Nearly 16 years after the release of Bryan Singer's X-Men, fans still have strong opinions about the filmmakers' decision to ditch the brightly colored costumes of the comics in favor of black leather, which continued through 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand. However, with the revival of the film franchise in 2011's X-Men: First Class and the success of Deadpool, Kristian Williams has hopes for a brighter big-screen future for Marvel's mutants.

In his latest YouTube video, he lays out a passionate yet well-reasoned case for the importance of color and costumes within the X-Men mythos, across comics, animation and film.

"The X-Men have a very complicated role in the Marvel Universe," he explains. "They aren't celebrated like other heroes; they're misfits and outcasts and kids on their own, and a lot of them don't have families. And that costume that the students wear is sometimes the only thing that gives them any sense of belonging. It's not just a uniform, it's a symbol of the unification of the group, while also being a representation of individuality, because that's what's being an X-Man is about. It's a celebration of self-identity."