Morph returns to the team in “X-Men ‘97” with a new look. Instead of appearing as a brunette man, Morph is now nonbinary with a bald head and white, mask-like face. DeMayo confirmed the change in an interview before he was fired, but after the first trailer dropped, some fans took to X/Twitter and called it a “woke” change for the sake of diversity.
Now, Morph’s creators are pushing back on the criticism, saying the hero being portrayed as nonbinary aligns with their original designs.
“For me, the word ‘nonbinary’ is the same as the word ‘shapeshifter,’” Houston says. “Every character that can change from one gender to another, or from human to animal, that’s just another word for ‘shapeshifter’ for me.”
Eric Lewald points to Morph’s resurrection in Season 2 of “The Animated Series,” when the former teammate transforms into Rogue, Storm and Jean Grey to get revenge on the X-Men.
“He attacks Wolverine, his closest friend, in the most dramatic way by turning into Jean Grey and putting his hand on Wolverine’s neck and leaning in for a kiss. That’s as nonbinary as you can get. It’s Morph turning into a woman and coming onto Wolverine to freak him out,” he says. “It was all there in Morph’s character. Now it’s become such a social thing that I think people will be more sensitive to how it’s used. That’s the only difference. We didn’t see a problem in reading him and didn’t feel he was any different.”