The X-Men franchise that has been going on for 20 years finally came to a close on Aug. 28, 2020, with the long awaited release of “The New Mutants.” Originally, we would have seen the end of this era back in November of 2018. With many delays, reshoots and the eventual deal between Disney and 20th Century Fox, we were far from the end. I thought we should look back on these movies with my personal ranking of the franchise in honor of the finale’s debut.

#13. “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

Here we are, bottom of the barrel. This movie is really bad, and going on in the franchise, the studio wants to make that very clear. They completely butcher who Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) truly is, “the merc with a mouth.” Hugh Jackman gives it his all playing Wolverine and, even with an assist of Liev Schreiber, playing Sabretooth, barely carries the weight of this entire film on his back. It spends the entire time giving us the origin we never needed. “X2: X-Men United” did a great job at explaining the creation of Wolverine. In the end, nothing in this movie matters to the audience or is at all relevant in the franchise going forward. The final impression given is William Stryker (Danny Huston) shooting Wolverine with an adamantium bullet, leading to amnesia. Just like the CGI claws, this movie destroys everything it touches.

#12. “Dark Phoenix”

It was a close call, but I ended up putting this film above “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” The final act on the train is actually good! Most of the time it’s just X-Men doing stuff when Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) is struggling to control herself, although she is a highlight in the movie. Magneto (Michael Fassbender) is also good, but he didn’t have much purpose for being in the film. On the other hand, Professor X (James McAvoy) acts extremely out of character, and the rest of the team is wasted in the film. Jessica Chastain and her nameless alien race are only there to have some sort of villains to kill in the end, but their motives are unclear. 

#11. “X-Men: The Last Stand”

Let me be very clear, “X-Men: The Last Stand” is leaps and bounds better than “Dark Phoenix.” Both were very different takes on the Phoenix Saga, only this has an actual plot propelling it forward which keeps the pacing consistent. In fact, there is more than one plot. This movie isn’t even two hours and tries to juggle multiple plots, but hits maximum capacity early on. Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) wasn’t the most developed character in the series thus far, and her plot is completely sidelined.

#10. “The New Mutants”

Stepping foot in a theater after nearly six months was nice and all, but the experience I received from “The New Mutants” after a three-year wait was underwhelming. If I could give a one-word description of this film, it would be “fine.” This is not the new big superhero movie, nor does it add anything new to the genre. It is hinted at, but never commits to, its horror premise that was promised. It is odd it has one of the most accurate translations of a comic book character with Magik (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Lockheed. Everything with the two of them just put a smile on my face, as well as seeing the Demon Bear. If you’re not familiar with these characters or have no interest in comic book films, there’s no purpose for you to see this movie. 

#9. “X-Men: Apocalypse”

When I saw this movie in the theater for the first time, I hated it. Now, watching it years later, I can have fun with it. I still don’t like what they did with probably the most powerful X-Men villain, Apocalypse. He doesn’t look menacing at all, but the performance by Oscar Isaac makes it entertaining. Michael Fassbender’s Magneto arc throughout the franchise as a whole is wrapped up in a fancy little bow. The one thing after rewatching it that I completely forgot about was the final shot of the X-Men in their comics accurate suits for the first time. My jaw dropped because this is the first time I’ve watched this movie since it was released. Then “Dark Phoenix” came out three years later and those costumes meant nothing.

#8. “The Wolverine”

I’ve never understood the hate for this movie. The ending where Wolverine is fighting the Silver Samurai is a bit goofy considering the overall tone of the film, but one misfire didn’t ruin the experience for me. The rest of the movie with Wolverine in Japan is fantastic! Also, for a while, this was probably the closest we got to an unleashed, R-rated, Wolverine solo movie. 

#7. “Deadpool”

I may be in the minority here, but I didn’t love Deadpool. I liked it quite a bit but it wasn’t the best X-Men film when it came out. Ryan Reynolds gets all the time in the world to shine in this film, giving everyone exactly what we wanted from the character of Deadpool. The action is gorgeously directed by Tim Miller. It embraces the R-rating, a bit too much at times. The one thing that really gets on my nerves each time I watch this movie is the sequential order in the way the story is told. It does way too much back-and-forth hopping that wasn’t needed. The pacing would have been way off considering the fact that Wade doesn’t get his powers until almost halfway into the movie, but there’s too much down time. One thing we can all agree on is, this is the best apology video ever made after what happened in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”.

#6. “X-Men”

Saying this changed the game for comic book movie standards is an understatement. Sure, “Spider-Man” helped slingshot the genre into what it is today, but the new age all began with this movie. Almost all the cast members except for Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen were fairly unknown to Hollywood at the time, so director Bryan Singer took a lot of risks making this movie. You can understand where Magneto is coming from, he’s mad because mutants don’t feel accepted among human society. That theme is still relevant today! Yes, the plot is paper thin, but this was just the beginning.

#5. “Deadpool 2″

There are two perks that I feel “Deadpool” has a grasp of, more than that of “Deadpool 2.” It’s hard to not compare and contrast these two movies, while they are direct sequels to each other, they are mainly set outside the standard X-Men universe. They are complete opposite films from each other. Director Tim Miller used the character of Deadpool as the lead, when David Leitch tried focusing more on his alter ego Wade Wilson. While the action is here, it’s not like watching what was in the first one. Other than that, this movie hits nearly every mark it is going for. It’s a bit too crowded by hopping from Cable to X-Force to Wade learning about himself. It is incredibly funny and doesn’t need the NC-17 level humor the original brought. The side characters are much more of scene stealers because they are actually given things to do. Originally, I wasn’t totally on board for Deadpool being a part of a team, he’s a lone wolf, but in the end it worked out.

#4. “X-Men: First Class”

After bombing with “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” this is the origin movie we deserved! There is a reason Magneto is my second favorite comic book character of all time and I am glad everyone began to realize who he is with this film. It is more focused on Magneto than anyone else, even if it’s based around the first class of X-Men. They took the extremely powerful opening of the original “X-Men” and made a movie around it. I’m half and half on the Hellfire Club as the villains. On one hand, Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw is incredible along with Azazel (Jason Flemyng). On the other, Riptide (Alex Gonzalez) and Emma Frost (January Jones) are just terrible. There’s one thing an X-Men movie must accomplish which is to just have a cool showcase of powers all throughout. This film is the best in the series at accomplishing that single task.

#3. “X-Men: Days of Future Past”

“X-Men: First Class” and “X-Men: Days of Future Past” are both top tier X-Men films and to decide as to which is better just depends on the day. I would give a slight advantage to this movie just because of the overall execution of the story. It’s not easy to erase 90% of the work you have done in a series up until that point. Bryan Singer makes incredibly bold decisions in his return to the director’s chair and I respect it. There aren’t many iconic moments to pick out, the Quicksilver (Evan Peters) scene is the only one that comes to mind, although it was topped in “X-Men: Apocalypse.” While Jennifer Lawrence hasn’t been the best with handling Mystique, I’m happy she brought everything in the movie that was centered around her. What this movie is meant to do is be a “passing of the torch” from the old, future timeline generation to the new, past timeline generation of X-Men, and it does serve that purpose well. If only screenwriter Simon Kinberg had put in this amount of effort each and every time he was invited to be a part of an X-Men movie.

#2. “X2: X-Men United”

This movie is an extreme step up from its predecessor, the original “X-Men.” It takes a much more complex plot than the first one: two sides team up to face a common enemy, William Stryker (Brian Cox), and builds upon itself in each scene. The fight in the transformation chamber with Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike (Kelly Hu) was the best action sequence we had seen of Logan for the longest time. The opening scene in the White House with Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) is beautifully shot. I couldn’t ask for a better sequel to an X-Men film.

#1. “Logan”

There shouldn’t be any surprise as to my placement of “Logan.” It embraces the comic book translations so much that you lose touch that this even is a comic book movie. “Joker” and maybe “The Dark Knight” is possibly the only other movie where that has been the case. Everyone plays their characters incredibly well. James Mangold interprets Logan in a way that makes him feel human. Logan knows that he’s at the end of his road, and he doesn’t want to be bothered, he just wants to rest. Then issues come up and that’s not the case for him anymore. This is both a perfect sendoff to Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart after seventeen years in these roles, as well as the proper concluding chapter in the X-Men franchise.