X-Men ’97 Season 1’s fourth and sixth episodes saw one of the best Disney+ TV shows adapting the “Lifedeath” storyline amidst other stories taking place in this corner of the Marvel multiverse. After losing her weather-manipulating abilities in “Mutant Liberation Begins,” Storm met Forge, who offered to help her regain her lost mutant gift, though this was complicated by the arrival of a demon known as the Adversary. While this portion of X-Men ’97 ended on a happy note, directors Emi/Emmett Yonemura and Chase Conley shared with CinemaBlend why they wish their version of “Lifedeath” could have been longer.
Following the X-Men ’97 Season 1 finale airing to Disney+ subscribers (which included things like a Gates McFadden-voiced Mother Askani and the mystery concerning Wolverine, Storm and Morph’s whereabouts), I chatted with Yonemura and Conley, who switched back and forth between directing this season episodes, with the exception of the debut episode, which was handled by head director Jake Castorena. Among the questions I asked them was if there any comic book storylines adapted they were proud of or wish had gotten more time, and Yonemura started off by saying:
Oh man, that’s a hard one because there’s so many. Because I love living in emotional and seeing a character especially process their own trauma, I do wish we got to live with Storm and Forge just a little bit longer. Because that storyline is just so amazing and it’s so rich. I also understand that even the original series worked at a breakneck pace. From establishing shots just going through to the plot lines that they were covering. There’s a part of me that wishes we could have almost slowed down every storyline we had, I also don’t know that it would have served us necessarily. But I think for me, I would have loved to have just seen a little bit more of Storm and Forge because I just love them as a couple too, and I would have loved to see how that blossomed a little bit more.
The original “Lifedeath” unfolded in the pages of Uncanny X-Men #181-188, and mixed in Storm and Forge’s love story and their conflict the Adversary with Senator Robert Kelly proposing the Mutant Control Act, the creation of Project Wideawake, the search for a fugitive Rogue and Rachel Summers being introduced. But as far as the Storm and Forge aspect goes, even though Emi/Emmett Yonemura didn’t direct either of the “Lifedeath” episodes, they still would liked to have seen more from these two being paired together, though ultimately acknowledged there just wasn’t the real estate to do so. After all, X-Men ’97’s first season consisted of just 10 episodes, whereas up until its final season, X-Men: The Animated Series (one of the best animated TV shows of all time) had seasons ranging from 13-21 episodes.
Chase Conley agreed with his fellow X-Men ’97 director, noting that while there were other episodes that constituted his “favorite,” and he was ultimately felt that the adaptation they ended up with, he still would have welcomed getting to expand “Lifedeath.” In his words:
I’d say the same actually. I love the ‘Lifedeath’ story. I think it’s great. I also echo the same sentiment of like, I don’t know if it would have served us in a 10-episode season with all of the stuff that we covered, because we covered a lot, but I could say that about a lot. The Trial of Magneto was probably my favorite because I think that it was nice and self-contained, and it had all the makings of things. 105, which I hope wins an Emmy, I think probably also my favorite as far as like what we… I know that’s kind of a cherry picking of ideas, but I think it came out really well. But I would say ‘Lifedeath’ just because I’m a huge Storm fan. So it would have been just fun to explore more of Forge and Storm, and that union between the two of them and sitting in Storm’s transformation. As she transcends her current identity to learn to be more than just this mutant, and to walk in the path of a regular human for a while and shed this goddess identity. It’s just interesting, right? And you can spend multiple episodes, you could have stretched that for an entire season, I think it would have been interesting to explore. But yeah, at the same time, I also feel like, you know, with keeping the pace of the old season, we did the best that we could do and I think we did a good job. We made the right choice for sure.
Storm and Forge got off to a rough start during X-Men ’97’s version of “Lifedeath,” as the former learned that the latter designed the technology used in mutant inhibitor collars and the gun X-Cutioner used to take away Storm’s powers. That rift between them was soon overshadowed by the threat of the Adversary, who infected Forge. During her journey to obtain a rare cactus that could cure the poison in Forge’s body, Storm faced the Adversary once again, but this time she overcame her fears and reawakened her powers. Yes, X-Cutioner’s neutralizer was only a temporary setback, and upon being empowered again, Storm blasted away the adversary and obtained the cactus to cure Forge, and from there the two met back up with her fellow X-Men.
While X-Men ’97’s take on “Lifedeath” is behind us, there’s still a lot more from this show to look forward to, as Season 2 is deep into production and Season 3 is in development. While we wait for news on what awaits Storm and the gang, be sure to look over the other upcoming Marvel TV shows.