X-Men: Evolution was the second animated series to be based on Marvel Comics' popular comic book title, The Uncanny X-Men. Following on the heels of the successful X-Men animated series, which ran for five seasons, X-Men: Evolution took place before the original series, at a time when most of the mutant students were newly-arrived at Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. For those unfamiliar with the story backdrop, 'mutant' is a term for people who are born with one or more superhuman abilities due to an aberration in their genetic makeup. The X-Men were a group of mutant superheroes, feared by the common man, yet instrumental in protecting the very society that shunned them. The wheelchair-bound Professor Charles Xavier, himself a mutant telepath, ran his School for Gifted Youngsters in Westchester, New York.