The X-Men have proven to be one of Marvel Comics' most enduring franchises. Launched with a single title in the Silver Age of comics in the sixties, the characters have morphed and evolved over the last four decades and now have at least a dozen different titles on comic racks each month, have a line of toys, a few video game spin offs, a pair of feature films, and now the latest animated incarnation, X-Men: Evolution For episodes from the second season of the series are included on this compilation entitled X-Men: Evolution – Powers Revealed.

The Beast Of Bayville - In this episode we meet Dr. Hank McCoy, a physical education teacher and the high school that X-Man Spike attends. When Hank starts losing control of himself, he finds that he turns into a blue furred werewolf like creature called simply, The Beast. Will the X-Men be called in to stop him and take him down? Or will Dr. McCoy come to them for help, knowing that Professor Charles Xavier and his School For Gifted Youngsters just might be able to offer him a place to do some good in the world despite his condition.

Adrift - This episode finds Scott Summers (Cyclops) and his brother Alex relaxing at the beach as Alex works on his surfing skills. When a storm comes in and takes Alex down, Scott goes into the ocean after him and the two of them end up adrift (hence, this episode's title, get it?) in the big dark sea. A helicopter finds them but ends up crashing and pulling Alex, who's just grabbed a life preserver that they've thrown to him, to the bottom of the ocean. Scott's able to swim down and save him, but will it be enough? With the helicopter down, things don't look so good for our heroes. Thank the Good Lord above that Professor Xavier is on the scene!

On Angel's Wings - This time out the team is introduced to a winged mutant who goes by the name of Angel. He saves a few victims from a burning building and comes to the attention of the Professor and his team, just in time for Christmas! Unfortunately, the sinister Magneto is as interested in Angel as the X-Men are, and he'd love to have him join up with him and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants if he could. Will Angel stock with his namesake and side with the X-Men, or pull a 180 and side with Magneto?

African Storm - In the jungles of deepest Africa, a tribe partakes in an ancient ritual to summon the Goddess of the Storm. Cut to present day where the X-Man known as Storm resides with her teammates at Charles Xavier's School. In this episode, Storm does a lot of soul searching and thinking about her past and the role she plays in the school. When trouble arises though, Storm gets off her melancholy kick and bursts into action proving that she is a valuable member of the team.

The four episodes included here are all pretty solid entries and should serve as a nice introduction to those looking to find out what the series is all about. Kids will be entertained by the colorful characters and plentiful action, and whether they realize it or not, maybe even educated by the cartoon's message of acceptance and tolerance.

Video:

Seeing as these episodes were originally intended for television broadcast, it should come as no surprise that the video presentation is a full frame deal. Colors look pretty solid here, and while there is a bit of compression noticeable in a few of the darker scenes in each episode (as well as some edge enhancement), overall I was pleased with the clarity and high detail evident in this transfer. It looks pretty solid.