10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About X-Men: Evolution

10. It Was Specifically Aimed At A Much Younger Audience Than X-Men: The Animated Series

Evolution was created to be a very different show than the previous X-Men. While the nineties show reflected the comic book storylines of that time, Producer Boyd Kirkland revealed to Marvel Animation Age that Evolution was deliberately designed to take the primary characters back to their teenage years, where they were starting to grapple with their powers. This approach was very similar to the very early X-Men comics, where mutant powers were a metaphor for growing into adolescence.

Kids WB didn't want an 'adult' cartoon like Batman : TAS or the previous X-Men; their direction to the producers was for a show that was aimed squarely at the kid market they felt would most drive sales of toys, action figures, and video games.

As a result, the producers had to stay away from complicated, intertwined storylines - at least for the first season - which allowed them to concentrate on developing the characters of the show and their relationships. Whereas X-Men had immediately jumped into complex storytelling with their first season, Evolution took its time, building up the stories and focusing on the trials and tribulations of being a teenager as much as fights with other mutants.

The success of the first season convinced Kids WB to let the producers expand the Evolution world in subsequent seasons.