Fox's X-Men: The Animated Series is regarded by many to be one of the greatest animated adaptations of a superhero comic ever -- especially for kids during the '90s. It faithfully adapted many of the most iconic stories from the X-Men comics, all while retaining its own theatrical and over-the-top style. However, like all cartoons, it ultimately ended, despite its popularity. The fact that it was canceled in September 1997, shortly before the cancellation of the Spider-Man cartoon in January 1998, further indicates there was some outside circumstance that led to Fox ending its Marvel cartoons.

Ultimately, the story behind X-Men and Spider-Man's endings is one birthed from Fox's desire to reduce costs and maximize profits, which resulted in the show's budget being cut until there was nothing left. Despite these cuts, the show managed to extend long beyond its initial contract.

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X-Men: The Animated Series Was Never Really Cancelled

X-Men The Animated Series Featured

In technical terms, X-Men: The Animated Series wasn't truly cancelled, but rather given a single season extension beyond their initial 65-episode contract. The show had proven so popular that they were approved for a fifth, albeit lower-budgeted, story. After that, the show ended.

In a THR 25th anniversary retrospective on the series, X-Men: The Animated Series artist and producer Will Meugniot recalls, "What I think people don't understand is X-Men wasn't canceled. It had actually been scheduled to be 65 episodes and had been extended past the original order. When it was done, it was like 'Well, contract fulfilled. We did it.'"

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The fifth season outsourced cheaper animation from the overseas studio AKOM. AKOM struggled to bring to life the Jim Lee character designs, which resulted in lower quality animation. Because of the lower standard of animation, AKOM was cheaper to pay and thus one of the few studios the crew could afford given their lowered budget, which forecast the future of the animated series: Fox gradually cut the budget as the show went on.

The animators on X-Men: The Animated Series had roughly half the budget of shows like Batman: The Animated Series or X-Men: Evolution. As the show became more popular, Fox lowered X-Men's budget. In the words of X-Men animator Frank Squillace, "[W]hat I discovered was the more popular a show was at Fox Kids, the more they would cut its budget. I guess that logic made sense to a businessman. What I found were the resources got less and less while the schedule got shorter." Squillace left the show around Episode 55, long before the even cheaper final season.

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So Why Did Fox Undervalue the X-Men?

Mister Sinister X-Men Animated Series

It is clear that Fox undervalued their incredibly popular series, to the point where they eventually cut funding for it entirely after briefly renewing their contract. So why did Fox dislike the X-Men and Spider-Man cartoons so much that they canceled them outright? Ultimately, the matter came down to control. Fox, throughout the series' production, tried to interfere with the production of both cartoons.

To quote Squillace, "For me personally, they wouldn't let me do the job...I'm probably going to get in trouble for this, but non-creative people had taken over and when you're already walking on your knees because they cut you off at the legs, I felt I couldn't produce the show anymore. I couldn't keep up the standard of quality we worked for. So, that's when I left."

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This led to the belief that Fox, despite the show's continued success, chose to eventually end funding. It went on for longer than Fox intended, but ultimately, between interfering with the production behind the scenes and cutting the budget of the show, Fox ultimately pulled the plug on their most successful franchises. They would only re-air it to promote their live-action X-Men franchise -- or at least the episodes that featured movie characters.

Any hope to continue airing Marvel cartoons was dashed, however, with the failure of both Silver Surfer and Spider-Man Unlimited, both of which failed to compete with far more popular shows like Pokémon. Fox moved onto new projects that would cost less to produce: 4Kids anime. From there, even though it extended past its initial contract, the future of the X-Men resided on new channels, like WB, which aired the ever-popular X-Men: Evolution.

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