Who would have thought that a “boys action” superhero series played on Saturday mornings would be full of romance? Yet it was. Everyone knows that Scott and Jean were engaged to be married — and that Wolverine had to struggle with his feelings for her. Wolverine was old enough (95) and sufficiently romantic that he had former lovers littered across the globe. Professor X and Dr. Moira McTaggart had cared deeply for one another, and surely Gambit felt some true affection underneath his non-stop flirting. Beast fell for a blind girl whose sight he restored. And Rogue yearned for a man’s touch that forever eluded her. Even Jubliee had a short flirtation (Longshot). Saturday morning cartoons aren’t supposed to showcase adult love and heartbreak. Few ever have or ever will. But we insisted that X-MEN:TAS was peopled with intense adults who would have these feelings. And much to the surprise of the endless experts who constantly told us and still tell us to make shows “age appropriate,” our audience loved these moments. Five-year-olds may not know what adult love and yearning entail, but they understand personal attachment and caring and the drama inherent in threats to both. There was some basis for the Scott-Jean-Wolverine love triangle in the books (though X-MEN:TAS writer Bob Skir takes some credit for highlighting it — let the debate begin). But I’m pretty sure the Wolverine/Storm kiss in our time-travel story “One Man’s Worth” is our original. Time travelers tell future Wolverine and Storm that they must go back in time to change the world. But this would mean that they wouldn’t have each other. Wolverine says screw it — he’s not going to give up their love, even to save the whole world. To paraphrase Casablanca: “Yes, he loves her that much.” But Storm is more clear-headed: they must do their duty. She gives Logan a heart-felt kiss, and the adventure to save the planet begins.
