In an awesome 'could have been' reveal, Marvel writer Joe Casey (Weapon X-Men, Wolverine) has revealed that the original five X-Men were originally intended to leave Xavier's school and adopt new costumes and codenames. While the story didn't go ahead, Casey has provided the pitch revealing the names and design concepts for the team. We'll also be sharing images of the closest each founding X-Men hero ever got to these designs in Marvel Comics canon.
The X-Men Almost Had Totally New Identities Outside Xavier's School
This Would Have Been the First Time the Heroes Didn't Wear Matching School Costumes
To celebrate the upcoming Weapon X-Men series, writer Joe Casey has shared an unseen pitch document on his blog Joe Casey Writes. Casey was pitching an idea for a series titled X-Men: Amazing Adventures, where the founding X-Men "play hooky" from Xavier's school, adopting their own unique superhero identities to do so. The story would have seen them fight villains including Scorpion, Kingpin and a new incarnation of the Masters of Evil. This would have been the first time that the X-Men heroes left behind their matching black and gold school costumes.
Casey notes that the costumes are meant to show the founding X-Men's first attempt to establish their own identities outside Xavier, and should represent "what a teenager might think was cool about a sleek superhero costume."
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This X-Men: Amazing Adventures series was pitched in the early 2000s, and would have functioned as a flashback 'unseen' story, revealing how the X-Men went from students to true heroes. Casey observes that this would have created a chance to foreshadow the heroes' later identities and plot lines - for example, giving Jean Grey a bird-themed identity before she ever discovered the Phoenix Force. Casey's pitch reads:
MASTER BLASTER (Cyclops) – I was thinking, since Cyclops might be the most hesitant to go along with this scheme, he would wear a full-face mask (like Spider-Man or the Black Panther) with cool-looking sunglasses built into the mask. Within each “lens” of the sunglasses are mini-visors (slits cut horizontally across the center of each lens… so when he uses his optic beams, he fires TWO beams simultaneously). Other than that, it’s wide open for your design genius.
AVENGING ANGEL (Angel) – Angel will be the one who instigates this entire thing, harkening back to his pre-X-Men days as the costumed superhero, the Avenging Angel. My only idea for this is to go back to the Steve Rude design from the first issue of the CHILDREN OF THE ATOM mini-series (or a slight variation on it). The idea being that Angel just pulled out his “original” costume and used it here.
JACK FROST (Iceman) – Taking his new name from a Golden Age hero, Iceman is the character that I think needs the most radical design. After all, he’s simply an “ice man” when he’s a student. As Jack Frost, he definitely needs some kind of uniform to cover the majority of his “ice” form. Also, I think it’s worth it go with the more “crystallized” version of Iceman, as opposed to the early Kirby, “soft serve” version that had no facial expression whatsoever. Maybe, as Jack Frost, this was the first time that Bobby Drake realized he could have a more solid form, and more of a face with that form. As far as his uniform, I always thought that blue/black leather gear would look good against his ice skin. Maybe a jacket (kinda like what you’ve put on Madman every so often) over some simple kind of costume…
MAGPIE or REDWING (Marvel Girl) – I’m torn on which name is better for Jean Grey. Any suggestions, Mike…? In any case, I think the only thoughts I have on her are that RED should be the primary color of her costume, and that it should utilize some sort of “bird” motif (if, for no other reason, to telegraph the fact that one day Jean will become the Phoenix… and readers might dig it if we somehow gave a nod to it here).
STOMP (Beast) – Okay, for the Beast, I figure he wants to disguise the features that he normally displays as an X-Man, primarily his bare feet and bare hands. I thought it might be cool if he sported these insanely big Doc Martin-style boots (but more stylized, more colorful, more “superhero-y”) that had these intense, treaded soles. Hence, the name, “Stomp”. Yes, as Stomp, he’s still an insane acrobat, but his primary offensive attack is using his boots to kick the s*** out of people. Kinda’ like Gorgon from the Inhumans.
Sadly, Casey confirms the pitch never got as far as Mike Allred providing concept designs, but we've done our best below with the closest each character has actually gotten to the designs described by Casey.
Above:
Cyclops' Hellfire Gala costume design from 2023 (designed by Luciano Vecchio) and Cyclops 2099 from Marvel's 2099 continuity (created by Steve Orlando & Kim Jacinto)
Angel's original costume before joining the X-Men (from Casey and Steve Rude's X-Men: Children of the Atom)
Iceman's X-Men movies design and his costume from Chuck Austen's Uncanny X-Men tenure (from Uncanny X-Men #410, with Ron Garney)
Jean Grey's Phoenix design from Marvel's 'Warpworld' continuity (from Sina Grace & Chris Sprouse's Infinity Wars: Infinity Warps #2)
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These X-Men Designs Would Have Created a Clear Break Between the 'First Class' Students and Their True Superhero Era
Fans Got Something Similar Eventually, But Way Less Extreme
Casey reveals that he intended superstar artist Mike Allred and acclaimed colorist Laura Allred to work on the series, comparing the new outfits to their prior work on X-Statix- an X-Men tie-in comic about a group of fame-obsessed superheroes (see below for examples of Allred's art, including the X-Statix costumes.) Casey notes that the costumes are meant to show the founding X-Men's first attempt to establish their own identities outside Xavier, and should represent "what a teenager might think was cool about a sleek superhero costume."
The story would have been billed as the team's "Final Exam," showing them come into their own as superheroes.
These new looks would have included masks and no 'X' insignia, given they were hiding their identities from Xavier. To this end, Iceman would also have developed his ice form at this time (rather than his original snow form). Casey lays out a plot line where the team bounce from adventure to adventure, eventually being hired by SHIELD to take on Hydra and - in the finale - Doctor Doom himself. The story would have been billed as the team's "Final Exam," showing them come into their own as superheroes, even as Xavier continued to secretly watch over and protect his wards.
Sadly, the project never came to be, with Marvel passing on the pitch. The closest fans got was 2012's All-New X-Men, from Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen, in which the founding X-Men were brought forward in time, enjoying new adventures and evolving their powers in the modern day (while still wearing matching, albeit new, costumes.)
It's relatively rare that comic fans get a real peek behind the curtain at what might have been, and more than a few X-Men fans will be wishing that they had some Mike Allred sketches to go along with this fascinating pitch.
The X-Men franchise, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, centers on mutants with extraordinary abilities. Led by the powerful telepath Professor Charles Xavier, they battle discrimination and villainous mutants threatening humanity. The series explores themes of diversity and acceptance through a blend of action, drama, and complex characters, spanning comics, animated series, and blockbuster films.
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