How to Watch the X-Men Movies in Order: Chronological and Release

• Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, January Jones
• Directed by: Matthew Vaughn
• The MVP of the movie: Charles Xavier
• Where to watch: Prime, Hulu, YouTube

Chronologically speaking, it's 2011's X-Men: First Class that gets us started with the X-Men franchise as it introduces us to the storyline of Charles Xavier (McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Fassbender) during The Cold War in the 1960s, and how they became friends only to wound up being torn apart. We also get introduced to Mystique (Lawrence), see the early development of the X-Men and Brotherhood of Development gangs, and even get smaller reveals such as Erik officially deciding to go by the name Magneto. In short, First Class is what you watch to see X-Men at the very beginning, which is an especially good resource if you aren't already familiar with the story through the comics.

• Starring: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Patrick Stewart, Jennifer Lawrence
• Directed by: Bryan Singer
• The MVP of the movie: Wolverine
• Where to watch: Prime, Hulu, Max

Now this is where 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past comes into play. Dr. Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) creates these robotic weapons called the Sentinels, which can automatically detect whether or not somebody has a mutant gene. In present day, the Sentinels have become very dangerous and close to unbeatable, so Wolverine (Jackman) has to go back in time to stop the Sentinels in order to stop them from taking over in the future. In the process, Wolverine is reunited with the younger versions of Professor X, Magneto, Mystique and Beast.

• Starring: Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, Liev Schreiber, Lynn Collins
• Directed by: Gavin Hood
• The MVP of the movie: Wolverine
• Where to watch: Prime, YouTube, Apple TV

Alright, the next step is taking it back to 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine because we need a deeper look into the background of James Logan aka Wolverine right? This film tackles the dark past surrounding Logan, his relationship with Kayla Silverfox (Collins), the events surrounding his brother Victor Creed (Schreiber) killing Kayla, and how that obviously fractured their already bad relationship, and how that ultimately fueled his transformation into "Wolverine" so that way he could successfully get revenge. Fun stuff.

• Starring: Olivia Munn, Oscar Issac, Evan Peters, Sophie Turner, Ben Hardy, Jennifer Lawrence
• Directed by: Bryan Singer
• The MVP of the movie: Professor X/Raven
• Where to watch: Prime, YouTube, Disney+

Fast forward to 2016 and we've got X-Men: Apocalypse, which is set in the 1980s, and hones in on the rise of a powerful mutant named En Sabah Nur (Issac), who recruits Magneto (Fassbender) and others to threaten the fate of the world. This means Professor X (McAvoy) and Raven (Lawrence) are left with the task of leading the X-Men youngsters against En Sabah Nur and crew in order to save the world.

• Starring: Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Tye Sheridan, Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence
• Directed by: Simon Kenberg
• The MVP of the movie: Jean Grey
• Where to watch: Prime, Apple TV, Disney+

Jean Grey is such a dynamic, intriguing, and mysterious character, that her story needed a prequel explainer as well. Taking place in 1992, Dark Phoenix is an exploration into Jean's powers that she has tried to use for good, but always teeters on the line of switching up and being unable to control her powers being used for evil. You could easily make a case for Jean being the most powerful X-Men character (even more than Wolverine) because when she's in that evil mode, she's basically unstoppable. Dark Phoenix details her powers, and how getting hit by a cosmic force made her even more powerful.

• Starring: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen
• Directed by: Bryan Singer
• The MVP of the movie: Xavier
• Where to watch: Prime, Starz, YouTube

For a lot of folks, 2000's X-Men is where it all started as even if you didn't watch it at the exact time of its release, you more than likely saw the first three films at some point in the 2000s. That's part of what's made the timeline a bit difficult for those that didn't start watching recently. This first film is set in the year 2000, and introduces all of the X-Men characters as we know them, along with the laying the groundwork for X-2: X-Men United, and X-Men: The Last Stand.

• Starring: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen
• Directed by: Bryan Singer
• The MVP of the movie: Xavier
• Where to watch: Prime, Apple TV, YouTube

Set in the year 2003, X2: X-Men United mostly centers in on William Stryker (Brian Cox), and Wolverine (Jackman) as he basically holds the key to Wolverine's past, present, and future. In the meantime Stryker is also wreaking havoc on other elements of the X-Men world, which forces enemies Magneto (McKellen) and Xavier (Stewart) to basically work together in order to successfully defeat him.

• Starring: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen
• Directed by: Brett Ratner
• The MVP of the movie: Wolverine
• Where to watch: Prime, Disney+, Apple TV

Released in 2006, X-Men: The Last Stand was the first time in a movie format where viewers got to see Jean as her alter ego Phoenix. As we said earlier, Phoenix is powerful beyond belief and incredibly hard to control when she's in that state. Magneto (who's fully aware of her capabilities as Phoenix) essentially recruits her to become his protege which is problem number one the X-Men clan is dealing with. Problem number two is the fact that a discovery has been made to "cure" mutants. Get hit with a dart, and it's game over for you and your powers (as we saw with Mystique).

• Starring: Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, Hiroyuki Sanada
• Directed by: James Mangold
• The MVP of the movie: Wolverine
• Where to watch: Prime, Apple TV, Disney+

With the origin story of Wolverine already explained, next up is 2013's The Wolverine, which is another solo Wolverine film set up directly after the events of The Last Stand, as Wolverine hasn't been seen since World War II. Forced to go on the run, still grappling with Jean Grey's loss, and facing death, this is Wolverine at his most depleted from both an emotional and physical standpoint. Can he tap back into the Wolverine he's always been known to be? You have to watch the movie for that answer.

• Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Gina Carano, Ed Skrien, Brianna Hildebrand
• Directed by: Tim Miller
• The MVP of the movie: Deadpool
• Where to watch: Prime, YouTube, Disney+

If you're wondering how Deadpool fits into this, then you certainly aren't alone. We'll first start by saying that Deadpool is an necessary requirement to understanding the X-Men franchise. That said, Deadpool is a mutant just like the rest of the X-Men gang, and he gets his powers from Weapon X. The only reason why Deadpool isn't a part of the X-Men squad is seemingly because he likes to work alone, doesn't want to be held to the same rules as what the X-Men members are, and wants free range to kill whoever is going to be a potential threat to mutants (even humans). Hey, that's precisely what makes him Deadpool.

• Starring: Anya Taylor- Joy, Maisie Williams, Blu Hunt, Henry Zaga, Alice Braga
• Directed by: Josh Boone
• The MVP of the movie: Dani
• Where to watch: Prime, Apple TV, YouTube

And to that point, The New Mutants isn't really required (at least the moment) to fully understand the X-Men Cinematic Universe as it introduces five new mutants: Mirage, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Sunspot and Magik, who are residing at a top secret facility to cure their dangerous powers. Eventually they discover a more sinister reason behind the facility and why they are trying to be destroyed, but that's for you to watch.

• Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Zazie Beets, Julian Dennison
• Directed by: David Leitch
• The MVP of the movie: Deadpool
• Where to watch: Prime, Apple TV, Disney+

There's a little more clarity with Deadpool's connection to X-Men with Deadpool 2 as he travels back to the X-Men Origins: Wolverine era, but this second movie still mostly focuses on Deadpool and his group of mutant rogues teaming up to protect a teenage mutant named Russell from Cable the cyborg, who's made the young boy the subject of his next target. Again, not required viewing, but who doesn't love Deadpool?

• Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen
• Directed by: James Mangold
• The MVP of the movie: Logan/Wolverine
• Where to watch: Prime, Disney+, Apple TV

And despite not technically being the last movie released in the X-Men franchise, chronologically speaking Logan is where we are left for now. Logan focuses on a rather tired Logan/Wolverine who's been hiding from the world and taking care of Professor X. That all ends, however, when a young mutant gets unexpectedly brought into his world, and Logan is forced to protect her from the dark sources that are after her.