10 Best Alternate X-Men Costumes From Days of Future Past, Ranked

The X-Men have been at the center of many storylines where the future is a dark dystopia, and mutants are nearly extinct. Even after so many decades, their first story featuring the trope, “Days of Future Past,” is seen as the gold standard of grim comic book tales. Considered one of the greatest Marvel stories of all time, “Days of Future Past” presents a future in which, after the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants assassinates Senator Kelly, humanity declares war on mutantkind by mass-producing Sentinels, which eventually go rogue and take over the planet. This story has featured many iconic redesigns of fan-favorite X-Men and other characters who live in this bleak timeline.

These are the best original designs of Marvel Comics characters that are unique to the “Days of Future Past” timeline, otherwise known as Earth-811.

10) Jubilee

Jubilee is normally the brightest and most optimistic member of the X-Men, so seeing her in basic, dark clothing shows just how bad things have gotten in the future. To blend in and hide from the Sentinels, Jubilee switched her colorful yellow and pink outfit for black, blue, and dark red. The only remnants of her once boisterous style are her giant gold earrings and a ratty yellow cloak that she soon had to discard while fleeing Sentinels. For Jubilee to transform into such a grim and battle-hardened rebel is heartbreaking and represents just how far the world had fallen.

9) Master Mold

In this horrifying future run by emotionless and deadly Sentinel robots, its ruler is the massive and intelligent Master Mold. A giant Sentinel, Master Mold’s towering presence is a clear indication of his authority. And unlike the purple and pink color scheme of other Sentinels, Master Mold’s primary color is red, offering a visually distinct and menacing design. And with his immense computing power, Master Mold has an enormous cranium to contain the countless calculations running through his head. This is one of the best designs of Master Mold Marvel Comics has ever done.

8) Psylocke

Even in a future where mutantkind is on the brink of extinction, the evil Hellfire Club survives and brainwashes former X-Men into their ranks. One such X-Man was Psylocke. She was corrupted into joining Shinobi Shaw’s Hellfire Club as the dreaded Red Queen. Like other Hellfire Club queens, Psylocke wears an eye-catching costume that projects a sense of authority. Psylocke has a menacing, form-fitting red-and-black body suit with an assortment of spikes. Also, she sports a giant cape as a sign of her status as the Red Queen. It’s an incredibly scandalous yet fearsome outfit that shows just how much the once proud X-Man had turned to the dark side.

7) Bishop

Bishop is well-known for being a mutant freedom fighter from the future, and the version of Bishop in the world of “Days of Future Past” is no different. Like other incarnations of the energy-absorbing mutant, he’s a time-traveler who’s come back in time to battle the Sentinels and prevent an even worse future. For his mission, Bishop is adorned in futuristic, heavy yet rugged armor and an assortment of pouches to hold his vast array of weapons. Bishop also wears a striking, long red cloak that helps him stand out. Overall, Bishop’s outfit helps to emphasize the fact that he’s a hardened warrior who lives to fight against the oppressive Sentinels.

6) Midnight

Amiko Kobayashi is Wolverine’s surrogate daughter who grows up to become a deadly ninja. On Earth-811, after being separated from Wolverine, Amiko became the masked mercenary and hero Midnight. In this persona, she wears a form-fitting purple suit that covers her entire body, including her face. On top of the bodysuit, Midnight is adorned with huge red armor plates and a cool crown-like headwear over her brow. She’s also armed with two katannas and sais. While it’s not the most practical outfit for a ninja, Midnight’s costume is incredibly striking and visually distinct while also hiding her identity until her fateful unmasking in front of Wolverine.

5) Ahab

Like the famous literary character he’s named after, Ahab is a terrifying villain who lives for the hunt. A cyborg geneticist who works for the Sentinels, Ahab is the founder of the Hound Program, in which mutants are brainwashed into hunting down members of their own kind. Everything about Ahab’s design calls back to his hatred for mutants. For example, he willingly allowed most of his body to be replaced with cybernetics to make him a more effective killing machine. On top of the body horror this design exhibits, it also recalls Ahab’s literary inspiration, with his facial hair and harpoon meant to be clear homages to the antagonist of Herman Melville’s acclaimed novel Moby Dick.

4) Mutant Prisoners

Throughout most of “Days of Future Past” and its numerous spin-offs, the most common outfit worn by the characters is a green jumpsuit. These uniforms are worn by almost every single mutant as mandated by their Sentinel overlords. A giant “M” is printed on the front and back of the suit to ensure that no one forgets the mutants’ status as third-class citizens. Mutants are also required to put on power-inhibiting collars. Many iconic X-Men, including Kitty Pryde, Colossus, Storm, and Magneto, are compelled to wear these outfits or risk extermination by the Sentinels. While they’re not the flashiest outfits, the jumpsuits paint a clear and haunting parallel to real-life groups throughout history who have been the victims of persecution and genocide.

3) Rachel Summers

One of the best characters to come from Earth-811 is Rachel Summers, the potential future daughter of Cyclops and Jean Grey. When Rachel was young, she was captured by the Sentinels and forced to become one of Ahab’s hounds to track and detain mutants who had escaped from the internment camps and were on the run. Rachel’s first costume symbolized this degrading role, as she was forced to wear a leather suit covered in spikes, like a full-body dog collar. When she was freed from her brainwashing and escaped to the present, Rachel upgraded this suit to a cool red to match her recent connection to the Phoenix Force.

2) Nimrod

The pinnacle of Sentinel technology is Nimrod who is a nightmarish, powerful robot that exists only to destroy mutantkind, both in the past and future. Given the advanced and ever-evolving machinery that makes Nimrod, his design is unlike any Sentinel ever seen before. Nimrod’s blocky figure and immense size make his lack of humanity and overwhelming might abundantly clear. The sleekness of Nimrod’s metal casing and its predominantly white coloring also lend themselves to both show Nimrod’s absurdly advanced technology and the Sentinel’s obsession with purity. Everything about Nimrod’s design makes him look utterly terrifying and represents everything the X-Men fight against.

1) Wolverine

By the time “Days of Future Past” came out, Wolverine was mostly known for his bright yellow, black, and blue suit. However, this story offered one of the first versions of a more grounded design for the beloved X-Man. Instead of spandex, Wolverine dons civilian clothing, including an iconic brown fur-trimmed jacket that pays tribute to his animalistic nature. It’s an incredibly rugged look that immediately sets itself apart from any X-Men costumes that came before. Now, the main universe Wolverine will often wear regular clothes along with the famous jacket when he’s slaughtering bad guys. Although it was meant to make Wolverine look inconspicuous to Sentinels, it ironically became instantly recognizable to readers.

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