All X-Men movies, ranked worst to best

The X-Men Franchise launched in 2000 and helped kick off the current golden age of superhero movies – naturally leading audiences to wonder which X-Men movie is the best of them all. In all, there have been 13 X-Men movies and spinoffs during the Fox X-Men era, with the MCU X-Men Movie tantalizingly close to usher in a whole new era for the beloved Marvel characters.

The X-Men movie timeline is all over the map in terms of quality, although the best X-Men films also rank high among the greatest superhero movies ever. Even in the genre they helped redefine, the X-Men films stand apart. The original X-Men Film introduced an ensemble cast led by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen and a fully-formed superhero team before Wolverine received its first spinoff in 2009; This is the opposite of the MCU’s method of building solo superhero films The Avengers. With the rise of the family-friendly MCU and the DCEU, the R-rated spinoffs of the X-Men franchise have been met with critical acclaim and box office, although not every movie has done so well.

The New Mutants (2020)

While The New Mutants Was a movie that had a lot of promise and a solid cast roster, ultimately its potential didn’t come to fruition. What was seemingly intended to be a brave new foray for the X-Men franchise – exploring the teen horror genre – instead came off as lackluster on both a narrative and tonal level, resulting in one of the franchise’s least popular films, and Most widely criticized too. The reception can be seen in the box office results of the movie, which saw it take in $49 million worldwide – a total thought to be between $18-31 million less than its budget.

While a core roster of characters less linked to the overarching X-Men movie landscape had the potential for a fascinating spinoff series—and one that audiences didn’t need to watch hours of previous releases to fully understand—it also meant that the Film was placed in a more precarious position in which it had to start more from scratch with its cast and story. Unfortunately, this meant that the movie’s failure was more pronounced, as it seemed even further away from what audiences had come to expect from a live-action X-Men movie.

This led to the most damning criticism of the movie, which was that it was generic, instead of fully embracing its unique comic Root. As such, it’s perhaps for the best that the MCU X-Men introduction brings a fresh start for the Marvel team after the subpar reception to its last non-MCU installment.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-Men Origins: Wolverine was the first standalone spinoff, which was intended to be followed by X-Men Origins: Magneto. Directed by Gavin Hood, X-Men Origins: Wolverine Adapted Marvel Comics’ origin miniseries, which revealed Wolverine’s real name – James Howlett – and his tragic past. Hugh Jackman became a producer and trained hard to sculpt Wolverine’s muscular body while Liev Schreiber was cast as Sabretooth, Logan’s half-brother and archenemy. The film rewrites history so that Wolverine and Sabretooth fought in the Civil War, both world wars, and in Vietnam, and depicts how Logan entered the Weapon X program to have adamantium grafted to his bones.

The script by Game of Thrones‘ David Benioff and Skip Woods are convoluted and filled with mutants, with Taylor Kitsch miscast as Gambit, while Hood’s shaky direction results in a confused (Logan has CGI Claws) and just plain bad film. one of X-Men Origins: Wolverines greatest sin the image of Deadpool, which left Ryan Reynolds so dissatisfied, he successfully campaigned to make a proper Deadpool Movie. Meanwhile, the bad taste in fans’ mail left by the one-two punch of X-Men: The Last Stand And X-Men Origins: Wolverine Forced the entire franchise to reboot with X-Men: First Class In 2011.

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

X-Men: The Last Stand was directed by Brett Ratner, who replaced Bryan Singer when he left the franchise to make Superman Returns For Warner Bros. Written by Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn, X-Men: The Last Stand Goes up Jean Gray’s death in X2: X-Men United By cramming together two different comics stories: Joss Whedon’s TalentedAbout a mutant cure, and The Dark Phoenix Sagawhich was transferred to the B-place, and of the greatest resonance. The last stand Also the killing of Professor X by Jean Gray and the death of Cyclops, who died offscreen.

In fairness, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen and Famke Janssen try to inject as much humanity as they can into the material, but Ratner’s cookie-cutter direction and frantic pacing zips through the pivotal story beats, robbing almost all of its impact. X-Men: The Last Stand Introducing Ben Foster as Angel and Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde but giving them little to do, the film drew criticism for dialogue such as Vinnie Jones’ terrible quip, “I’m the juggernaut, b*tch!” Despite a few bright spots, X-Men: The Last Stand Earns its dirt as the worst of the X-Men movies.

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

The latest X-Men movie directed by Bryan Singer, X-Men: Apocalypse Tried to replicate X-Men: The Animated Series On the big screen. Oscar Isaac portrays En Sabah Nur, the 5,000-year-old all-powerful mutant called Apocalypse, who awakens in 1983 and tries to destroy the world. It’s never really clear what Apocalypse’s plan actually is when he assembles his four horses—Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Angel (Ben Hardy), Psylocke (Olivia Munn), and Magneto (Michael Fassbender)—but X-Men: Apocalypse Goes for broke with large-scale cartoony action as the X-Men combine their powers to fight Apocalypse while nuclear missiles threaten to wipe out the planet.

Singer hired young actors to portray the core X-Men as teenagers, including Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, Tye Sheridan as Cyclops, and Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler. The film teases Jean’s eventual corruption by the Phoenix Force within her, which arises Dark PhoenixWhile Jennifer Lawrence spends as little time as possible in Mystique’s blue makeup. Hugh Jackman also cameos as Wolverine as he violently escapes from the Weapon X facility. After the success of a similar sequence in X-Men: Days of Future PastApocalypse repeats a superspeed rescue by Quicksilver (Evan Peters) as the X-Mansion is destroyed. Ironically, a meta-joke that “The third film is always the worst” Ends up applying to the overlong and bombastic X-Men: Apocalypse.

The Wolverine (2013)

The Wolverine is the second standalone Logan spinoff directed by James Mangold from a screenplay by Mark Bomback and Scott Frank. It adapts the 1982 Marvel Comics miniseries WolverineBut there is also a sequel to X-Men: The last stand Where Logan is still mourning Jean Grey’s death when he is called to Japan by his old World War II friend, Ichiro Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi), who runs a corporation threatened by the Yakuza. Wolverine strips Logan of his mutant healing factor for most of the film, leaving him more vulnerable than ever, and he also meets one of his main comic book love interests, Mariko (Tao Okamoto). However, Wolverine has more on-screen chemistry with his sidekick Yukio (Rila Fukushima).

Despite the intriguing Japan setting and Mangold’s attempts to make a grittier movie, The Wolverine Devolves into cartoony schlock by the end when Logan faces the Silver Samurai, a giant robot. In a post-credits scene set “Two years later“, Logan runs into Magneto and an inexplicably alive Professor X, setting up X-Men: Days of Future Past. The Wolverine Was a big improvement over X-Men Origins: Wolverine And the potential for Mangold’s future glory to come— Logan – was evident.

Dark Phoenix (2019)

Dark Phoenix is the second attempt to adapt The Dark Phoenix Saga Comic story, but this time, Jean Grey’s corruption by the Phoenix Force is the A-story that tragically fractures the X-Men. Writer Simon Kinberg steps into the director’s chair for what turns out to be Fox’s last X-Men film after it was bought by Disney. in Dark PhoenixSet in 1992, the X-Men go into space for a rescue mission when Jean Gray is imbued with the otherworldly Phoenix Force. Jean’s level up in power shatters the psychic barriers Professor X placed in her mind when she was a girl, which causes Jean to amp up and forces the X-Men to try to stop her, resulting in a tragic death. Dark Phoenix Also introduces Genosha, which is Magneto’s island refuge for mutants, and Jessica Chastain plays a mysterious alien who tries to manipulate Jean and the power of the Phoenix.

Dark Phoenix Had highly publicized reshoots resulting in its release date being delayed twice, and it now has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score of any X-Men movie, but it’s also not the disaster many claim it to be. Sophie Turner explores the darkest corners of Jean’s mind as she transforms into the powerful Dark Phoenix, culminating in a different and surprising outcome of X-Men: The Last Stands. The film also asks intriguing questions about the cost of Professor X’s dream of humans no longer hating mutants and whether he was right to manipulate Young Jin’s mind to protect her from childhood trauma. finally, Dark Phoenix Serves as a sad finale for the overall X-Men saga, despite its interesting ideas and strong performances from the cast.

X-Men (2000)

X-MenDirected by Bryan Singer and written by David Hayter, the modern comic book movie boom began in 2000. Although a modestly scaled superhero adventure, especially by today’s standards, X-Men Introduced the iconic frenemies Professor X and Magneto played by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan respectively, the concept of superpowered mutants hated and feared by humanity, and it was the debut of one of the greatest superhero castings ever: a then unknown Hugh Jackman as Wolverine . X-Men Also starring James Marsden as Cyclops, Famke Janssen as Jean Grey, Halle Berry as Storm, and Oscar-winner Anna Paquin as Rogue, while Ray Park played Toad, Tyler Mane played Sabretooth, and Rebecca Romijn was unforgettable as Mystique.

The plot involved Magneto’s attempt to kidnap Rogue and create a machine that would make the world leader in mutants, but X-MenIts true superpower was how it focused on the characters, using Wolverine and Rogue as the audience’s POV into the dangerous world of mutants. X-Men is often derisively mentioned for Storm’s quip (scripted by Joss Whedon) about what happens when a toad is struck by lightning. however, X-Mens emphasis on depicting the mutants as flawed and conflicted proved the Marvel Comics formula worked on the big screen.

Deadpool 2 (2018)

Directed by: David Leitch Deadpool 2 does not Matches the shock value of the original film but is even more ambitious. Deadpool 2 Brings not only Cable (Josh Brolin) and X-Force, but also the concept of time travel, which Wade Wilson indulges in during the end-credits scene of the film. Deadpool 2 Controversially kills Morena Baccarin’s Vanessa as Cable comes from the future to kill Wade’s young friend Russell Collins (Julian Dennison), who will one day grow up to become Firefist and kill Cable’s family.

Deadpool assembles X-Force, consisting of Bedlam (Terry Cruise), Domino (Zazzy Beets), Shatterstar (Louis Tan), Peter (Rob Delaney), and the Vanisher (Brad Pitt), and how most of them are instantly killed off. One of the film’s inspired highlights – how Wade uses a time machine to kill the version of Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine And prevent Ryan Reynolds from starring in Green Lantern. Colossus Stefan Kapičić) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Briana Hildebrand) return from the first film and Deadpool 2 Also includes a comics-accurate version of the Juggernaut. A PG-13 cut titled Once on a Deadpool was released in Christmas 2018.

X-Men: First Class (2011)

Directed by Matthew Vaughn, 2011 X-Men: First Class is a soft reboot of the main X-Men films and depicts not only the first gathering of X-Men but the beginning of the lifelong friendship and enmity between Charles Xavier, Magneto and Mystique (includes elements of the canceled. X-Men Origins: Magneto). Set primarily during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, X-Men: First Class Also introduced is the Hellfire Club, led by Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), and their designs on world domination. Vaughn’s film breaks away from the standard superhero genre and embraces the period’s Cold War setting to create an engaging superhero spy film about the X-Men, with an impeccable cameo from Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine.

Despite the daunting task of recasting the iconic mutant lead roles, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender successfully embodied the rougher younger versions of Professor X and Magneto. Meanwhile, the X-Men franchise scored Jennifer Lawrence to play Mystique right before she became a superstar thanks to The Hunger Games films. Vaughn’s snappy direction mixed superhero action with a classic James Bond sensibility that reinvigorated the X-Men franchise for the next decade, where X-Men would now have to compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe.

Deadpool (2016)

An R-rated, raunchy superhero comedy, directed by Tim Miller Deadpool was an unexpected breath of fresh air for the X-Men franchise. Produced by and starring Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson, the titular Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool was actually in development even before Reynolds portrayed an inferior version of the character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. After years of campaigning to properly bring Deadpool to the big screen, Reynolds was thankfully proven right when Deadpool And Deadpool 2 became the highest-grossing X-Men films worldwide.

in DeadpoolThe red-clad mercenary breaks the fourth wall as he tells his own origins and life’s journeys. Instead of using X-Men with the top name in the film, Deadpool scores by including a comic book-accurate version of Colossus. Meanwhile, the invisible Negasonic Teenage Warhead steals scenes and instantly became a fan favorite mutant. Despite the violence and debauchery, Wade’s romance with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) feels genuine, and Reynolds makes Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine the butt of some clever jokes.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

X-Men: Days of Future Past is arguably the most ambitious X-Men movie, and that boldness paid off. Adapting the classic Marvel Comics story, director Bryan Singer used Wolverine to bridge the original X-Men cast with their younger selves from X-Men: First Class. Beginning in a post-apocalyptic, Terminator-As a future where mutants are hunted to extinction by Sentinels, Logan time travels to 1973 to find the young Professor X and Magneto so they can stop Mystique from inadvertently causing the future destruction of the mutant race. Along the way, they meet Evan Peters’ Quicksilver, who is featured in an eye-popping superspeed sequence.

somehow, X-Men: Days of Future Past‘s genre-bending risks worked brilliantly. With Hugh Jackman’s Logan anchoring both timelines, the 1973 segments of the film proved James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender worthy successors to the roles pioneered by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan, while the future war with the Sentinels saw the X-Men fight and Perish. In a big, operative fashion. Days of Future Past Also complete with the timeline is altered, wipe the mistakes of X-Men: The Last Stand of continuity, as well as a post-credits tease for X-Men: Apocalypse. An X-Men: Days of Future Past Rogue CuIt was later released on Blu-ray with extra footage reincorporating Anna Paquin’s Rogue in the film.

X2: X-Men United (2003)

Released in 2003, X2: X-Men United Still ranks among the best superhero movies ever made. Bryan Singer’s sequel continued and expanded the scope of the X-Men universe, introducing William Stryker (Brian Cox), the government agent who created Wolverine. When the Xavier School is attacked and the X-Men are divided, Logan takes charge of the young students as Magneto and Mystique briefly join forces with the heroes to save Professor X from Stryker. X2 Also memorably introduced are Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler and Kelly Hu as Deathstrike, one of Wolverine’s arch enemies.

X2 was a thrilling escalation of the X-Men movies, including Wolverine going berserker rampage to fight a military raid on the X-Mansion. But the film remained focused on character development as Logan learned secrets about his past, Iceman revealed to his parents that he was a mutant, and Magneto seduced another student, Pyro, into his brotherhood. It all culminates with a major cliffhanger when Jean Gray sacrifices her life to save her friends, which inspired years of fan speculation that the third film would depict The Dark Phoenix Saga. X2: X-Men United Set the high standard that every X-Men movie that followed would be judged against.

Deadpool and Wolverine (2024)

With the Fox X-Men universe seemingly ending and the MCU taking the spotlight in a major way since, the announcement that Deadpool & Wolverine – the third Deadpool movie in the series, and one that comes a considerable 6 years after the second – would bring Deadpool to the MCU was an unexpected but delightful revelation for audiences. That said, there was concern about how the two separate Marvel spheres might compare before its release, and whether it might risk dampening the legacy of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine since the actor was set to return for the film.

with mercy, Deadpool & Wolverine Proved it can get all that and more right on its July 2024 release, seeing mostly positive reviews and joining the ranks of MCU movies that have made $1B+ at the box office. The film expertly balances Deadpool’s bombastic comedy and action, the emotional pathos of Wade and Logan’s stories, and ties everything in the MCU multiverse, effectively blending the elements together in a manner that enhances each of them, and can leave the audience surprisingly Misty. Time the credits roll and show behind-the-scenes footage from previous Fox X-Men movies.

Where the previous Deadpool movies departed from meaningfully featuring Deadpool and the rest of the Fox X-Men movie cast, Deadpool & Wolverine does just the opposite, with a smorgasbord of returning actors and characters found in the Deadpool & Wolverine Figure. That said, while the film is careful to pay dividends to the legacy of the movies that came before it, it’s not exactly lavish with how it uses parts of the memoir, though that itself arguably makes the other nods to Fox’s X -Men history. More natural, and less something overly lionized by the story itself.

total, Deadpool & Wolverine is an entertaining and comedic installment that manages to bring fresh life to this corner of Marvel’s media empire and make it feel completely natural. As it stands, the movie also opens up the opportunity for more stories to potentially take place in the wheelhouse, and raises the possibility for Fox X-Men characters to appear in Avengers: Doomsday And Avengers: Secret WarsPotentially start a new era of sorts for the series and its most beloved faces.

Logan (2017)

James Mangold’s violent, uncompromising Logan is the best X-Men film of all. Hugh Jackman’s most iconic appearance as the Wolverine is set in an alternate future where the X-Men are dead, and the titular mutant is a battered shell of his former self looking after an elderly and seriously ill Charles Xavier. The arrival of Laura (Dafne Keen), an 11-year-old clone with identical mutant powers and claws, changes Logan’s life when he agrees to release her to a so-called mutant haven. During their fateful road trip, Logan, Laura and Xavier are hunted by the Reavers, cyborg mercenaries working for the Transgene Corporation, as well as X-24, an even more dangerous clone of the Wolverine.

Logan Earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay and Mangold was inspired by classic Westerns like niceWhich is quoted in the film. A black and white cut called Logan Noir received a limited theatrical release prior to its inclusion in the digital and Blu-ray editions. LoganIts R-rating for its mature themes and extreme violence was well-deserved; The X-Men Film pushed the boundaries of the superhero movie genre to give Patrick Stewart’s Professor X and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine one final grace note and a heart-wrenching conclusion.

• X-Men is the first film in the long-running superhero franchise centered on the iconic Marvel team. Wolverine and Professor X take center stage as they and the other X-Men attempt to stop Erik Lehnsherr (aka Magneto) after he has a violent response to the proposed Mutant Registration Act. Hugh Jackman stars as Wolverine, alongside Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, Jacob Marsden and Anna Paquin.

• X2: X-Men United is the follow-up film to Fox’s 2000 X-Men starring Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. The film features the introduction of Colonel William Stryker (Brian Cox) when he kidnaps Charles Xavier, who leads the X-Men to team up with Magneto. Most of the cast from the original film returned for the sequel, along with the introduction of Alan Cumming’s Nightcrawler.

• X-Men: The Last Stand is the third and final installment in Bryan Singer’s original X-Men trilogy. It adapts Marvel’s famous “Dark Phoenix” storyline, with Famke Janssen’s Jean Gray embracing her supernatural power to unleash chaos on mutantkind. Fox’s 2006 superhero movie brings back franchise mainstays such as Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, Patrick Stewart’s Professor X, and Ian McKellen’s Magneto, and it introduces major mutant characters such as Kelsey Grammer’s Beast, Ben Foster’s Angel, and Vinnie Jones’ Juggernaut.

• Following Bryan Singer’s X-Men trilogy, Hugh Jackman returns as the titular clawed mutant in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The 2009 superhero movie explores Logan’s origins with a look back at Weapon X, the experiment that coated his skeleton with adamantium. It’s the first appearance of Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool, and it precedes James Mangold’s The Wolverine and Logan, which retroactively make Origins the first installment in a solo trilogy for Jackman’s iconic Marvel hero.

• X-Men: First Class charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga in the 1960s. Before mutants appeared to the world, and before Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young people discovering their powers. Before they were archenemies, they were close friends, working together with other mutants (some familiar, some new) to prevent nuclear Armageddon. In the process, a rift between them opened, beginning the eternal war between Magneto’s brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.

• Based on the 1982 comic event “Wolverine,” The Wolverine takes place after X-Men: The Last Stand and follows Logan on a journey to Japan at the behest of a former acquaintance. Living in isolation after the world-changing events of the previous movie and haunted by the death of the woman he loved, Logan is found and asked to travel to Japan to meet with a man named Ichiro, whom he saved during the Second World War. world war At the end of his life, Ichiro offers Logan a chance to rid himself of his healing abilities to finally die by taking them for himself. However, Logan soon learns that Ichiro’s intentions for immortality are far less honorable than he expected, leading him to struggle to face off with a former ally.

• The fifth installment in the X-Men movie franchise, X-Men: Days of Future Past is a time-traveling superhero film that takes place between two time periods in the series. With mutants (and almost humans) on the brink of extinction due to the Sentinel robot threat, the last remnants of the X-Men send Logan back in time to stop the assassination of the man who created the Sentinels to save their future from certain doom. . .

• The third installment of the X-Men prequel films, and the ninth film in the overall X-Men movie franchise, X-Men: Apocalypse once again sees Professor Xavier and Magneto on opposite sides of a catastrophic conflict. Since he rose from the dead, the ancient mutant Apocalypse wants to wipe out all of humanity, and recruits four mutants including Magneto to help him in his quest, leading Xavier and his young team of X-Men to try to stop them. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender reprise their roles as Professor Xavier and Magneto, with a larger ensemble cast that includes Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Olivia Munn and Oscar Isaac.

• The Merc With The Mouth is getting his own film in Deadpool, an action-adventure comedy movie starring Ryan Reynolds as the titular hero. When mercenary Wade Wilson discovers that he has an aggressive type of cancer that threatens to cut his life short, he decides to take a shady offer from a businessman who promises to cure him. Tortured and left for dead, the treatment makes Wade immortal—and a little twisted—as he seeks out his tormentor for revenge.

• Logan sees the titular hero, aka Wolverine, in his twilight years as his healing factor began to leave him, and he began to age more rapidly. Set several years in the future, Logan finds himself caring for an ailing Professor Xavier, whose mind has begun to succumb to dementia, making him an incredibly dangerous mutant who can accidentally cause widespread destruction. But when busy Logan is asked to meet with a woman who requests he transport a young girl to a mutant haven known as Eden, he learns that she may have his DNA and that the fate of mutantkind may rest in her hands.

• The snake with the mouth returns in Deadpool 2, “the sequel to the first.” Wade Wilson finds himself alone and aimless until he reluctantly agrees to join the X-Men. Things take a turn for the weird when Wade finds himself in prison after trying to help a young mutant named Russell, and a time-traveling mutant cyborg arrives to kill Russell to save the future. Determined to save Russell and do the right thing, Wade creates a new team of heroes to fight back and save the world the only way Deadpool knows how – as ridiculously as possible.

• In this continuation of the rebooted X-Men movie series, Jean Gray begins to develop incredible powers that corrupt and turn her into a Dark Phoenix. Now, the X-Men will have to decide if the life of a team member is worth more than all the people living in the world.

• A follow-up to the highly successful Deadpool and Deadpool 2 films starring Ryan Reynolds as the Mer with a Mouth. The third film will be the first in the franchise to be developed under the Marvel Studios banner following Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox.