its time, for sure. A notable element of the show was that a lot of the names were translated into Spanish — Wolverine became Guepardo (which is a cheetah), Rogue was called Titania, and even the name X-Men team itself was translated into the Spanish "Equis-Men" which is weird since only the "X" is pronounced in Spanish but the word "men" not. Translating names wasn't uncommon in Latin American dubs, let alone superhero shows. Bruce Wayne was known for decades as Bruno Diaz in Latin America, after all.
For "X-Men '97," which is being sold as a continuation and a love letter, not a reboot, it is disappointing to see most of the names change for seemingly no reason. While Cyclops, Storm, and Gambit remain Cíclope, Tormenta, and Gambito, everyone else gets their Anglo-Saxon name back, including Wolverine and Rogue.
It makes sense for the sake of continuity and streamlining in the MCU era to do this, but it is still disappointing to see the localization changes in a show that is supposedly separate from the rest of the MCU. This is not meant to align with the MCU's plans for the characters, but serve as both a time capsule for new audiences, and a huge nostalgia bait for old audiences.
Much like the "Avatar: The Last Airbender" remake, the change in cast and localization makes "X-Men '97" feel like a show that misunderstands who it is made for, and why the love the show so much.