Warning: SPOILERS for X-Men ’92: House of XCII #5!X-Men: The Animated Series was the seed for many fans’ love of the X-Men, but Marvel Comics just changed the events of the show forever. The finale of the comic series X-Men ’92: House of XCII alters the context of the classic cartoon surprisingly. By exploring recent X-Franchise developments through the lens of the ’92 series, the original X-Men animated series becomes more intriguing than ever.
Airing from 1992 to 1997, X-Men: TAS was a widely loved show and was the inspiration for many millennial X-Men fans to dive into the comics. Now that many of those fans have grown up to work at Marvel, it makes sense why content related to the ’90s cartoon has been getting a push in recent years. New stories in this era, dubbed X-Men ’92, started being told at Marvel Comics back in 2015 and culminated in this year’s House of XCII limited series, while Marvel Studios is set to revive the original show as X-Men ’97 next year. The premise of House of XCII is exploring X-Men ’92‘s own version of the Krakoan era, and issue #5 finally answers how this story can coexist with X-Men ’97.
Rather than X-Men villain Moira X, in this universe Jubilee is the mutant whose secondary reincarnation mutation allows Krakoa to come to life for the 90s X-Men. In X-Men ’92: House of XCII #5 by Steve Foxe, Salva Espín, Israel Silva, VC’s Joe Sabino, and Jordan D. White, the Krakoan project is falling apart, and Jubilee is out of reincarnations. However, Jean lends the power of the Phoenix to Jubilee to kickstart her secondary mutant gift one last time. Restarting the timeline once again comes at the price of Jubilee’s secondary power as well as her past knowledge of her first 10 lives. The final scene finds the reborn Jubilee being a typical mall-rat in the arcade.
How House of XCII Recontextualizes X-Men: The Animated Series
X-Men: TAS fans will remember Jubilee being in that very arcade near the beginning of the series’ pilot. The entire House of XCII series seemed to be predicated on if the version of mutantkind from the 1992 animated show were thrust into their own Krakoan age. Yet the implication of this final scene turns that concept on its head. Now, it appears that this Krakoan timeline and Jubilee’s other nine lives all occurred before the main timeline of the show. It’s an unexpected twist as well as fun way to resolve questions of canonicity or its relation to X-Men ’97.
In the end, X-Men: The Animated Series still stands on its own, and reading House of XCII is not a prerequisite to enjoy it or X-Men ’97. However, the finale twist of House of XCII #5 creates a new context for the classic cartoon. It’s a change that is in line with many of the shifts to the X-Men franchise brought on by the Krakoan era: it’s an additive retcon made out of an appreciation for what has come before. House of XCII has changed the story behind X-Men: The Animated Series forever, but hopefully it was done so in a way that will be celebrated by X-Men fans new and old.
X-Men ’92: House of XCII #5 is available now from Marvel Comics.
