It’s only a matter of time before we see the X-Men make their way in the MCU, now that Disney acquired a bunch of Fox’s assets (which included X-Men, Avatar, Planet of the Apes, Predator any many other franchises). But before Disney took over, the X-Men franchise was a soaring franchise with hits and an occasional misfire along the way. Some might argue that the first X-Men movie is why we have such a desire and drive for comic-book movies, and as great the MCU has been for the last decade, there’s a number of X-Men movies that are better than most of the MCU movies. That’s what this list will entail. We’re going to rank all of the 20th Century Fox X-Men movies from the ensemble flicks, the solo Wolverine movies and even the Deadpool movies. Let us begin!
#13 X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men Origins: Wolverine will go down as not only the worst X-Men movie, but easily one of the most inept and insufferable tentpole movies in Hollywood history. While some might give this movie a pass due to the fact that it was a victim of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, that still doesn’t give this movie an excuse for being this incompetent. It’s horribly rushed, incompetently edited, the action is lousy and it’s sad when your opening scene is the coolest and most interesting part of the whole movie. The only saving grace this movie has is the performance that Hugh Jackman gives as Wolverine. It’s clear he’s dealing with a weak script and Adamantium claws that look like they came from the world of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but you can tell he gives it his all in this movie.
#12 X-Men: The Last Stand
While there are certainly worse movies within the genre, X-Men: The Last Stand is surprisingly not the worst X-Men movie, but if it weren’t for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Last Stand would easily take that spot. Instead of Bryan Singer wrapping up a solid trilogy with the first two X-Men movies, he went off to direct Superman Returns and left the directors chair of X-Men: The Last Stand in the hands of Brett Ratner. Originally, Matthew Vaughn was set to direct The Last Stand (who went on to direct X-Men: First Class) but he dropped out due to creative differences. So when Singer and Vaughn left, Brett Ratner seemed to be the only option. What was such a strong start with X-Men and X2, X-Men: The Last Stand is a tonally inconsistent and rushed superhero film with too many cooks in the kitchen awkward scenes of dialogue that never really added to anything. Again, this would have been the worst had it not been for X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
#11 The New Mutants
I almost don’t even want to include The New Mutants on this list for several reasons. First of all, it really doesn’t have that much of a connection with the other X-Men movies, aside from maybe a few nods along the way. Secondly, this was a cursed movie even before the pandemic started due to avoiding competition with other films but when COVID hit the country, it almost became a foregone conclusion that The New Mutants would never see the light of day. It was in fact released when theaters were dealing with restrictions which would kill its potential at the box-office anyways. While it’s certainly on the level of X-Men Origins: Wolverine or even X-Men: The Last Stand for that matter, this movie was severely disappointing. For acting almost as a coming of age horror fantasy and as a comic-book movie, it’s not scary, it poorly develops its world and characters and it’s got very little heart. A few bright spots are there but ultimately it’s a missed opportunity.
#10 Dark Phoenix
I know some want to say Dark Phoenix is the worst X-Men movie and perhaps the worst comic book movie of all time. But after giving it a lot of thought, I think Dark Phoenix is a lot more enjoyable and competently made that some people want to give it credit for. That being said, it is riddled with problems and for it to be the last X-Men movie under the Fox umbrella before Disney acquired the rights and for it to be the next comic-book movie after Avengers: Endgame, Dark Phoenix almost felt like empty calories and a weaker wrap up with this cast of actors. That said, Dark Phoenix has some redemption to it. There’s gorgeous cinematography, great action and Sophie Turner does a commendable job with the character. Plus, Hans Zimmer’s music might be the best he’s ever created in his career. While Simon Kinberg’s first time as a director should never have been a $200 million comic-book movie, he didn’t ruin this franchise even if it ended a little weaker.
#9 X-Men
Now we’ve reached a point in this list where we can comfortably say the next set of X-Men movies are ones that I consider to be good to great. The first X-Men movie is a great movie and it’s a miracle that this movie still holds up from when it was first released 22 years ago. Hearing the stories about the studio didn’t have a lot of faith in this movie prior to its release and how dubious they were on the success of it, it’s amazing the it a spawned a franchise and for many to believe that this first X-Men movie is why we have the comic-book movie genre today. Some of the visuals still hold up, the dynamics with the entire ensemble are great and it proved that your movie can work when you’re jumbling around a huge group of characters. X-Men is also responsible for birthing some of the most pitch perfect castings with Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.
#8 X-Men: Apocalypse
I’m just going to be straight up and honest, but I love X-Men: Apocalypse and I genuinely don’t understand the harshness it got upon its release. It’s definitely not a perfect movie, as hardly any movie is. For this to be Singer’s follow up/sequel to X-Men: Days of Future Past, it really was a worthy successor. I believe that X-Men: Apocalypse is the best looking and visually stunning X-Men film to date. From the action sequences and the construction within those set pieces, this is a beautiful looking movie. I also firmly believe that James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender do such a great job with the material given to them. There’s a lot of fun surprises in this epic adventure, even if Oscar Isaac’s Apocalypse doesn’t always work.
#7 The Wolverine
As far as underrated movies are concerned, The Wolverine is one of the most underrated comic book movies in the history of the genre. Where Logan was in the vein of a western, The Wolverine is a straight up Samurai movie, that delivers on incredible action, powerful character moments and the themes of struggling from loss, pain and violence. It really was a step above from X-Men Origins: Wolverine by being a better standalone story, while still acknowledging crucial story beats from that movie and especially X-Men: The Last Stand. The first two acts of this movie are legitimately perfect but where the movie stumbles is its third act. When we get to the final act, it almost feels like a completely different movie, especially how grounded the first two acts of the movie felt. It started to feel more you’re conventional comic-book movie with the Silver Samurai and it felt a bit jarring to say the least. Another glaring problem this movie had was the villain, Viper. But beyond the weakness of the third act and Viper being a weak character, The Wolverine is a terrific and an overall subversive comic-book movie with effective music and a terrific performance from Hugh Jackman.
#6 Deadpool 2
The first Deadpool was a complete game changer for the comic-book movie genre in so many ways and for it to be the huge hit that it was, a sequel was almost a guarantee. While Deadpool 2 isn’t as genius or as great as the first one, Deadpool 2 is still a laugh riot through and through. The one thing that Deadpool 2 had the first Deadpool didn’t have was the introduction of Josh Brolin’s Cable. Instead of being the films main antagonist, Josh Brolin was a terrific choice for the character and the banter that he shared with Ryan Reynolds was golden. It’s still as funny and as bloody fun like the first one but the only issues it suffers from was the performance from Julian Dennison and the films actual main villain. Julian Dennison is a talented young kid, but his character comes off as an annoying little brat to the point where it was a pain for him to be on screen. Where the first Deadpool had a stronger villain with Ed Skrein, Deadpool 2 really didn’t feature that at all. Beyond all that, Deadpool 2 is pretty great.
#5 X2
Where the first X-Men was a solid foundation and established something great, X2 is in the discussion of being one of the better comic-book movies of all time. This is a layered, provocative and very timeless comic-book movie with great action, visuals and performances that are an improvement from its predecessor. There’s a lot more in this movie that’s more memorable and also an improvement. From the opening scene in the White House, the invasion as Xavier’s school and the topical moments of the allegories of being a mutant, X2 is a mature and expressive story in the realm of being a comic-book movie. John Ottman’s score was also an improvement by giving us a memorable superhero theme that ultimately became one of the franchise’s strengths.
#4 X-Men: First Class
Coming off of both X-Men Origins: Wolverine and X-Men: The Last Stand, the X-Men franchise was practically dead. There seemed to be no more hope with this franchise any longer to the point where Fox didn’t seem to know what to do with it. When X-Men: First Class was on the horizon, the sign of a reboot was questionable but seemed like the only option the studio had. Not only is X-Men: First Class is the biggest surprise to come out of the X-Men franchise, but maybe for the entire comic-book movie genre. By giving us a brand new cast that honors the work before, giving us the comic-book flares with great action, a terrific score from Henry Jackman and placing the the events in historical setting, Matthew Vaughan infused so much care and thought in a franchise that desperately needed it at the time. It’s sad he never got a chance to direct X-Men: The Last Stand, but he sure did make up for all that with First Class.
#3 Deadpool
After fans got how the character was treated in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the hopes of a better treatment for the character was one of the biggest topics of conversation from the post release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine until the first Deadpool movie was officially announced. To see Deadpool get the solo movie that he truly deserved after the debacle that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine, this was a triumphant and very inspiring occasion. Something we as film fans like to discuss are actors that were born to play certain roles. You could say Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine or even something like Heath Ledger as the Joker. Ryan Reynolds was born to play Deadpool. He exudes so much of the character that’s instantly pulled right from the printed page. From the terrific opening credits, the moments of laughing your ass off and the jabbing of poking fun at other superhero movies, Deadpool was a slam bang right from the start and it also proved that you can do a lot with a budget way under $100 million.
#2 X-Men: Days of Future Past
X-Men: Days of Future Past is the best X-Men film that Bryan Singer has directed and is purely the best X-Men movie by obtaining the essences of the first two X-Men movies and bringing in the aspects that worked in X-Men: First Class. The fact that they were able to bring everything together from the original and new X-Men casts and give everybody great material bumps this up as being one of my all time favorite comic-book movies. X-Men: Days of Future Past should strive every other blockbuster by being epic, thematically deep and can still provide great action and an effective emotional crux. This is easily the best that James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender were at by playing the younger generation of Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr. In a way, X-Men: Days of Future Past is the Avengers: Endgame of the X-Men franchise.
#1 Logan
Logan won’t go down as just the best X-Men movie but perhaps one of the best comic-book movies ever made. Logan is one of the most submissive and revolutionary comic-book movies ever made. It’s heartbreaking, brutal and it’s about movie about pain, suffering and brokenness, yet still with hope at the end of the tunnel. It’s like we almost didn’t deserve this movie. Right from the opening scene tells you how violent and graphic the rest of the movie will be.Hugh Jackman gives not only an Oscar-worthy performance, but maybe the best performance of his entire career. To see him daunt the claws for 17 years kept getting better and better, but Logan was a beautiful conclusion for the character and Jackman’s portrayal. Patrick Stewart and newcomer Dafne Keen break your heart with how great their performances are. The storytelling feels poetic, the violence that beautifully enhances the atmosphere of the world and it’s maybe the best way to end of the character. Kudos to writer/director James Mangold for telling such a layered and emotionally impactful movie, one that departures from the more conventional way of making a more familiar comic-book movie in today’s day and age. It feels cold, but it’s profoundly moving, nonetheless.
Zane's take at the Cinema's 