How Do The X-Men Movies Stack Up Against Each Other?

Plenty is being made of the…let me get this right…theater count for X-Men: Dark Phoenix, which has dropped to 200 screens six weeks into its run, according to Box Office Mojo.

To me that’s stretching things a bit. The numbers tell us that the domestic total is looking like $64.8 million and the worldwide is around $249.4 million. For those keeping track, that makes it a series worst for the franchise.

With that, where does Dark Phoenix fit in with the rest of the movies?

Right off the bat, the X-Men franchise has been a hot mess for years now. From putting way too much weight on Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique to a convoluted timeline that makes no sense, the X-Men movies have experience highs and lows, with varied success.

Starting at the best, the census looks like it’s a close race between Logan and X2: X-Men United. If I had to give a nudge to one, I’d give it to X2. Writing a end movie like Logan is almost cheat. It delivered on a number of levels but it didn’t have the pressure put on it like X2 did.

X2 came out in 2003, way before comic book movies were established and blessed to be the blockbuster money makers they became. Any movie that came out still relied on appeasing hardcore comic fan while balancing bringing in the average audience member.

Something that that movie managed to do impressively.

Also in the mix for first place is Deadpool. While the movie nails the humor and character of Deadpool, it’s a solid side road in the X-universe. I chalk its success to the sheer iron will of Ryan Reynolds championing the role and movie to an unseen level. Not discounting the movies quality but I can’t imagine any other actor being able to bring the character to life across multiple marketing platforms.

I’ll put Deadpool 2 in there as well. A solid movie that seems to sit right outside the X-universe in its own space.

Let’s give some love to the original X-Men movie that started it all off. While it hasn’t aged as well as others, it still got the X-Men on the board and set the stage for the good, and bad, that was to come.

X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: First Class, The Wolverine, and X-Men: The Last Stand all seem to fight for some middle ranking, for good reason.

What really stands out is the bottom movies. I’m talking about X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: Apocalypse, and, our newest selection, X-Men: Dark Phoenix. Who ends up last…does it matter?

How do you rank the X-Men movies?