10 Best Alternate X-Men Costumes From Age of Apocalypse, Ranked

The ’90s are one of the most beloved eras of the X-Men, despite also being one of the most bloated, convoluted decades for Marvel’s merry mutants. The books sold amazingly, and the best artists in comics were drawing them, but the writing was mostly fair to middling with some standouts. However, fans will always love ’90s X-Men, and a big reason for that is the undisputed classic “Age of Apocalypse”. This story spun out of “Legion Quest”, where Legion accidentally killed Xavier while in the past to kill Magneto, taking readers to a world where Apocalypse ruled North and South America and Magneto’s X-Men battled his dark mutant empire.

The best artists of ’90s Marvel worked on these books, so they all looked fantastic. Especially great were the costumes, some of which were completely different from what fans were used to. These ten alternate X-Men costumes from “Age of Apocalypse” were amazing, each of them going down in the X-Men’s pantheon of sartorial brilliance.

10) Phoenix

Jean Grey and the Phoenix Force are inextricably linked, but the fiery personification of death and rebirth wouldn’t meet her in the original “Age of Apocalypse”. She ended up dying in X-Men: Omega #1, but would return as Phoenix in 2005’s X-Men: Age of Apocalypse, the ten year anniversary of the story written by current Marvel editor in chief Akira Yoshida… I mean C.B. Cebulski, with art by Chris Bachalo. This costume is basically Bachalo going nuts with the Phoenix, making it sexier than ever. It’s one of those costumes where you wonder how it works while loving the way it looks.

9) Apocalypse

Apocalypse is one of Marvel’s greatest villains, and he’s had some great looks over the decades. His “Age of Apocalypse” look is easily one of the coolest things he’s ever worn. It’s not as darkly colored as his original armor, the various shades of blue and red giving him more of a regal look than usual. Add in the shoulder pads and cape, and you get a look that was familiar, yet just different enough to be memorable. It’s an excellent costume for him and if you look at his Krakoa Era costumes, you can see shades of this one.

8) Sabretooth

Sabretooth is one of the X-Men’s most beloved villains, so seeing him as a member of the X-Men in good standing in “Age of Apocalypse” was awesome. He was a completely different person and his costume illustrated that. His costumes on Earth-616 show how wild he is, playing up his bestial side, but this one is a more traditional superhero costume. It kept the tan/orange and brown coloration that most of Creed’s costumes have had, but highlighted his physicality and not his animal side. It’s a costume that doesn’t seem like much, but it jumps out in the pantheon of great Sabretooth costumes.

7) Rogue

Rogue has always had excellent costumes, and her “Age of Apocalypse” look is easily one of her best. It takes the colors of the ’90s costume and goes in similar design directions, but is also quite different. The Magneto collar shows off her relationship with the mutant master of magnetism, and her hair was inspired by Masamune Shirow’s Major Motoko Kutsanagi from Ghost in the Shell (then X-artist Joe Madureira loved manga and anime and JRPGs). Sometimes, there’s a cape that sets the whole thing off, but it looks just as great without it. All in all, this is a best of all time costume for a character that has years of amazing threads.

6) Holocaust

Holocaust was the main villain of Astonishing X-Men, one of the best AoA miniseries. The son of Apocalypse, he was the heir to the throne and loved slaughtering humans, leading the Infinites in human culls across the world. His costume was created to intimidate and it does a fantastic job at that. The massive armor made him look dangerous, and his visible skeleton gives him just the right fear factor. It was a perfect look for a villain, and one of the coolest villain costumes of all time.

5) Kitty Pryde

Kitty Pryde is known for having a lot of costumes, and there are lot of really bad ones in her closet (we all wore clothes when we were teens that we’d rather forget). However, Age of Apocalypse Kitty Pryde had an awesome costume right from the word go. It was super simple – leather pants and boots, a tube top, and forearm length gloves topped off by three retractable claws – and it fits her personality perfectly. It has an MCU charm to it, except the extra lines actually make it look good. This is a Kitty Pryde raised as a warrior, one who has been risking her life for years. She’s a much harder edged person, and her costume lets readers know that.

4) Cyclops

Cyclops was very different in “Age of Apocalypse”. He was raised by Mister Sinister and was one of the most important Prelates in Apocalypse’s empire. His costume took its marching orders from his ’90s one, its blue and yellow coloration and various bandoliers and pouches echoing his Earth-616 look at the time. He was also truly a cyclops in this world, having lost his eye in battle against Weapon X, modifying his visor. Add in his luxurious long hair, and you get one of the coolest Cyclops looks ever.

3) Blink

Blink was a teen mutant introduced in 1994’s “The Phalanx Covenant”, dying at the end of the story. She would return in X-Men Alpha #1 and became a fan favorite immediately. She was an amazing character and she had an excellent costume. It was rather simple – a long dress with slits that start at the hips, forearm length gloves, pirate boots, and a backpack to hold her staves. The green blended perfectly with her purplish skin. All in all, it’s one of those looks that helped convince readers Blink was cool, and is still her most (and honestly only) iconic look.

2) Sunfire

Sunfire has been an on-again, off-again member of the X-Men for decades, and he’s had some cool costumes over the years. However, none of them could match his look from “Age of Apocalypse”. It’s a costume that shouldn’t work at all, but somehow looks awesome. His mask pays homage to Japan, lost in the war against Apocalypse, and the strips of clothe all over his body allows him to show off his fiery plasma-based powers. It was a hit right from the start, and has even made its way to Earth-616 during the short period that Sunfire acted as the Horseman of Apocalypse Famine.

1) Weapon X

Weapon X is one of Marvel’s most beloved alternate universe heroes, and has the best costume in “Age of Apocalypse”. Weapon X was amazing, and one of the coolest parts of the character was his costume. It sort of looked like the all black number he wore in the first ten issues of Wolverine (Vol. 2), except it was a dark blue instead of black, with some red claw marks on it at various places and a cool red belt. His missing left hand, taken from him when he cut out Cyclops’s eye, was capped off with metal and added to the savage look of the character. This is a classic costume; it looked amazing in the comics, gave us one of the coolest Marvel Legends figures ever, and appeared in Deadpool and Wolverine, showing why it’s the best of the best.

What’s your favorite “Age of Apocalypse” costume? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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