Teenage Mutant Wasteland: Everything you didn't know about X-Men: Evolution

Did you know it’s been over a decade since the X-Men had an American-produced cartoon? With that, it's interesting to note that X-Men: Evolution was introduced in 2000, a mere three years after X-Men: The Animated Series ended its landmark run. But while the first X-Men show was largely faithful to the comics of the time, Evolution took a different approach by turning most of the popular heroes into teenagers.

Only Professor Xavier, Wolverine, Storm, and Beast were spared from revisiting their awkward teen years, with Cyclops, Jean Grey, Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Kitty Pryde reimagined as high school students, as were their rivals, the Brotherhood of Mutants (except for Mystique and Magneto, of course).

Strangely enough, X-Men: Evolution had a bigger impact on the Marvel comics than its predecessor, mostly because the show introduced X-23, Wolverine's young female clone/surrogate daughter. She was such a sensation that Marvel brought X-23 into continuity. Her co-creators, Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, went on to co-write Thor: Ragnarok, and Yost wrote episodes of The Mandalorian and Star Wars Rebels.

Intriguingly, actor Kirby Morrow has the unique distinction of playing Cyclops in Evolution nearly two decades before appearing in FX's Legion series. Additionally, Christopher Judge portrayed Magneto before his epic turn as Kratos in God of War and previously wowed fans on SYFY's Stargate: SG-1 series as Teal'c.

For more X-Men: Evolution tidbits and trivia, check out the latest episode of SYFY WIRE's Everything You Didn't Know!