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‘Didn’t Surprise Me At All’: X-Men ’97 Voice Actor J.P. Karliak Claps Back Over Morph Being Non-Binary
The actor who plays Morph on Disney+’s X-Men ’97, J.P. Karliak, is speaking out about the criticism the program faced after Marvel Animation labelled the character as non-binary.
Some fans went into a tailspin when X-Men ’97 showrunner Beau DeMayo—who has since left the show—confirmed to Empire for their April 2024 issue that Morph was non-binary. John Paul Karliak has spoken about the controversy and criticism regarding the matter.
Karliak is not surprised by Morph’s identity
J.P. Karliak told CBR in an interview that he was not surprised by the response from a specific subset of followers, saying, “I’m a queer activist. My nonprofit organization promotes LGBTQ representation. In addition, I was a co-founder of a voter registration group. No, that didn’t surprise me in the slightest since I am aware of what’s happening in the world, particularly in politics. I believe what I found most admirable was the amount of opposition, with individuals asking questions like, ‘Have you seen the X-Men? Do you know why they were made and what their purpose is? Did you overlook that? That gave me comfort,” he continued.
The X-Men have been viewed as a symbolic representation of the American civil rights struggle, and Morph is a shape-shifting mutant. As much as they’ve tried, Karliak claimed he hasn’t “taken offense with anything anybody’s published. An article referred to me as a radical gay activist and included the deceptive mission statement of my organization, Queer Vox—exactly as it appeared on the website,” he said. “Facts,” I said, Here’s the truth, I appreciate the boost!” Despite the fact that Morph’s creator of the animated series called him non-binary, the term isn’t really utilized in the program.
“There are two things to note about that: first, to the best of my knowledge, we will never refer to someone as “non-binary” because no one used the term in the 1990s. It was simply not a widely used term at the time, not that it didn’t exist,” Karliak clarified. “Morph does not have the language to describe his identity, even though it may be similar to what a contemporary individual might define as non-binary. However, as far as using them as a pronoun was concerned, they/them was nonexistent.”
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Karliak finds himself in the character of Morph
Karliak also revealed that Morph is still searching for his identity in the wake of the events of X-Men: The Animated Series, which clarifies where the mutant’s psyche is at the beginning of X-Men ’97. The voice actor also discussed how he and Morph are similar in that they both use comedy to hide their past trauma. “I don’t believe he has a firm position yet. Karliak remarked, “That Mister Sinister trauma is intense. He’s a character who’s gone through a lot of psychological and physical trauma—not to mention that [Morph] was killed and then revived—but he hides and conceals a lot of it with humor, which is something else I adore about him. That’s a lot of our stories as LGBTQ people, so I really identify with that.”
Actor and comedian John Paul Karliak has voiced characters including Wile E. Coyote in Wabbit/New Looney Tunes, Linus in The Stinky & Dirty Show, Dante Crescendo in Trolls: TrollsTopia, and Naysaya in the Disney XD animated series Star vs. the Forces of Evil. In addition, he provided the voice of Bailey in Disney Infinity: 3.0. Edition, the Boss Baby in The Boss Baby: Back in Business and The Boss Baby: Back in the Crib on Netflix, and N. Tropy in the Crash Bandicoot series at the moment and can be heard in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League as The Joker.
Disney+ offers X-Men ’97 for streaming, with new episodes released every Wednesday.
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