May is shaping up to be a massive month for Marvel superhero movies. Captain America: Civil War leads off this Friday, while X-Men: Apocalypse (produced by Fox) arrives at the tail end of the month, May 27. While the latter isn’t part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s still a huge event in its own right as fans are excited to see one of the X-Men’s biggest antagonists come to life. The eponymous Apocalypse (played by Oscar Isaac) is a terrifying enemy, but the casual moviegoer may not know it. That’s because Apocalypse ’s costume design has been the subject of many jokes since its reveal last year.
Since Apocalypse’s costume debut in Entertainment Weekly last July, Isaac has drawn comparisons to the cheesy Power Rangers villain Ivan Ooze. Fans weren’t particularly happy with the treatment despite the costume maintaining much of the intimate details of the mutant’s look. There are concerns that Apocalypse won’t be able to convince audiences of his villainy, even if Isaac puts in an assured performance. It’s too late to change now, but imagine if his outfit was adjusted for a more fearsome look.
Turns out the job almost went to Ironhead Studio, who is recognized as one of the best in the business for superhero design work. Ironhead is headed by Jose Fernandez, who has worked on the likes of Captain America: Civil War and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. He jumped at the opportunity to recreate the legendary Apocalypse.
Unfortunately, however, he was turned down for the position. Fernandez explained the situation in a recent interview with Tested (h/t Screen Rant). But, the costume designer was so intrigued by the ideal of Apocalypse that he went ahead and created an original design of his own just because. Take a look at the breathtaking images below:
As you can see, Fernandez’s Apocalypse design is wayyyyy cooler than what Fox came up with for Oscar Isaac. I bet once Isaac sees these images he’ll be kicking himself for not convincing the studio to work with Fernandez. This design instantly strikes awe, fear and respect into the heart of viewers and it certainly would of made for a much more badass supervillain. Oh well, there’s always next time.
X-Men: Apocalypse arrives in theaters May 27.
