Few franchises have been as integral to the evolution of the superhero movie genre asX-Men, whichhelped usher in a new era of comic book moviesalongside films likeBladeandSpider-Man. The X-Men’s cultural prominence has only continued with shows like Disney+‘sX-Men ‘97, a revival of Fox’s 1990s cartoonX-Men: The Animated Series,as well asRyan Reynolds’ hugely successfulDeadpool & Wolverine, which saw his merc-with-a-mouth finally teaming up withHugh Jackman’s Wolverine, for their long-awaited buddy movie.
With 2000’sX-Men, thecomic book series was adaptedas a story about humanity first and foremost, drawing parallels to the civil rights movement and the struggle of minorities everywhere. That combination of human drama and high-flying spectacle made X-Men wildly popular, spawning a franchise of films diverse in tone, cast, and, of course, time period. Indeed, theX-Men movies are not just fun, they’recomplicated. Unraveling the X-Men timeline is a bit of a challenge due to the franchise’s malleability over the years –semi-reboots, prequels and spin-offs all kept the series fresh, but complicated its continuity. So if you’re looking to watch theX-Menmovies but unsure which order to go in, we’ve put together a handy guide to your two best viewing options – chronological order of events within the films, or simply arranged by the order in which they were made. Both methods have their merits, but the chronological order offers up a bit of a unique twist on things, as the order in which events occur doesn’t always correspond to when each film was made. Here’s how to watch the X-Men movies in order.
X-Men Movies in Order of Release
X-Men– August 11, 2025
X2– June 13, 2025
X-Men: The Last Stand– August 04, 2025
X-Men Origins: Wolverine– August 17, 2025
X-Men: First Class– June 14, 2025
The Wolverine– July 09, 2025
X-Men: Days of Future Past– August 25, 2025
Deadpool– August 09, 2025
X-Men: Apocalypse– July 13, 2025
Logan– July 28, 2025
Deadpool 2– July 26, 2025
Dark Phoenix– August 07, 2025
The New Mutants– July 04, 2025
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness– July 10, 2025
Deadpool & Wolverine– July 06, 2025
X-Men Movies in Chronological Order
‘X-Men: First Class’
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
This prequel is theearliest-set X-Men movie in the cinematic universe, with most of the action taking place in the year 1962.X-Men: First Classfollows a young Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), who teams up with a young Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) to track down a former Nazi mutant scientist (Kevin Bacon). The film isset against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and features other, younger versions of iconic mutants like Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and Beast (Nicholas Hoult) as the group teams up to stave off a nuclear war.
X-Men: First Class
In the 1960s, superpowered humans Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr work together to find others like them, but Erik’s vengeful pursuit of an ambitious mutant who ruined his life causes a schism to divide them.
‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’
Directed by Bryan Singer
This is a tricky one. So, technically, most of the action inX-Men: Days of Future Pasttakes place in the year 1973, but it’s also a future-set movie that simultaneously takes place in the year 2023. Future Wolverine has his consciousness sent back to his 1973 self, so he can prevent Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) from using Mystique’s blood to create indestructible Sentinels in the future. As if that wasn’t confusing enough, by the end of the movie, thefuture Wolverine successfully changes the past, potentially erasing the entire 2023 timelinewe just witnessedas well asall the events that happened inX-Men,X2, andX-Men: The Last Stand. Moving forward from 1973, there is a new path forward for the mutants that may be slightly different from the one they previously traveled. As filmmakerBryan Singerexplained:
“Part of the philosophy we had at the end of Days of Future Past is that you may’t fully change the course or current of the river, but you can just divert it a little bit, and we diverted it a little bit… Any possibility could occur, but characters are still moving towards their immutable place.”
So you have two options when it comes to watchingDays of Future Past— either watch it second for the 1973 setting, or watch it last as a finale that kind of undoes the entire timeline and concludes with a “New Future” where the adult Professor X and Jean Grey are still alive.
X-Men: Days of Future Past
‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’
Directed by Gavin Hood
The first-ever X-Men spin-off movie was the much-malignedX-Men Origins: Wolverine, which ostensibly tells the origin story of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine/Logan. The story begins all the way back in 1845, when a young Logan’s (whose name was actually James Howlett) powers first manifest, and hejoins his first team of mutants, including Wade Wilson, who would eventually become Weapon XI/Deadpool. This Wade Wilson is still played by Ryan Reynolds, but he is a separate iteration of the character from that we have come to know in the Deadpool films — this Wade Wilson is actually killed byDeadpool’s version of Deadpool in amid-credits scene forDeadpool 2… get it? While Logan’s iconic claws are shown to originally be made of his bone, in this film, hisskeleton is reinforced with adamantium in order to make him even more powerful.X-Men Origins: Wolverineoffers valuable insight into Logan’s backstory, but the film largely takes place in the year 1979 and reveals how Logan lost his memory.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
The early years of James Logan, featuring his rivalry with his brother Victor Creed, his service in the special forces team Weapon X, and his experimentation into the metal-lined mutant Wolverine.
‘X-Men: Apocalypse’
So this “prequel” most closely follows the events ofX-Men: First Classand the 1970s stuff inDays of Future Past.X-Men: Apocalypseis set in the year 1983 and finds the young adult versions of the X-Men — includingAlexandra Shipp’s Storm andSophie Turner’s Jean Grey — battling the world-ending (and centuries-old) villain, Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac). While it’swidely considered to be one of theweakest installments in the X-Men franchise, Isaac’s performance and Jean’s backstory make it a movie worth watching.
X-Men: Apocalypse
In the 1980s the X-Men must defeat an ancient all-powerful mutant, En Sabah Nur, who intends to thrive through bringing destruction to the world.
‘Dark Phoenix’
Directed by Simon Kinberg
Thelast film to feature the “young” X-Men cast isX-Men: Dark Phoenix, which takes place in the year 1992 and adapts the iconicDark Phoenixcomics storyline. By the end of the film, Jean Grey (again played by Sophie Turner) has transformed into a Phoenix, which somewhat muddles how this film connects to the next film (the firstX-Menmovie) chronologically.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix
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.
SoforX-Mento work, you kind of have to ignore the events at the end ofDark Phoenix– but otherwise, it fits quite well. The firstX-Menmovie to be made roughly takes place in the year 2000, as it was set in the present-day when it was released. After protectingRogue (Anna Paquin), a young runaway mutantwhose touch extracts another individual’s abilities, from Magneto’s (Ian McKellen) Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Jackman’s Wolverine encounters the good guys: Charles Xavier’s (Patrick Stewart) X-Men. The latter’s team members include adult versions of Cyclops (James Marsden), Storm (Halle Berry), and a non-Phoenix Jean Grey (Famke Janssen).
‘X2: X-Men United’
The firstX-Mensequel,X2: X-Men United, takes place roughly three years after the events ofX-Men, in the year 2003. Now a reluctant X-Men member, Wolverine must confront the mysteries of the traumatic past he’s forgotten afterColonel William Stryker(Succession’sBrian Cox) attacks Xavier’s School and sends its residents, children, and adults, on the run. Stryker intends to destroy every mutant in existence, a calamitous threat thatforces the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to join forces. Often regarded as the best film of the original trilogy,X2introduces Nightcrawler(Alan Cumming), Pyro (Aaron Standford), and Lady Deathstrike (Kelly Hu); of whom the latter two will appear inDeadpool & Wolverine.
X2: X-Men United
‘X-Men: The Last Stand’
Directed by Brett Ratner
The final sequel in the original franchise line,X-Men: The Last Stand, takes place in the year 2006. After sacrificing herself to save her loved ones at the end ofX2,Jean Grey returns to life possessed by the Dark Phoenix Force, a suppressed part of her personality. The Phoenix wreaks havoc upon the X-Men, leading Magneto to take her in as his final weapon in his crusade against humanity until she is mercifully killed by a distraught Logan. Simultaneously, a human science group weaponizes a supposed “cure” that will remove a mutant’s gifts, exciting people like Rogue, and leaving others fearful of losing their abilities.
X-Men: The Last Stand
The human government develops a cure for mutations, and Jean Gray becomes a darker uncontrollable persona called the Phoenix who allies with Magneto, causing escalation into an all-out battle for the X-Men.
‘The Wolverine’
Directed by James Mangold
20th Century Fox tried again with something of a reboot for the Wolverine character, asThe Wolverineserves as a sequel to bothX-Men Origins: WolverineandX-Men: The Last Stand. It takes place in the year 2013 and finds Logan wrestling with the trauma of Jean Grey’s death inThe Last Stand. In the first X-Men movie directed byJames Mangold, Wolverine travels to Japan and reunites with his old friend Ichirō Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi). Wolverine runs for his life alongside Ichirō’s granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto) after Ichirō’s power-hungry son, Shingen (Shōgun’sHiroyuki Sanada), targets them both.
The Wolverine
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.
