X-Men Reviews: Our Verdict on Every Film

In my opinion the Fox films most worth your time are Logan, X2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: First Class and X-Men (2000). These X-Men reviews are short verdicts on every Fox film, from X-Men (2000) to Dark Phoenix (2019) plus the spinoffs, written as opinion and kept free of plot spoilers. Each verdict is a personal reading of the film. Outlets such as Empire and Common Sense Media publish their own reviews and age guidance, and we do not repeat their scores or text, so every verdict here is our own. Longer reviews will follow. For the complete ranking with reasons, see X-Men movies ranked.

Yes, X-Men (2000), directed by Bryan Singer, is worth watching, mostly as the film that set the template. It opens at Auschwitz in 1944 with a young Erik Lehnsherr bending a metal gate, and it keeps the cast tight: Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Patrick Stewart as Xavier, Ian McKellen as Magneto and Anna Paquin as Rogue. It earned $296 million worldwide on a $75 million budget. In my opinion it looks modest next to later superhero films, but the casting still carries it. Start with X-Men 2000 if you want the franchise in release order.

In my opinion Logan (2017), directed by James Mangold, is the best X-Men film, with X2: X-Men United (listed as X2, 2003), also directed by Singer, close behind. Logan is set in 2029, with Hugh Jackman as a worn down limo driver near the Mexican border and Patrick Stewart as an elderly Charles Xavier, and it turns a franchise that usually deals in world ending threats into a small, rough road story. It earned $619 million worldwide on a $97 million budget. X2 opens with an attack on the US President inside the White House and builds a real argument about how the public treats mutants. For my reasons and the full order, see Logan 2017 and the ranked list.

Five films are necessary if you want the story without the filler: X-Men (2000), X2, X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Logan. First Class gives you the young Charles and Erik in 1962, and Days of Future Past joins the two casts by sending Wolverine's mind back to 1973. Everything else is optional, in the sense that you can follow the saga without it. If you are unsure about the sequence, our X-Men movies in order guide sets out release and chronological order, and the X-Men timeline explains where each film sits.

The Fox X-Men saga is a commercial hit overall, although a few films missed. X-Men (2000) made $296 million worldwide on a $75 million budget, X-Men: Days of Future Past made $746 million on $200 million, and Deadpool made $783 million on a $58 million budget. The misses were Dark Phoenix, which earned $252 million on a $200 million budget, and The New Mutants, which earned $49 million on a $67 million budget. Those figures come from Box Office Mojo, and our X-Men box office page covers every film. The commercial result does not always match the quality, and I would argue X-Men: Apocalypse, at $544 million worldwide on a $178 million budget, made more money than it deserved.

Dark Phoenix (2019), directed by Simon Kinberg, is worth watching only if you have seen the McAvoy and Fassbender films and want to know how that run ends. It follows Jean Grey, played by Sophie Turner, after a space shuttle rescue in 1992 leaves her with a huge cosmic force. In my opinion it covers ground the series had already tried in The Last Stand, and it never quite earns its own version. Perhaps a fairer way to put it is that the film is not a disaster, but it is not essential either. See Dark Phoenix for the full breakdown.

My bottom three are X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants, and this is opinion, not fact. X-Men Origins: Wolverine, directed by Gavin Hood, tries to cover too much of Logan's past, from the 1840s through a secret team under William Stryker. The New Mutants (2020), directed by Josh Boone, has a better idea, five teenagers held in an isolated hospital, but in my opinion it never develops that setup as far as it should. That being said, all three are easy to place: watch them last, once you have seen the rest of the series. For the order and the reasons, see X-Men movies ranked.

X-Men (2000) is rated PG-13 in the US, 12 in the UK and M in Australia, so it is pitched at young teens and not at a 9 year old. In my opinion, parents would do better to wait until around 11 or 12, but that is a family call. Deadpool, Deadpool 2 and Logan are rated R in the US, 15 in the UK and MA 15+ in Australia, and I would keep them away from a child of that age. Parents who want a scene by scene guide can also check Common Sense Media, which publishes its own age advice, but the certifications above are the official ones. If you are choosing a streaming service for the older films, where to watch X-Men lists the current options.

Deadpool & Wolverine is a Marvel Studios film with its own page at Deadpool & Wolverine, so it is not reviewed here. Marvel Studios is also developing its own X-Men film, which TheWrap reports is dated for May 5, 2028 in US theaters, with Jake Schreier directing and a cast announced at D23 on August 14, 2026. We will not review it until it is released, and the new X-Men movie page tracks the confirmed facts. If you want the complete list of films first, start at the X-Men movies hub.