The Hellfire Gala event running through X-Men comics has produced some of the outlandish looks ever for the mutants. As stylish as many of them are, they're not the most out-there costumes that have appeared in Marvel Comics. And it's not just the X-Men. All of Marvel's classic characters have taken their turn on the proverbial runway.
As with all things fashion, not every look worked, and some of them were so outlandish they're classic for all the wrong reasons. From the extreme era of the 1990s to the present day, Marvel Comics has never been shy about pushing the limit on crazy costumes for its characters.
10 Thor (90s)
The 1990s were an era of excess in many ways for comics, with unending comic crossovers like The Clone Saga the MCU should avoid adapting. The costumes were very over the top, as was the case with Thor from The Crossing era of the Avengers comics.
With endless belts, pouches, and oversized shoulder pads, he looks a lot like many other characters from the era. He doesn't particularly look like Thor outside of Mjolnir, his mystical Asgardian hammer. This was a brief, but unforgettable, look for the God of Thunder.
9 Malice
Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman, has one of the most classic costumes of all time. She also some of the worst, including the outfit she wore as Malice.
Sue first descended into the dark Malice persona in Fantastic Four #280 back in 1985. Her costume was very over the top even for the time, including a spiked leather mask. Malice attempted to acquire the Soul Gem at one point and fought Sue for control of her body during The Infinity War crossover in the early 90s.
8 Adam X
Adam-X, known literally as X-Treme when he debuted in the early 90s, is perhaps the case example of 90s costuming excess. Adam-X had spikes everywhere, including his shoulder pads and knees, as well as claws on his hands. He had the requisite ponytails of the era, also seen in numerous other characters like Shatterstar from X-Force.
X-Treme fell off the map a little after the 90s but was recently revisited in the pages of X-Men Legends, where the X-Men got a little meta on the 'extreme' era.
7 Cable (New Mutants Era)
The forerunner of many of the design elements of 90s comics was Cable, who first appeared (as his older self) in New Mutants #86 back in February 1990, Cable was co-created by Rob Liefeld, who adorned him with many pouches, spikes, belts, and huge shoulder pads that served no real purpose.
Cable has gone through many looks over the years, and while most have echoed the original in some way, many have pared down the excessive aspects of the early 90s looks of the character.
6 Rachel Summers (Hellfire Gala)
Not all of Marvel's most outlandish costumes belong to the 1990s. One of them comes directly from the Hellfire Gala. Rachel Summers wears perhaps the most outrageous costume of the event.
Her costume is a direct, extreme nod to her Hound costume from the 80s. Rachel was a Hound in the dark and dystopian future of Days Of Futures Past, against her will. It seems odd that she would choose to revisit it for the Gala, especially in such a way that seems to suggest a loss of agency on her part.
5 Dani Moonstar
Dani Moonstar, Mirage, is one of the founding members of the New Mutants and a longtime force in the world of mutants. The 90s weren't kind to her in terms of her costume.
At one point, she adopted this all-red look, which put her in a full face mask for the first time. She also wore a bandolier of projectiles that she absolutely didn't need. While The New Mutants movie may not have ultimately been worth the wait, at least the movie avoided this costume for Dani Moonstar.
4 Dark Claw
There are many alternative versions of Batman in comic books. One of the most outlandish is Dark Claw, who is actually a fusion of Batman and Wolverine, a character who appeared in the Amalgam Comics crossover event from the 90s.
His costume takes all the elements of both characters' looks and turns them up to 11, with Batman's iconic bat-ears becoming bat-wings in an effort to try and mirror Wolverine's mask. Though he only appeared in the crossover, Dark Claw certainly made an impression.
3 Kitty Pryde (Uncanny X-Men #149)
Kitty Pryde is somewhat famous for having a lot of different looks in the comics over the years, and that running gag starts in Uncanny X-Men #149. In this issue, Kitty raids the closets at the X-Mansion to produce one of the most garish and hysterical costumes of all time.
Kitty slaps together everything she can find, including roller skates and knee-high socks. In an attempt to disguise her true identity, she also wore a domino mask that was reminiscent of the Batwoman from the Golden Age, Kathy Kane.
2 Nomad
Superhero costumes in general are revealing, with the vast majority emphasizing the peak human physique of the character. Sometimes they go even further, like with Nomad.
This costume, worn by Steve Rogers after he had stepped down from being Captain America for a brief time, really let people in on how in shape he was. The most outlandish aspect of it was just how different it was from the traditional buttoned-down Steve Rogers. In the high collar, cape, and gold gloves, he was unrecognizable.
1 Sue Storm (90s)
Sue Storm ended up with another outlandish costume in the 90s. A major trend in outfits from the era, especially with women, was to be as revealing as possible.
With Sue Storm, it was a major departure for her in terms of look and character. The new look was essentially a bathing suit, not out of sync with many costumes of the era (particularly Psylocke) but disconnected from Sue herself. It's easily her worst costume and one of the worst Marvel Comics costumes of all time.
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June 21, 2021 at 12:00AM
