To those not steeped in the weird legal rules of Hollywood, it doesn't make sense that Marvel Studios paid a hefty price to use something they own. Disney owns Marvel and Marvel owns the X-Men, so naturally they should own X-Men: The Animated Series, iconic theme song and all. But that's not how it works. Disney paid a lot of money for the right to re-use the theme song from X-Men: TAS for the upcoming X-Men '97 -- and it would be a steal at twice the price.

The news that Disney might have been taken to the cleaners for the rights to this song came from Eric Lewald, a writer for the original cartoon and a creative consultant on X-Men '97. Speaking at Steel City Con, Lewald discussed how the rights to the theme tune were "all over the place." X-Men: TAS was produced by Saban, a kids' TV powerhouse best known for Power Rangers. The majority of artists working for Saban were on a "work for hire" agreement, like many great comic creators including legendary writer Alan Moore. Their work belonged entirely to the production company. Today, Saban is owned by none other than Disney. In the corporate shuffle, somehow the rights to inarguably the most recognizable 1990s cartoon theme went to someone else -- and not composer Ron Wasserman.

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Magneto X-men '97

Until recently, 20th Century Fox held the rights to the X-Men through a deal struck in the 1990s when Marvel was trying to recover from bankruptcy. Skip ahead 15 years and a couple of mergers and sell-offs, and a "secondary person," according to Lewald, ended up with the rights to the X-Men: TAS theme. That may explain why during the entire run of Fox's X-Men movies, they never once used that music cue or played on the nostalgia for the cartoon. Perhaps this was just an oversight, or maybe the rights to that music were held by someone who knew the value of what they had. Disney, with its mountain of money, was right to pay whatever the rights-holder asked -- because that song is the X-Men's greatest superpower.

Marvel Studios has had the rights to their mutant characters for a few years now, but the only official mutant in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Ms. Marvel -- a character they always owned. They did pull Patrick Stewart back to play Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, floating yellow chair and all. In both of these situations, the composers played an arrangement of the X-Men: TAS theme. Those few bars were enough to make fans cheer. Now not only does Marvel Studios have mutants, but they're aiming right at the nostalgia for a series that made an entire generation of kids love X-Men without ever touching a comic book.

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X-Men The Animated Series A Rogue's Tale

Scroll through TikTok and there's an entire sub-genre of videos about how 1980s and 1990s theme songs "go hard." The X-Men '97 theme goes the hardest of all. If Marvel tried to bring back that cartoon with every single artist and collaborator except for that theme? It would be a pale imitation that fans would roast on Twitter until Disney pulled it from their streaming service faster than HBO Max dumped Sesame Street. The music is crucial not just to the new show, but to whatever happens next with these characters. It makes fans more eager to go along for the ride.

Whatever Disney paid for the rights to the X-Men '97 theme, it was worth it. Music has the power to emotionally transport someone to another time or place. It's why John Williams has the key to so many kids' hearts. However Marvel Studios introduces the X-Men, all they need to make it work is one theme song -- and that makes it an incredibly worthwhile investment.

X-Men '97 is expected to debut on Disney+ in Fall 2023.