Marvel’s worst design mistake happened in Fox’s X-Men movies, which removed the most iconic part of a famous mutant’s appearance. The X-Men movies introduced some of Marvel’s most popular heroes long before the Avengers first assembled. Characters like Wolverine, Cyclops, Magneto, and Charles Xavier made it to the big screen years before Iron Man and Captain America.
The X-Men movies made significant changes to the mutant heroes’ appearance in order to translate them to live-action. Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine is much taller than his comic book counterpart, Mystique never wears her main outfit, and it took Colossus and Iceman several years and movie appearances to get their accurate fully-metal and fully-ice-covered forms. But among the X-Men movies’ biggest changes, a more subtle one stands out.
Fox’s X-Men Movies Cut Storm’s Iconic White Mane Increasingly Short
Storm Is Short-Haired For Most Of Her Movie Appearances
If there’s one physical detail that’s instantly associated with Ororo Munroe, it’s her long, voluminous, white curly locks. Storm’s hair is naturally white, usually long and fluffy, resembling a cloud. While memorable, Storm’s mohawk look only defines a period in her history, similarly to Spider-Man and his black suits, or Carol Danvers and her Binary form. Storm, famous for her mane of flowing, abundant white hair, only sports long hair in one movie; two if X2‘s shoulder-length hairstyle qualifies as long.
Removing Storm’s long hair permanently after X-Men and X2 is like Thor jumping straight to his short-dark-hair, black-clad Avengers: Infinity War look after The Avengers. Yes, it translates a specific episode of their comic book journey, but it also strips them of their most emblematic visual traits. Tom Holland’s Peter Parker has only worn the classic red-and-blue Spider-Man suit in two movies, but the two previous Spider-Man actors wore their own versions for a total of five movies before him.
Wild Hair Is An Important Part Of Several Characters’ Iconic Looks
Live-action superhero media has evolved to the point that it doesn’t shy away from comic-accurate adaptations of comic book characters. The X-Men went from wearing all-black leather in the original X-Men trilogy to wearing yellow uniforms in Dark Phoenix. But the franchise’s faithfulness didn’t get to fully reach its peak before it ended. Wolverine and Gambit only received their comic-accurate costumes until Deadpool & Wolverine.
One of the comic book staples that have yet to make the full jump to live-action are wild hairstyles, especially on characters who are specifically known for sporting them. Storm, Rogue, and Scarlet Witch usually have abundant curly hair in the comics, but they sport straight hair in the movies. DC’s Wonder Woman has gone through countless hairstyles throughout the years, but her voluminous black curls remains one of her most iconic.
Two examples take this issue to opposite extremes. The MCU gives Tatiana Maslany’s She-Hulk a remarkably thick and lush mane straight out of the comics. On the other side of the spectrum, Medusa has a shaved head for almost all of her screentime in Inhumans, which is especially disappointing considering her hair is her main superpower. Hopefully, the MCU’s X-Men reboot will feature a Storm who looks ripped from the pages of Giant-Size X-Men #1.
- Movie(s)
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X-Men (2000), X2, X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), X-Men: First Class (2011), The Wolverine (2013), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Deadpool (2016), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Logan (2017), Deadpool 2 (2018), Dark Phoenix (2019), The New Mutants, Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
- TV Show(s)
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X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, X-Men (1992), X-Men: Evolution (2000), Wolverine and the X-Men (2008), Marvel Anime: Wolverine, Marvel Anime: X-Men, Legion (2017), The Gifted (2017), X-Men ’97 (2024)
- First Film
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X-Men (2000)
- Character(s)
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Professor X, Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Angel, Phoenix, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Storm, Jubilee, Morph, Nightcrawler, Havok, Banshee, Colossus, Magneto, Psylocke, Juggernaut, Cable, X-23
- Video Game(s)
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X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994), Marvel Super Heroes (1995), X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996), Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997), Marvel vs. Capcom (1998), X-Men: Mutant Academy (2000), Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000), X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (2001), X-Men: Next Dimension (2002), Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011), Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011), X-Men Legends (2005), X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse (2005), X2: Wolverine’s Revenge (2003), X-Men (1993), X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995), X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (1994)
- Comic Release Date
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213035,212968
