The Fox era of X-Men movies came to an end when Disney acquired Fox – but that acquisition opened the door to the X-Men characters being able to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That merging of worlds has already begun, with cameos from Professor X and Beast in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Marvels, respectively, building up to the multiversal insanity of Deadpool & Wolverine. So now that Deadpool and Wolverine have had a brush with the MCU’s “Sacred Timeline,” we felt this was a good time to rank all of the X-Men universe films from worst to best. Across this mighty canon of films are triumphs of the genre and ones that stand apart from it, and all the way down to some that do the genre and the characters some serious disservice. Which are the best of the best, and which are best left sliced and diced into a million pieces? Pop out your claws and dive on in.
X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE (2009)
After The Last Stand, Fox couldn’t just pick up with the X-Men for another random adventure, what with Professor X and Cyclops being obliterated, Jean Grey being killed, and Magneto left alone in the park with nothing but some pigeons to keep him company. So, they did what any studio does when they’ve reached the end: they went back to the beginning, moving forward with a planned slate of movies that would explore the origins of their famous characters, starting with their most popular character – Wolverine. This meant going back in time to the 1800s to explain his origins, and while it would’ve been fun to see Logan having adventures in history, getting to meet Teddy Roosevelt and being at the birth of Stan Lee, the movie squanders any attempts to explore the character, provide superhero thrills, or be mentioned in the same breath as some of the other X-Men movies. Barreling through one section of his origin where Sabretooth/Victor Creed is his brother only to get to another section of his origin as if two movies were mushed together, director Gavin Hood’s Origins cycles through a series of random mutants to flesh out the movie and distract from the title character, like Gambit (played by Taylor Kitsch, before the character became synonymous with “development hell”), one of the Black-Eyed Peas (Will.i.am as John Wraith), and one of the hobbits from Lord of the Rings (Dominic Monaghan as Chris Bradley). And look what they did to Deadpool! He looks like Keanu Reeves would have if he had been given red slacks after he woke up from the goo in The Matrix. Between a rushed, cobbled together story, overly-CGIed action, and an ensemble of useless characters that aren’t Wolverine, Origins feels far removed from the movies that came before and after in the worst ways. If there was anything good that came from it, it formed the basis of failure that everyone involved with the movies would crawl back out of and look back on as a cursed fever dream.
DARK PHOENIX (2019)
The last X-Men team movie we got from the Fox era, and the last we’ll be getting for a while, this one had a lot more pressure to live up to than just adapting one of the most famous comic book arcs in history (again), the Dark Phoenix Saga. It’s shameful that they wasted this story twice. Costly reshoots and release delays meant talks of trouble on the internet before the first trailer even dropped, so the movie was basically having to push a boulder uphill from moment one. Directed by Simon Kingberg, the end result is hardly as bad as people expected it to be, but make no mistake, this is indeed a bad movie. Fox went 0-2 with the Dark Phoenix storyline. The plot is muddled by trying to fit in so many characters but having nothing to use them for other than fodder (and because of those pesky contract obligations), with nothing on either the emotional or action stage that gives the movie any sense of scope or momentum. In trying to be both dramatically weighty and epic in scale, the movie mostly fails to be either, with rushed character development and unimpressive action. The only saving grace is that we get some solid performances from James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, and Sophie Turner, with one or two effective moments between them. It’s a shame this era of the X-Men movies went out with such a fizzle while wasting some of the best performances of the series on a bleak, sometimes unintentionally funny final outing that’s less of an epic series conclusion akin to Avengers: Endgame, and more of a listless example of “Let’s get this over with.”
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND (2006)
The first two X-Men movies (along with Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man) deserve to be credited for rejuvenating the superhero movie genre and setting it all down the path we’re at now, with costumed heroes dominating the box office. After those first thrilling outings that balanced comic book action with compelling characters, Fox decided to let director Brett Ratner get his hands on the series after Bryan Singer left to fail at Superman Returns. Everyone should’ve known Ratner is not one for nuanced character development, so what The Last Stand ended up being was nothing more than big, bloated action flick that featured characters we had grown to love over the years, but did nothing with them. You’ve got Jean Grey coming back as Dark Phoenix and causing panic, the cure for mutants also causing panic, and Magneto trying to take advantage of both and throwing around bridges in the process. Everything about the movie is trying to live up to the title of The Last Stand with doom-laden conflicts that make the stakes high but give the heroes nothing to do but get out of the way and make room for Wolverine. The action may be cool in spots, which at least makes it entertaining as a mindless summer action flick, but compared to the previous two movies it’s a prime example of what happens when you spend years developing characters only to, well, hand it all over to Brett Ratner. At least Ben Foster (who plays Angel in the film) landed on his feet.
X-MEN: APOCALYPSE (2016)
X-Men: Days of Future Past was a once-in-a-lifetime event that brought together two separate series of characters for an adventure the leaps between the turbulent 70s and the bleak future, all while juggling compelling character arcs. How the hell do you live up to something like that? Turns out, the answer is to try and double down on the action and cataclysm by turning one of the X-Men’s most dangerous foes into a one-off villain who looks like a pile of Play-Doh left out in the sun for too long and having him spend most of the time slogging around and lecturing with the self-satisfaction of a graduate student. Apocalypse once again found director Bryan Singer and Fox worked into a story development hole where they didn’t quite know how what to do with the characters they had been working with, so they tried to mask it with epic action. Sadly, not only did it lack the forward character development for characters like Professor X, Magneto, and Mystique, but it’s a bloated slog that tried to juggle said development with new ones for young heroes like Cyclops, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, and Storm. There’s so much in this movie that tries to get fans excited about the formation of the X-Men they know and love that it just comes off as disingenuous, muddled, and just an absolute swamp of a summer blockbuster – featuring one of the blandest villains in the entire series. It’s okay, Oscar Isaac; we know it’s not your fault.
THE NEW MUTANTS (2020)
The last X-Men universe film to be made during the Fox era, The New Mutants had a rough ride. It was filmed in 2017, aiming for a 2018 release, but Fox wanted reshoots, which were delayed when Disney acquired the company. The New Mutants sat on a shelf for years while the Disney merger was worked out. Then it was tossed out into the world in August of 2020, in the midst of the pandemic lockdown, where it was poorly received and, to the surprise of no one, was a box office bomb. Its existence is largely ignored… but it’s actually not such a bad movie. It plays on a much smaller scale than any other X-Men movie, taking place in one location and focusing on a handful of characters: Blu Hunt, Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, and Henry Zaga as teen mutants being kept in an otherwise empty hospital and Alice Braga as the doctor who claims to be helping them, but is hiding some sinister secrets. Director Josh Boone always hyped this as “a horror movie set in the X-Men universe,” and the influence on A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is incredibly clear. The movie doesn’t have much in the way of comic book action (until the climactic sequence), but when taken as a teen horror movie, it’s a decent watch.
DEADPOOL 2 (2018)
Who could have predicted that the first Deadpool would be as big as it ended up being? Fox, Ryan Reynolds, and everyone else involved may or may not have, but either way, they weren’t going to let that filthy train stop soon, and a sequel was rushed into development. Sequels to movies as uniquely entertaining as the first Deadpool don’t always turn out so well, but luckily, much of the heart, vulgarity, gleeful violence, and charms of its star made their way over to the bigger and bolder sequel. Bigger is the opportune word, with the violence ramped up, more money for additional X-Men, and more visual flair with David Leitch at the helm. The addition of Josh Brolin’s Cable gave the Merc With a Mouth a worthy foil, his stoic demeanor undercut by bursts of flagrant profanity and put-downs. The abundance of new characters like Cable, Domino (Zazie Beetz), and more took away a slight amount of the narrative power from the main character in the sequel, but this is a fine sequel to a movie that sliced its way through the superhero genre to carve out its own place.
THE WOLVERINE (2013)
After the tragedy of Origins there was really nowhere to go but up for the character and the series as a whole, and after rousing back with X-Men: First Class, Fox continued on with another adventure for their most popular X-Man, this time ignoring everything from his last adventure and taking him to Japan and putting a sword in his hand. The first smart move was getting Walk the Line director James Mangold in the mix, and the second was putting the focus back on Logan’s arc and lessening the number of other mutants on screen, ultimately ignoring Origins and acting as a sequel to The Last Stand (lesser of two evils and all that). The result is a mixed bag that gets points for being a step in the right direction more than anything else. The final act is a bit of a mess of action and the plot points don’t get much mileage, but the end does ultimately find Wolverine learning to move on from Jean Grey. If the aim was to smooth things over after Origins and make sure people remembered Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine fondly enough to be excited for what Days of Future Past had in store, then The Wolverine is a success in brand maintenance. After all, it doesn’t get much cooler than the sight of Wolverine battling samurais and ninjas.
X-MEN (2000)
For years, the only superhero movies that found huge success on the big screen were Superman and Batman. While the former ended the 80s on a note that would freeze him until 2006 and the latter literally failed among a series of frozen set pieces, the X-Men were tasked with earning that same success by drawing viewers in to watch a whole new team of heroes. By all accounts, the first X-Men, directed by Bryan Singer, could’ve been terrible, but care and attention were put into it where it counted the most, the characters, and thanks to a game ensemble and an explosive entrance onto the scene from Hugh Jackman, the movie was a strong debut for Marvel’s ultimate fighting team. The action is a bit humdrum in spots, the desire for Matrix-esque costumes robbed it of some of the colorful magic from the comics, and not everything about it has aged as well as it could’ve, but the core mechanics are sound, and fans still get some chills when Rogue asks Logan if it hurts whenever his claws come out and Jackman responds with a pitch-perfect, “Every time.”
DEADPOOL (2016)
Poor Wade Wilson. After being neutered in every sense of the word in Origins, the character appeared to be down and out for good, and that would’ve stayed true had actor Ryan Reynolds not fought so hard to get his own, faithful solo story told. After years of being in development hell, test footage dropped online (leaked by who, no one knows — *coyly winks towards Reynolds*) and the rousing reception made the studio think twice. A year later, the movie, directed by Tim Miller, was ready for theaters. Thanks to a genius viral marketing campaign that was validated by a product that lived up to the profane hilarity and unapologetic violence it promised, it was clear the superhero world had found its new, modern voice. Reynolds owns the character like Hugh Jackman with Wolverine and Robert Downey Jr. with Iron Man, adding to his raunchy personality a beating heart and soul that drives the whole movie. Everything about this first Deadpool works perfectly in establishing the character and the tone of his movies.
X2: X-MEN UNITED (2003)
Sequels usually take the “bigger is better” approach, and Bryan Singer’s follow-up to the first X-Men has that in all of the ways that usually apply: bigger visuals, more cast, and bolder action. Those elements are all an upgrade from the first movie, but the largest improvements in X2 can be found in the character department, where they’re most needed. We get to see more from characters like Wolverine, who confronts his origins (oh, what little we knew was in store), Jean Grey, who starts unlocking her true powers, and Charles Xavier, who gets put into a darker scenario as he confronts his past mistakes with a former student. The curtain is drawn back more on beloved characters and the world is expanded in small, meaningful ways, making for what still stands as one of the best outings of the main X-Men series, and still one of the best films in the mutant franchise as a whole.
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (2011)
As mentioned earlier, the one good thing that came out of Origins was the studio trying to dig itself out of that pit of despair. That endeavor started with them scrapping the proposed X-Men Origins: Magneto movie and pivoting to the series reboot, X-Men: First Class (which does contain some elements left over from that unmade Magneto movie). With a director who brought a fresh perspective – Matthew Vaughn – at the helm and a cast of game actors like Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, and Jennifer Lawrence front and center, this new outing rejuvenated the series by showing a whole new side of beloved characters. Perhaps no one thought anyone could bring these characters to life the same way actors like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen did, but the movie is entirely buoyed by fantastic performances from the whole cast, not to mention their characters’ engaging storylines. The movie recalls the best of the first two movies while giving it all a modern, exciting new spin that brought the mutant team into the new decade with style and gravitas.
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (2014)
We’ve seen X-Men movies deliver on the character work and on the action front before, but never have they nailed the exact level of both laced in with a massive scope like we got in Days of Future Past, which marked director Bryan Singer’s return to the franchise after missing out on a few entries. Taking the characters across time and generations in more ways than one, this is the one time both the new school and old school era of the X-Men would ever be able to merge in a single, cohesive storyline, and the result is an affecting, rousing blockbuster that gets more mileage out of the team than any movie before it. James McAvoy turns in his best work as Xavier here as a broken down and emotionally depleted Charles, as Hugh Jackman shows a more honest and wiser version of Wolverine than past outings offered him. Even in a movie landscape filled with Avengers movies, Days of Future Past has a thrilling narrative scope that stands out from the pack, and that could’ve easily been buried under exposition and time travel confusion. But no, it all worked seamlessly and provided a once-in-a-lifetime X-Men movie. We’re never going to get another one like this. Not even when the franchise is rebooted for the MCU.
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE (2024)
We knew Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool would be making his way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Disney acquired Fox – but we never would have guessed that he would bring Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine out of retirement and take him along for the ride, or that their team-up film would be a heartfelt tribute to the Marvel Comics adaptations that happened outside of the MCU. Not just the X-Men films, but also the likes of Fantastic Four, Daredevil / Elektra, and Blade. Channing Tatum even gets his chance to shine as Gambit after struggling to bring his take on the character to the screen for years. Directed by Shawn Levy, Deadpool & Wolverine borrows elements from the Loki TV series to take viewers on a wild multiversal adventure that delivers a lot of laughs, a ton of great fan service, and also has some touching emotional content.
LOGAN (2017)
Days of Future Past may have gotten some great mileage out of Hugh Jackman and Wolverine, but the character still hadn’t received a really great solo movie. Enter a more committed-than-ever leading man and returning director James Mangold, who after his last experience knew exactly where to take the character and how uncompromising his outing needed to be. The result is not only the best X-Men movie across the whole canon but one of the greatest comic book movies of all time. Effective in its rough and tumble minimalism, palpable in its drama and engaging in its story centered on Logan and Charles trying to exist in a world where mutants are all but gone and aiding a young mutant girl – Logan is a comic book movie that doubles as a subtle and engrossing western drama. Jackman is the best he’s ever been here, bringing out a jaded, haunted version of the character who is done giving any fucks, and Patrick Stewart also turns in some career-defining work as Charles, reflective and weary after seeing all his students lost behind him. Violent, mature, challenging and sometimes sweet, Logan ranks as one of the best examples of what can happen when studios take a chance on filmmakers and their actors with a massive IP property, and it will forever remain a landmark achievement in the field.
So, there you have it. Almost 25 years, and a lot of highs and lows. While the Marvel Cinematic Universe may get a lot of credit today for its breadth of superhero storytelling over the last couple of decades, let it never be said the X-Men movies didn’t pave the way for it to come barrelling down with its sacks of cash. You’ll find these entries are an incredibly diverse selection of movies that prove just how bad comic book movies can get when hearts are in the wrong place, as well as how magnificent they can be when passion, boldness and ingenuity are the driving forces. What the future has in store for these characters we do not know, but they’ve already had one helluva run, so here’s to more mutant excitement and, hopefully, their boldest adventures yet.