When the time came for the X-Men to make their appearance on the big screen, the costume designers had a lot of material to work on. There were hundreds of mutants in the X-Men universe and they had vibrant costumes that were unique for every character. Getting to see Wolverine in his popular yellow and blue costume or Rogue in her green spandex would have been the best moment for all of us.
But then new costumes were designed. The characters got a full rebuild. For most of the time, this was done well. Characters like Xavier, Mystique, and many others were copied well enough to bring their exact comic book look to reality. But every character was not that much lucky. A few of the characters were fully altered in their appearance starting from clothes, prosthetics, and makeup. Also, these were not terrible examples of costuming or makeup. But if you had to ask any die-hard X-Men fan about any of the ten characters, they would surely point out everything which doesn’t look like their comic book counterparts.
1. Apocalypse – X-Men: Apocalypse
En Sabah Nur, also known as the Apocalypse, has been the most frightening and unusual character. He has a pale grey skin and is about seven feet tall according to the comics. He is covered with pieces of armor with signature tubes connecting different parts of his body. But this is not how the makers of X-Men: Apocalypse went while transforming Oscar Isaac. The filmmakers opted for practical effects of makeup and costume design. The skin color was almost correct except the costume. The height of Apocalypse was changed to five feet in the movie.
2. Pyro – X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand
The role of Pyro was played by Aaron Stanford in X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand. The filmmakers had difficulty to translate bright spandex into something that can be seriously taken by the audience. Pyro was not represented in the same way like he was shown in the comics. It was mostly because he was a student at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. He didn’t have a costume. It didn’t change much in the second film. In the comics, he has bright red hair. He wears a yellow and red costume that features tubing from his wrists to a tank on his back. This supplies the important flame for him to manipulate and turns him into a human flamethrower.
3. Sabretooth – X-Men Origins: Wolverine
The design of Sabretooth almost managed to look like he is in the comics. He had the required muscle mass and makeup was applied. This was during X-Men in 2000. But his second appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine was not the same. Sabretooth was modified with some influence taken from the Origin comic book. The character was played by Live Schreiber. This time, Sabretooth had short-cropped hair and he was not called Sabretooth throughout the movie.
4. Dark Phoenix – X-Men: The Last Stand
The character of Jean Grey was played by Famke Janssen in 2000’s X-Men. She did not have the iconic look but that managed to work in other aspects of the character. But in the third film, she was not the same character and was instead the Dark Phoenix. It was a knock-off version of the character. The Dark Phoenix usually wears a red and yellow costume in the comics. She has a phoenix emblazoned on her chest. She floated in the air surrounded by fire. When Famke Janssen shifted to the Phoenix side, her eyes were darkened along with some changes to her costume. She played the role with furious intensity. But the visuals expected by the fans were not seen in the film.
5. Wolverine – The Wolverine
The major difference between the on-screen and comics Wolverine is the height. Hugh Jackman was six feet, two inches tall and Logan’s height was five feet, three inches. Hugh Jackman was a foot taller in comparison to Wolverine in comics. This has been one of the things that the fans have not stopped pointing out about Jackman’s performance. The second problem here was the costume which did not look like it was in the comics. Fans wished to see Wolverine with the yellow and blue suit but this did not happen. Jackman said in an interview with ET:
“I never really thought it was a possibility. I had no idea how the hell it would be done. We flirted with it at one point with The Wolverine, but we just couldn’t find a way to do it and be in keeping with the tone of the film. Sorry, guys.”
6. Rogue – X-Men trilogy and X-Men: Days of Future Past
Most of the X-Men fans were not happy with the casting of Anna Paquin in the role of Rogue. She was 18-years old when casted and also a very talented actress. But she looked nothing like the character. On the silver screen, Rogue did not have the ability to fly or throw a truck on someone. She was wearing black leather with no green or yellow as a part of the costume. She just had a streak of white hair at the end of the film and in subsequent appearances. This was the only visual similarity.
7. Quicksilver – X-Men: Days of Future Past, Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix
The role of Quicksilver was played by Evan Peters. He first appeared in X-Men: Days of Future Past. He is called Peter Maximoff in the movies and is not a twin. As shown in the comics, Quicksilver wears a blue costume with a lightning bolt shooting from the right shoulder down to the central part of the torso. He has white hair and can run too fast making him hard to stop. But the character had grey hair extending to the collarbone and doesn’t wear a blue costume.
He wears normal clothing. It is accompanied by silver-colored items that include a jacket and goggles. He looks like what you may expect a kid to throw on if he could run so fast that he can save people from explosions and gunshots. This makes sense in live-action. But this doesn’t look at all like Quicksilver.
8. Gambit – X-Men Origins: Wolverine
A solo film for Gambit has been stuck in development hell for many years. The character was seen briefly in X-Men Origins: Wolverine played by Taylor Kitsch. As seen in the comics, Gambit wears a brown trench coat and the costume underneath is red and black. He wears a mask that hides portions of his forehead and chin. The costume of Kitsch was black. This is not what Gambit did in the comics. The mask was also missing. The positive part was that he did wield a staff and threw cards that exploded.
9. Juggernaut – X-Men: The Last Stand
Juggernaut appeared as a surprise character in Deadpool 2. The color of his helmet was only different and the other things remained the same. But it was not the same in X-Men: The Last Stand. The role was played by Vinnie Jones. He is very tall but he did not look like Juggernaut. Juggernaut is nine feet, five inches tall, and weighs 1,900 lbs. Since the comic book could be achieved only through CGI, Jones showed his muscles in a leather-wrap costume. The costume was not red in color. This is necessary since Juggernaut gets his power from Crimson Gem of Cyttorak. The helmet also did not look exactly like shown in the comics.
10. Deadpool – X-Men Origins: Wolverine
The Deadpool that we saw in X-Men Origins: Wolverine was Deadpool in name only. The character was covered in strange black lines with circles on the ends. This had something to do with the process that gave him superpowers that he didn’t have in the comics. This included optic blast like Cyclops, teleporting like Nightcrawler and swords coming out of his hands.
But the worst thing that was done here is that Deadpool’s mouth was sewed up and covered with skin. The character was not able to talk. Luckily, Ryan Reynolds got another shot by playing Deadpool. He got some time-travel tech in Deadpool 2 and killed off the horrible representation in the after-credits.
