There is no doubt that, in times of endless and increasingly convoluted film —and television— franchises, it is very easy to get lost in seas of references, recurring characters and timelines; and one only has to take a look at galactic universes such as ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Star Trek’ or superhero bets such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe to realize this.
Today we are going to focus on one of the most famous film sagas to emerge from an IP from La casa de las ideas to try to bring some order to its slightly chaotic microcosm. This is none other than ‘X-Men’ —’Patrol X’ for friends—; what did it mean one of the first stones of the boom of comic book adaptations in a distant year 2000 and that has extended to the present day with a good handful of productions.
In case you want to immerse yourself for the first time in the adventures and misadventures of Marvel’s mutants or if, on the contrary, you feel like giving the adventures of Charles, Wolverine, Mystique, Magneto and company another chance, we are going to make two lists to see them in order —including their spin-offs— and not miss a single detail: chronologically and according to their release date.
The X-Men saga according to its release order
Let’s start with the simple, let’s pull the calendar and see what it would be the order to see the ‘X-Men’ saga as it has been released for the last 23 yearsbeginning with the original trilogy that started from the hand of Bryan Singer and continuing with titles belonging to the Wolverine trilogy, Deadpool and the prequels, to end with the unfairly battered spin-off ‘The new mutants’.
- ‘X Men’ (Bryan Singer, 2000)
- ‘X-Men 2’ (‘X2’, Bryan Singer, 2003)
- ‘X-Men: The final decision’ (‘X-Men: The Last Stand’, Brett Ratner, 2006)
- ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ (‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’, Gavin Hood, 2009)
- ‘X-Men: First Class’ (‘X-Men: First Class’, Matthew Vaughn, 2011)
- ‘Immortal Wolverine’ (‘The Wolverine’, James Mangold, 2013)
- ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ (‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’, Bryan Singer, 2014)
- ‘Deadpool’ (Tim Miller, 2016)
- ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ (‘X-Men: Apocalypse’, Bryan Singer, 2016)
- ‘Logan’ (James Mangold, 2017)
- ‘Deadpool 2’ (David Leitch, 2018)
- ‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’ (‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’, Simon Kinberg, 2019)
- ‘The new mutants’ (‘The New Mutants’, Josh Boone, 2020)
Chronological
This is where the party begins. As Mikel told us a season ago, the ‘X-Men’ saga reached a sort of turning point with ‘Days of Future Past’, which introduced the occasional change to the mutant universe as we knew it. This included temporal inconsistencies and even scenes that we thought were just a joke and ended up being part of the canon oficial turning the internal coherence of the franchise upside down.
Be that as it may, let’s limit ourselves to establish the temporary bases with key points that allow us to locate each production and let’s make the list to see all the tapes in their chronological order —with an extra ball that we can place in two different positions.
‘X-Men: First Class’ (‘X-Men: First Class’, Matthew Vaughn, 2011)
The film is set in the early 1960slays the first stone of the conflict between Charles Xavier and Magneto and collects historical events such as the missile crisis between Cuba and the United States.
Criticism in Espinof: ‘X-Men: First generation’, refreshing adventure
‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ (‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’, Bryan Singer, 2014)
The bulk of the film is set in 1973, the year to which the mutants travel to try to change a post-apocalyptic future in which they are persecuted by the monstrous Sentinels. However, the tape has fragments that take place in 2023.
Criticism in Espinof: ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’, one step away from the best
‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ (‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’, Gavin Hood, 2009)
Although the film starts at the end of the 19th century and has fragments set during World War II, the bulk of its story is set in the late 1970s.
Criticism in Espinof: ‘X-Men origins: Wolverine’, the worst face in Hollywood
‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ (‘X-Men: Apocalypse’, Bryan Singer, 2016)
‘Apocalypse’, belonging to the prequels of the saga, It is set in the 80’s and invites us to follow Magneto, Charles, Mística and company in their fight against the fearsome titular villain played by Oscar Isaac.
Criticism in Espinof: ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’, the worst mutant adventure orchestrated by Bryan Singer
‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’ (‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’, Simon Kinberg, 2019)
‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’ is the last of the franchise’s prequels, and Takes us back to the early 90’s to narrate one of the most famous arcs of the comic, which makes Jean Gray the antagonist of the show. Be careful, the continuity began to crack with this title.
Criticism in Espinof: ‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’: the most mythical saga of comics returns to the cinema to close a cycle
‘X Men’ (Bryan Singer, 2000)
We arrived at the origin of the saga: an ‘X-Men’ by Bryan Singer whose story is set at the beginning of the 21st centurychronicling the conflict between Charles and Magneto and posing the status quo of mutants as outcasts among humanity.
Criticism in Espinof: Comic in cinema: ‘X-Men’, by Bryan Singer
‘X-Men 2’ (‘X2’, Bryan Singer, 2003)
Singer’s second ‘X-Men’ takes place after the events of the original, in the early 21st centuryand joins the mutants to fight William Stryker, leader of the MRA who wants to kill them by attacking Charles Xavier’s school.
Criticism in Espinof: Comic in cinema: ‘X-Men 2’, by Bryan Singer
‘X-Men: The final decision’ (‘X-Men: The Last Stand’, Brett Ratner, 2006)
We continue without complications. The bulk of the story of ‘The final decision’ is set at the beginning of the 21st century, shortly after the events of ‘X-Men 2’. Of course, the story of Jean Gray begins in this film with a flashback that goes back 20 years ago.
Criticism in Espinof: ‘X-Men. The Final Decision’, Singer left and with him good cinema
‘Immortal Wolverine’ (‘The Wolverine’, James Mangold, 2013)
The second feature film dedicated to Wolverine as a solo protagonist begins its plot in 1945, with Logan in a prison camp near a Nagasaki about to fall victim to the atomic bomb. Nevertheless, the film is set in the early 21st centuryafter what was seen in ‘The final decision’.
Criticism in Espinof: ‘Immortal Wolverine’, show and tragedy
‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ (‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’, Bryan Singer, 2014)
Let’s go back to ‘Days of Future Past’ for a moment, because, as we discussed earlier, a part of the film is set in a dystopian future located in the year 2023, so it could well be seen right after ‘Immortal Wolverine’. The decision is yours, although it should be done after seeing the original X-Men trilogy, with which it connects directly.
Criticism in Espinof: ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’, before the apocalypse
‘Deadpool’ (Tim Miller, 2016)
It’s time to welcome the Merc with a Mouth to the X-Men universe with his first adventure on the big screen, set after the events of ‘Days of Future Past’ and that, in addition, reference to previous productions of the saga.
Criticism in Espinof: Deadpool: beastly and foul-mouthed
‘Deadpool 2’ (David Leitch, 2018)
And, after ‘Deadpool’, came a ‘Deadpool 2’ that picked up the baton from the original setting right after her. As if the metareferential spree wasn’t enough, the film changed the franchise’s official canon with its post-credits scene, which alluded to ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’.
Criticism in Espinof: ‘Deadpool 2’: guaranteed laughter in a sequel with a prefabricated aftertaste
‘The new mutants’ (‘The New Mutants’, Josh Boone, 2020)
Without a specific date within the cinematographic time frame of the marvelitas mutants, ‘The new mutants’ invites us to think about a setting located in the late 2020s due to its way of connecting with the fantastic ‘Logan’ by James Mangold.
Criticism in Espinof: ‘The new mutants’: a surprising rare bird that falls in love with its treatment of characters
‘Logan’ (James Mangold, 2017)
And, finally, what, with the permission of ‘X-Men 2’, is the best film in the entire franchise: a ‘Logan’ that puts us in the year 2029, when practically all mutants have become extinct, to follow good Wolverine and Charles Xavier in a kind of twilight western to frame. Thus ends a mutant marathon.
Criticism in Espinof: Logan: the best movie in the X-Men universe
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