X-Men have been through some hard times, but the MCU could bring new challenges.
It's easy to forget, but the superhero-saturated world we live in today essentially started with 20th Century Fox's first X-Men movie back in 2000. From then until the underwhelming The New Mutants brought the franchise to an end with a whimper, Fox's X-Men universe was a guinea pig for franchise continuity. Still, amidst all the confusing retconning and egregious character choices, there were more than a few films that fans still love, which is reflected in the IMDb scores.
The New Mutants (2020) - 5.3
After Disney purchased 20th Century Fox in 2018, this adaptation of a Chris Claremont/Bob McLeod graphic novel faced total irrelevancy with comic book fans long before its unceremonious release.
This faux-horror with heavy YA aesthetics was DOA for audiences when it was finally released in 2020. After years on the shelf awaiting reshoots that would never come, even the most casual industry watcher recognized the mid-pandemic release as a flop.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019) - 5.7
After The Last Stand out of existence, longtime X-Men writer and producer Simon Kinberg took over the director's chair for this reworking of the famous Dark Phoenix story. Unlike the 2006 effort, this film would focus on the turmoil within a teenage Jean Grey as she comes to realize her powers.
However, the film arrived under the cloud of Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox, which effectively rendered the film a narrative dead-end. Eventually, fans' attentions shifted to how the MCU would eventually reboot the mutants.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) - 6.5
Fox attempted to expand the X-Men universe in 2009 with this misbegotten origin story. Though turning the series’ most popular protagonist, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, into a solo act certainly made sense on paper, the final result didn’t resonate with audiences.
Following a script co-written by future Game of Thrones co-creator David Benioff, the decades-spanning story is often hard to follow. More importantly, the character's arc is rendered frustratingly irrelevant by the end of the film, which feels like a waste of a runtime to most audiences.
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) - 6.6
The third X-Men film is one of the most notorious superhero films in the genre’s history. Loosely adapting the iconic Dark Phoenix storyline, the Brett Ratner film displays a strong disregard for the fanbase. It unceremoniously dispatches some of the X-Men’s most beloved characters and dumbs down the ones that survive.
The Last Stand was such a disaster that Fox used the next decade of X-Men movies attempting to narratively ensure this extremely forgettable piece of superhero movie history never even happened.
The Wolverine (2013) - 6.7
Four years after an origin film that left Logan with no memory of his origins, Jackman teamed with director James Mangold to make another Wolverine adventure. Rather than focus on the past, the film would focus on the character’s time in Japan.
The 2013 movie is a straightforward superhero adventure that primarily works as a movie star showcase for Jackman. After more than a decade of donning the claws, the actor is fully in his element. He easily nails both the drama and the action with equal power and precision.
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) - 6.9
Fox’s X-Men team was still experiencing financial success well into their reboot, but the franchise still seemed somewhat lost creatively. However, they had one more classic villain to play with in the form of Apocalypse, one of the most powerful and dangerous mutants from the comics.
Played by an unrecognizable and under-utilized Oscar Isaac, the character proved too much of a leap from what audiences were used to in the X-Men films. The apocalyptic (pun intended) scenario robbed the story of whatever emotional core the filmmakers were hoping to establish with their introductions of young Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Storm.
X2: X-Men United (2003) - 7.4
After proving that these characters had potential on the big screen three years earlier, Everyone brought their A-game for this 2003 sequel, and comics fans today still herald it as one of the foundational superhero movies of the 21st century.
Building on the successful elements of its predecessor, X2 features iconic action sequences like Nightcrawler’s White House attack and Wolverine’s defense of the school against anonymous commandos. More importantly, however, there's an in-depth exploration of the nature of being a young mutant in the world that still can’t accept their differences.
X-Men (2000) - 7.4
The film to start it all was by no means a sure thing when it came out in 2000. Eschewing the colorful costumes and outlandish stories of the comics and cartoons, Bryan Singer and his collaborators (including a young Kevin Feige) chose a darker, more grounded approach.
While this movie doesn’t have the same reverence amongst comics fans as its sequel or Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, the original X-Men remains well-regarded thanks to strong debut performances from the likes of Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, and Ian McKellen, and the sheer euphoria of finally seeing such iconic characters on the silver screen.
Deadpool 2 (2018) - 7.7
The historic success of the first Cable, played by Josh Brolin.
The tongue-in-cheek nature of the character allowed the film to be a rote blockbuster sequel as long as the character knew it was a rote blockbuster sequel, but fans were still quite happy to get more time with their favorite wise-cracking anti-hero.
X-Men: First Class (2011) - 7.7
Fox decided to reboot the series after the successes of The Dark Knight proved that the superhero movie was far from dead. Casting hot new stars like Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, and Michael Fassbender, the story went back to the 60s to show how Professor X, Magneto, and the whole mutant world got its start.
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The film took full advantage of the mod aesthetics and reintroduced the beloved characters in a way that made them both fresh and compelling. The final setpiece, which imagines mutant intervention in the Cuban Missile Crisis, is one of the strongest finales across the franchise and gave the studio good reason for a hopeful future.
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - 8.0
By 2014, with the dream of Guardians of the Galaxy on the horizon, it looked like Disney’s MCU had fully taken over the world of superhero movies. but Days of Future Past proved that the X-Men weren’t done yet.
Using Chris Claremont’s famous time-hopping story arc from 1981, Bryan Singer returned to combine the franchise’s old players with the new for a star-studded epic. Fans were giddy over the wildly expansive film, and strong performances mixed with pure comic book madness make this one of the best superhero movies of the decade.
Deadpool (2016) - 8.0
Ryan Reynolds was finally able to wrestle control of his favorite smart-mouthed anti-hero and created the ultimate antidote to all the clean-cut superherodom that had come to dominate multiplexes.
The invincible assassin’s baffling introduction in solidified Ryan Reynolds' persona on screen. As a result, it made Deadpool an unlikely household name.
Logan (2017) - 8.1
Sporting an R-rating made possible by Deadpool’s success, James Mangold was able to embrace the bloody implications of Logan’s adamantium claws and the full vocabulary of his sour disposition in service of a Children of Men-esque journey of redemption for the aging superhero.
Fully extricated from any particular timeline or the need to appeal to a four-quadrant audience, pure fan service for Wolverine devotees. Hugh Jackman’s curtain call as the franchise’s signature character is a high watermark for the superhero genre.