X-MEN Comic Book Concept Art Reveals Unused Designs For Jean's Grey's Dark Phoenix Transformation

X-MEN Comic Book Concept Art Reveals Unused Designs For Jean's Grey's Dark Phoenix Transformation

A Marvel Comics exec has shared artist Dave Cockrum's unused designs for Jean Grey's Dark Phoenix transformation, and the character could have ended up looking a whole lot different in the storyline...

By JoshWilding - Apr 01, 2020 10:04 AM EST
Filed Under: Marvel Comics

The epic "Dark Phoenix Saga" kicked off in the pages of X-Men #129 and ran for nine issues, and has since been adapted to film twice (in X-Men: The Last Stand and Dark Phoenix). Both of those were so poorly received that it seems unlikely Marvel Studios will go anywhere near this one again, and that's a shame as Chris Claremont and John Byrne delivered a true classic. 

Now, Marvel Executive Editor and SVP of Publishing Tom Brevoort has shared some of Dave Cockrum's unused designs for how Jean Grey could have looked after transforming into the Dark Phoenix.

As you can see below, the original plan was for the costume to be white, but given the quality of paper comic books were printed on at the time, there were concerns that just wouldn't work. Jean has donned a white costume as the Phoenix since then, of course, but some of the alternate versions below are definitely a lot different to what we ended up seeing in the 1980s. 

Check out the concept art shared by Brevoort below, and then let us know your thoughts on these alternate takes on the iconic character in the comments section!
 

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NateBest
NateBest - 4/1/2020, 10:52 AM
I'm a sucker for the white and gold...
Doomsday8888
Doomsday8888 - 4/1/2020, 11:09 AM
Not Dark Phoenix, just Phoenix.

Eventually, they DID use the white costume, which is nice. :3
WeaponXCII
WeaponXCII - 4/1/2020, 12:52 PM
I understand what Mr. Cockrum might have been going for with the white (cosmic, eternal, pure), but to me it really prevents the figure from standing out, being primarily white. I like the blue concept, and here I think the white accents help to evoke the cosmic nature, and remind me of asteroids or something. I think it's good that he and the others at Marvel went with the green, though- and it's certainly proven to be iconic.
PerrinNation1
PerrinNation1 - 4/1/2020, 2:34 PM
Dave Cockrum remains THE BEST superhero costume designer.
GeneralZod
GeneralZod - 4/2/2020, 5:51 PM
@PerrinNation1 - Those sketches easily worth a few thousand dollars, maybe more.
NinnesMBC
NinnesMBC - 4/1/2020, 2:59 PM
The green and yellow one in the last tweet is my favourite.
L0RDbuckethead
L0RDbuckethead - 4/1/2020, 3:19 PM
Now this is something we need to see more of here while Hollywood is shut down.

Good article @JoshWilding, thanks for sharing.
Jimster
Jimster - 4/1/2020, 8:21 PM
Nice find!
johnjacob
johnjacob - 4/9/2020, 6:49 AM
Speaking of character and costume designs. Has anyone ever mentioned that Wolverines hair and mask design are rip-offs of the Japanese manga/tokusatsu character, Barom 1 from 1970 created by Saito Takao?
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