X-Men: Apocalypse New Costumes Analysis

X-Men movie fans got a nice surprise today in the form of a new behind-the-scenes photo from the set of X-Men: Apocalypse. What makes the image so exciting is that it reveals brand new, more comic book inspired costumes for the mutant team.

But which comic books inspired these new looks? We’re going to take a closer look and see if we can figure out the inspiration for these designs. First though, the original image was a little dark and hard to make out. Here’s a brightened up, zoomed in version from Universo X-Men.

Now, let take it from the top:

That Nightcrawler costume is clearly based on the original costume design by the character’s creator, and X-Men comics legend, Dave Cockrum. Cockrum gave Nightcrawler a simple black and red costume, which has served as the basis for basically every memorable Nightcrawler costume since, including a few with the movie costume’s high collar. Apocalypse gives the design a few cinematic embellishments, but it’s otherwise pretty true to the core design.

See that shoulder strap on Cyclops? That should be instantly recognizable to anyone who was a fan of X-Men: The Animated Series. Both the movie costume and the animated series took their designs from Jim Lee’s 1990s Cyclops, which dropped Scott Summer’s hood and gave him a more tactical look.

As we mentioned after the trailer was released, Mystique’s new look is very much inspired by her original costume, also designed by creator Dave Cockrum (Humberto Ramos drew the image above). The movie doesn’t attempt to make the white dress work on screen, but instead uses it as the basis for Mystique’s more battle-ready suit.

With Jean Grey, we return to the Jim Lee designs of the 1990s. Lee took Jean out of her usual green and gave her a more tactical blue and yellow look. The cinematic costume is more subtle – Sophie Turner isn’t wearing a coif, for example – but it’s definitely got Lee’s mark on it.

The closest analogue for Quicksilver’s costume design would be the short-lived, government issued X-Factor costume, which featured a prominent X across the chest. He didn’t wear it for long though, quickly ditching the blue and yellow for the more iconic silver color scheme, which the movie also draws from. If you look closely, the X has a slight crook in it, perhaps a small homage to the lightning bolt that usually stretches across Quicksilver’s torso in the comics.

Beast’s costume seems to be inspired by a more modern look, the costume he was wearing during the X-Men’s recent time as residents of San Francisco. The costume covers up Beast’s torso, but leaves his furry blue arms and legs visible.

Professor X is less based on a specific comic book design as he is based on Patrick Stewart’s look from the original X-Men movie. The suits are similar, and that’s actually the very same chair Stewart sat in. According to Singer, the studio had to buy the chair back from a fan who had bought it at auction.

Lastly, there’s Storm. Her design seems to be a mix of the grey suit Marc Silvestri gave her after she regained her powers in the late 1980s, and the white suit Jim Lee gave her in the 1990s. Movie Storm doesn’t have the lightning bolt across her chest, but does have some yellow trim around her suit.

So what do you think of the new costumes? Let us know in the coments!

Check out when X-Men: Apocalypse and other movies are coming out in ComicBook.com’s Movie Release Schedule.