It’s kind of hard to believe that there was a time when the X-Men wasn’t one of the most well-known group of superheroes in the world. Oh, comic book fans and those who were in the know knew they were good but the general population were blissfully ignorant of the wild adventures of Cyclops, Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, Beast, Jubilee and many more mutant heroes and villains had.

Well, that all changed when the Fox’s X-Men animated series hit the airwaves way back in ’92 and ended in ’97. To say the show was a hit is a pretty big understatement as it did lead to this formerly little known Marvel property to get a live-action movie finally made after years of development hell, which did lead to a highly successful film franchise. Disney is also aware of what an impact the cartoon series made as one of the shows they greenlit early on when they were planning Disney+ was making a direct continuation of the ’97 series.

The show definitely made an impact with young viewers as the writers of this “kid’s show” did a more than respectable job of translating some of the best X-Men stories from the comics into animated form. It wasn’t all action and the central message of the X-Men, which is shining a light on prejudice and bigotry, was handled really well.

Still, you have to remember that, when the show initially premiered on October of 1992, not many people knew who or what the X-Men was. The people over at Fox somehow knew they needed a way to hook viewers immediately the instant they started tuning in. They knew the X-Men’s intro needed to get you excited for the succeeding half hour of animated action and drama. But they also needed this time to introduce these huge cast of characters to the uninitiated. This led to the creation of one of the most amazing intros in animated programming ever.

First off, we gotta talk about about music. The song was composed by Ron Wasserman. You may not know Ron Wasserman by name but, if you grew up in the ’90s, I have no doubt you’re familiar with his work. Besides writing the X-Men theme song, he also wrote a lot of songs for other television programs, cartoons and children’s programming. You may have heard his tunes in shows like The Real Housewives of New York, The Thundermans and Spongebob Squarepants.

But you may also know Ron Wasserman from his time working with Saban Studios. If that studio sounds familiar, it’s because they’re the group who was behind the popularization of various Super Sentai series for Western audiences. Yep, Ron Wasserman is the same guy who made the ultra-catchy theme song for the Power Rangers! Even someone like me, who didn’t like the Power Rangers, still gets super hyped up when I hear that awesome guitar shred and those familiar lines of “Go! Go! Power Rangers!”

I will say Ron Wasserman is kind of a weird genius as he knew what the X-Men series needed for a theme song. I always kind of wondered why there were no lyrics to the theme song. After all, X-Men was still going to be a cartoon and animated programming during the time always had lyrics or, at the very least, someone lyrically singing the title.

Thankfully, Ron Wasserman is much smarter than me and he decided to buck the trend for the show because, as he mentioned in an interview, the phrase “X-Men” just doesn’t have a lyrical quality to it and it wouldn’t work. Then again, he may have learned it from watching Fox’s first try at developing an X-Men cartoon and he saw what a crappy theme song Pryde of the X-Men was.

Believe it or not, the catchy theme song was just half of the equation as to why the X-Men opening was so good. The other half would be with the visuals while the song was playing. As I said before, not many people knew who the X-Men were. This was the time when DC dominated the movie and television landscape, with Batman pretty much in control of the superhero genre, thanks to the Michael Keaton live-action movie and, of course, Batman: The Animated Series. The X-Men were relative unknowns just before the cartoon. So, Fox needed a way to introduce the characters and give an idea of what the show was all about even though the theme song didn’t have any lyrics to tell them all this information.

Once again, Fox made the smart decision of using the medium of animation to do all of the heavy lifting for them. Instead of just having the opening show the X-Men do all sorts of action-y stuff, they used this time to show each character individually, giving them their own separate title card and showing off a little bit of what they can do and who they are.

Some are obvious, like Storm summoning a… storm, and some are obtuse, like Rogue flying because it would be difficult to show off her mutant ability of absorbing other mutant powers in around two or three seconds. However, they do a really good job on other characters. They show Wolverine in a jungle without clothes to show his animalistic side while Beast, who looks more monstrous than Wolverine, is initially wearing glasses, reading a book and smiling the biggest happy grin before gleefully leaping towards the camera.

After introducing all of the heroes, only then do we get a sizzle reel of the X-Men doing action-y stuff before that iconic side vs. side rushdown between Professor X’s X-Men and Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants running into each other at full speed before showing the title card of the show once again. And they do all of this in just 60 seconds! They managed to cram in a short introduction for for nine characters and some bits of action within that timeframe is nothing short of a miracle!

The intro to the X-Men cartoon is one that’s stood the test of time. It’s mostly remembered because of Ron Wasserman’s score. However, all of the thought and care they put into the accompanying visuals shouldn’t be overlooked as it does contribute to why it’s one of the best animated intros of all time.

Don’t mess this up, Disney.

What are some of your fond memories of the X-Men animated series? Do you think the Disney+ show will do it justice? Let me know in the comments section below!