‘X-Men: The Animated Series’ Creators Defend Decision To Make Morph Nonbinary In ‘X-Men ’97’: “The Word ‘Nonbinary’ Is The Same As The Word ‘Shapeshifter'”
Spencer Baculi
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According to the creators of both X-Men: The Animated Series‘ and the character himself, the decision to portray team member Morph as a “nonbinary” individual in the upcoming X-Men ’97 sequel series is not the radical change critics claim it is, but rather a logical conclusion based on the character’s shape-shifting powers.
This read of Morph’s character was offered by X-Men: The Animated Series creator Eric Lewald, his wife and writer Julia Lewald, and director Larry Houston – all three of whom returned to provide their creative input to the reboot – during a recent interview given to Variety in promotion of X-Men ’97‘s rapidly approaching release date.
Pressed for their thoughts on the backlash to this changing of Morph’s character, in particular the fact that many critics felt that the move was done for nothing more than ‘social media brownie points’, the trio unanimously pushed back on the ground that the mutant’s new gender identity was already inherent in his power set.
“For me, the word ‘nonbinary’ is the same as the word ‘shapeshifter,” argued Houston. “Every character that can change from one gender to another, or from human to animal, that’s just another word for ‘shapeshifter’ for me.”
Drawing attention to the fact that he disguises himself as various female X-Men during his turncoat return in the two-part episode ‘Till Death Do Us Part, Eric Lewald asserted, “He attacks Wolverine, his closest friend, in the most dramatic way by turning into Jean Grey and putting his hand on Wolverine’s neck and leaning in for a kiss. That’s as nonbinary as you can get.”
“It’s Morph turning into a woman and coming onto Wolverine to freak him out,” continued the original series creator of his hilariously so-progressive-it’s-regressive argument. “It was all there in Morph’s character. Now it’s become such a social thing that I think people will be more sensitive to how it’s used. That’s the only difference. We didn’t see a problem in reading him and didn’t feel he was any different.”
Voicing her take on the situation with a slightly-more frustrated bent than her colleagues, Julia Lewald asserted, “Did we teach you people nothing? Were you not watching? Did we not figure out how to be nice to each other and how to get along?”
“It’s very odd to feel like we are still dealing with the same issues that we were dealing with 30 years ago,” she added. ” It’s painful.”
As previously reported, Morph’s new nonbinary identity in X-Men ’97 was first confirmed by the series’ now-former showrunner and creator, Beau DeMayo, during a production interview given to Empire Magazine for their April 2024 issue.
Providing brief teases into the approach the series took in writing each of the series’ principal mutant cast mates, when it came to Morph, the showrunner confirmed to the Empire, as recapped by the outlet’s Helen O’hara, that “this is a lighter take on the character, who is nonbinary and has an interesting buddy relationship with Wolverine.”
On that note, this week saw DeMayo unceremoniously tossed from of Disney just days prior to the official premiere of X-Men ’97.
However, as of writing, the exact reason for his firing – and whether or not it had anything to actually do with his now-confirmed OnlyFans account – remains unknown.
At current, X-Men ’97 is set to start wreaking havoc on Disney Plus starting on March 20th.
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