Here's how to watch all the X-Men movies in order (original) (raw)

With the release ofMarvel's Deadpool & Wolverine, fans of the Ryan Reynolds' Merc with the Mouth may want to catch up on the X-Men universe that spawned Hugh Jackman's adamantium-clawed hero.

But keeping up with the X-Men is 14 films of cinematic mayhem, given the original X-men trilogy (X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand), the Wolverine trilogy (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Wolverine, Logan), the four prequel films (X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, Dark Phoenix), the Deadpool trilogy (the first self-titled film from 2016, Deadpool 2, and the new release), and spin-off The New Mutants.

The Deadpool films incorporate numerous references to the X-Mansion that 20th Century Fox built. In 2019, the mutants officially gathered under the Mouse House roof with Disney's purchase of the Fox properties and were integrated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The arrangement opens up a whole carton of potential future film connections, as evidenced by Professor X's (Patrick Stewart) appearance in 2022 MCU feature Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

(Here's how to watch every Marvel movie in order on Disney+. And don't even get us started on Sony's Spider-Man films — bonded to the MCU by Tom Holland's appearance as the web-slinger in Captain America: Civil War and two Avengers films — and related Venom titles.)

Whew!

So, yeah, you have a lot of homework to do if you plan to see Reynolds and Jackman's highly anticipated team-up. Here is the correct order to watch the X-men movies in before you see Deadpool & Wolverine.

X-Men: First Class (2011)

Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto and James McAvoy as Charles Xavier in ‘X-Men: First Class’. Twentieth Century Fox

Before Xavier and Magneto became life-long enemies, they were brothers. Set during the 1960s, ahead of the Cuban missile crisis, X-Men: First Class tells the origin story of Charles Xavier/Professor X (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and how they founded the Brotherhood of Mutants, which wound up becoming the X-Men. The idea of creating a safer environment for mutants in a discriminatory human society is shattered when Lehnsherr's foe, Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), returns and threatens to start a nuclear war.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) L to R: Nicholas Hoult, James McAvoy and Hugh Jackman. Alan Markfield/20th Century Studios

Days of Future Past ties together the First Class prequel and the original X-Men in an epic time-traveling tale. In the distant future, 2023, the world is dominated by mutant killing sentinels, Xavier (Stewart), Magneto (Ian McKellen), and the X-Men send Jackman's Wolverine back in time to the ’70s. There, Wolverine must reunite the younger Xavier (McAvoy) and Magneto (Fassbender) and convince them to stop Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from assassinating Sentinel creator Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), which alters the fate of mutant-kind.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

Hugh Jackman in 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'. Michael Muller

The story of Wolverine/Logan stretches back to 1845, when he was a young boy (Troye Sivan, the only other actor to ever play Logan), but is primarily set during the 1970s, when he was a member of a mutant mercenary unit called Team X. The film chronicles how Logan underwent the ultimate claw upgrade, transitioning from wooden to adamantium claws thanks to Team X founder William Stryker (Danny Huston). Upon Logan's departure from Team X, however, his brother Victor Creed/Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber) and Stryker terrorize him by killing his girlfriend Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins), prompting Logan to vow vengeance against them both.

Incidentally, Reynolds appears here as Wade Wilson, a version of Wilson who infamously has his mouth sewn shut and shoots CG lasers. But even Reynolds wants you to forget that.

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

Ocar Isaac in X-Men: Apocalypse. 20th Century Fox

After Wolverine's efforts of fixing the entire timeline in Days of Future Past, the First Class team took the torch as the face for the franchise and entered a new timeline of their own.

Jumping from the 70s to the 80s Apocalypse follows the Xavier's new X-Men team — Quicksilver (Evan Peters), Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) as they, along with Raven, must stop En Sabah Nur/Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) and his new four horsemen —Angel (Ben Hardy), Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Magneto, and Psylocke (Olivia Munn) — from causing worldwide destruction.

Dark Phoenix (2019)

Sophie Turner in 'Dark Phoenix'. 20th Century Fox

Dark Phoenix retells Jean Grey's Phoenix tale in a new light. Set a decade following Apocalypse, the X-Men are now well regarded by humans. Jean Grey is imbued with powerful cosmic power after a rescue mission in space goes wrong. Once her powers begin to stir out of control, and accidentally kill one of their own, it is a race against Xavier and Magneto to stop her.

X-Men (2000)

'X-Men' stars Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. Everett Collection

The one that started it all! Where the evolution began. In the first live-action X-Men movie ever made, Rogue (Anna Paquin) learns she's a mutant and runs away from home. At a bar in Canada, she meets Logan/Wolverine (Jackman), a fellow mutant who's forgotten his past. The two soon find themselves in the crosshairs between Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants and Charles Xavier's (Stewart) X-Men. While sheltering at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Logan and Rogue must collaborate with the rest of the team — Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), Scott Summers/Cyclops (James Marsden), Ororo Munroe/Storm (Halle Berry), and more — to combat Magneto's plan to eradicate humanity because of its widespread prejudice against mutants.

X2: X-Men United (2003)

Patrick Stewart, Anna Paquin, James Marsden, Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Shawn Ashmore in 'X2'. Kerry Hayes

Approximately three years after the events of X-Men, William Stryker (Brian Cox) kidnaps Charles Xavier and steals his tracking machine, Cerebro, for his own nefarious plans to eradicate all mutants. To save Xavier, the X-Men — Jean, Rogue, Storm, Scott, Ice Man (Shawn Ashmore), and Pyro (Aaron Stanford, who returns to the role in Deadpool & Wolverine) — must team up with Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) and Magneto. Meanwhile, Logan investigates his past as Stryker brings back memories of his former self.

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

Ian McKellen in 'X-Men: The Last Stand'.

While X2 ended with the presumed death of Jean Grey, The Last Stand, which is set a few months afterward, reveals that she is alive and well. But she's been reborn as the all-powerful Phoenix. With her newfound (and uncontrollable) abilities, Jean heats up the battle between humans and mutants as Magneto uses her to aid his plan for mutant domination. Logan must reunite the remaining X-Men and save the world from Jean's wrath.

The Wolverine (2013)

Hugh Jackman and Rila Fukushima in 'The Wolverine'. James Fisher

Logan returns to Canada, living as a recluse and faced with the guilt of killing Jean Grey at the end of The Last Stand. But in The Wolverine his days of solitude come to an end when he is invited to Tokyo, Japan, to be thanked by an ailing millionaire Ichiro Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi), whom he once saved in 1945, Nagasaki. But when Logan arrives, he finds himself involved in a dangerous plot involving the Yakuza, Yashida's granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto), and the mutant Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova). To add insult to injury, Logan actually take injuries as his healing factor abilities have been tampered with.

Deadpool (2016)

DEADPOOL - Ryan Reynolds, as Deadpool.

Everett

"McAvoy or Stewart. This timeline is so confusing," Wade Wilson notably says about this point in the X-Men timeline. But Deadpool makes it clear, it's on its own self-contained terms.

Set in modern times, Deadpool tells the origin story of Wade Wilson (Reynolds) and his transformation from an ailing mercenary to an immortal mutant. However, with great power comes no beauty, as his face is left horrifically scarred from experimentation by psychopath Francis/Ajax (Ed Skein). With the help of X-Men Colossus (Stefan Kapičić) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), Wade embarks on a bloody and wise-cracking revenge quest.

The New Mutants (2020)

Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Blu Hunt, in 'The New Mutants'. 20th Century FOX

The New Mutants might be the only X-Men movie to not have a clear discernible fit into the X-Men timeline, though set within its same world (blame the Disney-Fox merger, Dark Phoenix's performance, numerous release date delays, and reshoots for that). The infamous recycled footage from Logan seemed like more of a laziness for exposition than a connection to the timeline. This self-contained mutant spinoff follows five mutant patients — Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane (Maisie Williams), Illyana Rasputin/Magik (Anya Taylor-Joy), Sam Guthrie/Cannonball (Charlie Heaton), Dani Moonstar/Mirage (Blu Hunt), and Bobby da Costa/Sunspot (Henry Zaga) — who wake up in a hospital, are promised that their "recovery" could land them a spot at Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters, and must face their own personal demons to escape.

Deadpool 2 (2018)

Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool in 'Deadpool 2' (2018). Twentieth Century Fox

While you see the First Class team in a small little cameo, it's best not to think about the timeline too hard as Deadpool 2 plays by its own rules again. When a fire-bending mutant named Russell (Julian Dennison) is hunted down by a time-traveling cyborg named Cable (Josh Brolin), it's up to Deadpool to form a team of mutant heroes and protect him.

Logan (2017)

'Logan' stars Hugh Jackman and Dafne Keen.

20th Century Fox Film Corp / Courtesy Everett

Logan goes further into the future, beyond the period-pieces of the First Class installments and the contemporary-set Deadpool. In the year 2029, when mutants are considered an endangered species, Wolverine/Logan's age has begun to take its toll, as his healing factor is failing him while he provides care to Charles Xavier (Stewart) who is struggling with Alzheimer's. When their paths cross with Laura (Dafne Keen), a rage-filled mutant with metal claws akin to Logan's, the two must protect her from Pierce (Boyd Holbrook) and his team that's hunting her.

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in 'Deadpool and Wolverine.'.

Jay Maidment/20th Century Studios/MARVEL

The latest X-Men movie, Deadpool & Wolverine follows Wade as he enters his mid-life crisis. But when a TVA boss named Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) threatens to destroy his world, he, and a Wolverine variant he nabbed, are thrown into a wasteland called “The Void," ruled by Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin). Together, they must find a way to get back to Wade’s timeline and save his world.