Two of the highest-rated X-Men adaptations, one live-action, one animated, have explored one similar narrative that is prominent in superhero stories.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for X-Men ’97 episode 3, “Fire Made Flesh.”

A similar storyline has been explored in two of the strongest X-Men adaptations, one in 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise, and the other in Marvel Studios’ new animated series. Since the team debuted in 1963’s The X-Men #1, Marvel Comics’ X-Men have been adapted into live-action and animation many times, dating back to 1966’s The Marvel Super Heroes animated series. Fox boosted the X-Men’s popularity with its live-action franchise, producing some of the best (and worst) X-Men stories between 2000 and 2020, but Marvel Studios has now also delivered one of the team’s most-celebrated adaptations, set outside the ever-growing MCU.

With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 93%, 2017’s Logan is by far the most popular installment of Fox’s X-Men franchise, marking the then-end of Hugh Jackman’s career as Wolverine in what became the third-highest-grossing R-rated movie at the time, behind Deadpool and The Matrix Reloaded. Logan’s success was seldom matched in Fox’s X-Men franchise, but Marvel Studios Animation’s X-Men ’97, a revival of 1992’s X-Men: The Animated Series, currently stands at 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. Interestingly, both of these successful projects share one major thing in common, as both have explored a similar narrative that works wonders in superhero stories.

Both X-Men ’97 & Logan Have Evil Clone Stories

Both Logan and X-Men ’97, specifically episode 3, “Fire Made Flesh,” explored the introduction of evil clones into the primary superhero’s story. In Logan, this involved Hugh Jackman portraying not only the original Wolverine, but also X-24, a mindless clone of Wolverine when he was in his prime, created by Transigen to be the company’s ultimate weapon, capable of killing Wolverine himself. X-24 causes huge problems for Logan and Dafne Keen’s Laura, particularly when he murders a helpful family along with Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier, and during Logan’s final battle which ends with Wolverine’s death at the hands of X-24.

X-Men ’97 episode 3, “Fire Made Flesh”, brought Madelyne Pryor, the evil clone of X-Men member Jean Grey, into the animated series. Pryor was revealed to have been the version of Jean Grey seen in the series’ first two episodes, having been created by Mister Sinister and manipulated to infiltrate the X-Men and bear a son with Cyclops, with no knowledge of her true nature. After the real Jean Grey returned, Pryor transformed into the Goblin Queen and wrought havoc in the X-Mansion, though she soon joined the X-Men to defeat Mister Sinister and save her newborn son, Nathan Summers.

Why Evil Clones Work So Well In X-Men Stories

Clone stories are very popular in superhero media, especially in stories involving the X-Men. Often, evil clones of X-Men members express the same abilities as their heroic counterparts, so seeing what these popular heroes would have become had they been villainous is inevitably compelling. The X-Men are also immensely powerful, so not many villains can actually take them on, but pitting them against villains with the same abilities as them, and often more brutality, raises the stakes of their stories. Both Logan and X-Men ’97 accomplished this, delivering some of the most enticing and exhilarating storylines in any X-Men adaptation.