AI Reveals What The X-Men '97 Team Looks Like In Real Life, And It's Uncanny

Marvel's animated "X-Men '97" is a stunning show that embraces the team's 1990s storylines and aesthetic, and finally confirms that Cyclops (Ray Chase) is the coolest mutant. Because of the way the show has been making waves, it was perhaps inevitable that it would end up in the realm of AI-created fan works. You may have seen AI artwork reimagining X-Men as uncannily real characters. Now, TikTok account @canaldosrosmineiros has done the same to the "X-Men '97" characters, and the results are as impressive as they are realistic.

The AI-created slide show reimagines the "X-Men '97" versions of Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith), Magneto (Matthew Waterson), Gambit (A.J. LoCascio), Jubilee (Holly Chou), Bishop (Isaac Robinson-Smith), Jean Grey (Jennifer Hale), and Rogue (Lenore Zann) as realistic versions of themselves while still keeping the character designs and general aesthetic as close to the original versions as possible. The end result is an impressive study on what parts of the animated uniforms do and don't work in a more realistic setting, and it offers a fascinating window into what these specific versions of the characters might look like in a live-action film. 

Some uniforms, of course, translate better between cartoonish and hyper-realistic art styles than others. For instance, the AI clip highlights Magneto's "X-Men '97" fashion choices by depicting his sleeveless costume and bicep-length gloves as a latex outfit that he accompanies with a snazzy satin cape — a costume that's undoubtedly impressive but seems somewhat impractical. Both Rogue and Jean Grey fall on the spandex side of superhero outfits, which works great in comics and animation but may fall a bit on the Halloween costume side of things in live action. 

On the other hand, some character designs work very well in a more realistic context. Jubilee's outfit is essentially just colorful street clothes, and Bishop looks no worse than any live-action X-person out there — especially thanks to his penchant for accessorizing with a neat red scarf. Storm's deceptively complex, layered outfit is also quite impressive as an AI-created realistic version. Gambit's "X-Men '97" look also translates surprisingly well ... though, just as with Storm, any filmmaker hoping to adapt this look in a truly accurate way might have a hard time finding an actor who can rock the Cajun's luxurious hairstyle.