X-Men: Evolution S1 E1

## Plot

At a school football game, player Duncan Matthews flirts with fellow student Jean Grey. Duncan and his friends see Todd "Toad" Talanski pick-pocketing people's money. A student in the stands, Scott Summers, also sees Toad stealing money. The football players want to beat Toad up, but Scott intervenes. It was wrong of Toad to take the money, but that's no reason to beat him up! Tell the principal, or have him return the money. Given who their principal is though, that's not likely. They start fighting, and Duncan punches Scott and knocks his sunglasses off. Scott's eyes fire red beams that hit a propane tank, which explodes. Why was there even a propane tank there in the first place? Jean sees them and retrieves Scott's sunglasses with her telekinesis. Duncan hit his head and has a concussion. He doesn't remember anything. Charles Xavier uses his powerful telepathy to make sure the authorities think it was an accident. Technically, it was. It's not like there's a mad arsonist running loose in Bayville or anything. Storm takes him to the train station. They pick up a new student from Germany, Kurt Wagner. Jean and Scott meet Kurt, who has blue skin, fur, three fingers, and a tail. Professor Xavier founded the school to teach kids with special abilities how to control them, since a majority of society would shun them otherwise. They're called mutants. Scott's eyes emit optic blasts, and he has to either close his eyes or wear ruby quartz glasses to stop them. He can't control his power because he hit his head on a rock as a kid and suffered brain damage. Jean has telekinesis and telepathy. Storm can control the weather, and Kurt can teleport anywhere within two miles. The principal, Ms. Darkholme, tells Toad, who's also a mutant, to find out more about Scott and the others. Xavier gives Kurt an image inducer to change his appearance and make him look like everyone else. They learn that Toad is a mutant and decide to test him at the mansion. Toad and Kurt fight, and they both teleport into the Danger Room, a simulation room to test students. Scott and Jean save them. Also, Jean can use her telekinesis to fly. Toad refuses their offer to join the X-Men and runs out, scared. Logan, a.k.a. Wolverine arrives. He has adamantium claws, which are indestructible. He also has a healing ability and amnesia. Scott offers to teach Kurt how to fly their jet, the Blackbird. The principal is really Mystique, another mutant with blue skin who can shape shift. She serves Magneto, a man who can control metal.

## Review

This was a good episode. It bugs me that the X-Men attend a normal public school. It makes the mansion feel more like a boarding house than a boarding school. I like it better in the movies and comics, where it's a boarding school. Almost everyone has two names: their civilian name and their hero/villain name. I plan on only using one. Storm's real name is Ororo Monroe. She's biracial, hence her American last name, and she's from Cairo, Egypt. Scott's hero name is Cyclops. Kurt's hero name is Nightcrawler. Jean was named Marvel Girl in the comics once upon a time, but now she's just Jean Grey. I know that everyone loves the original X-Men cartoon from the 1990s, but I like this one. I even like the Wolverine one, because I love Wolverine, and I have a feeling that it could've been a good cartoon if it had been renewed for a second season. Kind of like how I have a feeling that if that old *Birds of Prey* live action series had been renewed for a second season, it would've been good, or at least gotten better. I also love the opening and closing theme for this show.