X-Men - Color and Costumes

A look at the meaning behind superhero costumes and how they characterize the X-Men.

[ZombieChimpanzee]

there's a little character viewpoint thing in the comics with wolverine and cyclops. Wolverine calls his costume, and superhero getups in general, a uniform, and insists on not calling it a costume because he says costumes are for children, heroes wear a uniform, even if it's bright and colorful. while cyclops calls it a costume and insists on not calling it a uniform, because uniforms are worn by the people who have oppressed mutants, and a costume has a freer connotation to it.

[RandomBlackGamer]

Man hearing how restricted the X-MEN cast felt in there suits explains why their body movement was off during some of the wired stunts.

[jerrinvarghese]

“That [X-men] costume that the student’s wear is sometimes the only thing that gives them any sense of belonging. It’s not just the uniform, it’s a symbol of the unification of the group, while also being a representation of individuality, because that’s what being an X-man is about: it’s a celebration of self-identity.”

brilliant quote to summarize the entire video & series. keep up the great work!

[ShinRyojin]

The scene in the first Avengers movie came to mind watching this vid, where Phil Coulson presents Cap with his new uniform. The line Coulson said was simple but powerful when addressing the cosutme's old fashioned flashiness:

"Everything's that's happening. The things that are about to come to light. People just might need a little old fashioned."

That scene is an example of the power of a superhero's costume and imagery. Superheroes are beacons of hope and justice, their look taps into the emotions of everyone who has read the comics, watched the cartoons, and hung up the posters of their favorite heroes.

[substandardlysubpar]

If Sam Raimi could make Spider-Man look good and colorful on the big screen, I don't understand why Singer couldn't make the X-Men look great as well.

[guccizuko]

I feel like the xmen films and superhero films in general have really outgrown Singer and what he did with the first xmen film. Apparently he told the original cast not to look at the comics or any source material at all wtf. He's so embarrassed by the xmen but he can't get any other work so he keeps going back to it. DC have never tried to take batman's lil ears off his costume even tho in theory they might look a bit goofy but they don't bc they just let them be what day are. Captain America runs around in a full red, white and blue costume in the films, mask and all, and no one has any problems with it.

[FlawedCoil]

I completely agree with this. In fact, the costumes are downright critical to the level of enjoyment I get from the X-Men. It was Jim Lee's masterful, unbeatable 90s designs that made me take notice of them. Once Marvel started changing their costumes in the books even, I lost so much interest. Thank God for the recent "X-Men '92" book they have started releasing. If only the films could figure it out.

[bquion]

Honestly, too many films have been doing this with just color in general. Man of Steel for example. Because of the color filter they added in, it just looks way too bland and has no emotion.

[XBLGR]

I love how Deadpool got the x-men outfit right when the actual x-men films didn't

[gusstavv]

When I saw the these X-Men movie adaptations I didn't like 'em, but I didn't exactly know why.
Now finally this explains it a lot.

[DukeLovesYou]

Your editing is so goddamn smooth, crisp and seamless. YouTube needs more people like you.

[lilboydafriend]

You out here doin it right fam keep rockin

[BlueisNotaWarmColour]

Regardless of how you might feel about the films themselves, I think we can all agree the MCU knows costume design.

[danieliliev]

i laughed so hard at that mangeto bit from first class

[vitaemins]

I feel like this is one of the things that makes people more inclines towards the MCU. The costumes, while not PERFECT, at least they try to be comic accurate and more colorful. And even when they change the costume, to try and upgrade it or modernize it, they still try to maintain certain elements of the original costume.

[GenerationWest]

I was about to say, they decided to get "colorful costumes" in Apocalypse, except they look like ACTUAL Halloween costumes... ffs

[AkuTenshiiZero]

It has always baffled me how Brian Singer is so obsessed with staying away from the iconic costumes. I am 100% for redesigns and adaptation, but the problem is that you simply cannot separate a superhero from their costume. Imagine, for example, if they put Superman in a black leather suit. Everyone would lose their minds and the movie would bomb. Marvel Studios understands this, they make changes to their costumes but they keep the iconic aspects intact. Captain America's suit is designed like Kevlar and doesn't have the helmet wings, but he has the same color scheme and emblems, and the wings are now decals. He's still instantly recognizable as Cap.

Besides, it's not like the X-Men never had uniforms. Over the years they have used several variations on a yellow and blue/black uniform. That design worked in First Class and it worked on Negasonic in the Deadpool movie. Especially the latter, since it makes sense that Colossus has a custom outfit but students use standard-issue uniforms.

[Balthazar]

It made sense to me why they changed them in the original X-Men films. They wanted to make it seem "cool" to people, because they obviously didn't think wild yellow costumes would resonate with people. They were just trying to make people take comic books seriously at all.

They must've doubted that something made for cartoons and comics could work in reality. But I think that now people are more ready for that, and comic book movies are such a thing now that people are totally okay with whatever you throw at them as long as it's smart.

You'd have to adapt the costumes a bit, obviously, but you could still do it. Just look at Spider Man-- he looks pretty accurate and real despite his costume being pretty wild.

[lopson]

Wolverine in his classic yellow costume: You actually go out in these things?
Cyclops: What would you prefer? Black leather spandex?

[EmergencyVacation]

This is one of the main reasons i hated that first X-men movie.
And i agree Deadpool, and the marvel films have shown that Bryan Singer was so wrong in his costume choices for the X-Men.