Ranking the X-Men Movies

[Soulsword323]

I haven't seen Deadpool yet, but here are my ranking of the other films in the franchise.

1) X-Men: Days of Future Past
2) X2: X-Men United
3) X-Men: Apocalypse
4) X-Men: First Class
5) X-Men
6) The Wolverine
7) X-Men: The Last Stand
8) X-Men Origins: Wolverine

[CraigTheCylon]

Only one list from me, because my tastes are perfectly honed. My opinion is LAW!

1) First Class. Aptly enough. It has issues (the majority of which can be summarised as 'Darwin') but they're easily overcome by its strengths. It is the one X-movie that has style, and soul, and doesn't mistake navel-gazing ponderousness for 'depth'. It has a legitimately great cast, including a Jennifer Lawrence who actually came to play, takes full advantage of the '60s setting, makes you give a damn about second-stringers like Havok and Banshee, Kevin Bacon playing the James Bond villain nobody ever hired him to be and having a whale of a time doing it, superpower showings properly tied to character arcs, fully realized Magneto, hilarious dickwad Professor X, and a Michael Ironside appearance. Still not good enough to be on my All Time Best Superhero Movies shortlist but it's so, so close.

2) Deadpool. Loses out on the top spot mainly because - like most Deadpool stories - it's only tangentially an X-Men thing. Ignore that and it's a delight, a '90s-throwback revenge actioner that'd feel very straight-to-video if it wasn't so fond of skewering itself. It hits all the right bases for Wade Wilson - not just the rapid-fire infantile wit, but the shame and depression all those dick jokes try to protect him from - and is also unafraid to remind us that, yeah, he's cool, but he's also pathetic and kind of a goober. And the central romance is sweet, genuine and handled not just with wit but with an understanding of sex as something fun that very few movies get right. On the more specific X-side, we get a properly realized Colossus at last - larger than life and kind to a fault - and Negasonic Teenage Warhead turning resting bitch face into an art form. Quotable as hell, too, and actually maybe the strongest film in the franchise for female roles.

3) The Wolverine. Much though I dislike Logan in general, this movie did well by him. It does a great job of expressing the gloomy life of a guy who knows his own violence only brings him pain, yet can't avoid conflict when someone else is in the firing line, and Jackman's never been better. Tao Okamoto and Rila Fukushima do extraorindarily well given how fresh they were to acting in general, and Hiroyuki Sanada gives his somewhat underwritten role a far bigger shadow through grim-aced charisma alone. There's some genuinely beautiful cinematography on display, and the film's not afraid to slow right down to let the characters breathe. The third act is, as most people agree upon, bananas and feels like it came from a totally different movie, but despite the juxtaposition I still dig it (and would unironically LOVE to see an X-Men film that bizarrely screwball throughout).

4) Days of Future Past. Pretty decent use of time-travel logic that holds up dramatically if not always rationally (which, with time-travel narratives, is about as good as it gets). Fun cameos from lesser-used X-Men, of which Blink is the obvious stand-out. The remaining non-Lawrence First Class actors are still on the ball, and the brief McAvoy/Stewart Xavier-off is wonderful. We got some damn Sentinels, at last, and though they don't match the iconic designs they're used well within the story. And the Quicksilver scene everyone talks about is still pretty cool. On the other hand, Lawrence is bored stiff, Peter Dinklage does interesting work but doesn't get to do enough to stand out, the arcs of recurring characters have atrophied or been reversed since First Class to poor effect, the '70s setting is only acknowledged in passing, and Wolverine being front and center when his presence is throwaway and accomplishes so little is annoying.

5) X-Men 2. God, I used to have this film memorized. Nowadays, even when I rewatch it, the thoughts disappear like snowflakes on a window afterwards. It's a clumsy adaptation of Stryker and his zealotry, with all the possibly-offensive-to-jackasses material removed, but it still holds together largely thanks to Brian Cox, who is damn good at this 'acting' business. McKellen is having way too much fun as Magneto, his escape and the Nightcrawler opening are badass, Romijn!Mystique is still great fun, and Aaron Stanford's Pyro is a quiet scene-stealer. Even so, too much of the running time is dedicated to people having rather calm conversations expositing theme directly into dialogue, clumsily every time, and there's little sense of geography or meaningful scale because everything is shot in hallways. They may have all been connected into one huge hallway. I can't tell!

6) X-Men Apocalypse. Attempts to be a greatest hits album, winds up as more of a Now That's What I Call Music! compilation full of pop one-hit wonders from your early 20s you don't entirely remember. Works out pretty well for an hour, with good building of tension and intrigue surrounding what the titular villain is up to, but hits the skids when it tries to recapture the Quicksilver lightning in a bottle and never really recovers. The returning cast are mostly trying but the material isn't meaty enough to let them go full throttle, while the new arrivals are enthusiastic and broadly good but are stuck fighting for space with the old guard. There's a concerted effort to embrace the more colourful and bonkers approach of the source material, but most of the film is still stuck with the brushed-steel look of the original trilogy so it feels like the movie's kind of embarassed of its own imagination. And it super duper did not need Logan in it.

7) X3: The Last Stand. Mostly nonsense, with 2 separate stories that each could've supported a whole film themselves forced into the same space and completely incapable of co-existing. Angel gets a big introduction, then amounts to nothing. Cyclops dies off-screen in such a confusing fashion you don't really grasp he's dead until his tombstone is shown. The Morlocks, mutantkind's sub-culture full of alienated ugly ducklings, is redrafted as mostly pretty mall goths with face tattoos. Storm is given new prominence and still amounts to nothing consequential. And yet, there's a tangible feeling of good, honest fun to the proceedings - like the film's at least a little aware of how dumb it is - that appeals to me. It's not shy of action, either, and generally better-presented action than the technically-better films before it.

8) X-Men 1. Just take all the bad things I said about X-Men 2 and remove the good parts. I barely remember this at all. Was it the one where Senator Kelly becomes Hydro-Man with no anus?

9) X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Just play the tie-in videogame instead. That's how bad this film is. The game-of-the-film is better than the film. There is no burn harsher.

[Deer God]

1) Deadpool-It makes the top spot partially because it's still fresh in my mind but I really enjoyed it.

2) First Class-Almost ranked top but just missed out.

3) The Wolverine-Solid movie that the ending brought down

4) X2-Had some really good moments but wasn't spectacular

5) DoFP-The 10 minutes of the future were better than the rest of the film. Halle Berry's Storm being stabbed was my highlight

6) X-Men-I was so excited for this when I first heard about it. It was okay but was kind of disappointing. Singer was laying his seeds of shit.

7) Apocolypse-My god this was awful. It almost ranks last. Boring movie. Awful story. Singer proves he knows nothing of the X-Men. This was awful fan-fiction. It started strong and went downhill fast. Such a disappointment. I thought it would be a fresh beginning for the franchise but if this is where it's headed then I'm out. So bad...

8) XO:Wolverine-...and yet this was worse.

[ChildOfTheAtom]

5) DoFP- Halle Berry's Storm being stabbed was my highlight

6) X-Men- Singer was laying his seeds of shit.

7) Apocolypse-My god this was awful. It almost ranks last. Boring movie. Awful story. Singer proves he knows nothing of the X-Men. This was awful fan-fiction. So bad...

.

LoL too funny

[healed1337]

1) Deadpool-It makes the top spot partially because it's still fresh in my mind but I really enjoyed it.

2) First Class-Almost ranked top but just missed out.

3) The Wolverine-Solid movie that the ending brought down

4) X2-Had some really good moments but wasn't spectacular

5) DoFP-The 10 minutes of the future were better than the rest of the film. Halle Berry's Storm being stabbed was my highlight

6) X-Men-I was so excited for this when I first heard about it. It was okay but was kind of disappointing. Singer was laying his seeds of shit.

7) Apocolypse-My god this was awful. It almost ranks last. Boring movie. Awful story. Singer proves he knows nothing of the X-Men. This was awful fan-fiction. It started strong and went downhill fast. Such a disappointment. I thought it would be a fresh beginning for the franchise but if this is where it's headed then I'm out. So bad...

8) XO:Wolverine-...and yet this was worse.

You didn't mention X-Men 3 ... I approve.

[iacobusleo]

Quality

1. Days of Future Past
2. X2
3. First Class
4. Deadpool
5. X1
6. The Wolverine
7. Apocalypse
8. X3


Personal Enjoyment

1. Days of Future Past
2. First Class
3. X2
4. Deadpool
5. Apocalypse
6. X1
7. X3
8. The Wolverine

Origins does not exist for me.

Deadpool is a weird one. I don't care much for the character but I feel compelled to acknowledge its existence because it is legitimately good (if overrated). It wouldn't have made the list if it weren't for the heavy X-Men references.

[sunofdarkchild]

1. First Class-The best combination of a strong script, great characters, decent action, and humor.
2. The Wolverine-the first 2/3 is pretty much perfect for a Wolverine movie, but the climax is awful.
3. Days of Future Past-Better action than First Class (because of the Quicksilver scene) but I feel the rest of it is weaker. Still dislike the switch from Kitty to Logan.
4. X-3-The Phoenix parts were terrible, but the mutant cure parts were great. The best action scenes in the main franchise so far.
5. X-2-Other than the opening Nightcrawler scene I was bored most of the time. Script was good, but I don't care for Singer's directing.
6. Apocalypse-Feels like a remake of First Class with the same Quicksilver scene from DOFP thrown in. Makes me dislike Mystique. On the other hand Magneto and Xavier are still great and Cyclops and Jean are actually tolerable for the first time in the franchise.
7. X-1-Very boring without the script being as strong as X-2s.
8. Origins-cool opening, then pure trash, like having a whole movie of the Phoenix parts of X-3.

Have no intention of seeing Deadpool. Just don't care for the character.

[ChildOfTheAtom]

Have no intention of seeing Deadpool. Just don't care for the character.

It's really good and it has alot of funny X-Men related jokes

Deadpool: Colossus, tell beast to stop shitting on my lawn!

[JediMindTrick]

1. X2 - near perfect in every way

2. Apocalypse - Hard to take Mystique as a complete good guy given her comic self but otherwise great

3. Days of Future Past - the full on merging of the two X-franchises doesn't make a lot of sense but the movie was great

4. Deadpool - I enjoyed it, I just didn't find it nearly has hilarious as many seem too.

4. X-men - has some flaws, especially by today's standards, but still overall good.

5. The Wolverine - the last part is ridiculous but everything up to then is great

6. Wolverine Origins - granted I haven't seen it since the one time after it came out but I don't recall hating it

7. First Class - great casting but the story was all over the place and utterly nonsensical the second they established it occurs in the same universe of the other movies by putting Wolverine in it because there is no way to make sense of how Storm can be in this movie as a young teen yet still be a teen in 1983 (Apocalypse) and only be about 30 in 2000 (X-men). Or Emma Frost being in this yet being a teen in Origins at the same time Scott Summers appears as a teen thus establishing they are of similar age. Or numerous other things that make zero sense due to the establishment of them being the same timeline.

8. Last Stand - pure rubbish how they botched the Dark Phoenix story.

[SpiderClops]

Based on quality:

1.Days of future past
2.First Class
3.X2
4.Deadpool
5.Apocalypse
6.X1
7.The Wolverine
8.X3
9.Origins:Wolverine

Based on personal enjoyment:

1.Apocalypse
2.Deadpool
3.First Class
4.Days of Future Past
5.X2
6.X1
7.Origins:Wolverine
8.The Wolverine
9.X3

[Phoenix Raptor]

1: X2
2: Deadpool
3: Days Of Future Past - The Rogue Cut
4: X-Men
5: First Class
6: The Wolverine
7: The Last Stand
8: Apocalypse
9: Origins: Wolverine

[Divine Spark]

1. First Class-The best combination of a strong script, great characters, decent action, and humor.
2. The Wolverine-the first 2/3 is pretty much perfect for a Wolverine movie, but the climax is awful.
3. Days of Future Past-Better action than First Class (because of the Quicksilver scene) but I feel the rest of it is weaker. Still dislike the switch from Kitty to Logan.
4. X-3-The Phoenix parts were terrible, but the mutant cure parts were great. The best action scenes in the main franchise so far.
5. X-2-Other than the opening Nightcrawler scene I was bored most of the time. Script was good, but I don't care for Singer's directing.
6. Apocalypse-Feels like a remake of First Class with the same Quicksilver scene from DOFP thrown in. Makes me dislike Mystique. On the other hand Magneto and Xavier are still great and Cyclops and Jean are actually tolerable for the first time in the franchise.
7. X-1-Very boring without the script being as strong as X-2s.
8. Origins-cool opening, then pure trash, like having a whole movie of the Phoenix parts of X-3.

Have no intention of seeing Deadpool. Just don't care for the character.

It was purposefully doing that to create a full circle feeling.

[Stormrocks]

1. Days of Future Past (9/10)
2. X2 (8.5/10)
3. Deadpool (8.5/10)
4. First Class (8/10)
5. X1 (7/10)
6. Apocalypse (4.5/10)
7. X3 (2/10)
8. Origins (Shit)

This is my ranking too.

[James Hunter]

For me, the order is:

1) X2 - It introduced an excellent version of Nightcrawer and corrected pretty much all of the flaws of the first film (also gave us some awesome Pyro and Iceman confrontations)
2) DAYS OF FUTURE PAST - Mixed all the best of the original trilogy and the new trilogy (and any film that gives me Blink, Sunspot and Warpath is going to gain points with me!)
3) DEADPOOL - Only just got around to seeing this the other day but its awesome.
4) X-MEN: FIRST CLASS - It repaired a ruined franchise and I did enjoy Lucas Til as Havok
5) X-MEN: APOCALYPSE - I didn't hate it but it is the weakest of the trilogy (I have to agree with Sophie Turner's Jean Grey about the third in a trilogy! )
6) WOLVERINE ORIGINS - I admit to being surprised at how high this is but the 2 below are so much worse.
7) THE WOLVERINE - Given that I barely remember any of what happened in this film it says a lot about how impressed I was. I did enjoy the Jean Grey cameo though
8) X3 THE LAST STAND - The film that so nearly ruined the franchise. This was just *bad* there's no 2 ways about it (although the first 5/10 minutes *were* good, with the Danger Room session, I'll give it that).

So that I'm not just laying into it I DO want to add that I enjoyed Kelsey Grammer's Beast.

Cheers.

James.

[LocoSteve]

1. X-men Days of Future Past

2. Deadpool

3.X-Men First Class

4. The Wolverine

5. X-men Apocalypse

6. X2

7. X-men

8 X-men The Last Stand

9. X-men Origins Wolverine.