X-Men '97 actor JP Karliak opened up about the importance of Morph being identified as non-binary in the new series.
Prior to the premiere of the series, reports revealed that Morph is going to be identified as a non-binary character when they get reintroduced again in the revival.
The major change to the character has received backlash from some fans, but the creators of the original series have also come forward and defended the decision.
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X-Men '97 Actor JP Karliak on Why Morph Being Non-Binary Matters
In an exclusive interview with Epicstream, Karliak opened up about the importance of Morph being non-binary in X-Men '97 and why it matters in queer superhero representation.
"For me, it was cool that this was his identity because not only does it represent a non-binary superhero today that kids can look up to, but there is a little bit of that reflection of being a child of the '90s," he said.
"How cool would it have been to have that 90s-based superhero that I could look up to before I even have the language to describe it."
Karliak also reflected on how the concept of a non-binary identity was not present yet in the public's consciousness in the 1990s.
"It's funny that Morph is non-binary and his pronouns are he/they but probably in the respect that in the 90s, we didn't have the term non-binary nor did we have alternative pronouns necessarily the same way we do today," he added.
"For him, it was kind of a discovery that should more survive until modern day, we hope. Like me, my own personal journey will learn the terminology to be able to describe who he is. There's so many levels that I identify with him."
Karliak also shared the positive feedback that he has received from fans regarding Morph's non-binary identity.
"Just the reaction that people had to him. We were at WonderCon a couple of weeks ago and the number of people that have come up and said how impactful having Morph as a queer superhero was," he said.
"It was profound. It was so cool. It's really nice to see that we have this uplifting, positive representation of a superhero for queer people, queer kids, all of them."
There is no doubt that Morph's non-binary identity is an important step in queer representation since today's audience now has a superhero that they can look up to and it's interesting to see how his journey will play out in the rest of the series.
New episodes of X-Men '97 premiere every Wednesday on Disney+.
Read Next: X-Men '97 Episode 4 Ends on a Major Cliffhanger for Storm
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