The original version of this article was written by Jess Bacon and published on 11 July 2024.
Long before the Avengers were on the scene (and on our screens), there was another super-skilled Marvel team saving the world: the X-Men. Since 2000, there have been 14 movies which, despite not having an overarching plan to begin with, are all interconnected in one way or another. The storylines have been epic, spanning several decades and introducing multiple versions of some of Marvel’s most iconic characters.
So the question is, what’s the best order to watch all of the X-Men movies in? While there’s a clear release date order, the timelines within these 14 films shift drastically. First Class joins Charles and Magneto in the 1960s, while X-Men is set in the early 2000s, but was released before the prequel franchise. Other entries, particularly those concerning the ageless Wolverine (and the seemingly ageless Hugh Jackman), similarly take place at various points in history.
It comes down to personal preference, but ultimately, I believe chronological release date is the right way to go as it’s important to have that relationship built up with the characters before seeing them reintroduced in later instalments. So without further ado, here is every movie so far in the X-Men universe listed in that order.
X-Men (2000)
X-Men is the Marvel movie where it all began. Along with Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, Bryan Singer’s superhero movie set the tone for so many 21st-century blockbusters. If you’re keen to see how superhero movies looked in those early days, it’s well worth seeking out—just take note that the movie itself has aged better than its director’s reputation.
Despite being released a full eight years before RDJ’s Iron Man, X-Men is also now part of the canonical MCU—so if you need to brush up before Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier and Ian McKellen’s Magneto appear in Avengers: Doomsday (a full 26 years after the actors first portrayed them), there’s no time like the present.
X2 (2003)
Given the number of superhero movies that we’ve seen in the last two decades, it’s remarkable that Singer’s X-Men follow-up, X2, is still widely considered one of the very best. Even if you’ve not seen the first part, it’s one that any comic book movie fan will enjoy.
I can still remember seeing it in the cinema for the first time: Brian Cox’s incredible performance as William Stryker, the landmark special effects used for Mystique’s transformations, and of course the opening sequence, in which Nightcrawler dances around the White House through puffs of smoke to Mozart’s Requiem—an elegant piece of action filmmaking that still looks incredible when seen today.
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
There are plenty of reasons why most people would rather forget X-Men: The Last Stand —Vinnie Jones’s The Juggernaut, anyone?—but if you’re feeling like being a Marvel completist, I suppose there are worse ways to spend a couple of hours. There are some touching scenes in the movie, especially the opening flashback where a still friendly Charles and Erik visit the young Jean Grey for the first time, but in the end, it’s a bit of a mess.
Things might have been different had the now problematic Singer not left the film to direct Superman Returns. In the end, Brett Ratner was brought in, and the rest is history.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a movie that retroactively became more significant than when it was first released. This is thanks to Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool (more on him in a minute), who makes his first appearance here but is unrecognisable from the Merc With The Mouth we know today. However, if you’re interested in seeing how not to do the character, or were wondering about all those references in the Deadpool movie, it’s worth a look!
It’s unfortunate the movie didn’t pan out really, as it features a script by Game of Thrones’s David Benioff, who was influenced by the popular Weapon X comic. But again, this is one for the completists.
X-Men: First Class (2011)
X-Men: First Class was the brainchild of Matthew Vaughn, so if you like Vaughn’s breakout movie, Kick-Ass, you’ll want to check it out. It’s also a period-set superhero movie, so if you were into Captain America: The First Avenger or Wonder Woman, you’ll love this movie’s mix of superhero thrills and Cold War era historical references.
In retrospect, it was an incredibly bold undertaking to attempt to recast so many iconic actors, but boy did they nail it—even going so far as to bring in two similarly Celtic-adjacent actors (in James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender) to believably portray the young Stewart and McKellen.
The Wolverine (2013)
Similar to First Class, James Mangold’s The Wolverine, his first stab at the adamantium-clawed hero (more on the other in good time), has the added narrative juice of its WWII setting. That fact alone makes it worth a look if you’re a fan of those other period superhero movies mentioned above.
Similar to Logan, Mangold co-wrote Wolverine with the legendary Hollywood script writer Scott Frank, setting the story in a Japanese POW camp around the time of the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The movie doesn’t quite live up to its potential, but it’s a solid entry in the Wolverine canon.
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
Long before the multiversal shenanigans of the Spider-Verse movies and the MCU, X-Men: Days of Future Past managed to achieve the unthinkable in bringing two different portrayals of multiple characters into one movie’s overarching narrative. Fans of the Singer movies, as well as Vaughn’s new generation, have the unmissable chance to see both collide here.
The movie itself is also more than worth the entry price, with more period-set action (this time it’s 1973 and the rise of the Berlin Wall) to go with its incredibly stacked cast.
Deadpool (2016)
If you like your superhero movies with more gnarly action, profanity, and general R-rated fun, Deadpool basically invented that entire subgenre. Ryan Reynolds had been attempting to make this fourth-wall-breaking, ultra-violent superhero movie for years before finally getting the go-ahead.
The fact that he had to portray a watered-down version in Wolverine: Origin is one of the movie's many meta gags. If you like your superhero movies to come with a good dose of knowing self-reference, nobody does it better.
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
Like X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: Apocalypse has to live with the reputation of fumbling the ball for an otherwise perfectly good trilogy—and like that earlier movie, this one is purely for the X-completists. With X-Men officially coming to the MCU, we may one day get a decent live-action version of Apocalypse, but until then, this movie remains the iconic villain’s only appearance—and yes, he was apparently played by Oscar Isaac, not that anyone would notice…
This was the movie that brought Singer back into the franchise. It was also released in the early days of # MeToo, when the allegations against the director were at their most public. For that and other reasons, it remains a tarnished entry in the X-Men franchise.
Logan (2017)
If you like superhero movies with R-rated action, deep themes and a generally maturer edge—think Nolan’s Batman movies, or Snyder’s Watchmen—Logan is one of the best to ever do it. Reimagining the legendary ‘Old Man Logan’ comic, it brings back Stewart’s Xavier and Jackman’s Wolverine for—what appeared to be at the time—a final hurrah.
Logan is really one of the great superhero movies, so we can be thankful that Mangold, Franks and Jackman decided to take a second stab at it. Superhero movie fans are understandably protective of it, to the point that even the lovely Ethan Hawke got dragged for speaking vaguely negatively about it. If only I could remember who wrote that interview…
Deadpool 2 (2018)
If you like the R-rated violence and general, self-aware fun of the first Deadpool movie, or the wild antics of any of James Gunn’s superhero output, Deadpool 2 goes even harder. Shawn Levy and Reynolds make such a great team, it’s no surprise they’ve gone on to collaborate on so many other movies—and if you like their other work together (Free Guy, The Adam Project), you’ll probably love it.
There are several great scenes, but the hilariously botched skydiving sequence still makes me laugh whenever I think about it.
Dark Phoenix (2019)
If Apocalypse and Last Stand are not the best remembered of the X-Men movies, Dark Phoenix, which tells the story of Jean Grey’s heel-turn into the titular villain, almost makes them look good. Let’s just say this one is for the total completists and the diehards. If you simply must watch the last chapter of the McAvoy, Fassbender, Turner era, then go ahead—just don’t say we didn’t warn you!
With 22% on Rotten Tomatoes, this Simon Kinberg-directed instalment is the lowest-rated of any X-Men movie on the review aggregating site. There are reasons for that.
The New Mutants (2020)
Similar to Dark Phoenix and some of the less liked entries on this list, there aren’t too many fans of The New Mutants out there—but if you liked director Josh Boone’s The Fault in Our Stars, you might be interested in seeing his attempt to bring those YA sensibilities to the world of superhero movies.
Aside from that, The New Mutants boasts an impressive cast, with Anya Taylor-Joy starring alongside Game of Thrones’s Maisie Williams and Charlie Heaton from Stranger Things.
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
If you liked the first two Deadpool movies, the earlier incarnations of Jackman’s Wolverine, and the MCU in general (inclusding other ex-Fox IPs), you will presumably enjoy seeing Ryan Reynolds’s and Shawn Levy’s deranged attempt to mash all those things together in Deadpool & Wolverine—just be warned, this is not a movie to jump into without knowing those other things!
With a host of unexpected cameos and, after 24 long years, the chance to see Logan in his iconic yellow suit, this is pure superhero fan wish fulfilment.
