The Final X-Men '97 Trailer Has A Comeback Marvel Fans Have Wanted For 24 Years
The debut season of "X-Men '97" on Disney+ has been nothing short of a success, with the program being cited as one of Marvel Studios' strongest offerings to date. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, at least for a little while. At press time, Season 1 is nearly over, with Season 2 far off in the distance. To commemorate the end of Season 1, Marvel Studios dropped one last teaser on YouTube that encompasses the season's events and the true meaning of the X-Men, while also giving a nod to a famous moment from the superhero film that changed movies, 2000's "X-Men."
To close out the trailer, Cyclops (Ray Chase) chats with Cable (Lawrence Bayne) and tosses him his X-Men costume. Upon seeing the gaudy blue and yellow color scheme, Cable asks, "Am I going to war or a circus?" In response, Cyclops asks him if he expected black leather. This is a fun callback to a scene between Cyclops (James Marsden) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) in "X-Men," where the latter comments on the team's almost entirely black leather costumes. "What would you prefer, yellow spandex?" Cyclops replies, taking a dig at the X-Men's historically vibrant comic outfits.
This little "X-Men '97" line just goes to show how far comic book media has come in terms of depicting source material-accurate costumes. Nowadays, audiences find yellow spandex way cooler than black leather.
Comic costume accuracy is now the rule, not the exception
Cyclops' comment in "X-Men" about the color of the titular team's uniforms reflects a different era in comic book movie history. At the time of the film's release, accuracy in regards to costuming was far from the norm. Marvel productions like "X-Men" and "Daredevil," as well as DC projects like "Catwoman" and "Batman Begins," worked hard to avoid going full-on comic book with their wardrobes. Leather or kevlar, muted colors, and even total redesigns were the standard, likely to make some characters more palatable to general audiences, even though die-hard comic fans wanted to see them as they were visualized in print.
Fast forward a couple of decades, and comic-accurate costuming is all the rage. Characters like Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), and Captain America (Anthony Mackie), to name a few, now all don outfits in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that look like they jumped right off the pages of Marvel Comics. Even Hugh Jackman's Wolverine is finally getting a proper yellow and blue costume for "Deadpool and Wolverine," almost 25 years after he first zipped up his shiny black "X-Men" jumpsuit — and years after another Jackman film teased such a Wolverine costume.
All these years after "X-Men" premiered, comic book adaptations are as mainstream as can be. Studios don't feel the need to hide the comic book origins of these characters anymore with disappointing superhero movie costumes. The X-Men and others can appear onscreen in the most wild, vibrant outfits possible — now to excitement and applause.