Wolverine and the X-Men was a cartoon cancelled before it’s time. It was a straight forward, geektastic take on the X-Men, reveling in its comic book roots while sticking Wolverine front and center. It was the kind of cartoon that featured cameos by obscure characters like Blink, Fishboy and Marrow, while still telling a great X-Men story with the likes of Wolverine, Cyclops and Magneto. It ran for only one season on Nickelodeon in 2009 before getting the ax – likely due to the fact that Disney was buying Marvel Comics.

Deadpool, the Merc with the Mouth

What makes the cancellation even worse is that season 1 ended on a great Age of Apocalypse cliffhanger! And this uncovered production art from the planned season 2 reveals that they were actually going to do a huge Age of Apocalypse storyline. That would have been sweet! Season 2 also would have involved Deadpool, Cable, Archangel, Pyro and more, based on these pictures!

More after the jump!

Age of Apocalypse Wolverine is missing a hand

The Age of Apocalypse was this story in the mid-90s X-Men comics similar to the plot of Back to the Future II. Remember when old Biff goes back in time to give young Biff the sports almanac, then when Marty McFly goes back to 1985, he returns to a dark, alternate 1985? Surely you all remember Doc Brown’s chalkboard diagram. Well the Age of Apocalypse told the story of a villain going back in time to kill Charles Xavier before he could form the X-Men. Then for 4 months, all of the comics in the X-Men franchise turned into dark, alternate versions of themselves, all taking place in the Age of Apocalypse. Because without Xavier and the X-Men, the evil villain Apocalypse went unchecked and started taking over the world.

Age of Apocalypse was a popular story because everybody loves seeing cool, alternate reality versions of their favorite characters. It’s still referenced today!

At any rate, enjoy these pictures I found. I’ve posted some of the best pictures below, but you can check out all of them here.

Age of Apocalypse Colossus

AoA Sunfire – this alternate look was so popular that it later became his normal look

Havok

Pyro

Classic Costume Jean Grey

AoA Sabretooth – one of my personal favorite alternate universe characters of all time

Archangel