Do X-Men Movie Series Confuse you in Timeline? Here is the Explanation

There are few movie franchises with as confusing a chronology as the X-Men films.

The X-Men movies, which began in 2000(X-Men), and end (at least for the Wolverine character) with the recently released Logan(2017), gives all those other series a run for their money when it comes to confusing timelines.

The simplest viewing order is probably the order in which the movies were made, and in which we originally saw them in the cinema.

Release Order:

X-Men(2000)

X2: X-Men United(2003)

X-Men: The Last Stand(2006)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine(2009)

X-Men: First Class(2011)

The Wolverine(2013)

X-Men: Days Of Future Past(2014)

Deadpool(2016)

X-Men: Apocalypse(2016)

Logan(2017)

Chronological Order:

X-Men: First Class (1962)

X-Men: Days of Future Past (1973)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (1970)

X-Men: Apocalypse (1983)

X-Men (200)

X2: X-Men United (2003)

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

The Wolverine (2013)

Deadpool (2016)

Logan (2029)

Here's where it starts getting confusing. Even with the chronological order, there is an old timeline and a new one.

The movie that really screwed everything up was X-Men: Days of Future Past with all it’s timey-wimey antics.

1973: In the original events of X-Men: Days of Future Past, Mystique assassinated Peter Dinklage’s Trask.

She is captured and has her DNA used to advance Trask’s Sentinel robots, giving them an ability to adapt to any mutant power.

1981: In X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Logan is given his adamantium skeleton and claws by William Stryker.

Logan loses him memory after defeating a mouthless Deadpool (timeline inconsistency), and we see a shot of a walking, bald Professor X

1983: The events of X-Men Apocalypse do not occur.

2000: The events of X-Men occur.

2003: The events of X-Men 2 occur.

2006: The events of X-Men: The Last Stand occur.

2013: In The Wolverine Logan has become a bearded recluse, psychologically damaged by the death of Jean Grey in The Last Stand.

He ends up in Japan for the events for a spin-off story where he loses his adamantium claws, but on his return to the US he’s greeted in an end credits sequence by Professor X and Mageto.

They ask him to come with them after sharing news of the rapidly advancing Sentinels, a direct tease for X-Men: Days of Future Past.

2016: It is unknown whether the events of Deadpool occur or not.

2018: It is unknown whether the events of Deadpool 2 occur or not. (Deadpool 2 is released on June 1, 2018)

2023: The world is an post-apocalyptic landscape in X-Men: Days of Future Past.

The last surviving mutants hide in pockets around the world from the genocidal advanced Sentinels.

Realising their only hope is to change the timeline, Wolverine, who has his adamantium claws back (presumably thanks to Magneto), agrees to be sent back to 1973.

There he will work with a younger Professor X and Magneto, to prevent Mystique’s assassination of Trask and her capture.

So what changed in Days of Future Past?

Rather than creating another timeline like the rebooted Star Trek movies and Back to the Future part II, Wolverine’s time travel results in an alteration to the same timeline.

We know this as after the change all the characters disappear and wake up in the new reality.

Another factor to back up this theory is that Wolverine time travels back into his body from 1973.

This is instead of physically travelling back in his 2023 body, which would be at risk of bumping into his other self.

If this were the case (which it is not) there would be a new timeline created with two Wolverines, just as there is with young and old Spock at the end of Star Trek.

Altered Timeline:

1973: Wolverine and young Professor X prevent Mystique’s assassination of Trask.

Magneto goes mad, moving a stadium over the White House with his powers.

Mystique then finds herself almost killing Trask again, but then decides not to, resulting in the new version of the same timeline.

Just before this, Magneto throws Wolverine into a lake with metal girders forced through his body.

His is then rescued by a young William Stryker who imprisons Wolverine with the purpose of casing his skeleton with adamantium, as part of the Weapon X project.

1981: The events of X-Men Origins: Wolverine do not occur because Wolverine is already incarcerated by Stryker.

1983: The events of X-Men: Apocalypse occur.

Wolverine is freed from his imprisonment at the Weapon X facility by young Cyclops and Jean Grey, with his new adamantium skeleton and claws.

Sometime afterwards, a man in a suit arrives there and collects the blood of Wolverine, placing vials of it into a case marked “Essex Corp” - a fact that will be crucial for the events of Wolverine 3.

1991: The events of X-Men: Dark Phoenix occur. (X-Men: Dark Phoenix is released on November 2, 2018).

2000: It is unknown whether the events of X-Men occur or not.

2003: It is unknown whether the events of X2 occur or not.

2006: The events of X-Men: The Last Stand do not occur and Jean Grey doesn’t go crazy, so Logan doesn’t have to put her down.

2013: The events of The Wolverine do not occur as Jean Grey, Cyclops and Beast did not die.

2016: The events of Deadpool occur.

2023: Since the timeline has been altered, we see a glimpse of the new 2023 at the end of X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Things are as normal at Professor X’s school, with Wolverine a History teacher and Jean Grey and Beast very much alive.

Post-2023: The Westchester Incident takes place, where an elderly Professor X has a seizure that injures 600 people and kills seven X-Men – as referenced in Logan.

Wolverine takes Professor X into hiding as Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters is closed and the X-Men are disbanded.

2029: The events of Logan take place.

No new mutants have been born for twenty years and Wolverine is living as a limo driver on the Mexican border with Professor X and Caliban.

Since the blood of Logan was picked up by Essex Corp in 1983, it's assumed that this produced X-23, a female clone of Wolverine, known as Laura in the new film.

Scraping a living a a limo driver, Wolverine ends up on a road trip across the states being persuaded by dark forces who want to recapture X-23.

The Happy Ending Viewing Order

X-Men: First Class

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-Men: Days of Future Past

X-Men: Apocalypse

X-Men

X2: X-Men United

X-Men: The Last Stand

The Wolverine

Logan

Deadpool

This viewing order, while not ideal in terms of mixing up timelines (here, we have to assume that the happy ending of Days Of Future Past does not end up happening after all, possibly due to events in Apocalypse, it controversially puts the original trilogy into the new timeline, which it shouldn’t be really, and Days Of Future Past and Origins: Wolverine are technically the wrong way around) provides a clear journey for the Wolverine and Professor X characters, but adds a more upbeat ending. The first two films provide origins for Xavier and then Wolverine, Days Of Future Past shows a possible future where they are very close, then we see them meet and establish their relationship through X-Men and X2: X-Men United. The Last Stand, The Wolverine and Logan show them age into an increasingly dark world (and maintains the continuity between X-Men and Logan, since Xavier makes clear references to that timeline’s events). Logan provides an end to their story – however, rather than finish there, we then shift slightly back in time to watch Deadpool, a fourth-wall-breaking tribute to these characters and their world that allows us to enjoy them through references and end on a high note.

It’s really, really difficult to produce a viewing order with a happy ending.

We love Logan. As an individual film in its own right, it’s a wonderful, beautiful tragedy. However, as the culmination of a ten-movie series it’s... making us re-think our feelings about Star Trek: Nemesis. So here’s our one big request for all X-Men universe movies over the new few years – if you could give us an alternative ending point to Logan – any alternative ending point, as long as it’s more upbeat – we’d be very grateful!

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