10 Most Iconic X-Men Costumes of All Time, Ranked

The X-Men are a beloved team, and they’ve earned that esteem in numerous ways over the years. There are fantastic stories, amazing heroes, monstrous villains, and the kind of complex continuity that many superhero fans love. However, one thing that has helped the team get popular is one of the easiest things to identify: the costumes. Over the years, the mutant team has been the home of some of the best costumes of all time. Their looks have made readers sit up and pay attention, as the best costumes said something about the characters. Over the years, we’ve seen some sartorial brilliance from the men and women of X.

There have been some amazing X-Men costumes, but not all of them are what you’d call “iconic”. Iconic costumes are the ones that everyone thinks about when they think of characters, and X-Men history has given readers lots of these. These ten X-Men costumes are the most iconic, looks that have gone down in comic history.

10) Magneto’s Classic Costume

Magneto is a complex character, his relationship with the team evolving over the decades. However, one thing that has never changed is how awesome his costumes are. Max Eisenhardt doesn’t mess when it comes to costumes, and his best is his original. This red and purple number, created by Jack Kirby and worked on by some of the best artists ever, is perfect. From the helmet to the flowing cape to the colors, it’s a masterpiece.

9) Original Jubilee

Jubilee was a favorite of ’90s fans, and she was given an amazing costume right from the beginning. She was created to be a late ’80s mallrat, and artist Marc Silvestri gave her a costume that had that feel. The colors were awesome, her big ’80s glasses were perfect, and the whole thing told you everything you needed to know about the character just by looking at her. This costume was the one that she wore on X-Men: The Animated Series, and fans still love it to this day, with her current costume based on it (full disclosure: her Generation X costume is pretty awesome, too; she’s never had a bad costume).

8) Original Archangel Costume

Archangel was a founding X-Man, but he was never a popular one. However, he has had some pretty great costumes over the years, but the most iconic is his first Archangel costume. This blue and purple number was created by Walt Simonson and was perfect. It didn’t look like what he wore before, and it had an edge to it. He’d leave the skull mask behind after returning to X-Factor and defeating his Horseman of Apocalypse programming, and what was left would be his main costume for years, until he went back to the blue and white Angel costume in the mid ’90s. However, he always comes back to costumes that use this one as the basis, showing how iconic it is.

7) ’90 Yellow and Blue Costumes

The X-Men ruled the ’90s on the back of their amazing art. Costumes changed a lot for some characters in the early years of the decade, and eventually, artist Jim Lee gave them a new team costume. These yellow and blue numbers were based on the classic costumes from the Silver Age, but modernized. The team looked fantastic in these costumes, and they’d become the basis for any team costumes that have come after them. The cover to Uncanny X-Men #375 shows them off in all of their glory, and they’ll always be iconic.

6) The Original Gambit Costume

Gambit quickly rose to the top of the X-Men, becoming one of the most popular characters in the book. His Jim Lee-designed costume was a huge part of that. To begin with, it gave us the “Jim Lee head sock” look that fans love and many artists have copied (technically, he copied it from Firestorm, but who’s counting?). The trench coat acts a lot like a cape, allowing artists to show how kinetic Remy’s movements are. The colors are gorgeous, and the design choices make it eye-grabbing. This costume is so good that he keeps going back to ones just like it, if not exactly like it, showing just how iconic it is.

5) Jim Lee Rogue Costume

Rogue has had a lot of amazing costumes, but there’s one that everyone thinks about when they hear her name and it’s this Jim Lee special (yes, Lee designed most of the iconic X-costumes; it’s not all that surprising, honestly). This costume was perfect. It took the green that had long been a part of her best costumes, added some yellow, and an awesome leather jacket. Add in the belt and you have a costume that looks fantastic, while also stopping her from skin to skin contact. It’s one of those perfect costumes that just stays in people’s minds forever.

4) Original Phoenix Costume

Jean Grey, like most X-Men, has had amazing costumes over the years, with nary a bad one. However, while a lot of people might put the Jim Lee ’90s costume here, since it was popularized by X-Men: The Animated Series, deep down, we all know it’s the original Phoenix costume, designed by Dave Cockrum. This green and gold number took the colors of her second costume, and put them on an amazing bodysuit with a very cool logo and awesome thigh-high boots. The sash sets the whole thing off brilliantly, and this costume has become a favorite of basically everyone who’s seen it.

3) Storm’s ’90s Silver Costume

Okay, so this one was a really hard choice because Storm is yet another X-woman who has too many amazing costumes. Her original costume is great and iconic, as is her punk rock look. However, the one that is the most iconic, the one that everyone has seen and loved is the silver number she started wearing after the 1991 X-Men reboot. It’s a palette swap of her late ’80s costume, which was black, and became a favorite of fans because of X-Men: The Animated Series. It’s a clean, simple number that won’t let your eyes go and even the shoulders pads look great years after they went out of style.

2) Yellow and Blue Wolverine Costume

Wolverine is the best there is at what he does, and what he does is have amazing costumes. Wolverine has had some of best costumes in comics, but we all know which one is the most iconic and it’s not even close, even if it isn’t the best one: the classic yellow and blue costume. This costume was first designed by John Romita Sr., with Dave Cockrum changing the mask for Giant-Size X-Men #1, with the character wearing it until John Byrne gave him the superior brown and orange costume in the early ’80s. However, this is the one that was popularized in the ’90s, when the most eyes were on the character, so it’s the most iconic even if it isn’t the best.

1) ’90s Jim Lee Cyclops Costume

Cyclops has always looked amazing, but there’s really only one costume of his that can be considered iconic: the Jim Lee-designed blue and yellow number. There’s an argument to be made that his second costume is more iconic, but that’s only for comic readers. For everyone else, it’s this one. This was the costume he wore in the eight million copy selling X-Men (Vol. 2) #1 and X-Men: The Animated Series. He wore it for a decade, until “Eve of Destruction” in 2001. It’s the Cyclops look and when a variation appeared in the Avengers: Doomsday trailer, fans lost their minds.

What’s your favorite iconic X-costume? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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