The first piece of X-Men '97-themed merch gives fans the opportunity to flex their mutant muscles as Magneto ahead of the Disney+ reboot.
After years away from the spotlight, X-Men '97 will reintroduce audiences to the world of Marvel's most famous mutants, following up on the success of the beloved '90s cartoon, X-Men: The Animated Series.
This time around though, things will look a little different. Some iconic names that have traditionally been villains in this animated world will now join the titular X-Men team in earnest.
The series will focus on a world that is experiencing a "wave of increased sympathy towards mutants," and, following the death of Professor X, has the X-Men wondering, "What does [the] future hold for us?"
New X-Men Merchandise Revealed
Hasbro (via io9) revealed the first piece of merchandise for the upcoming animated MCU series X-Men '97.
Joining Hasbro's Marvel Legends Role Play line is a wearable recreation of the Magneto helmet that will be seen in X-Men '97.
The helmet sports series-accurate colors, being bright red with purple accents, and it is fully wearable for anyone who wants to play superhero at home.
The Magneto helmet comes with a stylized stand for storage and display purposes with an eye-catching black base.
Pre-orders for Hasbro's latest X-Men release go up at 1 p.m. ET on Friday, May 19, and has an MSRP of $100 USD.
What To Expect from Magneto in X-Men ‘97?
With no official release timing having been made public as of yet, all fans eagerly awaiting X-Men '97 have to latch onto are small details such as this.
However, it is cool that those excited about the animated reboot will be able to live out their mutant fantasies long before the series ever hits Disney+.
But this Magneto does not seem to be the same one audiences left when The Animated Series went off the air back in 1997.
The former mutant supervillain now looks to have taken over for Professor X as the pseudo-leader of the titular superhero team. So that adds whole new layers of context to a piece of merch like the helmet above.
And could this helmet take on a whole new meaning in the upcoming animated series, seeing as Magneto has not been seen sporting it in any of the released images from the series? Could it be a symbol of an identity the former villain has left behind?
Because of these questions, this series-accurate helmet may start out as a nostalgia-filled memento to sit on a shelf but could turn into a whole lot more when X-Men '97 eventually hits Disney+.
X-Men '97 is expected to release sometime before the end of 2023; however, recent reports suggest that the series could be delayed until 2024.
