10 Best Costumes in X-Men History

The X-Men spent years as the top team in comics and pop culture, ruling the 1990s. Since then, things have been up and down for Marvel’s merry mutants — great movies gave way to not-so-great ones, animated series waxed and waned, and their comic sales dropped from amazing to merely good, then went back to amazing again — but one thing that never changed is how awesome the X-Men have looked. There are few comic teams where the members have costumes as great as the X-Men’s – even their villains have amazing costumes. Over the team’s history, the X-Men have given superhero fans some of the greatest costumes ever, bar none.

Magneto’s Purple & Red Costume

Magneto has had some breathtaking costumes over the years, and any one of them could have taken this spot on the list. His white costume from the Bendis years was amazing, and the black variant was actually better. The white and black Krakoa costume is also an all-time best costume, but as great as they are, the GOAT is still the original purple and red costume. It’s his best-known costume and it perfectly captures the grandeur that is Magneto.

Everything about it says power. The flowing cape is amazing, perfectly fitting his regal side. Purple and red are the best colors for a mutant such as Magneto; purple is the color of royalty and red immediately catches the eye. However, the best part of Magneto’s costume is the helmet. Even when Magneto changes the cut and colors of his costume, he usually keeps the same basic helmet design. The face area — a stylized T — hides much of his face, but always his opponents to see his eyes and mouth, so they are able to perceive his righteous anger. The stylized piece above the T is perfect, a crest that draws the eye right to it. It’s a brilliant design, as most villain costumes designed by Marvel legend Jack Kirby are.

Havok’s Original Black & White

Havok is Alex Summers, the young brother of Cyclops. This has often put Havok in Cyclops’s shadow. Whatever Havok has done, Cyclops has usually done better and there’s a rivalry between the two of them that shows up at the most inopportune times. However, one thing that Havok has over Cyclops is that his first costume is much, much cooler. Havok’s original black and white costume, created by legendary artist Neal Adams, is awesome and perfectly exemplifies the younger Summers brother.

The black and white coloration is simple and stark, which fits the costume perfectly. The white circle in the middle of his chest, made of concentric circles, looks like the plasma blasts he fires and is a nice design element. However, the best part has always been the headpiece. It’s a little showy and ridiculous, but that’s why it’s so cool. It’s become such a memorable part of who Havok is that most of his costumes have a similar design on the cowl even if they aren’t as ostentatious. Havok’s first costume is brilliant and none of its successors have matched it.

Cyclops’s ’90s Costume

Cyclops has always had awesome costumes. In fact, the only Cyclops costume that is anything less than spectacular is his original costume, and even that one is pretty great. However, if there is one costume that every Cyclops fan loves, it’s easily the 1990s costume, made popular by X-Men: The Animated Series and returning in X-Men ’97. Premiering in 1991’s X-Men #1 and designed Jim Lee, one of the greatest artists in the history of superhero comics, it felt like the perfect evolution of Cyclops’s awesome costumes.

It went back to the blue and yellow color scheme that are the Xavier Institute’s colors after years of wearing blue and colors like red or white. Blue has always been Cyclops’s best color and this costume uses it as the main one. The yellow — the chest bandoliers, the gloves and wrists, the trunks, the thigh bandolier, and the boots — disrupt the blue in the best possible ways. Finally, the “sock” mask, a design choice loved by Lee, is excellent, showing off Cyclops’s magnificent head of hair. It feels exactly like the kind of costume that a leader of Cyclops’s caliber would wear. Even the weird ’90s obsession with pouches on X-Men costumes — it’s definitely something you notice if you go back and look at the costumes of the day — fits him, as Cyclops seems like the kind of person who would carry everything you imagine into battle, just in case he needed it.

Nightcrawler’s Original Costume

Nightcrawler is yet another X-Man who has some amazing costumes. However, one of them stands out more than the rest and that one’s his first one. Designed by Dave Cockrum for Giant-Size X-Men #1, Nightcrawler spent about two decades in this costume and it shows how underrated a costume designer Cockrum was — every X-Men costume he created for Marvel was a hit. It captures everything about Nightcrawler; it’s both demonic and playful at the same time, each element working together to create a truly timeless look.

Its black, red, and white coloration go together perfectly. The red V, starting at the shoulders, running to the crouch, then repeating that design on Nightcrawler’s back, is awesome, and the way it flairs at the shoulders makes it feel like the circus costume that Nightcrawler first used it as. The black body suit plays well with Nightcrawler’s blue skin and goes beautifully with the red V. The hands and feet — spotless white with red loops at the forearms and calves — are perfect, giving the costume just the right pop. Nightcrawler’s costumes have always borrowed liberally from this design, but he always ends up back in it because it is the best.

Punk Rock Storm

Like many other X-Men, and just about every X-Man on this list, Storm doesn’t have a bad costume. Every one of her costumes capture the fact that she’s a goddess, beautiful, ethereal perfection brought down to Earth, and it can be hard to choose which one is the best. But for the Storm connoisseurs, there’s one Storm costume that rises on swift updrafts above the rest: her punk rock look, designed by underrated X-Men artist Paul Smith.

What makes this costume so great is that it’s so different from every other costume she’s worn. The leather vest and pants are simple and always fashionable and her tube top, sometimes white and sometimes grey, creates a contrast with the black leather. Her studded collar and forearm bracer fit the costume’s ’80s punk rock motif like a glove. Speaking of gloves, the costume’s gloves fit the simplicity of the costume and give her a more dangerous feel. Her mohawk, which X-Men ’97 fans got to experience in the show’s first season, is the piece de resistance, immediately grabbing attention and telling the viewer that this isn’t the Storm that was there before. This is a more wild Storm and woe betide anyone who trifles with her. This was the costume she wore when she beat Cyclops in a fight for leadership of the X-Men, without her powers mind you, and that really says it all about it.

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Juggernaut’s Original Costume

The name Juggernaut has some heavy — literally — connotations and Juggernaut’s original costume does an amazing job of meeting all of them. Cain Marko is Charles Xavier’s abusive stepbrother given supreme physical power by the dark god Cyttorak. This power diametrically opposed Xavier’s supreme mental power and Juggernaut’s original costume screams ‘unstoppable muscle monster.’

To begin with, its red/burgundy color not only makes it look like it’s forged from savage rusted metal but also gives the impression of blood, something that fits Juggernaut’s dangerous nature, with the lighter red on the abs breaking up the costume nicely. The costume’s bands — under the pecs, on the biceps, and on the forearms — accentuate his massive muscles and the ones on his knuckles make his punches seem even more dangerous. The chunky boots sell the fact that nothing can stop him when he starts moving. His helmet is the best part of the costume. It completely protects his head, with the face holes allowing him to look as scary as possible, and the fact that it’s bolted onto the costume gives it a certain je ne sais quoi that screams unstoppable. Juggernaut has had some black versions of this costume, with his current costume putting a red X on the helmet to signify his loyalty to the team, but nothing beats the original.

Psylocke’s Ninja Costume

Psylocke is one of the more confusing X-Men to talk about nowadays. The original Psylocke, Elizabeth Braddock, had her body switched with the Hand assassin Kwannon, which is how the British lady became a Japanese ninja. Since then, Braddock has been put back in her original body, going by Captain Britain, and Kwannon is back in her body and using the name Psylocke. Before being put in Kwannon’s body, Braddock had several good costumes, nice ones that used the color purple pretty well, but once she got Kwannon’s body, and was freed from the control of the Mandarin and the Hand, she got her best costume, the one Kwannon wore as an assassin.

This costume is yet another awesome Jim Lee design and it oozes sex appeal. However, she’s pretty covered; the centerpiece of the costume is basically a one piece dark purple turtleneck swimsuit that is almost black with a nice red belt/sash that has a martial arts feel to it. The thigh high boots and gloves that go up to the forearm are awesome, and each of them are topped by bands that seem tied on. It gives the illusion of showing too much skin while also having a rather intimidating feel to it; anyone who would wear this costume into battle isn’t someone to be messed with.

Rogue’s 1990s Costume

Rogue has some great costumes and an argument can be made that her original green and white costume is the best; however, there’s one costume that everyone thinks of when they think of Rogue and that’s the one designed by Jim Lee that debuted in 1991’s X-Men #1 and that’s worn in X-Men: The Animated Series and X-Men ’97. The 1990s costume — worn from 1991 to 1997 — is spectacular and fits Rogue like a glove.

To begin with, it covers her completely and that’s important for someone who can kill with too much skin-to-skin contact. Green is Rogue’s color and this costume has just the right amount. The yellow contrasts nicely with the green and placing it in the middle of the costume, the gloves, and boots draw the eye. Her gloves and thigh-high boots are excellent as well; the way the gloves flare at the wrist is just plain cool and the boots’ flared-out knees feel like they’re armored and make her knees feel even more dangerous. Her belt hung at a rakish angle on her hips, captures the happy-go-lucky nature that is there under all the caution. Finally, the brown jacket is the crowning piece of the entire costume. While the bodysuit looks cool by itself, something is missing when she isn’t wearing the jacket. Rogue is leading her own team of X-Men again in this costume, and that just feels right.

Wolverine’s Brown and Tan Costume

Wolverine finally got to wear his yellow and blue costume in the movies in Deadpool & Wolverine, and the fans rejoiced. This is Wolverine’s most famous costume, first worn in Giant-Size X-Men #1, where Dave Cockrum changed the mask from the original John Romita Sr. design, and was made famous by X-Men: The Animated Series. However, Wolverine fans know the truth and it’s going to break the heart of everyone who grew up on the blue and yellow and cheered the MCU for putting him in it — the brown and tan costume is the best and it isn’t even close.

This costume was designed by John Byrne, an artist who many would call the greatest X-Men artist of all time, and feels more like something someone named Wolverine would wear. It’s muted and wild, the brown and tan matching together perfectly. It gives Wolverine a sense of danger that the blue and yellow suit doesn’t and has the coolest boots by far. Wolverine adventures are violent escapades that depend as much on stealth as they do on headlong violence; no one sneaking around would wear that much bright yellow. The blue and yellow costume is fine, but the brown and tan suit is truly the definitive Wolverine costume.

Jean Grey’s Original Phoenix Costume

Jean Grey proved that green and yellow were her colors with the miniskirt costume she started wearing during her stint with the original X-Men. However, she would get the ultimate upgrade, keeping the green but trading the yellow for shiny gold, when she gained the power of the Phoenix Force, bursting from the ashes of a righteous sacrifice for the people she loved and reborn as a god. The original Phoenix costume is amazing and hasn’t been topped since; sure, her 1990s blue and yellow suit was cool, but this costume fit her new omnipotent persona perfectly.

Yet another Dave Cockrum masterpiece, the green body suit, with its black chest section and golden phoenix emblem, is great, but what really sets it off is the long golden gloves, the thigh-high boots that come to an excellent point on each thigh, and the golden sash, clasped with a tiny phoenix. There’s just something about this costume; the colors pop and the different elements all work together to slay. Some people prefer the red and black Dark Phoenix version of this costume and that’s perfectly valid; it’s an amazing variant. However, there’s just something about the first green and gold costume that just screams cosmic entity with the power of life and death.

X-Men comics can be read at Marvel. X-Men ’97 is streaming on Disney+.