X-Men Films Ranked (Worst to Best)

I don't know where my soft spot for X-Men came from.  Maybe the action figures, the few story lines I kept up with back when Shane and I were in the same class, or maybe it's because of the show's amazing theme song!

The truth is I have slowly fallen out of love with the X-Men films as I've had to cover them over the course of Spoiled Rotten.  The fact that each new entry in the franchise seems to go out of their way to discredit the films that came before it is annoying to me.  However, there have been some good times so let's remember those and rank all the films (yes even the solo Wolverine and Deadpool films)!

Film/Rank:
#10- X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

Favourite Part:
I really like the first 10 minutes of this movie.  I feel like I've said this many times, but, it bears repeating.  The credits sequence is dope and I genuinely dig the camaraderie between the Weapon X members as they go to steal adamantium (if memory serves me).  Plus it's got some great Wade Wilson stuff.  Everything else down to sewing up Deadpool's mouth is stupid or forgettable.

Film/Rank:
#9- X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

Favourite Part:
This is pretty much interchangeable with The Last Stand, in terms of quality, for me.  I liked everything to do with Wolverine and Kelsey Grammer as Beast.  People will think I'm crazy but it's definitely in the top 3 outings for Wolverine as played by Hugh Jackman in terms of making the character feel awesome and worthy of all the attention.  I thought it was weird how they backed out of killing Xavier and never really gave me an answer as to how he came back.  But, I wasn't mad at killing Cyclops.  I seriously don't get why people like him in any iteration.  Plus they hyped up Angel and he had no impact on the finale other than stopping his mean father from dying.

Film/Rank:
#8- The Wolverine (2013)

Favourite Part:
There is no denying this movie is solid.  I specifically liked the feel and energy of the train fight scene.  This movie just ran into trouble when they tried to tie it to Days of Future Past without bridging the gap between no adamantium on the claws Wolverine and fully decked out claws Wolverine.  Aside from that it works perfectly fine as a stand alone film about Logan's time in Japan and features some of the most grusome stuff done to Wolverine... if that's your thing.

Film/Rank:
#7- X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

Favourite Part:
I've gone back and forth on this movie.  I was extremely positive about it after seeing it in theatres.  Then I re-watched it on Blu-Ray and realized it ain't all that!  Angel doesn't fair any better in this movie than he did in The Last Stand, but, it has another Quicksilver scene!  I really liked Quicksilver's  non slow motion work too.  Plus this is the closest I'll ever getting to understanding what is so good about Cyclops.  His too cool for school but still up for doing the right thing attitude in this movie was pretty good.

Film/Rank:
#6- X-Men (2000)

Favourite Part:
The movie that started it all!  It must say something that I can't sit through the whole thing anymore, but I think there is a lot to like in this movie.  Especially when you look back at it and the time it came out.  There was a respect they were showing the characters in the movie that was rare in other comic book movies.  It may not have been an instance of the characters from the pages being expertly translated to screen but the movie versions of the characters were still taken seriously and that definitely made me want to take this 17 year journey with them.  My favourite part of this movie was the relationship between Charles and Eric.  2nd favourite was everything to do with Wolverine.  Making him the audience surrogate was a great choice.

Film/Rank:
#5- X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

Favourite Part:
I'll admit I initially slept on this movie.  It's got a lot going for it.  Again they made great use of Wolverine in a role he isn't historically put in.  Quicksilver has the dope slow-mo scene and I truly appreciated young Magneto mixing it up with Wolverine.  As I said in an earlier entry on this list.  The only problem with this movie is how it tries to course correct certain aspects of the timeline while also causing new timeline issues.  I suppose it's best to just enjoy each movie individually.

Film/Rank:
#4- X2 (2003)

Favourite Part:
I know it's only in the 4 spot here but I feel like the second X-Men movie is criminally slept on these days.  The Nightcrawler opening is all sorts of dope and it features the most ruthless (if not a bit lacking in the gory department) Wolverine.  The moment Logan uses his claws to straight up stab a guy in the chest in order to avenge some of the kids will forever be in my memory as a great comic book movie moment.  Another plus is the fragile alliance Magneto and Professor X strike up forcing the two to play out even more cool moments together.  It's a big cast and I feel like everyone is used well which is something I don't think fans of Days of Future Past or Apocalypse can say.

Film/Rank:
#3- Logan (2017)

Favourite Part:
I may not like Logan as much as everyone else but I recognize it's a good movie.  It did itself a favour and separated itself from the crazy timeline as much as it could and secured an R rating to give fans of gory/foul mouthed Wolverine.  The fact that I could just enjoy this story on its own merits without having to worry about why... oh yeah... they cast a new Caliban for some reason... whatever!  The point I was trying to make is that the movie isn't beholden to X-Men continuity for the most part.  It wasn't as depressing as I thought it would be to see Professor X so far gone, and I genuinely enjoyed all the Laura/X-23 work in this movie.  My big complaint (other than the nitpick of a different... and better... Caliban) is that I don't think the ending was the strongest it could be.  That's all I can say without spoiling this movie for people who haven't seen it yet but are still reading this article.

Film/Rank:
#2- Deadpool (2016)

Favourite Part:
My first take on this movie was that it was great but I'd get tired of it upon repeat viewings.  That did not end up being the case.  Even on my 6th time watching it I found something to like.  Deadpool is fan service done right.  That may just be because Fox made the movie out of spite and as such didn't meddle in the production as much as they might have or probably will in the sequel.  The amount of people, my wife included, who say they like this movie even though they don't like other comic book movies is enormous.  I feel like it's because they're responding to the love and care that went into trying to create a faithful adaptation of a character.  As opposed to a film made by committee that tries to pander to the audience.  I just wish Wolverine showed up.

Film/Rank:
#1- X-Men: First Class (2011)

Favourite Part:
I genuinely thought everyone was on board with this being at least in the top three X-Men movies of all time.  Turns out that maybe my Matthew Vaughn fandom has skewed my assessment of this movie.  Because, I still think it's the top of the crop.  It works as a reset, it introduces the first "f-bomb" to the series and it has Michael Fassbender & James McAvoy committing to the material.  With the bonus of Rose Byrne and Jennifer Lawrence in great roles and a cool Kevin Bacon villain who I don't think people talk about as much as they should.  I thoroughly enjoy the ride we go on with this movie every time I watch it and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

-YG