The X-Men series of films are an anomaly within the larger cultural monolith of superhero movies. The franchise stretches as far back as the year 2000’s X-Men, a fledgling venture of an action film that stood out among few contemporaries and, per IGN, became a foundational vision for the unstoppable onslaught of superhero movies to follow, particularly the MCU. It would be an understatement to say that the series has been uneven — many of the films have been plagued by serious production and story problems, from insurmountable creative differences between directors and producers to frequent soft-resets of the universe.
Despite that, many X-Men movies have earned significant praise. Actors in the franchise even want to return to their characters. It’s not hard to see why: since their inception in comic-book form, the X-Men have captured the hearts of anyone who has ever felt like an outsider. Frequently, members of the group of mutants face significant social ostracization and are labeled freaks and inhuman by the society they occupy. Their strength as a group derives from that common struggle, and as a result, audiences of all backgrounds have been captivated by these fictional individuals who claim power from their pain. With a recent episode of Disney+’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law dropping an epic X-Men reference, it seems as fitting a time as ever to look at the collection of mutant films. Here are all 13 X-Men movies, ranked.
Updated September 6, 2022: If you love the X-Men film franchise, you’ll be happy to know we’ve updated this article with additional content.
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13 X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)
20th Century Studios
Dark Phoenix is the second live-action adaptation of the comic book story centered around Jean Grey, a dangerously powerful mutant consumed by a cosmic force that grants her extraordinary psychic abilities at the cost of her deteriorating mental state. Sophie Turner gives the character an admirable performance, supported by the expectedly great talents of James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Nicholas Hoult, reprising their roles from the previous films. As the fourth installment in this series of X-Men films, this one fails to bring more color to the story. Despite some truly great visuals and set pieces, the unexciting plot and the lack of well-built character motivations made Dark Phoenix feel like just another bland spectacle of a superhero movie.
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12 X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
Marvel Entertainment
In a change of pace for the series, which had focused primarily on the X-Men as a team, X-Men Origins: Wolverine chose to tell a secluded tale of Wolverine’s journey. Hugh Jackman, who has achieved legendary renown for his portrayal of the grim, troubled superhero, is the standout here. His performance grounds the script, which frequently borders on trauma porn and depends on a number of increasingly trite reveals that leave the viewer more exhausted and confused than excited. Coupled with the dumbfounding decision to silence the first iteration of Ryan Reynolds’s Deadpool, the movie ends up slogging through uninspired scenes of pain towards an unsatisfying conclusion that doesn’t offer the titular character either growth or peace.
11 X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
Oscar Isaac playing the most powerful mutant in history sounds like a success of a premise. Immediately, X-Men: Apocalypse’s problem becomes clear. Why does Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) want to take over the world? It’s apparently because he just does. When the central conflict in the story commits so heartily to being bland and underdeveloped, every aspect of the rest of the movie suffers as a result. Despite the usual strong performances from the cast, the plot fails to convey any gravity because each action that advances the plot forward occurs because the script deems it necessary, not because the characters seem driven to do things on their own. And after the success of Days of Future Past, the failure of X-Men: Apocalypse seems all the more unfortunate.
10 The New Mutants (2020)
Although The New Mutants are not strictly part of the mainline X-Men films, the association of the new characters with the X-Men make the movie an important addition to the list. Unfortunately, the film does little to elevate it beyond a standard superhero fare with all the beats you’ve seen, by now, dozens of times. Five teenagers, each with latent mutant abilities, find themselves trapped in an insidious medical facility designed to test them and constrain them. They work through the trauma of their respective pasts to defeat the villain, and that’s about as exciting as it gets. The New Mutants is another premise that fails to deliver in its execution.
9 Deadpool 2 (2018)
Deadpool, like the new mutants, is not a part of the X-Men team in the traditional sense. However, given his frequent association with them in the comic books, the Deadpool movies deserve a place on this list. This movie took all of what made Deadpool great and built on it. Deadpool 2’s slapstick humor is back along with the fourth wall breaks, and Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool finds the perfect straight man villain to play off of in Josh Brolin’s Cable. And who could forget that stripped, heartfelt rendition of “Take on Me” by Aha?
8 X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
20th Century Fox
After directing the first two X-Men movies, Bryan Singer decided to step away from X-Men: The Last Stand and focus attention on Superman Returns. This unfortunately meant that the third iteration in the first X-Men series suffered from two changes in leadership, first to Matthew Vaughn (who would later direct X-Men: First Class), and then to Brett Ratner. What followed was a half-hearted successor of a film, lacking the rich depth and gravity of the first two. The central political division in the plot, about whether or not a cure for mutants is appropriate or not, created a suitably dramatic element. However, the rest of the story became just another rote blur of superpowers and action sequences that undermined the depth of the premise.
7 Deadpool (2016)
The first Deadpool was one of the few standouts of superhero cinema that shook up the form. Incorporating fourth wall breaks, surreal humor, and a metric ton of guts and gore, this movie is a non-stop thrill ride from beginning to end. Reynolds brings a signature nonsensical attitude that makes each scene its own group of punchlines. The dramatic elements are clearly secondary to the humor here, and the movie benefits from not becoming too bogged down in the details of its revenge plot.
6 X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
X-Men: Days of Future Past finds Professor Xavier, Magneto, and Logan united in an effort to save humanity and mutants from the monstrous Sentinels, an abomination of technology that seek to hunt and kill mutants and humans alike. Sending Logan back in time, the X-Men weave in and out of different major political backdrops of the late 20th-Century, trying to prevent the creation of the Sentinels in the first place. What the story lacks in character detail and emotion, it makes up in a breakneck pace, solid action sequences, and enough drama to send viewers home happy. Some characters end up feeling like little more than plot devices, but overall, Days of Future Past manages to ride the high of X-Men: First Class with an entertaining run.
5 The Wolverine (2013)
James Mangold seemingly did the impossible with The Wolverine, which was to piece together and elevate the elements of the deeply followed predecessor, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Set in Japan, this film follows Logan and an old friend that seeks to alleviate Logan of his pained immortality by taking it into his own body. Mangold’s direction, specifically his ability to highlight smaller character moments and allow them to breathe between bouts of action is what makes this film more dramatic and enjoyable than many others in the X-Men franchise.
4 X-Men (2000)
The first film in the sprawling franchise has truly stood the test of time. Even though half its runtime is spent making introductions, X-Men wisely focuses on the introspection of these characters as they come to terms with their strange abilities. Where future films in the franchise would resort to cinematic shorthand to describe the pain of mutant abilities, this one spends time creating intimate relationships between characters who genuinely feel like outsiders. When the time comes for them to unite and face adversity together, it feels like a fitting emotional conclusion to the moments that came before.
3 X-Men: First Class (2011)
X-Men: First Class shares the heart that made X-Men (2000) so impactful with audiences. Coming 11 years after the original, it carries the task of being an origin story without succumbing to the mistake of discarding those important character-building moments that many other films in the franchise would ignore. McAvoy and Fassbender meet the task of playing believable and vivid younger counterparts to the legendary Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan, respectively. There is enough build up from both the script and the actors such that their eventual ideological divide allows the drama to climb to new heights - and just like that, the film has provided the rich context and detail that makes the soul of the X-Men story resonate with so many.
2 X2: X-Men United (2003)
Marvel Enterprises
Before there was The Avengers, there was X2: X-Men United. Featuring the first large scale superhero team up story in recent memory, X2 took everything great about 2000’s X-Men and made it greater. Despite including enough heroes to make Sam Raimi’s knees buckle, the story never suffers from the weight of all these perspectives, instead, they become cohesive under the script’s direction. The stakes are higher, the action is more explosive, and several of the main cast refine their performances to make this sequel unforgettable.
1 Logan (2017)
Doubling as a meta-narrative on the over saturation of superhero films, Logan is one of the very few movies in its genre that dares to ask questions that go far beyond the scope of your typical action flick. Featuring a world-weary, older Logan and an ailing Professor Xavier, the plot of the film does not center around bombastic action or convoluted world domination plots. There is a villain, yes, but the true antagonist of the film is time, and its unceasing march towards death. What is the legacy of a life lived in violence? Are we defined by our darkest moments? Combining these poignant questions with beautiful cinematography, a script heavily inspired by old westerns, and the masterful directorial hand of James Mangold, Logan is a movie that is far more than the sum of its parts. It is not only one of the best superhero movies ever created, but also one of the best films of the last ten years.
