X-Men is full of iconic dialogue, but there’s one line that defines the 2000 superhero movie above all others: “What would you prefer, yellow spandex?” Spoken by Cyclops (James Marsden) just before Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) suits up in black leather as a member of the X-Men for the first time, those six words signaled a broader cultural shift towards more serious, grounded superhero movies — even if some hardcore comic book fans didn’t appreciate the change.
A quarter of a century later, Marsden is set to return to the role in Avengers: Doomsday, and an early teaser for the movie shows Cyclops in a much more comics-accurate outfit. So when Polygon had a chance to interview the actor for his latest movie, Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice, we couldn’t resist asking how he feels about those infamous six words today.
“I don’t think it was meant in any sort of bad nature,” Marsden says. “It was a little bit of a jab at — maybe it wasn’t a jab, but it was a sort of playful remark about maybe previous movies where people were running around in over-the-top costumes.”
Avengers: Doomsday features Marsden in Cyclops’ classic superhero outfitImage: Marvel Studios
Behind the scenes, the choice to put the X-Men in black leather was made by studio executives who worried colorful spandex would scare off a mainstream audience. Decades later, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige, who worked as an associate producer on X-Men, explained the decision at a press conference for 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine: “There were studio execs in charge who knew that The Matrix had been a big hit, and they wore black leather so, ‘Put them in black leather!’”
During filming, director Bryan Singer added Marsden’s line to the script to get ahead of any possible blowback from fans.
“It was a playful little lob to the comic book fans,” Marsden confirms. “It was a moment of levity that allowed the fans to get a giggle out of our discussions about what the heck we’re going to be wearing in this movie. We’re in black leather in the first film, and it’s not comic-book-accurate, but we wanted to do something a little different and more grounded in reality. These are suits that you could see somebody wearing while walking around the street or riding a motorcycle.”
X’Men ’97 pokes fun at the X-Men (2000) outfitsImage: Marvel Animation
As for whether X-Men’s “yellow spandex” line was all a big setup that Avengers: Doomsday is finally about to pay off, that’s not how the Cyclops actor sees it.
“I don’t think there was any foretelling there,” Marsden says. “I don’t think we knew where all of this was going to go.”
Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is streaming now on Hulu. Avengers: Doomsday releases Dec. 18 in theaters.