Fans who ever wondered what Wolverine might look like in Psylocke's leotard can now have their wildest X-Men dreams fulfilled, thanks to a new fan art series by illustrator Chris Ouellette.
Ouellette's "Costume Swap" series pairs key members of Marvel's mutants together, switching their classic '90s outfits with some unexpected results. The first of the series shows Colossus and Jean Grey wearing each other's duds, which look surprisingly similar thanks to the massive shoulder pads on display. The second image shows Psylocke in Wolverine's yellow and blue outfit, while Logan shows significantly more skin than usual in Psylocke's skimpy costume. Finally, the third image displays Rogue wearing Nightcrawler's red and blue suit, while Nightcrawler dons Rogue's iconic leather jacket.
Ouellette came up with catchy names for each of the character combos -- "GreySteel," "Polverine" and "Bamf-Marie." More sketches are coming soon, with Ouellette promising same-sex mashups in the new future. The inspired Costume Swap series has garnered hundreds of likes on Instagram.
X-Men Gender And Outfit Swaps In Comics
While Ouellette's mashups are original, Rogue and Nightcrawler have technically swapped places in the past, as some Instagram commentators pointed out. The second iteration of X-Men Forever, released in 2009, was set in an alternate continuity and penned by Chris Claremont as a continuation of the story he had in mind for Uncanny X-Men and X-Men in 1991 prior to leaving those titles. The story "Change -- Is More Than Skin Deep!" in Issue #17 (which was written by Claremont and illustrated by Graham Nolan) saw Rogue siphoning Nightcrawler's powers and turning into a blue humanoid reminiscent of her fellow X-Man. Meanwhile, Nightcrawler transformed back into human form and gained Rogue's powers to absorb the abilities of whoever he touched.
Ouellette's version of Psylocke wearing Wolverine's costume, meanwhile, is reminiscent of Laura Kinney -- originally known as X-23 and now simply as Wolverine, a name that she shares with Logan. Originally created for the X-Men: Evolution cartoon series, Laura's first comic appearance was in 2004's NYX #3. Introduced as a clone of Wolverine created by the organization known as the Facility, Laura's true origins were later revealed as Wolverine's biological daughter. She adopted her own costume in the same style as her father in 2016's All-New Wolverine series. Now considered an iconic look in its own right, Laura's Wolverine outfit resembles Ouellette's Psylocke aside from the lack of purple psionic energy and the third claw on each hand.
Source: Instagram