Wolverine and the X-Men, the fourth adaptation of X-Men-related characters for television, finds its third "volume" on DVD in November. Following the release of the first three episodes in the Heroes Return Trilogy and five more in Deadly Enemies, the third installment finds five more episodes in Beginning of the End. Another thirteen episodes remain from the first season, but they haven't been released yet. For now, it's simply the torn-apart future that the X-Men wrestle with, both in their present and their future as well.

With the episodes "Future X," "Greetings From Genosha," "Past Discretions," "eXcessive Force," and "Battle Lines," the audience finds Professor X in the future (I'm a little fuzzy on how he got there but it is via a coma), and Wolverine serving as the renegade director of the X-Men missions. Much of this world is darker than the world of the run-of-the-mill cartoon, and yet, somehow, it fits the X-Men vibe. And while the settings and storylines may be different from those of the past, the main principles remain the same.

Professor X preaches peace while Magneto preaches war on all who serve as threats to Magneto's power. Obviously, reading into the Jewish-Nazi storylines external to the story, Magneto has a lot of reason to hate; as Bill Cosby (or whoever started this) said, "hurt people hurt people." Magneto doesn't think he's power-driven but he ends up being the kind of person he never intended to be. And his minions, from Mystique to Scarlet Witch and more, are all just as typical followers should be: they're various stages of participant and complicit in the plots to overthrow "normal" humans and rule with extreme prejudice.

One of the things I found to be frustrating was the Mystique storyline, and specifically the ways that she is able to best each of the X-Men. For the most part though, the depiction is stellar, and in terms of not being live-action, equal to the feature-length movies. The confusion of Wolverine due to the training, brainwashing, injuries, and torture that he's undergone make the character well rounded; the animation makes for reasonable facsimiles of "realistic" individuals.

From an evaluative perspective, it is noteworthy that both Professor X and Wolverine, regardless of their methodology or personality, are both sacrificial in their actions, and their love for the child X-men under their care is remarkable. Everyone has sufficient motive to do their own thing (and sometimes they go the wrong way, like the biblical Jonah). This puts them in contrast to Magneto, who doesn't even treat his own son (Quicksilver) like a family member, who lacks compassion and is driven by hatred.

This isn't Adult Swim, but the content and storylines certainly lend themselves to being more "adult" than the average cartoon. While shining light into the darkness and battling evil, the characters regularly get caught up in the darkness themselves. Maybe that's why the X-Men have always been a favorite of mine; yes, the world is black and white, but the two sometimes overlap, and we get caught in the gray. Frankly, that's where I live most of my life, in the dichotomy of the two, searching for light to navigate the way.