X-Men '97
Produksi > Animasi dan desain

Animation was provided by Studio Mir and Tiger Animation.:30:52 The 2D animation style of the original series was retained, but "slightly modernized" to improve the quality and reflect advances in animation since the 1990s. Castorena's pitch for the job of supervising director was to make the series "fresh, but familiar", and he said it needed to be "the show we remember, but it has to be in 4K". Houston advised the animation team on how the original series was made, and the storyboard artists reviewed the original to inform their composition, editing, and cinematography decisions. Winderbaum said there was a "code of ethics" they followed to align with the restrictions of the 1990s animation, but they occasionally broke this for dramatic effect such as during key action sequences. A VHS-inspired effect was applied to the animation to make it appear more like 1990s television. 3D animation was used to lay-out scenes and create more complicated vehicles and ships, but the animation team drew over this in 2D to maintain the series's art-style. The opening title sequence of The Animated Series was recreated with updated animation for the revival. Houston worked with episodic directors Conley and Yonemura to recreate the title sequence based on Houston's original storyboards.
DeMayo said the costumes chosen for each character indicated which comic book storylines were being adapted by the series, and some were a reference to the 1989 failed animation pilot X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men. Lead character designer Amelia Vidal retained the design concepts from the original series along with the style and aesthetics of the X-Men comic books of the 1970s to the 1990s. Any changes from those were made to either better serve the story or to assist with the technical side of the animation. Nightcrawler's design is based on his appearance during John Byrne and Dave Cockrum's 1970s comic book runs. The original series' animators could not move Mister Sinister around much because of his complex design, which includes tendrils coming from his back; this was not an issue for the new series, but the animators chose to restrict the character's movements to align with the original series.
To show emotion with Cyclops, whose eyes and eyebrows are covered by his visor, animators adjusted how the glints and reflections appeared on his visor. Castorena said other mutants' powers were also used in unique ways to convey their emotions, and his goal was to use mutant powers in ways that had not been seen before such as having Gambit charge Wolverine's claws with kinetic energy. Morph's shape-shifting powers allow for cameo appearances of other mutants. A background in the fifth episode features the Watcher in a blink-and-you-miss-it Easter egg for fans. The Watcher was included because that character observes important moments throughout the multiverse, including the massacre in Genosha. Castorena said this was not necessarily the same version of the Watcher that appears in What If...? since a different version of the character also appeared in the original series.
Work on the animatics for the first season had begun by November 2021, and full animation began by April 2023. The first season was in post-production by July, and animatics for the entire second season had been created by March 2024.