More than a dozen movies, two decades, and plenty of reviews and crazy effects later, the live-action X-Men movies have certainly jumped up and down in quality for fans of the popular franchise. No matter where you look, the X-Men films became a huge part of pop culture.
While the X-Men have yet to make their official Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, there’s still been thirteen films that have come out from their time under 20th Century Studios, and today, we’re going to take the time to rank all thirteen of them, from worst to best – starting off with one of the most recent additions.
13. The New Mutants (2020)
Yeah, this movie just isn’t it.
The New Mutants is a spinoff of the X-Men franchise, following five new mutants who were just discovering their powers and trying to escape the facility they were held in. Unfortunately, the whole movie came off as clunky. Despite there being a really solid cast with the likes of Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams and more, this movie just fell apart.
I mean, even the effects of the film felt average at best — and this movie came out in 2020. Only a year after Avengers: Endgame released. It felt like an underfunded film that could've used more work on its visual effects. This movie could have given us fresh new characters, but it fell apart. Some people think it could be good, but I just don’t see it.
12. Dark Phoenix (2019)
Ugh, this one hurts to put so low, because I really do love Sophie Turner. I loved her in the Game of Thrones cast, and I loved when she became the younger version of Jean Grey. But Dark Phoenix is just so boring.
It really offers no value to the story of Jean Grey, and it feels like a really bare bones basic supervillain origin story with no real substance behind it – which genuinely annoys me because I really did like these younger versions of the characters, and this was the last film they were featured in.
It almost feels like we’re supposed to be happy that these films are done rather than sad – and that’s sort of the opposite of what a fan is supposed to feel when a film series comes to an end.
11. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
You probably know X-Men Origins: Wolverine the most for its infamously horrible depiction of Deadpool, the first version Ryan Reynolds played within the universe of the X-Men. But this film is bad in many other ways – mainly that it leaves out the fun parts of the Wolverine character.
Trying to explain Wolverine’s backstory really takes us away from the mystery of the character, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine is also trying way too hard to find a way to make all the moving parts of Wolverine’s story fit into the overarching storyline of the X-Men universe – which fail miserably and make the viewing experience even more clunky than it needs to be. It just wasn’t that good.
10. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
X-Men: The Last Stand is another great example of an X-Men movie that isn’t necessarily extremely bad – it’s just boring, yet again. This film is based on two super important arcs in the universe of X-Men, “Gifted” and “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” and yet nothing feels like it’s life-threatening. The stakes feel so low.
The only reason I rank this slightly higher than some of the other films on this list is because I think the effects are better in this than some of the others. But other than that, there’s really nothing else going for it.
9. X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
I will never forgive X-Men: Apocalypse for taking Oscar Isaac and burying him under mountains of makeup only for his character to literally be not scary or threatening at all. But, I do think this movie is a lot better than some of the others that have come out. While I think the film that came out before this is far superior, X-Men Apocalypse has its charm.
The film follows the younger versions of the X-Men characters who make it their mission to stop En Sabah Nur (otherwise known as Apocalypse) from taking out the world in 1983, and the stakes certainly feel a lot higher. A lot of what worked for Days of Future Past feels replicated in this film and the cast is still great, but I just can’t get over the villain. Oscar Isaac could have done well with the role, but it just didn’t feel as good as it could have been.
8. The Wolverine (2013)
Alright, we already stated that Origins overall was just a disaster, which is what made a film like The Wolverine such a breath of fresh air in 2013.
While it’s not the best solo Wolverine film, The Wolverine gives a new story to the legendary character following the events of The Last Stand, and further builds onto Logan’s storyline while also adding some interesting lore to his character. And of course, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine is always a win, and he was great in this movie.
7. X-Men (2000)
While some people tend to think that the first film in a franchise is often the best, I’d say with X-Men, most of them got better with age – and that’s the case with the original X-Men movie way back in 2000. The film introduces us to the characters we all know and love, and this film is really what started it all.
I know many people often consider Spider-Man from 2002 or even Iron Man from 2008 as the real start of of the modern era of superhero movies but I look at the original X-Men and I see a lot of the traits of current Marvel films in it as well, from snarky one-liners to charming actors with charisma to everything else you could imagine. It offers a lot of fun action scenes, and while it’s not the best X-Men film, I feel comfortable putting it at number seven. Plus, this is also where we get to see the original cast for the first time.
6. X2 (2003)
The sequel to X-Men is also a pretty great movie, improving on the first. X2 increases the stakes and adds on more story for the mutants that we’ve grown fond of, but what really makes it better for me is its villain, William Stryker. He feels like a villain that we should be concerned about, and we are often informed about it as the movie goes on.
The battles are intense, and the team-ups are even better, and it reminds me of a time where superhero movies didn’t really need to follow a formula to be successful, a pre-MCU timeline, if you will. It just works so well, even with the film being as dark as it could be at times, but also so enjoyable.
5. Deadpool 2 (2018)
While I’m a huge fan of Deadpool, and can’t wait for Deadpool 3, the sequel to the first Deadpool wasn’t as hard-hitting as the first. But it was still a ton of fun.
It really subverts your expectations in the first few minutes of the film by taking out a character you least expected, and not only that, but the addition of Josh Brolin’s character, Cable, was something I never knew I needed. I could watch a whole entire movie about just him and Deadpool insulting each other and I’d be happy.
That, and I also really liked Zazie Beetz as Domino. She also had some fun one-liners. And obviously, Ryan Reynolds is always a win as the titular character.
4. X-Men: First Class (2011)
The first time we see the younger versions of the X-Men was in X-Men: First Class, led by the talented James McAvoy as young Charles Xavier. A reboot of the series, this film gave tons of origin stories for popular characters. And I honestly love it. A lot.
I love this film more than any of the original X-Men movies because the X-Men: First Class cast just melds together so well, and yet channels the original characters energy too. While First Class could also be seen as a movie that just sets up future movies, it’s a great stepping stone into the films that would come out after – even if some were less than great, but still enjoyable.
3. Deadpool (2016)
Ryan Reynolds was just fantastic in Deadpool. When it was first announced that the movie was being made, fans were a little nervous after the butchering of Deadpool in Origins, as we saw. However, Deadpool came into theaters and truly knocked it out of the park.
Ryan Reynolds was amazing in the famous red suit and used dark and violent humor, just as fans of the character would want him to be. Colossal was a great moral compass for him, Vanessa was a fantastic love interest, the action was phenomenal – seriously one of the best spinoff films I could imagine. I only wish we got the chance to see him team up with the main characters of X-Men – but I suppose I can look forward to him and Wolverine working together in Deadpool 3 then.
2. X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014)
This is hands down one of the best team-up movies in the X-Men universe, and what really solidified this version of the X-Men for me in liking it more. X-Men: Days of Future Past not only combines both the younger cast and the older cast by focusing on the two different time periods, but has a story that is so thrilling and eye-catching that you simply can’t turn away from the screen.
The fact that Wolverine (Logan) is used as the main protagonist to travel back between the two different times is brilliant, and I absolutely love his interactions with not only the cast that we know him with, but the younger versions of the characters as well. It’s action-packed, well-told, and an all-around great X-Men film – but one other movie beats this one.
1. Logan (2017)
I mean, is it that surprising that I put Logan at number one? The gritty story of Logan, now older, and forced to take care of a little girl that shares his DNA, is something that captivates me every time. There’s a reason why this film is just so popular.
The chemistry between Hugh Jackman and Dafne Keen is just stupendous. It was a brilliant sendoff to not only Jackman’s version of Wolverine, but Patrick Stewart’s version of Charles Xavier. It was dark, violent and everything that a Wolverine movie should be, while also still tugging at your heartstrings by the time the movie ends. It’s like a movie version of The Last of Us – how you’ll do anything for the people that you love.
While I am excited about Wolverine coming back in Deadpool 3, this film will always hold a special place in my heart – and no matter what, I will consider this the ultimate X-Men movie, even if it’s centered on Logan.
X-Men are bound to end up appearing at some point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but until then, might as well re-watch all of them and enjoy the ride. Here’s to the next one – whenever it does come out.
