When Marvel was about to go bankrupt in the 90s (who has seen it and who sees it now), it tried to sell the rights to different superheroes to film producers. That’s how we ended up with a tremendous mess when it came to making movies that have a sensible continuity or are consistent with the comics.
Because of this, some of the most popular Marvel characters ended up scattered around like the children of a divorce.
Spider-Man ended up at Sony, Hulk at Universal, and the X-Men (along with the Fantastic Four, but better not go that way) ended up at Fox.
and this he started making movies to make the acquisition profitable. The fact is that they did not start badly, but it has been a very irregular saga, full of ups and downs.
What movies make up the saga?
Until 13 films have been shot that can be considered within the X-Men universe. Some have them as the main protagonists and others take place in that universe, but they only have a cameo, or not even that.
So let’s try to undo the ball.
X-Men Original Trilogy Movies
The beginning of the X-Men in the cinema was not bad. In fact, this trilogy is okay, but the final movie ruined it.
X-Men (2000)
Mutants are discriminated outcasts in society. One of them, Marie, better known as Rogue, runs away from home and finds another mutant, Logan, aka Wolverine. Professor Charles Xavier sends Storm and Cyclops to bring them to his school, but Magneto has other plans for revenge against humanity and he needs Rogue.
Not badwhich is much more than can be said of most of the films that we will see next.
X2 (2003)
Colonel William Stryker, who hates mutants, kidnaps Professor X and attacks his school. To deal with the threat, the X-Men will have no choice but to ally themselves with their nemesis, Magneto..
Definitely, the best of the original trilogy.
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
The first time the mighty Phoenix Force comes out and goes to waste. Jean Gray shows signs of awakening this tremendous power and allies with Magneto. Professor X will have to face them with the X-Men and in the background there is a “cure” that has been developed and would turn the mutants into normal people.
The director, Brett Ratner, publicly showed his dislike for comics and it shows. It’s the worst of the trilogy.
the prequels
After the closure of the original trilogy, the resurgence of the franchise came through prequels in time, for which there was a necessary change of actors.
X-Men: First Class (2011)
almost certainly, the best movie of the entire X-Men saga.
Matthew Vaughn is good at directing and he shows us things like Magneto hunting Nazis in Argentina. they show us the origins of the saga and the roots of the complex relationship between the main antagonists, Xavier and Magneto. The villain is a Sebastian Shaw, who wants to unleash a nuclear conflict and returns younger, played by Kevin Bacon.
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
Vaughn leaves and Singer returns (yuck). The charisma and strength of the characters makes the film not bad, but it doesn’t even compare with the previous one.
The X-Men send Wolverine back in time trying to change history to prevent the extinction of humans and mutants. Peter Dinklage plays Bolivar Trask, inventor of the Sentinels, robotic mutant hunters. The argument is a meaningless mess, it happens with all time travel, but here, more.
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
Oscar Isaac plays Apocalypse and he always regretted accepting the role, and not only because of the makeup and the suit, which even required a cooling system. The X-Men face Apocalypse, one of the most powerful Marvel villains And that, of course, is totally wasted.
Basically, we are being prepared for (again) the event of the Dark Phoenix in Jean Grey. Perhaps it could have been the worst in the descent of the new saga, but there was still the grand finale.
Dark Phoenix (2019)
One of the most important events of Marvel and the X-Men. If Apocalypse was a waste, the Dark Phoenix of this Jean Gray I won’t even tell you.
They don’t bother to be consistent, not even with the comics, not even with his own movies in plot treatment. Don’t bother watching it if you haven’t already suffered it, the saga that started very well ended with a pathetic ending, weighed down by multiple problems and delays all types.
Wolverine Movies
As Wolverine is the most charismatic X-Men, he had his own movie saga. Motivated also because Hugh Jackman took over the role and it is impossible to see another Wolverines.
Of course, in the tradition of the franchise, proceeded to take an interesting premise and drag it for the mud
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
The origins of Wolverine and his brother, the title already says. The opening scene is one of the best there is and then the movie is boringthe truth.
In fact, the final fight is embarrassing. But seriously, take a look at the opening sequence above and you’ll have seen everything worthwhile.
Immortal Wolverine (The Wolverine) (2013)
Hugh Jackman is the most muscular Wolverine in the franchise in yet another forgettable movie. Follow the premises of the typical block buster of superheroes, with a final fight where a thousand things are destroyed and it doesn’t matter what happens.
That there was a “cure” so that Wolverine could finally be human, or something like that, but the plot is an excuse for Jackman’s biceps.
Logan (2017)
It’s not as good as some say, but it’s good. A change of tone and time for the end of Wolverine. On Loganwe see a demented Xavier and a Wolverines mature and limping, with the powers in the last.
Let’s see, I don’t think I will spoilers saying that is the death of Wolverine and a worthy ending and at the height of the character. The best by far of this trilogy.
the deadpool saga
Ryan Reynolds was a lover of Deadpool, the loudmouth mercenary, and he shows it with these movies in which the X-Men are in the background. Of course, secondary X-Men from the comics, who did not appear in the main franchise, at least until the second part of Deadpool.
Dead Pool (2016)
It’s your typical superhero movie in terms of structure and it doesn’t get complicated. But the freshness of the treatment and its adult and irreverent tone was a breath of fresh air. The public responded at the box office.
It’s fine, It is not the wonder that many saybut it’s okay.
Deadpool 2 (2018)
More budget due to the success of the previous one, but much less freshness. It is rare to see Josh Brolin as Cable at the same time as Thanos, taunt towards him included.
The main X-Men they make a brief cameorecognizing Deadpool as one of his universe.
Other films set in the X-Men Universe
It’s not even worth it, but you have to complete everything well.
The New Mutants (2020)
Maybe you didn’t know there was a new mutants movie, a spin-off. But don’t feel bad if you don’t know what I’m talking about, hardly anyone remembers her and the protagonists are probably trying to forget her.
The pandemic did not help and that the film seems to have been made with four dollars in a seedy location. Enter Anya Taylor-Joy and Maisie Williams, but seriously, don’t bother. It is incoherent and looks like a telefim.
Main characters and actors
Who’s who in the X-Men? Don’t worry, we’ll make you a summary guide.
For the actors who play the characters, again we are going to take the filming order of the films, putting first those of the original trilogy and then the actors of the prequels in case they are different.
- Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart / James McAvoy): The mutant with the most incredible mental powers and confined to a wheelchair. He runs the school for mutants, in order to locate them, educate them and keep them from getting out of control.
- Magneto (Sir Ian McKellen / Michael Fassbender): The main antagonist is a mutant with extraordinary powers based on magnetism, which allow him to do almost anything.
- Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). Mutant with skeleton and claws adamantiumin addition to healing powers.
- Mystique (Rebecca Romijn/ Jennifer Lawrence). Mutant with the ability to take on the appearance of any other person.
- Jean Gray (Famke Janssen / Sophie Turner). The most powerful mutant in the X-Men universe, host of the Phoenix Force. Her telepathy and her telekinesis will lead to tremendous and unstable powers that will make her a threat.
Other notable characters are the mutants Storm, Rogue, Beast, Nightcrawler or Quicksilver and the wicked Psylocke and Sabertooth.
Curiosities about the saga
Here are some things you probably didn’t know about the X-Men series of movies.
- Actor Dougray Scott was in charge of bringing Wolverine to life in the first film, but by playing the villain in Mission Impossible II, they had to find a last minute replacement, a certain Hugh Jackman almost unknown and much less muscular then…
- we almost have an X-Men movie by James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow in 1989. It couldn’t be in the end and Wolverine was going to be played by Bob Hoskins. I don’t know how it would have been, but it couldn’t have been worse than most of the films in the saga that ended up being released.
- In 2010, during the filming of X Men First generation, James McAvoy wore hair extensions. He messed up and shaved his head in preparation for his first role as Professor X, but he doesn’t lose his hair until the third film.
- There were plans to a movie with a young Wolverine from the 70s, played by Tom Hardy. She would have gone after X Men First generationbut its director Matthew Vaughn said that Fox preferred another direction, and that they did not understand the continuity issue.
As you can see, the most interesting things in the X-Men saga of movies seem to have been left out. We will see what Marvel and Disney do with the rights to this powerful franchise, now that they have returned home after the acquisition of Fox.
