Forbes Every 'X-Men' Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

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I am choosing this occasion to do a rundown of all nine (!) X-Men movies released between 2000 and 2016. Why today? Well, I intended this to be for last Wednesday (when X-Men: Apocalypse opened overseas), but life got in the way. As always, these rankings will not be the same as your rankings (mostly in the middle), because what fun would that be? Out of nine movies, I strongly dislike two, am rather mixed on three, really like two and rather adore two. That’s not a bad batting average. And now, in descending order of quality, here we go!


9. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009):

8. X-Men: Apocalypse (2016):

7. Deadpool (2016):

Tim Miller, Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, and Paul Wernick deserve all the credit in the world for offering a source-faithful variation on one of the more popular comic book characters around. But the film is as generic and by-the-books an origin story as you can imagine. The “how Deadpool became Deadpool” stuff is glorified Mad Libs, and with all of the self-referential humor thrown in every direction, little of is directed at the plot. There is plenty of good stuff here, including Reynolds’s witty interactions with Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and some openly biting shots at the “real” X-Men franchise. I’m perhaps overly harsh because the first 20 minutes are such a thrill. The film became the first R-rated movie to top $100 million on opening weekend, became the biggest R-rated movie ever worldwide, and became one of the biggest comic book superhero movies of all time in 2D and without China. Next time, I dare Miller and friends to do better.

6. X-Men: Days of Future Past

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

4. The Wolverine (2013)

3. X-Men (2000)

2. X2: X-Men United (2003)

It was honestly something of a coin toss for the top two entries in this long-running franchise. Bryan Singer’s blow-the-doors-out sequel, which was a classic “breakout sequel from buzzy/well-liked original,” remains one of the great comic book movies. It is sprawling and lengthy in a way that allows for every major character to interact with nearly every other character. Loosely based on God Loves, Man Kills, this feature probably the best first act in comic book superhero cinema. That it somewhat slows itself down in the final act, with way too much time of characters walking back-and-forth in an underground bunker is what prevents it from reaching all-time classic status.

But when it’s on fire, it’s one for the ages. Sadly, Rogue is somewhat sidelined while Cyclops and Charles are completely sidelined and Wolverine is once again in the center stage. But Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) and Storm (Halle Berry) get plenty of playtime while Nightcrawler’s (Alan Cumming) benevolent spirituality provides a counterbalance to Storm’s earned militancy. And Magneto is even more compelling when he’s not the primary antagonist. There may be better X-Men movies (or maybe not, all things considered), but it may be impossible to top the sheer thrill of the “Okay, now this is the X-Men movie you’ve always wanted to see!” thrill of this 2003 blockbuster.


1. X-Men: First Class (2011)

Again, it’s a coin toss between this and X2. The film maintains its momentum all the way through. Like X2, this Matthew Vaughn/Jane Goldman adventure is long and leisurely in terms of allowing its characters to meet, greet, and challenge each other via dialogue as well as in action sequences. At its core, it’s a “How Xavier met Magneto” story, successfully combining bits of a planned Magneto prequel and original material into a delicious concoction. The film works as a poppy 1960’s spy caper as much as it does an X-Men movie, even if the attitudes of the 1960’s regarding gender and race deserve more face time.

Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy are superb as friends turned “enemies,” while Kevin Bacon gives great supervillain and Oliver Platt shines in a small-ish role as a sympathetic government official (Jennifer Lawrence is fine, but it’s clear she’d rather be elsewhere). The film was a famously rushed production, yet the comparatively streamlined story allows for a more satisfying experience than the similarly rushed X-Men: The Last Stand. This one is just a delight from beginning to end.

It has its issues (a get everything into place epilogue, a wasted January Jones), but it is perhaps the one true ensemble X-Men movie that isn’t reliant on Wolverine and doesn’t merely pit Professor X against Magneto for a battle royale. As such, it remains a close vote, but X-Men: First Class is my favorite X-Men movie amid the nine such films over the last sixteen years. After this week’s recent whiff, Matthew Vaughn may eventually need to become the de-facto Martin Campbell of the X-Men series. Yes, I’m aware of how ironic that would be for the Kingsman director.

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