Superhero movies as a collective are a mixture of the sublime and the forgettable.Avengers: Infinity Wardazzled audiences in ways a superhero movie had never done before, whileCatwomanwas a dumpster fire. Perhaps no superhero movie franchise was as much of a mixed bag as Fox’s X-Men franchise. There were some fantastic performances, none standing so tall as Hugh Jackman’s masterful portrayal as Wolverine. There were also some drab performances and lots of issues around continuity.
The X-Men franchise helped propel superhero narratives into the 21st century eight years before the start of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). In unchartered waters, Fox was sometimes admirable and faithful to the source material, and sometimes flat-out unforgivable.
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The Great (X-Men 2, X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Deadpool, Logan)
WithX-Menunder its belt, Fox Studios surged ahead withX-Men 2in 2003. With a familiar, returning cast and freed from the necessities of a first film (such as explaining character origins),X-Men 2was a success with critics and welcomed by its audience. It was a clever film with believable motives that felt like aworthy successor to the first X-Men film.
X-Men: First Classtook a risk by rewinding the proverbial X-Men clock. Set in the 1960s during the Cuban Missile Crisis, this film is more of an origin story for the X-Men than the originalX-Menmovie from 2000. The back-and-forth between Professor X and Magneto is particularly great, with the film giving Magneto a believable superhero-to-supervillain story arc. This film would probably have a greater nostalgia among superhero fans if the X-Men franchise had been more consistent and if the film did not come outjust one year before 2012’sAvengers.
X-Men: Days of Future Pastwas bold for including actors from the original trilogy as well as its new cast amidst its narrative time-jumping. It was well-acted, and pulled from some very beloved X-Men source material. Also, unlike its predecessor, it featured Wolverine for more than ten seconds, which was financially wise as well as made for great storytelling. It is a shame that this was the second movie in a four-movie storyline, as it was the last X-Men team-up film that was worth watching.X-Men: Days of Future Pastwould have made for a great send-off while the X-Men transitioned from Fox to Marvel Studios.
Deadpoolwas arevelation for the superhero film industry. It is an R-rated film that came out in February and still managed to make nearly $800 million thanks in part to some pretty genius marketing. Ryan Reynolds was born to play the fourth-wall-breaking Merc with a Mouth. One can hardly tell that Reynolds is acting during the film, it just comes across so naturally. With gratuitous amounts of violence and a raunchy sex montage, Deadpool was uncharted waters and a gamble for Fox that massively paid off. Since 2016, Deadpool has quickly become relatively undiscovered by mainstream audiences to one of the most popular Marvel characters.
2017’sLoganwas Hugh Jackman’s swan song as Wolverine after 17 years as the clawed mutant. It followedDeadpoolinto R-rated waters, featuring a gritty, more mortal Wolverine and borrowed from the belovedOld Man Logangraphic novel storyline.Loganhas some lackluster villains, but that just made the audience focus all the more on Wolverine and his young prodigy in the film. The ending is an extremely emotional send off for Hugh Jackman, withLoganbeing the last Fox-owned X-Men property that was truly worth seeing in theaters.
The Mediocre (X-Men, The Wolverine, Deadpool 2)
X-Mentook a big risk in creating an ensemble movie without making origin stories first. In retrospect, it is easy to see why Marvel went the opposite route leading into 2012’sAvengers. The cast, acting, and story are all very good forX-Men. However, some of the dialogue is pretty average (at best) and the characters are not very well-formed. Magneto is at the height of his powers, butWolverine is easily dispatched relatively earlyin the film, making for some head-scratching inconsistencies.X-Menought to be commended for being the first of its kind, but there was clearly room to improve upon.
The Wolverinewas not a bad movie by any stretch. It took Wolverine to Japan, where some of his most crucial comic book moments take place. However, the villains are not well-thought-out and the ending is somewhat underwhelming. Perhaps because it is such a lukewarm showing,The Wolverineis a fairly forgettable movie save for some of the acting performances.
Deadpool 2is the highest-grossing Fox-produced superhero movie of all time. After the overwhelming success ofDeadpool, the sequel featured more characters and a greater budget. It just did not have the same charm as the original, and seemed to try a little too hard to get laughs at certain moments in the final act. It was also a movie somewhat in limbo in that by this time, the Fox and Disney merger had already been announced.
The Terrible (X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: Apocalypse, Dark Phoenix)
X-Men: The Last Standtook two big risks. It borrowed heavily from thebelovedX-Men: Dark Phoenixstoryline and the then-recentX-Men: Giftedgraphic novel. However, it lived up to neither story. With a convoluted plot and a change in the director’s chair, the original X-Men trilogy went out with a whimper.
None of the movies on this list are more offensive thanX-Men Origins: Wolverine. Despite great casting and admirable acting, this film will always be remembered as a bad story. It will also be remembered for introducing Deadpool in a haphazard, inexplicable way that comic book fans will never forgive. Marvel will have to redo Wolverine’s origin story in a more sincere way, as the sour taste for this movie still lingers in the minds of many superhero fans.
X-Men: Apocalypseis a movie that ruined a perfectly good cast and decent plot. It did so with bad computer-generated imagery, lackluster dialogue, and ill-timed poor acting. Apocalypse is the big, bad supervillain of the X-Men universe. He should have been a computer-generated character voiced by Oscar Isaac, rather than looking like a Power Ranger supervillain.
Dark PhoenixresurrectedX-Men: The Last Stand’s homage to theDark Phoenix Saga. However, it did so in a lackluster fashion. At this point, it felt like the entire creative team was tanking, as the Fox-to-Disney deal had been inked and dried. Nineteen years after the X-Men came onto the silver screen,they left it with a lot to be desired. Now in the able hands of Marvel Studios, the X-Men ought to have a much brighter future. The dozen X-Men movies under Fox Studios’ tutelage are a lesson in what can go right and wrong with superhero flicks.
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