X-Men ’97 so far has been a real nostalgia trip for fans who grew up during the decade, and it certainly seems to help that the people making the cartoon have love for the other media involving Marvel’s mutants from the era too.
With the trailer drop for the new X-Men episode ‘Rogue Goes Rogue’, the power-stealing hero appears to pretty overtly reference one of her classic moves from the Marvel vs. Capcom games.
At around the 40-second mark of the trailer, Rogue is shown performing a very dynamic flying kick, which some fighting game fans quickly took notice of.
When stopping on those handful of frames from the animation, it does appear to be very close to Rogue’s divekick from the MvC titles though not exact.
The kick and her off-leg being pulled up look the same, but she’s got her opposite hand up by her head with the other arm stretched out instead of held close to her body like the game.
Click images for larger versions
We’re leaning towards this kick being an actual reference and not just a coincidence because of the animators working on it.
Key frame animator Matthew B. claims he boarded this sequence for Rogue’s battle, and he’s the same person who came out last month about maining Cyclops on his Marvel vs. Capcom 2 team.
They also previously referenced some of the X-Men arcade games in another recent episode that even included the famous Mango Sentinel.
This is one of the first scenes I boarded for the show, just wanted to show y’all why Cyclops is my anchor when I play Marvel vs Capcom 2 https://t.co/OpaiYcsu7S
— Free MvC2 (@MatthewB64) March 20, 2024
Technically, this divekick first appeared in Rogue’s debut Capcom appearance all the way back in 1996 with X-Men vs. Street Fighter, and it’s been almost 25 years since we last saw it in MvC2 since she didn’t make the roster of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 or Infinite.
Even though a new Marvel vs. Capcom game isn’t likely right now, there is still some official crossover with the companies on a product with Arcade1UP’s limited edition X-Men ’97 MvC2 cabinet up for pre-order now.
The new episode of X-Men ’97 should be available today on Disney+, so maybe there’s even more references within.