Over the last 25 years, many mutant characters from Marvel Comics, including members of the X-Men team, have been adapted into live-action, and they’ve sometimes brought their incredible costumes with them. In the early years of 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise, the titular mutant heroes were stripped of their comic-accurate costumes, in lieu of black leather uniforms. More recently, however, live-action X-Men members have been getting better and better costumes.
Mutants and the X-Men in Marvel Comics have often been the source of some of the most vibrant, colorful, outlandish, and interesting superhero costumes. It’s been fantastic to see some of these iconic suits being brought to life in live-action in recent years, including those worn by the likes of Professor X, Gambit, Deadpool, and even Wolverine. With Marvel Studios’ own X-Men reboot on the horizon, we’ll soon see even more memorable mutant costumes, but, looking back, there are already several that stand out from the crowd.
For most of his live-action history, Scott Summers’ Cyclops has been featured in wildly disappointing costumes, seldom his comic-accurate design. However, the superhero suit sported by Tye Sheridan’s younger version of Summers at the end of 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse changed this. Apocalypse marked the only time Cyclops has been seen in live-action in an even-remotely-comic-accurate costume: blue with yellow straps converging in the X-Men’s logo.
This modernized take on the classic Cyclops costume from Marvel Comics worked perfectly for this chapter in Summers’ career as an X-Man in Fox’s revised timeline. Unfortunately, this suit was removed in favor of the lackluster 1990s-style uniforms in 2019’s Dark Phoenix, never to be seen again. There are hopes James Marsden will suit up in a comic-accurate Cyclops suit in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday. X-Men: Apocalypse also included comic-accurate designs of other X-Men’s suits, too, including Nightcrawler, Storm, and even Mystique, for the first time ever.
While not featured as a member of the X-Men team in 20th Century Fox’s franchise, Lashana Lynch’s Maria Rambeau, in her Binary guise, is clearly a member of the team in the alternate universe where Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) becomes trapped at the end of 2023’s The Marvels. Binary’s costume in The Marvels was practically taken straight from the pages of Marvel Comics, which was a fantastic development in the story of Maria Rambeau and her multiversal variants.
In Marvel Comics, after Carol Danvers’ powers were stolen from her by Rogue, she traveled with the X-Men into deep space, where she was experimented on by the extraterrestrial species, the Brood. They imbued in her the power of a white hole, which transformed her into Binary, allowing her to go on many adventures with the X-Men. Lynch’s appearance as Binary continues the trend of Rambeau becoming Captain Marvel in alternate universes, and it was great to see the iconic white-and-red Binary costume brought to life so faithfully in The Marvels.
Beast’s look in The Marvels’ post-credits scene, which marked Kelsey Grammer’s return to the character after nine years, deserves a shout-out for its accuracy when compared to Hank McCoy’s 1990s look. However, it’s Grammer’s costume and make-up from 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand that stands out as Beast’s most realistic and impressive look. There’s not much to love about The Last Stand, but it was brilliant to see Beast finally in action, and with such an incredible design.
Beast played a crucial role in X-Men: The Last Stand as a government liaison between mutantkind and humanity. For 2006, it was great to see Beast have such a comic-accurate design, especially when the looks of other mutant characters, including Psylocke, Kid Omega, Leech, Juggernaut, and more all failed miserably. Hopefully, Beast’s design is just as impressive in Avengers: Doomsday, in which Kelsey Grammer will be reprising the role once more alongside other classic X-Men characters.
The futuristic son of Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor, Jean Grey’s clone, who travels back from a war-torn dystopia to continue his fight against Apocalypse was always going to be a difficult character to bring to live-action. Josh Brolin delivered a fantastic portrayal of the gruff antihero in 2018’s Deadpool 2, however. His rough-around-the-edges, grounded, and believable costume certainly helped, especially the visual accuracy of his cybernetic enhancements, including his arm, eye, and arsenal.
Josh Brolin really made his mark on superhero franchises in 2018, appearing both as Cable and as Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. Luckily, in both appearances, he had an impressive design, which allowed him to deliver strong performances with ease. In Deadpool 2, Cable’s outfit and cybernetic enhancements were made more realistic than those of his Marvel Comics counterpart, who still sports a more vibrant, colorful suit, but this made the character even darker, grittier, and perfect for the Firefist-attacked future he travels back from.
It’s a shame Olivia Munn didn’t get more developed as Psylocke in X-Men: Apocalypse, especially since her costume was one of the most comic-accurate superhero suits in the entire X-Men franchise. The purple jumpsuit was taken directly from the pages of Marvel Comics, where Betsy Braddock’s iteration of the hero wears almost exactly the same costume long before officially suiting up as Captain Britain. With the Braddocks’ debut heavily rumored for the MCU, it’s possible a new Psylocke could be introduced, revisiting this iconic costume.
Even though her costume was excellent, this didn’t seem to aid in Olivia Munn’s characterization of Betsy Braddock whatsoever. Munn’s depiction of Psylocke was wooden, dull, and underdeveloped, which made her remarkably forgettable in an already-lackluster movie, as X-Men: Apocalypse has been heavily criticized by die-hard Marvel fans. There are hopes a more honest-to-goodness Psylocke will appear in the MCU, perhaps bringing more of the character’s notable costumes to life.
Wade Wilson’s costumes in all three of his live-action appearances haven’t really changed all that much. While his most recent suit, courtesy of the Time Variance Authority, in Deadpool & Wolverine was more vibrant and sleeker than his previous designs, the costume from 2016’s Deadpool is still his best. This suit really had the homemade feel that made Deadpool such a relatable and even more down-to-Earth antihero, backed up by Ryan Reynolds’ incredible performance as the Merc with a Mouth.
Deadpool explored the evolution of Wade Wilson’s superhero suit perfectly, with little jabs, quips, and jokes explaining exactly why he chooses red (so villains can’t see him bleed) and why he covers his face (because of his scarring). While his costume from 2016 might be the actual Deadpool’s best design yet, Deadpool & Wolverine introduced many Deadpool variants who had some pretty impressive outfits themselves. Cowboypool, Zenpool, and Deadpool 2099, to name a few, all had incredible designs, so it would be great to see them return to the MCU at some point in the future.
Throughout his live-action history, Erik Lehnsherr’s Magneto has suited up in a great many costumes, but only a few have really demonstrated the power and intensity of the Master of Magnetism. 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, widely considered to be one of the strongest X-Men movies in Fox’s franchise, showed off a sleek and elegant red-and-black outfit for Magneto, complete with his cloak and armor, which was seriously effective. This suit was reminiscent of his classic Marvel Comics look, but gave it a modernized twist.
It was fantastic to see Michael Fassbender suit up in this red-and-black look as Magneto, but also a shame that we never got to see Ian McKellen’s Magneto in a comic-accurate look. Marvel Studios could soon change this, as McKellen has been confirmed to be reprising the role in Avengers: Doomsday. Since this is expected to be the final farewell for McKellen’s Magneto, it would be great for Marvel to give him a more faithful outfit, perhaps one harking back to this brilliant look sported by Fassbender in Days of Future Past.
2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine not only showed off comic-accurate designs for its titular antiheroes, but also gave some previously-underused characters their time to shine in the MCU, too. This includes Channing Tatum’s Gambit, who finally made his live-action debut almost two decades after the actor originally planned to play the Cajun mutant in X-Men: The Last Stand. It was great to see Tatum finally appear as Gambit, living out his X-Men dreams, and his incredible costume helped his delivery.
While Taylor Kitsch’s Gambit was not given a comic-accurate look for his debut in 2009’s reviled X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Channing Tatum’s certainly was. With his silver, metallic boots, purple armor, black headband, and long, brown trench coat, Deadpool & Wolverine’s Gambit was a very faithful adaptation of the character, at least in design, perhaps not in characterization. Tatum will reprise the role in Avengers: Doomsday, perhaps in the same costume, though there are hopes he’ll rely less heavily on his comedic tendencies and perhaps be more serious and stoic.
At first glance, Professor X might not have much of a costume to speak of, given the fact that he’s been wheelchair-bound for almost all of his live-action history. However, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness showed audiences exactly what they’d been missing, as Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier, or, at least, a variant of him, finally sat in his yellow wheelchair. This design was taken straight from the pages of Marvel Comics, and could be repeated for his return in Avengers: Doomsday.
Prior to 2022, Patrick Stewart’s Professor X had regularly been depicted in just a simple wheelchair, though the ‘X’ emblem of the X-Men was evident on the wheels. This wasn’t quite enough to actually satisfy fans, however, so it was great to see the yellow wheelchair from Marvel Comics and X-Men: The Animated Series from the 1990s brought to life in live-action. Multiverse of Madness set up Xavier’s return in the X-Men ’97 revival series, and could hint at his upcoming design in Doomsday.
While there are many X-Men costumes from the group’s live-action history that deserve recognition, there are perhaps none more long-awaited or exhilarating to see in action than that sported by Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine. 24 years after his debut in 2000’s X-Men, Jackman finally suited up as not one, but six comic-accurate versions of Wolverine. This culminated in him suiting up in his yellow-and-blue costume from Marvel Comics, both with and without sleeves and mask, which was any Marvel fan’s dream come true.
Hugh Jackman also appeared in Deadpool & Wolverine as Patch, a crucified Wolverine, Old Man Logan, Age of Apocalypse’s Wolverine, and a brown-and-yellow-suited Wolverine fighting the Hulk. It was his final comic-accurate look that gave us chills, however, and we hope Marvel Studios repeats this effect with whomever takes over the role of Wolverine from Jackman in the MCU’s official X-Men team. Marvel did a wonderful job of delivering faithful depictions of classic X-Men stars in Deadpool & Wolverine, but Wolverine’s updated design was, by far, the best.
What are your favorite live-action X-Men costumes? Let us know in the comments!
While they’ve seldom been comic-accurate, we’ve still loved seeing some of these X-Men’s movie costumes brought into live-action. Read More