The first image of the first episode of X-MEN:TAS was of an unnamed mutant on a rampage. Please see the first two panels of Will Meugniot and Larry Houston’s storyboard below. Mark Edens and I chose this initial action for many reasons. First, it established how scary mutants can be to the rest of humanity, a challenge that Charles Xavier and his “good mutant” X-Men would spend 76 episodes trying to overcome. Next, since the “mutant violence” is being watched as TV news footage by Jubilee’s parents, the audience has a living, roaring example of why they are upset that their foster daughter has been revealed to be a mutant — the spark to the entire story. In addition, we were able to, in a few seconds, set up a favorite recurring mutant antagonist (Sabretooth), who would prove to be our number one star Wolverine’s favorite adversary. After a few seconds of Sabretooth’s carnage, no one doubted why Sentinel robots might be sent out to “control” mutants. Our 13 half-hour first season was established.
