The Best Order To Watch The X-Men Movies (2024)

The X-Men movies are rising in relevance again as mutants continue to appear throughout the MCU's Multiverse Saga, but for anyone who wants to revisit the Fox films, there are a couple of possible viewing orders to choose from. The Fox Marvel movie universe spanned 20 years, starting with X-Men (2000) and closing with The New Mutants (2020). The X-Men movies have highs and lows, but there's little doubt that the franchise was instrumental in ushering in the modern age of superhero movies.

The thirteen X-Men movies contain multiple time jumps, showing footage from 1944 to 2029. The number of prequels and reboots this timeline includes can make it difficult to follow the continuity of the Fox X-Men movies. There's no avoiding the series' many internal contradictions and inconsistencies (particularly with Wolverine's X-Men movie timeline), but understanding which movie falls where can help deliver the best possible X-Men viewing experience.

How To Watch X-Men Movies In Release Order

The X-Men movie release order starts out simple enough with a number of direct sequels and a prequel. However, things do get a bit muddied as the X-Men prequel series and Wolverine solo movies begin to intertwine. Deadpool continues the trend of the franchise timeline jumping around, and, by the time Logan, Deadpool 2, Dark Phoenix, and The New Mutants released between 2017 and 2020, the X-Men franchise is covering several different decades simultaneously.

However, even though the Wolverine and X-Men prequel movies don't make much sense with the timeline established in the original movies, every X-Men movie so far does take place within the same continuity. This is perhaps most difficult to reconcile with Deadpool 2, which offers very different takes on previously established characters Colossus and Juggernaut.

How To Watch X-Men Movies In Chronological Order

Following the franchise in chronological order does offer a different viewing experience as it opens with early years and origins before continuing into massive battles between armies of mutants. The first half of the list shows the formation of the X-Men up until their final battle in X-Men: The Last Stand. After that, it's heavily focused on the characters of Wolverine and Deadpool, and doesn't necessarily move forward with the overall group. Despite being put into chronological order, the timeline of these movies is still very difficult to follow.

The New Mutants doesn't really affect the franchise's overall timeline. It focuses on its own story outside the X-Men, which is very similar to how the two Deadpool films are in this universe. Those three movies can be watched at any point without spoiling the remaining movies, though some Deadpool references may be far harder to parse without the context of the previous movies that came before it in the X-Men movie release order.

While Deadpool & Wolverine is the last movie released in the Fox X-Men universe, it is interestingly set largely before Logan, though the plot does travel forward in time to explore the ramifications of Logan's ending, which is shown to be destroying the entire timeline. This may make a chronological viewing a more complicated overall experience as a result, since Deadpool & Wolverine is clearly intended to be watched with an understanding of what happens in Logan, even if timeline-wise Logan is still the most far-flung in the future due to its 2029 setting.

How Deadpool & Wolverine Changes The X-Men Movie Viewing Order

Deadpool & Wolverine makes the Deadpool series a more integral part of the overall X-Men series by bookending the franchise with the movie, despite it coming years after the last Fox X-Men release, and notably debuting as part of the MCU. Deadpool & Wolverine is rife with references to and cameos from the X-Men movie series, and shows the aftermath of Wolverine's fate in Logan - which is confirmed to be absolutely final - on the X-Men timeline, albeit in a complicated manner since much of the events of the movie appear to be set well beforehand.

Deadpool & Wolverine also acts as a Logan sequel by featuring Daphne Keen's Laura - also known as X-23 - some time after the events of the prior movie, with it strongly suggested that this is either a very similar variant of the character, or outright the same character from that chapter of the X-Men timeline. Deadpool & Wolverine's ending leaves the door open for Laura to appear again in future releases, drastically changing how the ending of Logan appears, and allowing Marvel to potentially build upon the story further, even if this is in a more abstract fashion.

Notably, this also makes watching Logan as the last movie in the order far harder if Deadpool & Wolverine is also in the viewing list, resulting in a chronological viewing being a yet more complicated experience in terms of legibility. That said, the Deadpool series not being as tied to the overall events of the X-Men timeline otherwise means that watching it after the rest of the roster does make sense, particularly now that the third Deadpool movie provides a great deal of closure for the overarching series.

The Best Viewing Order For X-Men Movies

Ultimately, it comes down to preference, but the messy X-Men movie timeline means that there isn't as much to gain from a chronological viewing experience as there may be with other franchises. However, a third option may, in fact, be better than either approach. With multiple continuities that crossover but also work well as individual viewing experiences, it works particularly well to focus on viewing each sub-series in the broader X-Men continuity at once.

The ideal viewing order would thus be watching the X-Men original trilogy, then the prequel series, then the Wolverine movies, then the first two Deadpool movies, The New Mutants, and finally Deadpool & Wolverine. This also ensures the meta commentary on superhero movies made in the Deadpool series all makes sense - as things like the X-Men Origins: Wolverine references and Logan references in the second and third movie could otherwise prove more confusing.

While this breaks up the Deadpool sub-series, watching Deadpool & Wolverine as the final movie in the roster is arguably the best approach. The release does allude to huge swathes of the overall timeline, and is seemingly the final film set in the universe, making it a more significant finale to the overall viewing experience than The New Mutants may be.

The Deadpool & Wolverine end credits sequence - that goes back through the X-Men movies and provides some behind the scenes glimpses about their filming - is also inherently made to suit the instalment being the last in the viewing order. As such, it's the ideal ending to watching the X-Men movie catalog, even if the release is also an MCU movie in its own right at the same time.

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  X-Men

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  X-Men is the first film in the long-running superhero franchise centering on the iconic Marvel team. Wolverine and Professor X take center stage as they and the other X-Men attempt to stop Erik Lehnsherr (aka Magneto) after he has a violent response to the proposed Mutant Registration Act. Hugh Jackman stars as Wolverine, alongside Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, and Anna Paquin.

  Release Date

  July 14, 2000

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  X2: X-Men United

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  X2: X-Men United is the follow-up film to Fox's 2000 X-Men starring Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, and Patrick Stewart. The film features the introduction of Colonel William Stryker (Brian Cox) as he kidnaps Charles Xavier, which leads the X-Men to team up with Magneto. Most of the cast from the original film returned for the sequel, along with the introduction of Alan Cumming's Nightcrawler.

  Release Date

  May 2, 2003

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  X-Men: The Last Stand

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  X-Men: The Last Stand is the third and final installment in Bryan Singer's original X-Men trilogy. It adapts Marvel's famous "Dark Phoenix" storyline, with Famke Janssen's Jean Grey embracing her supernatural power to unleash chaos on mutantkind. Fox's 2006 superhero movie brings back franchise mainstays such as Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, Patrick Stewart's Professor X, and Ian McKellen's Magneto, and it introduces major mutant characters such as Kelsey Grammer's Beast, Ben Foster's Angel, and Vinnie Jones' Juggernaut.

  Release Date

  May 25, 2006

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  X-Men Origins: Wolverine

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  After Bryan Singer's X-Men trilogy, Hugh Jackman returns as the titular clawed mutant in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The 2009 superhero movie explores Logan's origins with a look back at Weapon X, the experiment that covered his skeleton with adamantium. It marks Ryan Reynolds' first appearance as Wade Wilson a.k.a. Deadpool, and it precedes James Mangold's The Wolverine and Logan, which retroactively make Origins the first installment in a solo trilogy for Jackman's iconic Marvel hero.

  Release Date

  April 30, 2009

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  X-Men: First Class

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  X-Men: First Class charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga in the 1960s. Before mutants had revealed themselves to the world, and before Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers. Before they were archenemies, they were close friends, working together with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to prevent nuclear Armageddon. In the process, a rift between them opened, beginning the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.

  Release Date

  June 3, 2011

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  The Wolverine

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  Based on the 1982 comic event "Wolverine," The Wolverine takes place after X-Men: The Last Stand and follows Logan on a journey to Japan at the behest of a former acquaintance. Living in isolation after the world-changing events in the prior movie and haunted by the death of the woman he loved, Logan is found and asked to travel to Japan to meet with a man named Ichiro, who he had saved during World War II. At the end of his life, Ichiro offers Logan a chance to free himself of his healing abilities to finally die by taking them for himself. However, Logan soon learns that Ichiro's intentions for immortality are far less honorable than he had expected, leading him to struggle to face off with a former ally.

  Release Date

  July 26, 2013

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  X-Men Days of Future Past

  Based on the epic Marvel comic event and following up after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand and The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past is an action superhero film that sees Logan sent back into the past to attempt to avert a cataclysmic disaster. In the future, the last surviving members of the human and mutant races are facing the end of days as the Sentinel menace has nearly wiped everything out of existence. Out of options and out of time, Professor Charles Xavier and Eric Lehnsherr (aka Magneto) agree to send Logan back into the past to prevent the assassination of a man that leads to the end of the world.

  Release Date

  May 23, 2014

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  X-Men Apocalypse

  The third installment of the X-Men prequel films, and the ninth film in the overall X-Men movie franchise, X-Men: Apocalypse once again sees Professor Xavier and Magneto on opposite sides of a catastrophic conflict. Having been raised from the dead, the ancient mutant Apocalypse wishes to wipe out all of humanity, and recruits four mutants including Magneto to help him in his quest, leading Xavier and his young team of X-Men to try and stop them. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender reprise their roles as Professor Xavier and Magneto, with a larger ensemble cast that includes Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Olivia Munn, and Oscar Isaac.

  Release Date

  May 27, 2016

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  Logan

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  Logan sees the titular hero, AKA Wolverine, in his twilight years as his healing factor has begun to fail him, and he has begun to age more rapidly. Set several years in the future, Logan finds himself caring for an ailing Professor Xavier, whose mind has begun to succumb to dementia, making him an incredibly dangerous mutant that can cause widespread destruction accidentally. But when the preoccupied Logan is asked to meet with a woman that requests he transports a young girl to a mutant haven known as Eden, he learns that she may have his DNA and that the fate of mutant-kind may rest in her hands.

  Release Date

  March 3, 2017

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  X-Men: Dark Phoenix

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  In this continuation of the rebooted X-Men movie series, Jean Grey begins to develop incredible powers that corrupt and turn her into a Dark Phoenix. Now, the X-Men will have to decide if the life of a team member is worth more than all the people living in the world.

  Release Date

  June 7, 2019

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  New Mutants

  This X-Men spinoff marked the final installment before the franchise's moved to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Five young mutants, just discovering their abilities while held in a secret facility against their will, fight to escape their past sins and save themselves.

  Release Date

  August 28, 2020

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  Deadpool

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  The Merc With The Mouth gets his very own film in Deadpool, an action-adventure comedy movie starring Ryan Reynolds as the titular hero. When mercenary Wade Wilson discovers he has an aggressive type of cancer that threatens to cut his life short, he decides to take a shady offer from a businessman who promises to cure him. Tortured and left for dead, the treatment makes Wade immortal - and a little bit twisted - as he seeks out his tormentors for revenge.

  Release Date

  February 9, 2016

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  Deadpool 2

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  The Merc With the Mouth returns in Deadpool 2, "the sequel to the first one." Wade Wilson finds himself alone and without purpose until he reluctantly agrees to join the X-Men. Things take a turn for the strange when Wade finds himself in prison after trying to help a young mutant named Russell, and a time-traveling mutant cyborg arrives to slay Russell to save the future. Determined to save Russell and do the right thing, Wade creates a new team of heroes to fight back and save the world the only way Deadpool knows how - as ridiculously as possible.

  Release Date

  May 10, 2018

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  A follow-up to the highly successful Deadpool and Deadpool 2 films starring Ryan Reynolds as the Merc with a Mouth. The third film will be the first in the franchise to be developed under the Marvel Studios banner following Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox.

  Release Date

  July 26, 2024