Let’s get this straight. We don’t know everything. Even with knowledge available at the click of our button, it is we who choose what we want to hear, see and listen. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise if someone comes up to you and says, hey I haven’t watched the Game of Thrones or Friends. I mean, yes you would really want to know why but who are you to sit in judgement? It was one such discussion over a cup of coffee that led us to a shocking discovery. One among us had no idea who the X-Men were. We issued a collective gasp.

And then the idea popped into our heads. What would it be like if we had this friend of ours, an artist, draw illustrations the X-Men using only short verbal, descriptions? So after a long day of work and a lot of effort, we present to you our rendition of The X-Men. Enjoy!

1. Wolverine

Our description: 

Think buff Anil Kapoor minus the mustache. He has massive sideburns and his hair looks like he hasn’t washed it in a looong time. Looks kinda like a lumberjack and he has three blades coming out of each hand. Likes to call people “Bub” a lot.

The illustration:

2. Cyclops

Our description:

The captain of the X-Men. He looks kind of like Tom Cruise, if he wore a red and yellow visor that looks like a dog collar around his eyes. and a tight, blue spandex suit. Always looks like he’s depressed about something and his power is to shoot red lasers from his eyes.

The illustration:

3. Professor X

Our description:

Think Anupam Kher without the facial hair, who rolls around in a wheelchair and wears a suit. Usually has a calm expression on his face like he’s high all the time. Touches his head a lot when he uses his telepathic powers to read minds, kinda like Nana Patekar does in his movies.

The illustration:

4. Magneto

Our description:

Naseeruddin Shah if he was a half-German, half-Jewish holocaust survivor who wore a maroon spandex and cape. Wears a helmet that sort of looks like a cross between a thimble and a penis. He has the power to control metal. Oh, and also flies.

The illustration:

5. Mystique

Our description: 

Crazy eyes like Kangana Ranaut, but yellow in colour. Red hair, like bright red. Her skin looks like a pangolin fell into a vat of blue dye. Her power is the ability to shapeshift into anyone she sees. Oh, and she’s Baba Ramdev level flexible. And she’s always naked.

The illustration:

6. Apocalypse

He’s really bulky, like Bhai. Yeah, that’s it. Imagine a slightly taller Bhai, except his skin is a shade of purple somewhere between baingan and Aishwarya Rai’s lipstick. It looks like he’s wearing a car’s hubcap around his neck and for some reason he always looks like he’s concerned or sad. Basically baingan-y, sad Bhai wearing a hubcap as a cowl.

The illustration:

7. Beast

Our description:

The love child of Johnny Lever and a gorilla but they accidentally used Ujala as lubricant and so he came out a blue-haired beast. Wears nothing but a speedo and a pair of glasses. Insanely intelligent, like a proper genius and has claws on his hands and feet. His power is basically that he’s a beast with extraordinary intelligence. 

The illustration:

8. Storm

Our description: 

She looks like a dark-skinned Deepika Padukone playing a daayan who controls the weather. When she’s making it rain, her eyes go completely white, like in a horror movie. She also has a mohawk and wears Captain Vyom’s suit.

The illustration:

9. Nightcrawler

Our description:

Picture Nawazuddin Siddiqui if he walked around like a monkey. He wears something that looks like a Russian sherwani which is blackish-blue in colour. Oh and he’s got a tail, and the tail’s tip looks like an arrow. Almost forgot, his skin is blue. Almost like Mystique, but less scale-y.

The illustration:

10. Toad

Our description: 

He looks like Rajpal Yadav wearing swimming goggles. He has a looong tongue and he vomits on people. His skin is this sickly green colour and it almost looks diseased. Plus he also wears a trench coat. He also sticks on ceilings and walls, and jumps really, really high.

The illustration:

These were definitely not the results we expected. They’re better. Goes to show just how creative and variable the mind is. Someone can picture one thing, explain it another way and the person listening can form a completely different idea of their own. 

But that’s not the point. The point is that we hope you had a good laugh at these. Let us know what you thought in the comments below!

Co-Authored by Anish Kumar Doalagupu.

Design credit for these amazing illustrations to Puneet Gaur.