A Definitive Ranking of the X-Men Movies

The post A Definitive Ranking of the X-Men Movies appeared first on Consequence.

After years of uncertainy, the future of the X-Men on screen is becoming a lot more clear. The characters first created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee in 1963 were previously kept out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe because Fox owned the rights to all of Marvel Comics’ mutant-kind — now, with Disney having absorbed all that Fox once was, we’ve got the long-promised revival of the animated X-Men series, and Hugh Jackman will once again return to the role that made him a star in this summer’s Deadpool and Wolverine.

From a fan’s perspective, this is all very exciting, especially as a ’90s kid who loved Professor X and his merry mutants’ animated adventures. It’s hard to communicate to younger generations what it was like to learn that Patrick Stewart would be playing Professor X in a live-action X-Men movie, but the word “mind-blowing” might be used: In the 1990s, superhero movies were definitely becoming a thing. But securing not just an acclaimed actor of stage and screen for this pivotal role, but an actor who seemed fated to play the part, who topped all fantasy casting lists, indicated that there was real potential here.

Since the debut of 2000’s X-Men, few franchises have experienced the wild shift in quality that these films have, which makes ranking them equally wild; there was almost as much competition at the bottom as there was at the top, which isn’t all that common. (Considering these movies critically is also complicated by the fact that the literal best and worst directors to work on these films are currently persona non grata in Hollywood, for a number of reasons.)

So, let’s load up Cerebro and get into it: All of the live-action X-adventures, featuring a whole lot of Hugh Jackman and a bunch more F-bombs than you’d expect. Not to mention the occasionally transcendent moment where the central metaphor connects with the audience, and a real message of tolerance and acceptance rings out.

13. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

Runtime: 1 hr. 44 min.

Director: Brett Ratner

X-Cast: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin, Kelsey Grammer, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Vinnie Jones, Patrick Stewart

What’s This One About? The Dark Phoenix Saga (one of the most iconic stories from the X-Men comics) comes to life in the stupidest way possible.

Mutant MVP: Let’s use this spot in the rubric to say something nice about the one X-Men movie about which there is nothing nice to say — the key ingredient to the X-Men movies’ success, right from the start, was Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. And here Jackman does his best to carry the emotional weight of a beloved member of the X-Men becoming an unleashed force of destruction, while remaining true to Wolverine’s gruff yet tender spirit. (Note: Because Jackman’s Wolverine could arguably take this rubric slot in every other applicable entry — even X-Men: First Class! — we’ll just disqualify him from consideration going forward.)

Honorable mention as well, for Kelsey Grammer’s debut as Hank McCoy/Beast. Frasier Crane himself is yet another fantasy casting idea which actually pays off great.

Verdict: There are so many problems with this film, an X-Men movie made by a living Internet comment about how the X-Men are too woke. Okay, it was actually made by Brett Ratner, but same difference — turns out that if you’re a real garbage pail of a human being, you might struggle to connect with a story built on a metaphor about what it’s like to feel ostracized by society. (Maybe Brett Ratner would do a better job with the material today. But for Elliot Page’s sake, at least, let him never have that chance.)

It’s not just the treatment of the Dark Phoenix storyline, or the fact that every single character’s dialogue has to include a reference to their powers. In smarter/more nuanced hands, exploring the idea of a “mutant cure,” and how it might create a rift amongst the mutant community, would be fascinating genre storytelling, exactly the kind of thing great X-Men comics have done in the past. Brett Ratner’s hands are not nuanced or smart, alas, and the metaphor becomes tortured, dumb and offensive at points. Seriously, this movie isn’t just the worst X-Men movie, it’s a strong contender for one of the worst movies of all time, full stop. What an embarrassment.

12. Dark Phoenix (2019)

Runtime: 1 hr. 54 min.

Director: Simon Kinberg

X-Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Jessica Chastain

What’s This One About? The Dark Phoenix Saga comes to life in the second stupidest way possible. At least this retelling is a little less embarrassing for everyone involved, and hews a little closer to the comics. Yet, while the previous entries in the First Class timeline have a lot more fun with their time periods, the 1992 setting is pretty damn flat.

Mutant MVP (Who’s Not Wolverine): Dazzler is objectively one of the funniest mutants of the X-Men universe — her mutant power is disco — and while her presence is basically just a cameo during a hot teen X-party in the woods, it’s still so wacky that we finally got a Dazzler appearance! What a time to be alive.

Verdict: Writer/director Simon Kinberg manages to get this movie across the finish line… just barely. As opposed to The Last Stand, which is just offensively bad, Dark Phoenix’s biggest crime is being boring, largely due to Jessica Chastain’s alien-possessed baddie failing to captivate. (I don’t want to say it’s entirely the fault of her bleached eyebrows, but the bleached eyebrows don’t help.) That sense of boredom also can be found in the fact that none of the main cast really seems to want to be there, most especially Jennifer Lawrence, whose time as Mystique comes to an inglorious end early on. (Continuity be damned.)

11. X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

Runtime: 2 hr. 24 min.

Director: Bryan Singer

X-Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, Lucas Till

What’s This One About? All that’s worth saying here is that someone thought it’d be a good idea to cover Oscar Isaac in blue paint and make him play a very boring supervillain. I mean, Apocalypse shouldn’t be boring, he’s maybe the world’s first mutant and an all-powerful super-being, but what can I say, that’s what we’re working with here. You want a plot summary? Fine: Apocalypse, believe it or not, wants to end the world. That shouldn’t be boring! And yet.

Mutant MVP (Who’s Not Wolverine): Gonna give Evan Peters his first proper shout-out on this list, because with my apologies to Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Peters is the superior Quicksilver, and his showcase slow-mo scene in this film is one of the very few bright spots.

Verdict: Being boring is more forgivable than being Brett Ratner, and that “Sweet Dreams” sequence does an awful lot to keep this film from arriving any lower on the list. Plus, points for a game young cast, including future Oscar nominee Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler and Lana Condor as Jubilee. Still, the best/worst thing I can say about it is this: inessential. This would be Singer’s last X-Men film (and the smart money isn’t on him ever getting the job again). It’s a shame it had to end like this, though it might be for the best.

10. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

Runtime: 1 hr. 47 min.

Director: Gavin Hood

X-Cast: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Dominic Monaghan, Ryan Reynolds

What’s This One About? That guy Wolverine has an origin story — and here it is! The film tracks how a young Canadian boy named James Howlett, born in the 1800s, survived over a century of wars to eventually find himself with an adamantium skeleton and no memory. Technically, this film features the first introduction of Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, though everyone (including Ryan Reynolds) would probably prefer you forget that.

Mutant MVP (Who’s Not Wolverine): Aside from Deadpool, this film introduces a number of fan-favorite characters from the comics, with the most buzzed-about at that time being Taylor Kitsch as Remy LeBeau, AKA Gambit. Few actors have had the kind of terrible luck Kitsch has had when it comes to picking blockbusters to star in, and his presence in this particular film is completely inessential, because his character’s just been shoehorned in for the aforementioned fans.

Still, there was a real glimmer of potential — in a proper X-Men ensemble, Kitsch would have been solid — and while the franchise seems to have moved on, who knows what the future might hold. Like, could you have predicted that in 2009, Ryan Reynolds would get two more chances to play Deadpool? And both of them would be better than this crap?

Verdict: While it’s not offensively bad, one can’t deny that X-Men Origins: Wolverine gets a little nuts, thanks to a messy script that bears the scars of the 2007-2008 WGA writers strike, and lacks real creative vision. That last factor, when you consider the worst and best films in the franchise, really does make all the difference.

09. The New Mutants (2020)

Runtime: 1 hr. 34 min.

Director: Josh Boone

X-Cast: Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Alice Braga, Blu Hunt, Henry Zaga, Adam Beach

What’s This One About? A group of teens, confined to an otherwise empty (and spoooooky) hospital facility, all have mutant powers of some kind, which is why they think they’re being held as part of their training to become X-Men. Instead, though, they’re part of a much more insidious endeavor being orchestrated by their doctor (Alice Braga) — one they’re prepared to rebel against.

Mutant MVP (Who’s Not Wolverine): Dani Moonstar (Blu Hunt) turns into a dang bear! At one point, the bear fights a mini-dragon! The coolness of that is hard to deny.

Verdict: For a while there, it didn’t seem like any studio would ever release The New Mutants, which was originally supposed to premiere in April 2018 before being repeatedly pushed for reshoots and reedits, thanks to an epic back-and-forth over tone and direction. Despite discussion that it might only be released on streaming, the film did make it to theaters… in August 2020. (It actually grossed $44 million, which isn’t too bad given the literal plague that was happening outside.)

In its final form, The New Mutants isn’t terrible, especially thanks to a magnetic movie star performance from Anya Taylor-Joy and the franchise’s first real LGBTQ+ romance, one with some genuine sweetness to it. However, every sharp edge that might have made it interesting has been sanded away, especially given the knowledge that this was meant to be a true horror story. Instead, the scariest thing about this movie is how haunted I am by the possibility of what could have been.

08. The Wolverine (2013)

Runtime: 2 hr. 6 min.

Director: James Mangold

X-Cast: Hugh Jackman, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, Famke Janssen, Will Yun Lee, Svetlana Khodchenkova

What’s This One About? Super-bummed by that whole “having to kill the woman he loves because she was about to go nuclear” thing, Logan gets dragged out of his sulk to go to Japan and receive a gift from a man he helped save during World War II. Death-defying heroics, including a big-ass fight on board a bullet train and a life-altering confrontation for the Wolverine, ensue.

Mutant MVP (Who’s Not Wolverine): Admittedly, the pickings are pretty slim here (the vast majority of the cast is pure human) but Yukio (Rila Fukushima) is a lot of fun on first introduction, sparking well off Logan, with a performance that captures just how much it would suck to know how everyone you know will die.

Verdict: A note for our friend Wolverine, regarding his “true love” Jean Grey: Oh my god, seriously, you kissed the lady like twice and the first time she had a boyfriend and the second time she had just murdered her boyfriend because she was possessed by her alternate personality — my dude, get over Jean Grey already. That said, it is fun to see Famke Janssen return as Logan’s literal dream girl, as she’s got some real spicy things to say to him about his fixation on her. And the seeds of Logan are very much growing here, director James Mangold clearly itching to unleash the R-rated version of our favorite Canadian mutant to come. Not an essential viewing experience, but a solid entry in the franchise that holds up well.

07. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

Runtime: 2 hr. 12 min.

Director: Bryan Singer

X-Cast: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Elliot Page[a], Peter Dinklage, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart

What’s This One About? Another classic tale from the comics unites the original timeline cast with the First Class kids, for a time-bending tale that cuts between the 1970s and a very dystopian future. Can a team of mutant survivors manage to keep a younger Mystique (Lawrence) from committing the assassination that leads to the extermination of mutantkind? Will this movie figure out a way for McAvoy and Stewart to talk face-to-face? The answer to one of those questions is definitely yes!

Mutant MVP (Who’s Not Wolverine): Elliot Page didn’t get much of a showcase in The Last Stand, and given his treatment on that movie, he’d have had good reason to not return here. Yet because he did, fan favorite Kitty Pryde is a key part of the future’s plan for saving the past — and it’s neat as hell to see those phasing powers in action, especially during the thrilling opening sequence featuring a bunch of badass mutants and some Sentinals of an innovative design.

Verdict: Days of Future Past starts so strongly — not just because of that opening Sentinal fight! There’s the introduction of Evan Peters as Quicksilver, soon followed by Magneto’s escape from the Pentagon (the gold standard of speedster superhero action)! Wolverine being thrust back into his younger body is very fun! Peter Dinklage plays Bolivar Trask! And yes, the face-off between McAvoy and Stewart is fan-service-y as hell, but still cool to witness.

Unfortunately, the third act really fizzles out, the future storyline pushed aside to focus, once again, on one group of mutants trying to convince another group of mutants not to start a war with humanity. At this point, it’s a narrative that feels tired, and none of the action in the climax proves memorable. Also, Logan waking up in an alternate universe 2023 gets exactly zero payoff. How does this fit into the overall continuity of this franchise? Who knows. Maybe Deadpool and Wolverine will explain. (Direct to the camera, in the most post-modern way possible.)

06. Deadpool 2 (2018)

Runtime: 1 hr. 59 min.

Director: David Leitch

X-Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, T. J. Miller, Brianna Hildebrand, Jack Kesy

What’s This One About? After losing his beloved Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), our pal Deadpool is feeling low — so maybe a young mutant with a dangerous future ahead of him (Julian Dennison) will give him a reason to live?

Mutant MVP (Who’s Not Wolverine): At one point, Deadpool says that Domino (Zazie Beetz)’s luck powers are “just hard to picture. And certainly not very cinematic. I mean, luck? What coked-out, glass pipe-sucking freakshow comic book artist came up with that little chestnut? Probably a guy who can’t draw feet!” One can only imagine that the first part of that, at least, came direct from the mouth of a studio executive, yet props to every member of the creative team who did manage to make “luck powers” not just visually comprehensible, but one of the film’s major highlights.

Verdict: It’s still so dumb that the writers of this film claimed they didn’t know what “fridging” was when they had enough comic book culture knowledge to make fun of the fact that Rob Liefeld doesn’t know how to draw feet. Beyond that egregious misstep, Deadpool 2 builds beautifully off the first film in the way all great sequels manage, whetting our appetites all the more for the third film to come this summer.

05. X-Men: First Class (2011)

Runtime: 2 hr. 12 min.

Director: Matthew Vaughn

X-Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, January Jones, Oliver Platt, Kevin Bacon, Zoë Kravitz, Caleb Landry Jones

What’s This One About? Instant BFFs Charles (James McAvoy) and Erik (Michael Fassbender) meet cute when Erik tries to kill his Nazi tormenter (Kevin Bacon), and the two of them work together to create a team of mutants with gifts that can stop the Cuban Missile Crisis. Groovy, baby.

Mutant MVP (Who’s Not Wolverine): While some fun kids are in the mix of this young new cast, let’s put the spotlight on our central duo here. By the end of First Class, Magneto and Professor X have found their designated spaces on opposite sides of the mutant rights cause, but before that happens, we get to see the depth of their friendship — which only enhances later depictions of the conflict between them, an ideological battle that remains evenly matched.

Verdict: Even I, as exhausted by prequels as I have become, can agree that “X-Men, but make it the 1960s and everyone’s babies” is one of the best creative decisions this franchise ever made. Not only do the space-age aesthetics enhance the whole vibe, but the “recruitment” montage is one of the best sequences in any X-film. Unfortunately, the theme of “mutant and proud” is wielded with blunt force in ways that have aged terribly, and do you see every female character in her underpants or basically naked by the end of the movie? The answer is yes. Brett Ratner had more tact than this. Brett Ratner!

04. Deadpool (2016)

Runtime: 1 hr. 48 min.

Director: Tim Miller

X-Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T. J. Miller, Gina Carano, Brianna Hildebrand

What’s This One About? A merc with a heart of gold (Ryan Reynolds) gets tortured into deformed mutant-dom by a dude named Francis (Ed Skrein), and spends the movie determined to get his revenge. Also, as promised from the start — it’s a love story with a happy ending!

Mutant MVP (Who’s Not Wolverine): Mr. Pool is right: Negasonic Teenage Warhead is a very cool name. And Brianna Hildebrand embodies every aspect of that name to perfection.

Verdict: Fans of the Deadpool comics will be delighted to tell you how well the first live-action depiction of the “merc with a mouth” captures his fourth-wall-breaking spirit, especially thanks to Ryan Reynolds’ gleeful performance. Reynolds isn’t necessarily an actor you think of as having a lot of range, but when it’s a fastball down the middle like this, he’s really able to connect, even through the mask.

As a film, the first Deadpool isn’t that ambitious in terms of plotting — boy meets girl, boy loses girl because of his own insecurities over his new skin condition, boy kills the guy who gave him said skin condition and gets back together with the girl. A fun time is had by all! That’s not sarcasm; Deadpool is a lean, mean, ultraviolent machine that works far better than anyone might have ever expected, in part because of that leanness.

03. X-Men (2000)

Runtime: 1 hr. 44 min.

Director: Bryan Singer

X-Cast: Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Bruce Davison, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Ray Park, Anna Paquin

What’s This One About? The one that started it all, X-Men introduces us to a world where more and more people are coming out as “special.” Unfortunately, not all of them are chill and nice, as Magneto (Ian McKellan) has a (not great!) plan to transform humanity into mutants as well.

Mutant MVP (Who’s Not Wolverine): One of the better executed twists of the first X-Men film is that the key ingredient of Magneto’s plan isn’t Wolverine, as originally assumed, but Rogue. And in general, centering this introductory film around the girl who can’t touch goes a long way, especially given the pathos Anna Paquin brings to the screen. From the beginning, this franchise was centered not around how awesome it is to have superpowers, but how there’s often a cost.

Verdict: Financial and creative success, as many filmmakers have found, has a way of protecting them from the consequences of their actions, as in the case of Bryan Singer: In a 2020 report by The Hollywood Reporter, multiple executives (including executive producer Lauren Shuler Donner) were open about how Singer’s behavior on set during the making of this film was overlooked because the film itself was such a success.

There are wobbly bits, for sure — “What happens to a toad that gets struck by lightning?” will always keep this film from true greatness. However, the emotionally grounded storytelling and sympathetic characters work hand in hand with a solid grasp on the core metaphor and themes. Right from the beginning, X-Men spoke powerfully about what it feels like to be different. And audiences immediately connected.

02. Logan (2017)

Runtime: 2 hr. 17 min.

Director: James Mangold

X-Cast: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, Dafne Keen

What’s This One About? Wolverine’s getting old, man. Those bone claws (c.f. The Wolverine) don’t come out as fast as they used to, and those bullet wounds don’t heal as quick as they once did. He’s doing his best to keep both himself and Professor X alive and out of trouble in the not-too-distant future, though one last bit of trouble finds its way to him, thanks to a little girl (Dafne Keen) who needs his help.

Mutant MVP (Who’s Not Wolverine): All of the core casting of this franchise has been so good (Ian McKellan! Anna Paquin!), but not enough has been written on this list about Patrick Stewart, who I genuinely believe deserved a Supporting Actor nomination for his work in this film. It’s a heartbreaking performance, as we see the once-great telepath struggle to keep his grip,

Verdict: Stewart didn’t break into the Oscars lineup but Mangold, Scott Frank, and Michael Green’s screenplay for this film did, and well-deserved — Logan is exactly the kind of smart, sophisticated storytelling that proves any genre of film can deliver greatness, if given the opportunity by one’s corporate overlords. Also, on a personal note, I did not realize how much I as a person had been wanting to see an R-rated Wolverine action sequence — until that first brutal stab of Logan’s claws into a dude’s skull. The only reason Logan doesn’t top the list is that it’s a powerful drama, but doesn’t quite tick off all the boxes the number one entry on this list achieves.

01. X2 (2003)

Runtime: 2 hr. 14 min.

Director: Bryan Singer

X-Cast: Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Brian Cox, Alan Cumming, Bruce Davison, Anna Paquin

What’s This One About? Remember when Professor X said, at the end of the first X-Men, “I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul who comes to that school looking for trouble?” Well, that was foreshadowing! It happens here! When an elite task force, aided and abetted by some insider information from Magneto, invades the school, the X-Men are separated and on the run — until they unite along with a now-freed Magneto and his loyal mutants to stop the Professor from using a new Cerebro to kill all of mutantkind.

Mutant MVP (Who’s Not Wolverine): Hey, Traitors fans, did you know that Alan Cumming’s talents include not just wearing fabulous clothes and saying vague things, but teleporting with a tail? The delightful Scotsman only played Nightcrawler once on screen, and that’s a shame, because he’s captivating in the role, full of the necessary sweetness and humility the gentle character requires.

Verdict: It’s not exactly like the franchise peaked with its second installment, but it’s undeniable that the second X-Men film is the best of them — it was beloved at the time, and it’s held up remarkably well over the years. From a brainwashed Nightcrawler’s opening assassination attempt in the White House to Jean Grey’s tragic sacrifice at Alkali Lake, it’s a thrilling adventure with real stakes. And while some of its exploration of the central metaphor is a little on the nose (“Have you tried… not being a mutant?”), Singer has a much more subtle touch here.

Also, we’ve got Brian freakin’ Cox leading the anti-mutant charge, plus the gift that is catty bitches Magneto and Mystique giggling at Rogue, “We love what you’ve done with your hair.” Thank you, X2, for your service.

All of these films — yes, including the R-rated ones — are streaming now on Disney+. (Except for Days of Future Past, which is currently streaming on Max.)

A Definitive Ranking of the X-Men Movies
Liz Shannon Miller

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