If you are a fan of the X-Men franchise, you would agree that the timeline revolving around its movies is very confusing, making it difficult to understand the correct order to watch the X-Men movies. There’s a lot of time travel involved, along with quite complex characters who we don’t get to understand with a much greater depth.
X-Men is a movie franchise that brought us the very concept of superhero teams with its first movie titled X-Men in 2000, and it became an instant hit starting off the golden era of superhero movies. In this article, I’m gonna help you understand the concept of the X-Men timeline and how to watch all X-Men movies in order. So let’s dive right into it!
What is the X-Men Timeline?
Out of all the superhero timelines, X-Men movies create the most confusing one. The X-Men timeline does not follow a singular path but instead diverges into two timelines after Wolverine travels back in time in X-Men: Days of Future Past. However, to simplify understanding of this whole concept, we will break it down in a singular format where you can watch the movies in chronological order without getting lost in the storyline.
X-Men Movie Release Year X-Men: First Class 2011 X-Men: Days of Future Past 2014 X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2009 X-Men: Apocalypse 2016 X-Men: Dark Phoenix 2019 X-Men 2000 X2: X-Men United 2003 X-Men: The Last Stand 2006 The Wolverine 2013 Deadpool 2016 Deadpool 2 2018 The New Mutants 2020 Logan 2017 Deadpool 3 2024
X-Men Movies Chronological Order
1. X-Men: First Class (2011)
Cast- James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, Jeniffer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, January Jones, Zoë Kravitz, Lucas Still, Caleb Landry Jones, Edi Gathegi, Jason Flemyng, Álex González
Release Date– 25 May 2011
IMDB/ Rotten Tomatoes- 7.7/ 86%
X-Men: First Class is the movie that can be called the beginning of everything that has happened in the X-Men universe. To understand what is happening in the world of X-Men, you should watch this movie before anything else.
X-Men: First Class is the movie that introduces us to the reason behind the enmity between Professor X and Magneto and how their relationship turned from an unbreakable brotherlike bond to that of rivals. It also introduces us to the first X-Men team and how a group of mutants came together to serve a noble cause.
2. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
Cast- James McAvoy, Hugh Jackman, Michael Fassbender, Patrick Stewart, Jeniffer Lawrence, Ian McKellen, Evan Peters, Nicholas Hoult, James Marsden, Anna Paquin, Shawn Ashmore, Josh Helman
Release Date– 23 May 2014
IMDB/ Rotten Tomatoes- 7.9/90%
X-Men Days Of Future Past is the movie where we get to see characters from both the 2000s X-Men movies and the newer ones. This movie features time travel making it jump between two different periods in the chronological order of X-Men Movies. However, since most of the movie takes place in 1973, right after everything that happened in X-Men First Class, it can easily be placed here.
4. X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
Cast- James McAvoy, Oscar Issac, Sophie Turner, Evan Peters, Olivia Munn, Jeniffer Lawrence, Alexandra Shipp, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan
Release Date– 27 May 2016
IMDB/ Rotten Tomatoes- 6.9/ 47%
In this movie, the X-Men stand against an ancient God-like mutant called Apocalypse who has come to life after 5000 years and is hell-bent on the destruction of the world. He recruits mutants like Magneto (Michael Fassbender), Angel (Ben Hardy), Storm (Alexandra Shipp), and Psylocke (Olivia Munn) to be his 4 horsemen turning them against Professor X and his team of X-Men. This movie was largely based on Professor X but also shows us a small tease for the upcoming Dark Phoenix when we see Jean slowly getting stronger by the Phoenix force.
Another important detail of this movie is we get to see Jackman’s Wolverine still being held captive as Weapon X who escaped the facility in front of Jean, Nightcrawler, and Cyclops. However, since the newer version of X-Men has totally different timeline, this version of Wolverine is different from the one we see in X-Men Origins Wolverine.
When Wolverine travels back in time to his younger self in Days of Future Past, the year is 1973 and he has not yet gone through the Adamantium experiment. In this timeline, he was never able to escape the facility and now when he does, he never joins the X-Men during the events we see in the movies. He might have joined them later on after the events of Dark Phoenix and yes, Old Man Logan is none other than the same Weapon X that escapes the facility in Apocalypse.
5. X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)
Cast- Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Tye Sheridan, Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence, Evan Peters, Nicholas Hoult, Alexandra Shipp
Release Date– 7 June 2019
IMDB/ Rotten Tomatoes- 5.7/ 22%
X-Men: Dark Phoenix shows us a Jean who is completely corrupted by the Dark Phoenix Force which causes Professor X’s mental barrier to break bringing back all of Jean’s trauma at once. She completely loses control over her powers and even kills Mystique.
Jean Grey dies in this movie and the X-Men saga came to an end. However, now in 2024, it is again being revived with Deadpool 3 which is going to feature certain characters and cameos from both the 2000’s X-Men and the newer version of it.
6. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
Cast- Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, Liev Schreiber, Lynn Collins, Danny Huston, Tim Pocock, Dominic Monaghan
Release Date– 1 May 2009
IMDB/ Rotten Tomatoes- 6.5/ 38%
X-Men Origins Wolverine is the first X-Men spinoff movie which is the Origin story of Wolverine. Wolverine’s origin dates back to even before the World War making him one of the oldest mutants in the X-Men Saga. This movie shows us the story of how Wolverine got his Adamantium claws and also features the first-ever adaptation of Ryan Reynold’s as Deadpool. To understand how humongous of an upgrade the Deadpool franchise is, this is a must-watch movie before Deadpool 3.
6. X-Men (2000)
Cast- Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Jansenne, James Marsden, Anna Paquin, Halle Berry, Rebecca Romijn, Shawn Ashmore
Release Date– 14 July 2000
IMDB/ Rotten Tomatoes- 7.3/ 82%
X-Men, the first X-Men movie released in 2000, was where it all started. This was the movie that gave us the most phenomenal casting of Hugh Jackman for the first time. Jackman grew into a fan favorite almost overnight and to date is the first and last choice for fans to play Wolverine. In this movie, we get to see Professor X and his team of X-Men take a stand against Magneto. It was a pretty classic action flick with a star studded cast and is still counted as the OG X-Men movie.
7. X2: X-Men United (2003)
Cast- Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Kelly Hu, Rebecca Romijn, Alan Cumming, Anna Paquin, Shawn Ashmore, Famke Janssen, Brian Cox, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, James Marsden, Daniel Cudmore, Steve Bacic
Release Date– 2 May 2003
IMDB/ Rotten Tomatoes- 7.4/ 85%
X2: X-Men United is to date considered to be one of the best superhero movies to be made. This movie primarily focuses on the character development Wolverine goes through. From being someone who used to work alone and preferred to be alone and in general, didn’t do very well with people, turned out to be a leader.
He took the young students of Xavier’s school under his wing and made it possible for them to rescue Professor X.
8. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Cast- Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Famke Janssen, Ian McKellen, Elliot Page, James Marsden, Halle Berry, Rebecca Romijn, Anna Paquin, Vinnie Jones, Kelsey Grammer, Shawn Ashmore
Release Date– 26 May 2006
IMDB/ Rotten Tomatoes- 6.6/57%
This movie is considered to be one of the most badly directed X-Men movies to date. X-Men: The Last Stand showcases a cure for the mutant gene that is being used without the consent of these mutants to eradicate the whole species one by one.
In the movie, Jean Grey kills Professor X under the heavy corruption of the Dark Phoenix Force. However, in the post-credit scene, we see that before being killed, Professor X transfers his cautiousness to a mindless body in a deep coma. Jean is ultimately killed, bringing an end to the original trilogy of X-Men.
9. The Wolverine (2013)
Cast- Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Will Yun Lee
Release Date– 26 July 2013
IMDB/ Rotten Tomatoes- 6.7/ 71%
Released in 2013, this is the final standalone Wolverine movie in this timeline where Jean Grey is dead and Wolverine is mourning her. He is called upon by his old WW2 friend, whom he saved from dying during the nuclear attacks on Nagasaki seeking Wolverine’s help from an imminent threat hanging over the head of his tech company.
However, the truth is quite different than that. This old man wanted to steal Wolverine’s healing factor to prevent himself from dying of chronic illness. The Wolverine was a sequel to X-Men: The Last Stand
10. Deadpool (2016)
Cast- Ryan Reynolds, Karan Soni, Ed Skrein, Michael Benyaer, Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapičić, Morena Baccarin
Release Date– 12 February 2016
IMDB/ Rotten Tomatoes- 8/ 85%
Deadpool might be the first movie after Dark Phoenix where we got to see a whole array of mutants, including two members of the official X-Men team, Colossus and Megasonic Teenage Warhead. The movie centers around our favorite R-rated hero, Deadpool who himself is a mutant.
Deadpool is not directly linked to the previous X-Men movies but it seems that it happens in the same universe, since Deadpool is aware of everything that has happened in the X-Men universe.
11. Deadpool 2 (2018)
Cast- Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Zazie Beetz, Julian Dennison, Fred Savage, Morena Baccarin, Brianna Hildebrand, Shioli Kutsuna, Stefan Kapičić, Karan Soni, Leslie Uggams, Terry Crews, Jack Kesy, Eddie Marsan, Rob Delaney, Bill Skarsgård, Lewis Tan, Brad Pitt
Release Date– 1 May 2018
IMDB/ Rotten Tomatoes- 7.6/ 84%
Deadpool 2 expands the universe of mutants when we see Deadpool trying to protect a kid who is being hunted by a time-traveling Cable. We see an array of other mutants and a much deeper look into the X-Men mansion.
Deadpool 2 is again a fun watch where we witness a lot of A-rated humor and funny action sequences. However, as far as I feel, this movie had the sole purpose of introducing Deadpool to time travel setting up Deadpool 3.
12. The New Mutants (2020)
Cast- Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams, Blu Hunt, Henry Zaga, Alice Braga, Dustin Ceithamer
Release Date– 28 August 2020
IMDB/ Rotten Tomatoes- 5.3/ 36%
The New Mutants was a spinoff set in the year 2020 and had no direct relation to previous X-Men titles. This movie was initially supposed to be a three-movie trilogy but before it could happen, the MCU decided to introduce the X-Men in their cinematic universe. On top of that, this movie was not well received by the audience creating a very bleak chance of the trilogy being successful in the long run.
13. Logan (2017)
Cast- Hugh Jackman, Dafne Keen, Boyd Holbrook, Patrick Stewart, Stephan Merchant, Richard E.Grant
Release Date– 3 March 2017
IMDB/ Rotten Tomatoes- 8.1/ 94%
Logan was the final appearance of Jackman as Wolverine but here’s the interesting part. In this movie, Wolverine is the same Weapon X that ran away from the facility in X-Men: Apocalypse. Now you might ask, how did he come across Professor X if he never joined the X-Men in this timeline? Well, he did join the X-Mem but after the events of Dark Phoenix, which we never get to witness on screen.
14. Deadpool 3 (2024)
Cast- Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrins, Karan Soni, Jeniffer Garner, Matthew Macfadyne, Aron Stanford, Morena Baccarin
Release Date– 26 July 2024
IMDB/ Rotten Tomatoes- 8.1/ 94%
Deadpool 3 is quite literally the most anticipated movie of 2024. According to certain rumors, this movie is going to act as a hard reboot for the MCU. Along with that, Deadpool 3 is bringing back the X-Men and other mutants to the screen under the umbrella of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
So, we can expect to see a brand new X-Men franchise from MCU sooner or later. Deadpool 3 is also going to feature Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine after almost 7 years so it indeed is very exciting.
X-Men Movies Release Date Order
Now, if you would like to watch X-Men movies in just the release date order, refer to the table below!
Movie Release Date X-Men 14 July 2000 X2: X-Men United 3 May 2003 X-Men: The Last Stand 26 May 2006 X-Men Origins: Wolverine 1 May 2009 X-Men: First Class 25 May 2011 The Wolverine 26 July 2013 X-Men: Days of Future Past 23 May 2014 Deadpool 12 February 2016 X-Men: Apocalypse 27 May 2016 Logan 3 March 2017 Deadpool 2 18 May 2018 X-Men: Dark Phoenix 7 July 2019 The New Mutants 28 August 2020 Deadpool 3 26 July 2024
Upcoming X-Men Movies
The last thing based on the X-Men universe was Deadpool and Deadpool 2 and yet again bringing the X-Men franchise back as a whole is the upcoming Deadpool 3.
Honestly, we saw this coming when Marvel decided to include Professor Charles Xavier in Doctor Strange 2 as a member of the Illuminati, proving that the X-Men might still exist in both alternate realities. Wherever the mutant verse goes in the future, we’ll be here to witness it but till then, cherish the glorious past of X-Men and binge on!
Ajith Kumar
