X-Men Movies in Order: Release Order and Chronological Order

The X-Men movies in order of release are 13 Fox films, running from X-Men (2000) to The New Mutants (2020), and they split into 7 main X-Men films and 6 spin-offs. Release order is how audiences first met the story, so it is the safest route for a first viewing. The spin-offs are the Wolverine trilogy, both Deadpool films and The New Mutants.

1. X-Men (2000), directed by Bryan Singer (main). It opens at Auschwitz in 1944, then follows Logan and a teenager named Marie, who becomes Rogue, to Xavier's school while Senator Kelly pushes a mutant registration law.
2. X2 (2003), directed by Bryan Singer (main). Colonel William Stryker uses an attack on the US President to raid the school, and Wolverine returns to find it wrecked.
3. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), directed by Brett Ratner (main). A treatment that can remove mutant powers splits the X-Men, and Jean Grey comes back with enormous, unstable power.
4. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), directed by Gavin Hood (spin-off). It follows James Howlett and his half-brother Victor Creed through one war after another and into Stryker's secret team of mutants.
5. X-Men: First Class (2011), directed by Matthew Vaughn (main). The story jumps to 1962, where Erik Lehnsherr hunts Sebastian Shaw and Charles Xavier is finishing his studies at Oxford.
6. The Wolverine (2013), directed by James Mangold (spin-off). Logan survives the Nagasaki bombing in 1945, then lives alone in the Yukon before Yukio brings him to Tokyo.
7. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), directed by Bryan Singer (main). Sentinels hunt the last X-Men, and Kitty Pryde sends Wolverine's mind back to 1973.
8. Deadpool (2016), directed by Tim Miller (spin-off). Wade Wilson, a wisecracking mercenary, takes an experimental cure for cancer at a facility run by Ajax.
9. X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), directed by Bryan Singer (main). The first mutant, En Sabah Nur, wakes in 1983 and begins gathering powerful followers.
10. Logan (2017), directed by James Mangold (spin-off). In 2029, a worn down Logan drives a limo near the Mexican border and is pulled into protecting a young girl named Laura.
11. Deadpool 2 (2018), directed by David Leitch (spin-off). Wade becomes a trainee X-Man and meets Russell, a mistreated teenager, as Cable arrives from the future.
12. Dark Phoenix (2019), directed by Simon Kinberg (main). A shuttle rescue in 1992 leaves Jean Grey carrying a cosmic force that she cannot control.
13. The New Mutants (2020), directed by Josh Boone (spin-off). Dani Moonstar wakes in a near empty hospital run by Dr. Cecilia Reyes, alongside four other young patients.

Hugh Jackman leads the cast of seven films in this run: X-Men (2000), X2, The Last Stand, Origins, The Wolverine, Days of Future Past and Logan. That makes Wolverine the one thread that survives every change of director and cast, which is a useful anchor when the later films start to jump around in time.

A few release quirks help with planning. Two films arrived in 2016, Deadpool in February and Apocalypse in May, and Deadpool 2 followed in 2018. The New Mutants was originally meant for April 2018, and Disney eventually set it for August 28, 2020. If you are checking ratings before a family viewing, Deadpool, Deadpool 2 and Logan carry R ratings in the US, while the other ten are PG-13. For streaming, Disney Plus carries all 13 films in the US, UK and Australia, according to JustWatch data via TMDB, and the where to watch X-Men guide has the full breakdown. For a count of every film by type, see how many X-Men movies there are.

In my opinion, start with X-Men (2000) and follow release order, because the later prequels pay off more once you know the older cast. Should you ever watch chronologically instead? Perhaps on a second pass, once you already know who Logan, Charles and Erik are and what changes between the eras.

The case against opening with First Class is mostly about Days of Future Past. That film brings Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen together with James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as the older and younger versions of Charles and Erik, and the crossover loses much of its point if you meet the younger pair first. That being said, First Class is a perfectly good entry for anyone who wants one self contained cast and a 1962 setting, and it could be argued that it is the friendliest door into the series for a newcomer.

If time is short, I would trim Origins and The New Mutants first, since neither is needed to follow the main line. A tight route is X-Men (2000), X2, First Class, Days of Future Past and Logan, which covers both casts and gives Wolverine his full arc. For my full verdicts, see X-Men movies ranked.

If you want Deadpool in the mix, Deadpool sits eighth and Deadpool 2 eleventh in the release order. Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) is a Marvel Studios film rather than a Fox one, so its page sits with the Marvel films at Deadpool & Wolverine.

Finally, the Marvel Studios X-Men film is dated for May 5, 2028 in US theaters, with Jake Schreier directing and Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, Kit Connor as Cyclops and Adam Driver as Mister Sinister. Details are on the new X-Men movie page, and the Fox films are optional homework for it rather than required viewing. For more on the people involved, see the X-Men characters and X-Men cast pages.