Fansfinallygot to seeWolverinewear hiscomic-accurate yellow X-Men costumein 2024’sDeadpool and Wolverine, over 20 years after Hugh Jackman first portrayed the character.X-Menhelped define how pre-MCU movies attempted to adapt their comicbook inspirations, with ‘realistic’ black leather tactical wear rather than colorful costumes. However,back in 1999, a group of Marvel’s best artists took a shot at guessing how the movie would redesign Wolverine, and their answers werewaymore creative.
In a recent post on X,WIZARDS! The Podcast Guide to Comicsshared a page fromWizard’s 1999 ‘Wolverine Special,’ where major names including Dave Cockrum, Leinil Francis Yu and John Cassaday offered up their own big-screen redesigns of the X-Men’s immortal brawler.
Matt Haley got the closest to the eventual reality, with a"dark leather outfit,“but still added a little too much comic iconography with short sleeves and pronounced shoulder pads. Other artists go way more out there, with Leinil Francis Yu reimagining Wolverine’s costume as a series of restraints, while John Cassaday’s particularly extreme redesign imagines him as a mess of scars,describing a live-action Wolverine as"a cat that has been in one too many fights.”
The ‘Wolverine Special’ also included art of Wolverine going up against iconic pop culture characters, includingStar Wars' Darth Maul and DC’s Green Lantern.
Wolverine Names X-Men’s Best Hero, and It’s Not Cyclops: “The Best Of Us”
Wolverine names the best of X-Men’s heroes, naming the character he sees as the team’s true moral heart - and it’s not his best friend Nightcrawler!
Wizard’s Wolverine Redesigns for 2000’sX-MenWere Way Off…
…But That Doesn’t Make Them Any Less Cool
Beginning publication in 1991,Wizard’s relationship with comic creators allowed it to run this kind of feature, with comic professionals riffing on themes handed to them by the magazine. For instance,the ‘Wolverine Special’ also included art of Wolverine going up against iconic pop culture characters, includingStar Wars' Darth Maul and DC’s Green Lantern.In the case of the hero’s potential movie redesigns, fans gotsome truly unique Wolverine redesignsthat can’t be found anywhere else, with a clear understanding that theX-Menmovie would move towards a darker, more realistic design.
Since 2000’sX-Men, superhero movies have gradually embraced more and more of their characters' comic designs, however there’s still a long way to go before they match the same level of constant creativity and reinvention as the source material. Wolverine doesn’t just have his yellow and blue costume in the comics, but a constant revolving wardrove of wild new looks and redesigns, from being infected with an alien virus to being combined with the Winter Soldier to donningadamantium armor to slay his longtime nemesis Sabretooth.
Wizard’s Wolverine redesigns may not have nailed howX-Menaltered the iconic hero, but many of them are creative enough that even 20 years later, it would be great for fans to see this gallery of potentialWolverinevariants get their own stories.
Source:WIZARDS! The Podcast Guide to Comics
Wolverine
The human mutant Wolverine (a.k.a. Logan) was born James Howlett, blessed with a superhuman healing factor, senses, and physiology. Subjecting himself to experimentation to augment his skeleton and claws with adamantium, Logan is as deadly as he is reckless, impulsive, and short-tempered. Making him the X-Men’s wildest and deadliest member, and one of Marvel Comics' biggest stars. He’s played in Fox and Marvel’s movie franchises by Hugh Jackman.
