How To Watch The X-Men Movies In Order (Chronologically)
Duane Beckett
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The X-Men movie franchise, which debuted in 2000, profoundly impacted Hollywood. Even while it wasn’t the first live-action adaptation of a Marvel Comic (others include Howard the Duck and Blade), the movie’s popularity helped usher in the present cinematic age of superheroes.
Simply put, the X-Men movies became some of the most influential in cinema history over the course of two decades of sequels and spinoffs. And despite being replaced by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, X-Men movies continue to be fan favorites.
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So, what is the best way to watch all 14 X-Men movies in order? That’s why we made this guide: to answer just that.
X-Men Movies In Order of Release Date
Before it had even finished its first installment, there had been a number of different iterations and variations on the X-Men storyline that had affected the characters of the series. If you want to watch the X-Men movies in order of release date, follow the list below:
- X-Men (2000)
- X2: X-Men United (2003)
- X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
- X-Men: First Class (2011)
- The Wolverine (2013)
- X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014)
- Deadpool (2016)
- X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
- Logan (2017)
- Deadpool 2 (2018)
- X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)
- The New Mutants (2020)
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
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X-Men Movies in Order: Chronologically
1. X-Men: First Class
In 1962, a teenage Charles Xavier, played by James McAvoy, and a young Erik Lensherr, played by Michael Fassbender, joined forces in an effort to locate a former Nazi scientist who worked with mutants (Kevin Bacon). The events of the Cuban Missile Crisis play a significant role in the narrative of the movie.
2. X-Men: Days of Future Past
X-Men: Days of Future Past is ostensibly set in 1973, although most of the action takes place in the year 2023. Wolverine from the future, played by Hugh Jackman, is set in 1973 in order to stop Bolivar Trask (played by Peter Dinklage) from using the blood of Mystique (played by Jennifer Lawrence) to create unbreakable Sentinels for a future world war. Not only that, but Future Wolverine seems to have successfully altered the history at the movie’s end, erasing the events of the year 2023 and X-Men: The Last Stand.
3. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
The first-ever X-Men spinoff movie, the critically panned X-Men Origins: Wolverine, purportedly tells the tale of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine character. Although the movie took place in 1979, it really begins in 1845, when a young Logan first demonstrates his powers.
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4. X-Men: Apocalypse
It is 1983, and the X-Men, who have reached the age of early adulthood, are tasked with fighting Apocalypse, who has been a danger to the whole world for millennia and is now a threat to the X-Men.
5. Dark Phoenix
The renowned Dark Phoenix comic book tale was adapted into a movie for the first and only time in 1992 under the title X-Men: Dark Phoenix, which was also the last film to feature the “young” X-Men cast. As the movie came to a close, Jean Grey (played by Sophie Turner) had already transformed into a Phoenix, which led to some misunderstanding over the movie’s chronology in relation to the one that came after it.
6. X-Men
Therefore, for X-Men to operate, it is necessary to overlook the events that occurred at the close of Dark Phoenix; other than that, this movie fits pretty well. Although it was marketed as being set in the present day when it was first released, the events in the first X-Men movie take place in 2000.
7. X2: X-Men United
Due to the fact that the events in X-Men took place in 2003, the first X-Men sequel, X2: X-Men United, takes place around three years after the first movie.
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8. X-Men: The Last Stand
The year 2006 acts as a background for the events that take place in X-Men: The Final Stand, which is the last sequel to be released in the original series line of movies.
9. The Wolverine
20th Century Fox released Wolverine as a direct sequel to both X-Men Origins: Wolverine and X-Men: The Last Stand. The movie was an effort by the studio to relaunch the Wolverine character. The action took place in 2013 and focuses on how Logan is coping with the events of X2.
10. Deadpool
The R-rated movie based on the Marvel Comics character Deadpool is only tangentially connected to the timeline of the X-Men franchise. Still, if you want to be a completist, you should know that the events in the movie take place in 2016, the year it was released.
11. The New Mutants
Director Josh Boone originally wanted to place the long-delayed Fox-Marvel picture in the 1990s, but after the box office debacle of X-Men: Apocalypse, he was told to put it in the present day. Now, Boone claims that the plot “began in the original X-Men chronology” but has evolved into its entity with just tangential ties to the X-Men world. So, although this movie was set in 2017, there are no huge chronological implications for what occurs in the tale.
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12. Deadpool 2
The sequel Deadpool 2 took place in 2018 and features a cameo appearance by the X-Men team when they were younger. It also includes various meta-time-travel jokes, such as Deadpool traveling back in time to the events of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and eliminating the earlier version of the Deadpool character played by Ryan Reynolds.
13. Logan
The bulk of the action in this movie takes place in the year 2029, which is the furthest future shown in any of the movies. The R-rated drama Logan, a high point for the series, serves as a form of ending and covers major characters’ canonical deaths.
14. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
One of the X-Men makes a cameo in the second Doctor Strange movie, released in 2022. The movie itself stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the reality-bending hero, facing off against another character from the recent blockbuster series of Avenger movies.