The biggest thing to me is the Rogue/Magneto angle. Yes, it’s from the comics, but that has NEVER been touched upon in the series before. Rogue didn’t know Magneto when he was first introduced, and never referred to him as “Erik” in subsequent appearances. But then again, the cartoon has always played a little “fast and loose” with continuity, so we’ll see.
Aside from that, I was fairly pleased with the result. The writing was pretty on point to the old series (though, the second episode clearly saw them embracing that TV-PG rating a bit), the animation was…fine. It had that “3d masquerading as a 2D“ series vibe with the inconsistent frame pacing leading to some jerky moments…but also some really smooth moments. At least this has resulted in better action sequences than what the old show would have been able to muster.
The voices were on point, mostly. You can definitely tell that between time and new equipment, the “old guard” were aging. The worst offender being Lenore Zann, but damn if she isn’t putting her all in. Catherine Disher’s turn as Val Cooper is also telling to why she was replaced as Jean Grey. I think the biggest surprise was Ray Chase’s turn as Cyclops, evoking Norm Spencer’s while also (perhaps due to the better lines) surpassing in how character was portrayed.
I’m still not a fan of Matthew Waterson’s Magneto. He just lacks a gravitas the character had in the old series, particularly during a key event in episode 2. Waterson’s just comes off a bit…slimey? He just lacks the ”depth” to carry this character, especially as such a key figure.
Frankly, most of that is coming down to picking nits. For the grand return of X-Men, they are still off to a great start.