Welcome to our new column – Costume Catastrophes!
For this column, we’ll be highlighting the best of the worst costumes from the Marvel Universe. Some may be iconic, some not so much; either way these are some rough costumes for some of our favorite M6P heroes!
For the first selection, I wanted to go with a costume that is fairly iconic to most M6P fans as many comic book readers today were introduced to comics through the X-Men animated series of the 1990’s. Our first costume is Jean Grey.
When I think of Jean Grey, I don’t think of her Phoenix get up. I don’t think of her original costume or the green skirt she wore in the 60’s and 70’s. The X-Factor costumes in the 80’s were pretty generic and as were the black leather looks before her most recent death. When I think of Jean Grey, I think of this Jim Lee inspired costume that debuted in Uncanny X-Men #281.
As much as I love this costume, it just boils down to being a mess. Jean is an iconic Marvel character and in the Top 10 of Marvel’s leading ladies. She needed something bold to represent the new era of X-Men in 1991. However, as a sign of the times she was given a pretty rough costume. Where do we begin?
- Shoulder pads. I understand the 80’s had just closed, but the shoulder pads still remained.
- Throw some unnecessary pockets on the side of her legs and we’re going somewhere now.
- Match that with a blue thong ON TOP of the full body suit and we are in disaster territory.
- Finally, cover Jean from head to toe! Also place her in a head covering that in the animated series, only let out a shrivel of hair in the back. The worst offense from the animated series? – Making the costume NUDE instead of yellow/orange!
Now there must be some redeeming qualities too right? Well, there’s an X on the costume. That’s a plus. The color scheme was good too; very reminiscent of the X-Factor colors she’d been wearing.
Again, this is my favorite Jean costume because this is how I was first introduced to Jean. I agree it’s pretty awful, but the X-Men are forever ingrained in my heads as how I first met them during the Jim Lee/Andy Kubert runs of the 90’s.
