1. X-Men (2000):

• Director: Bryan Singer
• With: Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, James Marsden, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin, Rebecca Romijn, Bruce Davison, Shawn Ashmore
• Duration: 1h44
• Platform: Disney+
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Music by: Michael Kamen
• My rating: 8/10
• Mid- or post-credit scene: no

Synopsis:

In a world where mutants (evolved super-powered humans) exist and are discriminated against, two groups form for an inevitable clash: the supremacist Brotherhood, and the pacifist X-Men.

Review:

It had been a while since I’ve watched the X-Men movies. And since these are actually thé Marvel movies that started a whole new superhero legacy in movie world, they are the true origin to the current success of superhero movies these days and of shared universes, I could not not rewatch these! (Especially since Patrick Stewart will reprise his role as Professor X in the upcoming Doctor Strange movie!)

And this one does stand the test of time, to be honest. It remains very entertaining and although it is (currently) 22 years old, it offers enough fun and superhero powers to remain a great movie. We know that Marvel has reacquired the rights to all characters which means we’ll be seeing new X-Men movies in the future (and in the MCU) but we all know it won’t be easy to not see Hugh Jackman as Wolverine (the only actor that played the live action version of the mutant) but I’m sure Kevin Feige and the Marvel team will find the right actor for the role!

So, if you’ve never seen this movie and you want to know the real origin story of Marvel’s true success… go to Disney+ and watch it!

After this came out, they made an even better sequel: X-2!

2. X-Men: X-2 (2003):

• Director: Bryan Singer
• With: Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Rebecca Romijn, Halle Berry, Brian Cox, Alan Cumming, James Marsden, Anna Paquin, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Kelly Hu, Katie Stuart, Kea Wong
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Platform: Disney+
• Duration: 2h14
• Music by: John Ottman
• My rating: 9/10
• Mid- or post-credit scene: no

Synopsis:

When anti-mutant Colonel William Stryker kidnaps Professor X and attacks his school, the X-Men must ally with their archenemy Magneto to stop him.

Review:

The second movie introduces Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler and expands on Pyro (who was only briefly shown in the first movie). We also learn about William Stryker’s plan for the mutants, and his involvement in creating Wolverine (something the series expands on in X-Men Origins: Wolverine).

This is by far the best X-Men movie in the entire series. It offers so much in story, action and we see the same actors from the first movie back again, with a lot more background. And Jean Grey’s first exploration of Dark Phoenix, which will come back in further movies.

A great movie, by far! And it’s so great to see Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart again.

One little thing this movie does as well… it comments on how people look at mutants the same way they look at the lgbtqia community in real life, even with parents asking ‘Can you stop being a mutant?’ (The current ‘Say Gay’ bill in the US proves to be another example of how stupid and narrow minded people can be!

Once again, you think it’s all about you!

Magneto to Wolverine

3. Daredevil (2003):

• Director: Mark Steven Johnson
• With: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jon Favreau, Ellen Pompeo, Joe Pantoliano
• Music by: Graeme Revell
• Duration: 1h43
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Platform: Prime (I watched the dvd)
• My rating: 6,5/10
• Mid- or post-credit scene: yes

Synopsis:

A man blinded by toxic waste which also enhanced his remaining senses fights crime as an acrobatic martial arts superhero.

Review:

After the success of the X-Men movies and Sony’s Spider-Man, they finally opted to go for a Daredevil movie. But it’s a flawed attempt, which is a shame because Daredevil is by far one of my favourite Marvel characters (I am glad they have done justice to the character in the Netflix series)

First, the dark tone (and very dark scenes) in this movie don’t work very well in the movie (although it represents the blindness of Matt Murdock)… Ben Affleck as Daredevil… not sure he was the right one, but at least he acted very well and did save the movie. Farrell as Bullseye was dreadful. I didn’t like Garner as Elektra either (and unfortunately they made a spin-off of her character – see below)

The Kingpin, played by Michael Clarke Duncan should have been more present and shown more of his power. So he was underused, in my opinion. As I said, fortunately they made up for these characters by joining them in the MCU (recently they added the Netflix series to Disney+ in certain countries, hopefully in Belgium soon as well)

Great things in the movie: Matrix-like fight scenes, music by Evanescence.

So not the best Marvel adaptation, that’s for sure. But I think they could do worse (Elektra?)

4. Fantastic Four (2005):

• Director: Tim Story
• With: Ioan Gruffud, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans, Jessica Alba, Julian McMahon, Hamish Linklater, Kerry Washington
• Duration: 1h46
• Platform: Disney+
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Music by: John Ottman
• my rating: 7/10
• Mid- or post-credit scene: no

Synopsis:

A group of astronauts gain superpowers after a cosmic radiation exposure and must use them to oppose the plans of their enemy, Doctor Victor Von Doom.

Review:

17 years after its release, this is still a good superhero origin story, light and fun(ny) but after rewatching it, I find it also a bit meek, a bit underwhelming. The Fantastic Four are definitely a great superhero team. I really am curious about the new FF movie coming up, as part of the MCU, and who they will hire to play the characters.

Evans’ first superhero (also Marvel) depiction. Jessica Alba as Invisible Girl (Mrs Fantastic) is not bad but this was definitely a time where women heroes didn’t have the upper hand (compared to Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman, these days), Chicklis as The Thing was a good representation and Ioan gruffud did a great Mr. Fantastic! Biggest flaw in this movie: the lack of potential for Dr. Doom (who is one of the most powerful Marvel supervillains and that power was not shown enough! Hopefully they get it right next time!

5. Elektra (2005):

• Director: Rob Bowman
• With: Jennifer Garner, Goran Visjnic, Kirsten Zien, Will Yun Lee, Terence Stamp
• Music by: Christophe Beck
• Duration: 1h37
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Platform: I watched the dvd
• My rating: 5,5/10
• Mid- or post-credit scene: no

Synopsis:

Elektra the warrior survives a near-death experience, becomes an assassin-for-hire, and tries to protect her two latest targets, a single father and his young daughter, from a group of supernatural assassins.

Review:

A spin-off from the movie Daredevil, with Jennifer Garner reprising the character. But during filming she actually criticised the movie very much herself.

This was the first Marvel movie with a female superhero lead (long overdue). But it failed so bad that they waited another 15(!!) years to make another Female led movie, Captain Marvel. Fortunately they learned!

Elektra comes back in the series of Daredevil, produced by Netflix in 2015-2018 and The Defenders.

As for this movie, as said it failed and that’s no surprise. It changes storylines (even from Daredevil and from the comics) Garner plays bad! She’s just not into the character, it shows.

The positive notes on the film: it’s a good martial arts movie, lighter in tone than Daredevil and Elektra as a (anti-)hero is great. Too bad they messed this up.

6. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006):

• Director: Brett Ratner
• With: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Anna Paquin, Kelsey Grammer, Rebecca Romijn, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Vinnie Jones, Elliott Page (as Ellen Page), Ben Foster, Eric Dane, Anthony Heald
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Platform: Disney+
• Duration: 1h44
• Music by: John Powell
• My rating: 7,5/10
• Mid- or post-credit scene: yes

Synopsis:

The human government develops a cure for mutations, and Jean Gray becomes a darker uncontrollable persona called the Phoenix who allies with Magneto, causing escalation into an all-out battle for the X-Men.

Review:

The final part in the original trilogy, with the characters played by the same actors from the two previous movies (although not their last time being present!)

His time Bryan Singer declined to direct (in favor of making Superman Returns) and Brett Ratner was called in. And I’m afraid studio involvement and a weak script flunked this movie. Although it is not the worst movie, it surely isn’t the best in the series. (The Dark Phoenix saga seems to be jinxed as the later movie Dark Phoenix didn’t reach stardom either)

We see Famke Janssen return as Jean Grey, but has now become the Dark Phoenix, her evil alter ego. The brotherhood of mutants is back as well with a lot of new mutants on Magneto’s side. We also get a first look at Angel, Juggernaut and Kitty Pride.

At a certain point this would have been goodbye to all these characters and a reboot was made with all new actors taking on the roles of the mutants we know (and many new ones) and we were put into another setting (the sixties). The only actor taking on his role again was Jackman, who played Wolverine again in his own solo-movies. (More on those later)

7. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007):

• Director: Tim Story
• With: Ioan Gruffud, Michael Chiklis, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Julian McMahon, Kerry Washington, Laurence Fishburn, Doug Jones, Andre Braugher
• Music by: John Ottman
• Duration: 1h32
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Platform: Disney+
• My rating: 6/10
• Mid- or Post-credit scene: yes

Synopsis:

The Fantastic Four learn that they aren’t the only super-powered beings in the universe when they square off against the powerful Silver Surfer and the planet-eating Galactus.

Review:

I had forgotten how much worse this movie was from its predecessor. It feels rushed and the acting was less good as in the previous one. Otherwise there’s more action in this movie than before said predecessor.

Again Alba’s part is being eye candy for the most part. Evans (speaking of eye candy) and Chiklis remain the strongholders of the entire movie with their jokes and interactions.

Galactus was represented here as a cloudy, stormy celestial being while in the comics it is actually a giant person that spoke… misrepresenting a comic book character I something I detest. (MCU has done a good job fixing that)

The movie is entertaining enough but it’s just not the best superhero movie ever made. I really am looking forward to the newest Fantastic Four movie.

8. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009):

• Director: Gavin Hood
• With: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Ryan Reynolds, Dominic Monaghan, Kevin Durand, Will I Am, Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Patrick Stewart, Daniel Henney, Troye Sivan
• Duration: 1h47
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Platform: Disney+
• Music by: Harry Gregson-Williams
• My rating: 8/10
• Mid-or Post-credit scene: yes (both)

Synopsis:

The early years of James Logan, featuring his rivalry with his brother Victor Creed, his service in the special forces team Weapon X, and his experimentation into the metal-lined mutant Wolverine.

Review:

This movie would have been the first of a few Origin movies with X-Men characters and their origin stories. But it turns out that changing a few storylines and messing up mutants in a movie just doesn’t work for the fans.

Still, I do like this movie as a stand alone in the world of mutants. It has its issues (storylines changed from the previous X-Men movies and then covering it up by having Wolverine lose his memory…)

And the portrayal and look of Deadpool had fans twisting their bunches in knots… which I can understand. Luckily this was set right with the Deadpool movies later (also with huge fan Reynolds backing it and portraying the character)

There’s some real entertainment in this movie, finally Gambit showing up… since then we haven’t seen him again but hopefully the MCU will set that right as well…

If you’re not bugged too much by the flaws in this movie, you’ll like it very much! I did.

9. X-Men: First Class (2011):

• Director: Matthew Vaughn
• With: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne, Oliver Platt, Jason Flemyng, Zoë Kravitz, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult, Lucas Till, James Remar, Ray Wise
• Music by: Henry Jackman
• Duration: 2h11
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Platform: Disney+
• My rating: 9/10
• Mid- or post-credit scene: no

Synopsis:

In the 1960s, superpowered humans Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr work together to find others like them, but Erik’s vengeful pursuit of an ambitious mutant who ruined his life causes a schism to divide them.

Review:

This is definitely one of thé best, if not the best, X-Men movie till this date. The sixties setting, great acting (perfect casting) and an origin story for many of the known mutant characters we know so well by now.

We all know that Marvel has regained the rights to the X-Men, so hopefully they top this (not easy!) or at least reach the same level of perfection!

If you haven’t seen any X-Men movie yet, start with this one!

10. The Wolverine (2013):

• Director: James Mangold
• With: Hugh Jackman, Will Yun Lee, Tao Okamoto, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rila Fukushima, Brian Tee, Famke Janssen, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen
• Music by: Marco Beltrami
• Duration: 2h06
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Platform: Disney+
• My rating: 9/10
• Mid- or post-credit scene: yes

Synopsis:

Wolverine comes to Japan to meet an old friend whose life he saved years ago, and gets embroiled in a conspiracy involving yakuza and mutants.

Review:

Logan aka The Wolverine is led to Japan to say goodbye to a man he once saved. But once there he is drawn into a battle between mutants and the yakuza. Based upon the Samurai storyline of the comics and starting the ‘Old Man Logan’ storyline (which will be explored more in Logan, the next Wolverine movie)

It’s great to see how Logan looses faith in himself and in mutants. But he needs this faith to fight the Samurai and Viper. The Japanese setting fits perfectly for this story, and the lack of knowledge of the Japanese culture makes Wolverine feel bad at ease at first but the concept of honour appeals to him, very much.This is a great action movie, with one of the best heroes in Marvel history.

11. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014):

• Director: Bryan Singer
• With: Hugh Jackman, Elliot Page, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Jennifer Lawrence, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Peter Dinklage, Shawn Ashmore, Omar Sy, Josh Helman, Famke Janssen, James Marsden
• Music by: John Ottman
• Duration: 2h12
• Platform: Disney+
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• My rating: 9/10
• Mid- or post-credit scene: yes

Synopsis:

The X-Men send Wolverine to the past in a desperate effort to change history and prevent an event that results in doom for both humans and mutants.

Review:

A bleak future is set for the mutants when Sentinels (giant robots) are built to destroy all mutants. Wolverine is sent back to the past, to 1973 to stop Raven (aka Mystique) from killing the man that will create the mutant killing robots. This is a fantastic (and fantastical) movie. Hugh Jackman is back as Wolverine, Stewart and McKellen are also back, which is so good. And they finally solve mistakes made in the past movies. A very entertaining movie, with the first appearance of QuickSilver. The postcredit scene offers a first look at the next movie, Apocalypse

12. Fantastic Four (2015):

• Director: Josh Trank
• With: Miles Teller, Jamie Bell, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Toby Kebbell, Tim Blake Nelson, Reg E. Cathey,
• Duration: 1h40
• Music by: Marco Beltrami, Philip Glass
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Platform: Disney+
• My rating: 5/10
• Mid- or post-credit scene: yes

Synopsis:

Four young outsiders teleport to an alternate and dangerous universe which alters their physical form in shocking ways. The four must learn to harness their new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.

Review:

How unfortunate this movie is… another example of studio interference gone wrong… sometimes studios should really let directors get their view on screen and not meddle with its production.

And it does show in the movie and in the story, which is meagre and if you know there would have been a whole other movie made if Josh Trank was able to put his vision on screen, if not for the involvement of Fox!Trank is not looking to make the ‘Trank cut’ (like Snyder did with his Justice League film) so what we get is a messy movie without much of a story.

But Marvel has since reacquired the rights to the Fantastic Four so hopefully the movie they will make will set things right!

13. Deadpool (2016):

• Director: Tim Miller
• With: Ryan Reynolds, T.J. Miller, Ed Skrein, Morena Baccarin, Karan Soni,
• Music by: Junkie XL
• Duration: 1h48
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Platform: Disney+
• My rating: 9/10
• Mid- or post-credit scene: yes

Synopsis:

A wisecracking mercenary gets experimented on and becomes immortal but ugly, and sets out to track down the man who ruined his looks.

Review:

Foul mouth Daredevil is back, but the only way he was meant to be portrayed. Remember how he appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine? This time, Reynolds does good by the Marvel hero. And in an R-rated version! This is a funny movie with great acting (Reynolds is really one of the sexiest and greatest actors and Ed Skrein is yummie!)

So in short, this is a great movie but a brutal one as well (compares to nothing Fox ever did with any mutant movie before or any Marvel character for that matter) a must-see!

14. X-Men: Apocalypse (2016):

• Director: Bryan Singer
• With: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Sophie Turner
• Music by: John Ottman
• Duration: 2h24
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Platform: Disney+
• My rating: 8,5/10
• Mid- or post-credit scene: yes

Synopsis:

In the 1980s the X-Men must defeat an ancient all-powerful mutant, En Sabah Nur, who intends to thrive through bringing destruction to the world.

Review:

Each new X-Men movie became bigger and the villain became more villainous and this time it’s Apocalypse that’s destroying the world (literally) helped with some mutants, among them Magneto. And in the new setting with McAvoy as Xavier, we now meet Jean Grey and Scott Summers. Evan Peters is back as Quicksilver and his scenes are always amazing (his rescue of the mutants from the school is one of the best in any X-Men movie)

And there’s a cameo by Wolverine as well, recreating his story where he gets his Adamantium claws by Stryker. A wonderful movie, very spectacular but maybe not as good as the previous instalment.

15. Logan (2017):

• Director: James Mangold
• With: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, Richard E. Grant, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Eriq La Salle,
• Music by: Marco Beltrami
• Duration: 2h17
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Platform: Disney+
• My rating: 9/10
• Mid- or post-credit scene: no

Synopsis:

In a future where mutants are nearly extinct, an elderly and weary Logan leads a quiet life. But when Laura, a mutant child pursued by scientists, comes to him for help, he must get her to safety.

Review:

The final movie Hugh Jackman made as Wolverine. Based upon the Old Man Logan and the Death of Wolverine comic series.

With only a few of the older generation of mutants left (Caliban, Professor X and Wolverine, of course) this is a raw X-Men movie. it’s also the best Wolverine movie. Jackman is Logan, and it will be hard to replace him if ever they plan on doing that.A ra

But very good movie! Also a must-see!

16. Deadpool 2 (2018):

• Director: Tim Miller
• With: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, T.J. Miller, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, Karin Soni
• Music by: Tyler Bates
• Duration: 1h59
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Platform: Disney+
• My rating: 8/10
• Mid- or post-credit scene: yes

Synopsis:

Foul-mouthed mutant mercenary Wade Wilson (a.k.a. Deadpool) assembles a team of fellow mutant rogues to protect a young boy with supernatural abilities from the brutal, time-traveling cyborg Cable.

Review:

A little less good than its predecessor but the surprise of Deadpool was gone. Still, his foul mouth, brutal way of fighting and the comedy in this movie plus great action scenes is worth watching this movie. And Brolin is back in the world of Marvel, as a different character namely Cable, the man from the future that came with a mission! and Julian Dennison is really the star of this movie. That kid has a great future in acting!

This was my second view of the movie and I loved it better this time than the first time. Guess some things are like a good wine, they need time!

17. X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019):

• Director: Simon Kinberg
• With: Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, The Sheridan, Evan Peters, Kodi Smit-McPhee
• Music by: Hans Zimmer
• Duration: 1h53
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Platform: Disney+
• My rating: 8,5/10
• Mid- or post-credit scene: no

Synopsis:

Jean Grey begins to develop incredible powers that corrupt and turn her into a Dark Phoenix, causing the X-Men to decide if her life is worth more than all of humanity.

Review:

There we go again: the Dark Phoenix saga is back. After failing to bring the right tone in The Last Stand, Kinberg gets the chance of redemption in his own Dark Phoenix movie. But… Disney acquiring the rights to Fox property, covid that was on the horizon and a lot of issues with Bryan Singer brought this movie a lot of problems and hell for promotion.

And that’s a shame because this is definitely a great movie with the perfect soundtrack by Hans Zimmer. It’s a darker story (but Dark Phoenix is a dark story!) and Kinberg did a good job making this the movie that needed to be made about Jean Grey and her darker side. It’s a pity this is the last X-Men movie we will see with the known actors playing their Marvel counterparts. But let’s hope that we might see them back as cameos in future movies, or a great new cast in roles we already know!

One more movie in the Fox – Marvel coöperation, The New Mutants. Another movie that was plagued with delays, covid, studio involvement and had a bad start.

18. The New Mutants (2020):

• Director: Josh Boone
• With: Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Blu Hunt, Henry Zaga, Alice Braga
• Music by: Mark Snow
• Duration: 1h34
• Studio:
• Platform:
• My rating:
• Mid- or post-credit scene:

Synopsis:

Five young mutants, just discovering their abilities while held in a secret facility against their will, fight to escape their past sins and save themselves.

Review:

Also worth mentioning, as they are in the same universe: