Fox’s Original X-Men Cast Get Bright & Realistic X-Men ’97 Costumes In Stunning Marvel Art

20th Century Fox’s original X-Men cast sport comic-accurate costumes donned by their popular X-Men ’97 counterparts in vibrant MCU fan art. 2000’s X-Men brought Marvel Comics’ mutant superhero team into live-action for the first time, though the popular team have been adapted into animation as far back as 1966’s The Marvel Super Heroes series. Despite producing 13 feature films in the X-Men franchise, Fox never properly gifted the titular team their comic-accurate costumes, instead preferring black leather, but other adaptations, including those in X-Men: The Animated Series and its 2024 revival, X-Men ’97, have excelled at delivering exciting X-Men costumes.

New fan art shared by artoftimetravel depicts Fox’s core X-Men cast sporting the costumes seen in X-Men ’97. This includes Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, James Marsden’s Cyclops, Patrick Stewart’s Professor X, Famke Janssen’s Jean Grey, Kelsey Grammer’s Beast, Halle Berry’s Storm, Anna Paquin’s Rogue and Channing Tatum’s Gambit, though the latter never actually debuted in Fox’s X-Men franchise.

The art imagines what comic-accurate costumes could look like in the MCU, and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine sports the version of his superhero suit that he’ll don in Marvel Studios’ upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine. This pattern could continue with the MCU’s official X-Men debut.

After Disney acquired the film rights to the X-Men and other 20th Century Fox properties in 2019, speculation began to rise about a potential return of Fox’s original X-Men team in the MCU. Ryan Reynolds was quickly confirmed to be returning as Wade Wilson’s Deadpool, and Hugh Jackman was soon announced to be joining him for Deadpool & Wolverine. Other X-Men characters have also been confirmed to be returning, including Aaron Stanford’s Pyro, and Patrick Stewart and Kelsey Grammer have already made cameo appearances as alternate versions of their X-Men heroes, but the entire team hasn’t yet been seen together.

Phase 5’s Deadpool & Wolverine could change this, as the titular heroes are expected to spend time in Fox’s X-Men Universe before journeying to the Void at the end of time and then to the MCU. Patrick Stewart has teased his return, so it’s possible the rest of the team could follow suit. If not in Deadpool & Wolverine, 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars has been rumored to include past heroes from several Marvel franchises, which may include Fox’s X-Men. It would be great to bid a final farewell to this iconic team before Marvel Studios reinvents them for the MCU.

Source: Instagram

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