The first season of X-Men ‘97 came and went and it was the best MCU project we’ve seen in quite some time. Last month, we at GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT put together a live-action opening of the iconic theme, and now we’ve got a live-action recreation of the X-Men ’97 finale opening that includes Nightcrawler and Professor X. With the MCU undoubtedly bringing their version of the X-Men to live-action soon, let’s hope it can be as epic as this animated reboot has been.

The reboot films started off promising with X-Men: First Class and continued to impress with Days of Future Past, but didn’t stick the landing with Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix.

Watching the live-action X-Men ‘97 opening is a stark reminder that the animated series has brought some of the best X-Men comic storylines to life in a way that few of the live-action X-Men movies have been able to accomplish.

Before long, we’ll see several X-Men enter the MCU in a big way with Deadpool & Wolverine…

While there have been plenty of quality entries like X2, X-Men: First Class, and Logan, none of the movies have been quite able to maintain a consistent level of quality. The original live-action trilogy had two great films in a row before X-Men: The Last Stand brought it to a satisfying close.

The reboot films started off promising with X-Men: First Class and continued to impress with Days of Future Past, but didn’t stick the landing with Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix. Even solo efforts like Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine films failed to impress outside of the fantastic Logan. But, as the X-Men ‘97 live-action opening shows us, the casting has always been pretty on point.

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

Before long, we’ll see several X-Men enter the MCU in a big way with Deadpool & Wolverine, which at the very least will include Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool, and the powerful mutant Cassandra Nova.

Many are theorizing that Deadpool & Wolverine will properly introduce the X-Men to the MCU. Some mutants from our X-Men ‘97 live-action opening, like Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier and Kesley Grammer’s Beast, have already made some cameo appearances in the MCU before this.

In any case, whether you watch the X-Men 97’ opening in its original animated form or in live-action, it’s hard to imagine that the MCU is going to be able to pull off making the live-action team as beloved as the animated team.

Deadpool & Wolverine hits theaters on July 26.

Of course, all X-Men fans are hoping for the best and that the MCU can finally pull off a string of successful X-Men comic book adaptations on the big screen. With that being said, at least we’ll still have the animated series if things don’t go right in the live-action X-Men MCU attempts.

One thing is for certain – there’s no chance the live-action X-Men have a banger theme that is as good as the X-Men ‘97 opening (though it would be cool if they remixed the theme for the big screen as a sort of homage.) And who knows, it’s also possible that the MCU will wrap X-Men 97’ into its larger multiverse even if that’s not what fans want. After all, we did see the Watcher make the briefest cameo in an episode of the new season.

It’ll definitely be interesting to see how the MCU incorporates the X-Men. Deadpool & Wolverine hits theaters on July 26, so we’ll get to see at least some mutants then. In the meantime, make sure to play the X-Men 97’ opening on loop to get yourself ready.