The X-Men ’97 Morph actor doesn’t want to work with Wolverine in Season 2

Speaking has become isolating work over the years – these days, for an actor like JP Karliak, a day “on set” is done in a home studio, and notes come in over Zoom calls. But the goals are the same: finding the perfect sound that fits a character and relentlessly pursuing the perfect take. Karliak has worked as a voice actor across the animation and video game spectrum and is no stranger to IP needs. He was in everything, from The Boss Baby: Back in business To Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, where he played Batman’s nemesis Joker. Takes on the role of Morph in Marvel Animations X Men ’97, voiced by actor Ron Rubin in the original series, put him under a lot of pressure from nostalgic fans. But when he was alone in the room, he found it: his own pure voice.

“My natural speaking voice isn’t all that different from Ron’s original performance,” says Karliak.[and Morph] has a new look, he is changing. And all these characters go through this whole plot. For me it was just like that Why don’t we just put him in that grounded space and not put a character voice over it?”

In addition to redesigning Morph’s characters, the X Men ’97 Writers developed her into animation’s first non-binary character. Karliak, who identifies as genderqueer, was happy about the change. In the 1990s, the use of he/they pronouns was less common, but Rogue’s 1997 emphasis on properly addressing Morph fits right in with the series’ approach of doing what feels emotionally right, continuity, and era damned.

“We weren’t flying around shooting lightning bolts from our fingers [in 1997 either]”Whatever!” says Karliak. “I still think the portrayal is incredible. And I don’t think it takes anything away from Morph. Morph is on a gender journey that will unfold over time, and he goes through the eras the terminology we have already lived through.”

Image: Marvel Animation

With such a stacked cast, the series doesn’t give Morph much airtime, but her story in the series is deeply felt and considered in every line. X Men ’97 remains in continuity with X-Men: The Animated Series, in which Sentinels killed Morph in the first episode, only to have Mister Sinister resurrect the shapeshifter as a brainwashed X-Enemy. When his friends rescue him, he disappears from the series again to deal with this trauma.

Morph returns X Men ’97 as a silly but troubled soul finding a place in the world. Karliak says that even when Morph has three lines in an episode, he found himself going through all the variations – pure anger, cracking jokes, crying his eyes out, almost expressionless – with voice actress Meredith Layne (Castlevania) to give the director and writers what they need to connect the past with the present. “As the comic relief of the show, I think he buries a lot of things,” Karliak says. “Letting him say less was actually the wiser course for someone who internalizes a lot.”

In addition to his work as a voice actor, Karliak runs the non-profit LGBTQIA+ organization Queer Vox, which aims to train aspiring queer VO artists and educate the industry about working with queer talent. He says a peculiarity of current Hollywood casting is that the group often encounters auditions that ask for “non-binary voices,” which he finds funny despite trying to be an ally. “It’s like, What does that mean?

And what makes Morph so enjoyable for Karliak to bring to life isn’t the way the character fits into a particular identity slot – it’s the way his identity fits into the everyday drama at the X-Mansion and the larger global drama of fits X Men ’97.

“He’s a superhero who has trauma, he has friends, he shows up, he does the thing,” Karliak says. “He’d probably like to have a significant other at some point – you know, hint, hint, nudge, nudge – and all that happens. But there is never anything particularly special Jesse Spano episode from, how, This is the non-binary episode. Because we don’t need it.”

Many fans have wondered if Morph’s friendship with Wolverine could evolve into something more romantic in future seasons X Men ’97. But Karliak hopes that’s not the case because he wants so much for his character to find love.

“As someone who has consumed a lot of queer media over the years – what coded things we had in the ’90s – I think so many stories have been told about the queer person pining for the straight best friend. Meh!” he says. “It seems kind of boring to me! I find it much more interesting that they love each other as if they were Frodo and Samwise, and that’s great. It doesn’t have to be more than that. And they can support each other. It causes Morph to level Wolverine by turning into Jean Grey, so much less about that: Oh, I’m jealous so I’m going to bullshit you about your girlfriend who I hate

Karliak praises that X Men ’97 Giving authors the space to break with obvious stereotypes and traditions and do their own thing. And the work stands up to any kind of scrutiny. When news broke that Karliak would be voicing Morph as a non-binary character, hate erupted in the usual corners of the internet and found its way into his mentions. But now that the season is over, he’s hearing little backlash.

“There are properties and films and IPs that have tried to represent queer and rather checked the box, and that was poorly received when it was announced and continued to be poorly received as the thing bombed,” he says. “And I think the great thing about it is that it’s authentically done, not just in the acting but also in the writing, like Beau [DeMayo]but also Charley [Feldman] and all other authors. There’s a queer pedigree that goes into this to make this right. So the people who were screaming about it before it came out – when everyone saw it and it was so universally praised, it really silenced everything. There’s no arguing with excellence.”