In 1989, Pryde of the X-Men aired as an animated television pilot, aiming to launch a new X-Men series. The episode introduces Kitty Pryde, a young mutant with the ability to phase through solid objects. She joins the X-Men, a team of superheroes led by Professor X, to thwart Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutant Terrorists from using a comet to destroy humanity. The main characters include Professor X, Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, and Dazzler, while the villains are Magneto, Toad, the Blob, Pyro, Juggernaut, and the White Queen.

Produced by Marvel Productions and Toei Animation, the pilot was narrated by Stan Lee and featured a voice cast including Michael Bell, Earl Boen, and Frank Welker.

Although the series was not picked up, the pilot gained a cult following and influenced the 1992 X-Men animated series. It also served as the basis for Konami’s X-Men arcade game.

Magneto, the X-Men’s archenemy, is being transported by a military convoy. Trapped in a force field, he is unable to use his powers until the White Queen, a member of his “Brotherhood of Mutant Terrorists,” frees him. This allows Magneto to use his magnetic powers to tear apart his portable prison and escape.

Meanwhile, Kitty Pryde arrives at Professor Xavier’s school to begin training her phasing powers, which allow her to pass through solid matter. In the Danger Room, Kitty is introduced to the X-Men: Cyclops, Colossus, Dazzler, Nightcrawler, Storm and Wolverine. Frightened by Nightcrawler’s demonic appearance, Kitty almost causes the Danger Room to go haywire, prompting Wolverine to protest her recruitment.

Magneto sends Pyro and Blob to retrieve the tracking coordinates for the Scorpio comet approaching Earth, with the secondary goal of distracting the X-Men while Magneto and Juggernaut invade the X-Mansion. Xavier reads Magneto’s thoughts and learns that they seek to steal the “mutant power circuit” of Cerebro, the mutant-tracking computer. He gives it to Kitty and orders her to flee, but Magneto manages to capture it.

The X-Men return from their confrontation with Blob and Pyro to find the mansion in ruins, and the Professor and Kitty unconscious. Xavier reads Magneto’s thoughts again and learns his full plan: to redirect the Scorpio comet onto a collision course with Earth and plunge the planet into another ice age, which would leave normal humans weakened, allowing the mutants to take over. The X-Men leave for Magneto’s orbiting sanctuary, Asteroid M, but instruct Kitty to stay behind, as the mission is too dangerous and she has not been trained. Kitty, wanting to prove her worth and make amends for her previous failure, phases aboard the Blackbird and hides, with Xavier’s permission.

Upon reaching the asteroid, each X-Man meets an obstacle on the way to Magneto. Storm covers the breach the X-Men blow into Asteroid M, Dazzler takes on Pyro, Wolverine traps Toad, Colossus engages Juggernaut, and Cyclops battles the White Queen. After effortlessly teleporting past the Blob, Nightcrawler confronts a gloating Magneto as the Scorpio comet approaches Earth. As Magneto is about to blast Nightcrawler, Kitty emerges from the floor, causing Magneto to accidentally blast the wiring of his device. Nightcrawler teleports up and uses his body as a conductor, while Kitty knocks Magneto onto the platform, using his power to redirect the comet’s course towards Asteroid M. Nightcrawler must risk sacrificing himself to complete the machine’s circuit, or the comet will change course back to Earth.

The X-Men watch from the Blackbird for Nightcrawler to teleport at the last minute. The comet and asteroid collide, but Nightcrawler rematerializes out in space. The team attempts to retrieve him with the Blackbird’s grappler arms, but they miss, and he apparently disintegrates. While the X-Men mourn Nightcrawler, he emerges from a storage locker, revealing that he teleported himself into the plane before the atmospheric compression burned up his suit. While the X-Men give Kitty credit for her efforts, Wolverine insists that Kitty is not yet a member of the X-Men.

In a really strange twist of fate, someone hired an Australian actor to voice Wolverine. The result is baffling and rather off-putting. Ironically, in 2000 an Australian actor, Hugh Jackman, would go on to play Wolverine in the film franchise for nearly 25 years!

Juggernaut has a history of trashing the Mansion. He does it in his first appearance in Uncanny X-Men #12 and in the X-Men episodes The Unstoppable Juggernaut and the The Juggernaut Returns, the latter for which is very similar to his attack here.

Toad is a member of Magneto’s gang, but is portrayed in a very unintelligent way, as a general buffoon and idiot, bullied by his ‘master.’ The Blob is also portrayed as similarly dim. At one point, Magneto tells an obedient Toad to “go and play in an airlock”! Luckily, he gets distracted by the weird dragon floating around with no explanation…

The dragon is unnamed, but is Lockheed. At the end of the episode he travels back on Kitty’s shoulder, replicating their relationship in the comics.

Xavier will use Magneto’s power in a similar way in X-Men ’97‘s first season finale Tolerance is Extinction, but rather than moving a comet, he’s moving Asteroid M.