Brief thoughts on my X-Men Movie Marathon

I’ve been casting around for something else to watch that fits my mood lately, and it suddenly struck me that I haven’t seen all of the X-Men movies. I did see the first one when it first came out (in 2000–wow!) and maybe the second one, but that’s about it. I remember liking it, of how it shone a light on those who are born differently and are discriminated against because of it. So I went to Disney+ and scrolled down to “Marvel Legacy Movies,” and started in. Here’s my brief opinions on the films:

X-Men (2000). A solid first entry, setting up the world and the characters. The history between Charles and Eric, the love triangle between Logan, Jean, and Scott, the mysterious past of Wolverine, and the political climate surrounding the Mutants. My favorite Mutant? Mystique, baby! She’s bad, but she’s SO cool.

X-Men 2/X2: X-Men United (2003) A worthy follow-up. The X-Men and Magneto unite to defeat Stryker, a man bent on annihilating all mutants; he also seems to know the particulars of Wolverine’s past. I liked Nightcrawler–he’s very sweet and his faith keeps him from being bitter. Jean Gray’s death was sad, but I feel like we haven’t seen the last of her.

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) This was a fairly enjoyable movie, but there was something about it that was unsatisfactory. Bringing Jean Gray back from the dead as a ruthless monster? Well, okay. Not using that beautiful bald kid to stop her at the end? It didn’t make sense to me. Of course, it forced Wolverine to kill the woman he loves, and endure losing her a second time, a love that I never got invested in anyway. Not perfect, but a decent popcorn movie.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) Now this was a great movie. We get Logan’s mysterious past explained, and why he can’t remember any of it. Interesting that he crossed paths with Scott (who was blind at the time, and so wouldn’t recognize him later). Another tragic love story for Logan. I was going to skip the Deadpool movies, as I wasn’t sure how they fit into X-Men, but of course I get it now, so they’re on the list, lol.

X-Men: First Class (2011) I loved this movie. I loved learning how the X-Men began, and seeing the young Charles and Eric forming their friendship and then diverging onto different paths. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are perfect for the roles. My favorite out of all of them, I think.

The Wolverine (2013) I’ll watch this one at a later date and post my thoughts.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) This one was….strange, lol. Dark and weird and a little confusing, but I think I got the gist. I think. It was cool seeing the older Xavier and Magneto and the younger in the same movie, but the plot was kind of absurd. Even so, it changed the timeline, and everything going forward is different. I was a bit startled to see Peter Maximoff–hey, that’s the guy from Wandavision, who was pretending to be Wanda’s brother!–and it just kind of confused me. But I’m going with the flow, lol.

Deadpool (2016) I’ll watch this one at a later date and post my thoughts.

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) At first I thought this one was going to be absurd, too, lol, but it turned out pretty good. Poor Eric just can’t catch a break, and my heart breaks for him. I kind of understand why he wants to destroy humanity, the jerks. Also, Peter Maximoff is his son???? I’m happy to see (younger) Nightcrawler back. And what’s up with the new Storm? At the end of Future Past, Halle Berry is there as Storm. More inconsistencies, but oh well. But most importantly, we see how Charles loses his hair.

Logan (2017) I’ll watch this one at a later date and post my thoughts.

Deadpool 2 (2018) I’ll watch this one at a later date and post my thoughts.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019) Finally, aliens! This was a good new spin on Jean Gray. I was kind of hoping to see more of Peter Maximoff and maybe Eric finding out he’s his son, but I guess not. Interesting how Mystique became more Raven with these new films, a hero rather than a villain, but she kind of annoyed me. I preferred her as a villain, to be honest.

The New Mutants (2020) I have zero interest in this movie right now. It looks more like a horror film than an X-Men movie, which is fine but not what I want right now.

All in all, I really enjoyed this marathon. It’s fun to see the various mutants, and I love the complicated relationship between Charles and Eric. My favorite character (besides villain Mystique) is Magneto played by Michael Fassbender. My only criticism is that the films lack consistency and are kind of all over the place. I feel like the X-Men arc is kind of Marvel’s warm-up to its Avengers arc, which is superior in a lot of ways.

As I noted, I’ll watch the Wolverine and Deadpool movies later, and do a catch-up post on those.

Have you watched the X-Men movies? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!