X-Men Cosplay Achieves Ultra-Ambitious Recreation of Full-Team Cover Art

In Marvel continuity, the uncanny and astonishing mutant team known as the X-Men have had their fair share of comic reboots, relaunches, and updates that make even the most hardcore of X-fans’ heads spin. And now, in an epic full-team cosplay rooted in a piece of art that stretches back three decades, the covers of the X-Men’s 1991 inaugural issue come to life with awesome results!

Recently uploaded on Instagram by username @patloika, this account is all about sharing photo edits of epic cosplays hailing from various ends of the pop culture spectrum, with the world of comics being one particular space of interest to artist Pat Loika. Touching up and enhancing images of other cosplayers dressed as characters from Marvel Comics, DC Comics, various movies, video games, and more, Pat knocks this ultra-ambitious X-Men cover recreation out of the park, to say nothing about the two-year process it took to complete the project as a whole.

Endearingly called Marvel’s Merry Band of Mutants, the X-Men are a fan-favorite group of characters who have more iconic heroes as part of their roster than fans can count. Originally broken up into four separate #1 covers for its initial 1991 release, one of the most prolific and legendary artists in the 90s, Jim Lee, was tapped to illustrate these covers in a way that helped usher along a new look and status quo for a team that was about to become more popular than ever.

Giving fans the full widescreen image of these interlinking covers to obsess over, Pat also gathers all four singular images together to swipe through and compare, with each utilizing the original covers’ characters, print flourishes, and explosive X-Men font to great effect, immediately showing that Pat and his creative cosplay crew are capable of pulling off content that’s as comic accurate as it is uniquely theirs. A roster consisting of multiple popular X-Men members in Storm, Professor X, Jean Grey, Beast, Archangel, Gambit, Colossus, Rogue, Psylocke, Iceman, Cyclops, Wolverine, and finally, the villainous Magneto, each edit and cosplay nails the look, feel, composition, and costume design of each character present, professionally finishing things off with some awesome digital effects that perfectly evoke the Jim Lee designs these posts are taking after.

The X-Men have seen a lot of great solo cosplays over the years, but when mashed together in this epic new way, their true cosplaying power is finally revealed. Sharing these Jim Lee covers in all of their live-action glory is a sight to see for fans of the 90s X-Men team, so be sure to follow @patloika for more nerdy edits as well as the awesome cosplayers that helped bring these covers to life!