In what chronological order should you watch the X-Men movies
Pietro Maximoff’s appearance on WandaVision heralds the arrival of the new X-Men and it’s time for a marathon.
X-Men is one of the franchises that played a key role in the superhero movie boom. The first film, which arrived in 2000, made it very clear to us that it was not just going to be the story of a group of mutants with superpowers, but it would show us how humanity reacts to what is unknown or different, injecting the story of a realistic quality with touches of racism, discrimination and social struggle, which was part of what made the adaptation of Bryan Singer a hit.
X-Men had a good mix of science fiction, action, drama and realism, plus it had great actors, such as Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman and Ian McKellen, who were in charge of bringing the mutants to the screen in what would be the start of one of the longest franchises in movie history.
The X-Men saga now has 13 films that even show us different timelines and versions of the same characters, explore the past, present, and future of the characters and, now with WandaVision and the arrival of Pietro Maximoff in Chapter 5, they even connect with the MCU.
And these are not like any superhero movie, the X-Men story is complex, sometimes it gets tangled up and gets a bit lost with movies that don’t add much to it (like Dark Phoenix, which was a flop), but it’s still a much loved and appreciated saga, and now that there are signs that Disney could start from scratch with new actors, it’s a good time to clear up your timeline.
You can always watch movies in the order in which they were released (as many do with the films of Star Wars ), but if you really want to understand when and where everything happens, it is also a good idea to do a marathon in chronological order, from for each event at the exact moment it happened to understand what comes next and how it all affects the whole story.
Here’s how you can watch the X-Men movies in chronological order:
X-Men First Class, 2011
This is the prequel to that film that Bryan Singer released in 2000. The story takes place in the 1960s and shows us a young Charles Xavier, played by James McAvoy, joining forces with a young Eric Lensherr, with Michael Fassbender, to find a Nazi scientist while the Missile Crisis is happening in Cuba.
X-Men: Days of Future Past, 2014
Much of the story of this movie happens in 1973, but also in the future, in the year 2023. Here Wolverine from the future ( Hugh Jackman ) brings his consciousness to his 1973 self so that he can prevent Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) use the blood of Mystique ( Jennifer Lawrence ) to create indestructible Sentinels in the future. In the end, Wolverine successfully changes the past, but that potentially erases the events of 2023 that we see in the movie, in addition to the events of X-Men, X2, and X-Men: The Last Stand, which means that after 1973 , there is a new line of events that may be different than anything mutants lived before, so it may be an end or a new beginning.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, 2009
This was the X-Men spin off that showed us Wolverine’s origin story, beginning in 1845 when Logan was just a child and then moving on to 1979, where some of the most important events of his life happened, including the one in which he led to memory loss.
X-Men: Apocalypse, 2016
This story takes place in 1983, where the young X-Men must fight a villain named Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) who has a plan to end the world.
Dark Phoenix, 2019
This movie is the last in which we see the young versions of the X-Men and takes us back to the 90s, where Jean Gray transforms into an evil phoenix. The film was not very successful and it alters Jean Grey’s story a bit, so it connects in a strange way with the rest of the films.
X-Men, 2000
The first film in the saga implies that you have to ignore the events of Dark Phoenix for it to all make sense. The film begins with a Logan who lost his memory who arrives at the academy of Charles Xavier, where he discovers that he is not the only mutant that exists in the world.
X2: X-Men United, 2003
This sequel takes place 3 years after the events of X-Men , and leads Xavier’s team to team up with Magneto in an attempt to save their leader and the rest of the mutants from a colonel who seeks to destroy them.
X-Men: The Last Stand
This was the last film in the original saga and takes place in 2006, when the government creates a cure for the mutation and Jean Gray ends up turned into a Phoenix, leading the X-Men to fight a dangerous and potentially lethal battle. .
The Wolverine, 2013
This movie is a sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine and X-Men: The Last Stand, it takes place in 2013 and shows us, Logan, trying to deal with the trauma of the battle against Jean Gray. This is also a good point to include the first Deadpool movie.
The New Mutants, 2020
This movie was originally going to be set in the 90s, but X-Men: Apocalypse altered things a bit and forced Josh Boone to set it today, where we see a group of teenagers discover their abilities while being locked up in a secret laboratory.
Deadpool 2, 2018
Deadpool has only a few connections to the X-Men saga , but in the movie, which takes place in 2018, there is a reference to time travel when Deadpool goes back in time to the events of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and kills the older version of Ryan Reynolds’ character.
Logan, 2017
Logan takes us to 2029, to a world where most of the X-Men are dead and a mysterious girl with the same abilities appears who needs your help to rescue more children with surprising abilities.