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The X-Men film series is a series of superhero films based on the fictional Marvel Comics team of the same name. The films star an ensemble cast, focusing on Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, as he is drawn into the conflict between Professor Xavier and Magneto, who have opposing views on humanity's relationship with mutants: Xavier believes humanity and mutants can coexist, but Magneto believes a war is coming, and intends to fight. The films also developed subplots based on the comics' Weapon X and Dark Phoenix storylines.

20th Century Fox earned the film rights to the characters in 1994, and after numerous drafts, Bryan Singer was hired to direct X-Men and returned for X2. He left a potential third and fourth film to direct Superman Returns, leaving Brett Ratner to direct X-Men: The Last Stand. Critics praised Singer's films for their dark, realistic tone, and subtexts dealing with discrimination and intolerance, but Ratner's film was met with mixed reviews. Nonetheless, each film outgrossed the last, and Fox is developing spin-off prequels. The X-Men films are also attributed as leading to a reemergence of superhero films in the 2000s, such as the Spider-Man film series.

X-Men Adventures

X-Men Adventures was a comic book spin-off of the animated series. Beginning in November 1992, it adapted the first three seasons of the show; in April 1996, it became Adventures of the X-Men, which contained original stories set within the same continuity. The comic book lasted until March 1997, shortly after the show's cancellation by the Fox Network.

In the final issue of Adventures of the X-Men, it is revealed that the Marvel animated universe existed prior to the main Marvel Universe, and was destroyed by the fracturing of the M'Kraan Crystal.

Bibliography

• X-Men Adventures vol. 1 (1992–1994) (17 issues)
• X-Men Adventures vol. 2 (1994–1995) (15 issues)
• X-Men Adventures vol. 3 (1995–1996) (13 issues)
• Adventures of the X-Men (1996–1997) (12 issues)

Trilogy

X-Men

In 1994, 20th Century Fox and producer Lauren Shuler Donner bought the film rights to the X-Men. Andrew Kevin Walker was hired to write, and James Cameron expressed interest in directing. Bryan Singer signed on to direct in July 1996. Though not a fan of the comic, he was fascinated by the analogies of prejudice and discrimination offered by it. John Logan, Joss Whedon, Ed Solomon, Christopher McQuarrie and David Hayter wrote the script, with Hayter receiving sole credit. Filming took place from September 22, 1999 to March 3, 2000 in Toronto.

The first X-Men film introduced Wolverine and Rogue into the conflict between Professor Xavier's X-Men, and the Brotherhood of Mutants, led by Magneto. Magneto intends to mutate world leaders at a United Nations summit with a machine he has built, to bring about acceptance of mutantkind, but Xavier realizes this forced mutation will only result in their deaths.

X2: X-Men United

Fox hired David Hayter and Zak Penn to write their own scripts for the sequel which Singer would pick, with an aim to release the film in December 2002. The story was inspired by X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills, though the character of Stryker was changed from a reverend to a colonel. Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris were hired to re-write the script in February 2002, writing around 26 drafts and 150 on set. Production began on June 17, 2002 in Vancouver and wrapped by November, with the release moved to May 1, 2003.

In the film, Colonel William Stryker brainwashes and questions the imprisoned Magneto about Professor Xavier's mutant-locating machine, Cerebro. Stryker attacks the X-Mansion, and brainwashes Xavier into locating every mutant on the planet to kill them. The X-Men must team up with the Brotherhood and prevent Stryker's worldwide genocide.

X-Men: The Last Stand

Bryan Singer wanted to shoot the third film back-to-back with a fourth. On July 16, 2004, he left to direct Superman Returns, having only completed a third of a treatment focusing on Phoenix, and introducing Emma Frost, a role intended for Sigourney Weaver. In addition, Singer also wanted to showcase more characterizations of Rogue, Iceman and Pyro. Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn were hired the following month, and a studio executive read Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men story "Gifted", featuring a mutant cure, suggested it be the primary story. Matthew Vaughn came on board as director in February 2005, but left due to the rushed production schedule. Brett Ratner took over in June, and filming began on August 2, 2005.

A pharmaceutical company has developed an antidote to the mutant gene, provoking controversy in the mutant community. Magneto declares war on the humans and retrieves his own weapon: the omnipotent telekinetic and telepathic Phoenix, who is the resurrected former X-Man, Jean Grey. After Phoenix kills Cyclops and Xavier, a final battle between the X-Men and the Brotherhood ensues, and Wolverine must accept that in order to save Jean from her second personality, he will have to kill her.

Spin-offs

Each X-Men film was more expensive than the last, with larger salaries and more spectacular visual effects. Fox chose the "divide and conquer" route for the franchise with multiple spin-off prequels, known as the X-Men Origins series focusing on Wolverine, Magneto, the young X-Men, while director David O. Russell expressed interest in a film about Emma Frost.

As for a sequel, producer Lauren Shuler Donner reported in August 2006 that renegotiations would be required to continue the primary film series. Newer cast members were signed, while the older cast members, including Halle Berry, Rebecca Romijn, Famke Janssen, and Anna Paquin, were not. Berry, James Marsden, and Patrick Stewart have expressed interest in returning, and Bryan Singer was approached once more to direct, but he was busy. However, as of July 2007, there was no script for a fourth film, and none was in the works. Later in the month, however, Kevin Feige, president of production in Marvel Studios said that another X-Men film was possible. Donner admitted, "There is forty years worth of stories. I’ve always wanted to do Days of Future Past and there are just really a lot of stories yet to be told." Donner declared that Gambit is one of her favorite X-Men characters, and a film for him would be considered depending on the success of Wolverine, and Shawn Ashmore stated that he is still contracted for another film featuring Iceman.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-Men Origins: Wolverine was directed by Gavin Hood and again stars Jackman as Wolverine. It is a prequel focusing on the character and his time with Team X, before and shortly after his skeleton was bonded with the indestructible metal adamantium. The film reveals Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber) to be his brother. David Benioff began writing the film in October 2004, and unlike the other films it was shot in Australia and New Zealand. The film also introduces Gambit (Taylor Kitsch) and Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds).

Future

X4

At a Fox Blu-Ray press event in Beverly Hills in September 2009, Lauren Shuler Donner confirmed that there are plans for a fourth outing for the X-Men. However she stressed that it has yet to be pitched to the studio.

Deadpool

On May 5, 2009, 4 days after the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a Spin-Off for Ryan Reynolds' character Deadpool was greenlit, with Reynolds reprising his role and Lauren Shuler Donner producing. Reynolds has confirmed that Deadpool will have the attributes that the character has in the comics (e.g. breaking the fourth wall, his traditional costume).

Wolverine 2

Shortly after X-Men Origins: Wolverine's release, a sequel was green-lit. The film will likely be set in Japan, as hinted in its predecessor. At the 2009 Teen Choice Awards, Jackman stated that the sequel will take place in Japan.

In August 2009 Christopher McQuarrie was hired to write the script. McQuarrie was a writer on the first X-Men film, but voluntarily took his name off the movie when the final version was more in line with David Hayter’s script than his.

Cast

Reception

Box office performance

Each of the films set opening records in the United States: X-Men had the highest July opening yet, while X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand earned the fourth highest opening weekends yet. All of these records have since been surpassed. X-Men: The Last Stand and X2 rank as the seventh and eighth most successful superhero films, while X-Men is thirteenth. The third, second and first films are the fifth, sixth and seventh most successful Marvel Comics adaptations, as well as overall the seventh, eighth and fifteenth most successful comic book adaptations. It is Marvel's second most successful film series after the Spider-Man films.

Critical reaction

Wesley Morris of the Boston Globe praised the X-Men films as "more than a cash-guzzling wham-bang Hollywood franchise... these three movies sport philosophy, ideas, a telethon-load of causes, and a highly elastic us-versus-them allegory." Morris praised X-Men: The Last Stand for "put the heroes of a mighty summer blockbuster in a rare mortal position. Realism at this time of year? How unorthodox!" Roger Ebert gave the films good reviews, but criticized them because "there are just plain too many mutants, and their powers are so various and ill-matched that it's hard to keep them all on the same canvas." Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle, criticized the films' themes, saying "The pretensions take the form of the central metaphor that compares mutants to people of extraordinary, groundbreaking talent. That metaphor is bogus... The vision at the heart of X-Men - of a golden Utopia in which humans live side by side with mutants - is absurd."

The first two films were highly praised due to their cerebral tone, but when director Bryan Singer left, many criticized his successor Brett Ratner. Colin Colvert of the Star Tribune felt "Bryan Singer's sensitivity to made the first two X-Men films surprisingly resonant and soulful for comic-based summer extravaganzas... Singer is adept at juggling large casts of three-dimensional characters, Ratner makes shallow, unimaginative bang-ups." James Berardinelli felt, "X-Men: The Last Stand isn't as taut or satisfying as X-Men 2, but it's better constructed and better paced than the original X-Men. The differences in quality between the three are minor, however; despite the change in directors, there seems to be a single vision." David Denby of The New Yorker praised "the liquid beauty and the poetic fantasy of Singer’s work", but called Ratner's film "a crude synthesizer of comedy and action tropes."

The X-Men films received good reviews from fans of the comic books, but there was criticism of the large cast, and the limited screentime for all of them. Richard George of IGN praised the depictions of Wolverine, Professor X, Magneto, Jean Grey, Storm, William Stryker, Mystique, Beast and Nightcrawler. However, George felt many of the younger X-Men characters, such as Rogue, Iceman, Pyro, and Kitty Pryde were "adjectiveless teenager", and was disappointed by Cyclops's characterization. He observed the filmmakers were "big fans of silent henchmen", due to the small roles of the various villainous mutants; such as Lady Deathstrike. George felt that the success of X-Men "paved the way for other hits like the Spider-Man series, Fantastic Four, V for Vendetta and Singer's own adaptation of Superman." Spider-Man director Sam Raimi said he was a fan of the series, particularly Singer's films. Film historian Kim Newman also tonally compared Batman Begins to Singer's films.

Tie-in material

On June 1, 2000, Marvel published a comic book prequel to X-Men, titled X-Men: Beginnings, revealing the backstories of Magneto, Rogue and Wolverine. There was also an adaptation of the film. Marvel also released an adaptation of X2, which also contained prequels detailing Nightcrawler's backstory and Wolverine's time searching for Alkali Lake. Del Rey Books also published novelizations of the three films. The latter two were written by Chris Claremont. In 2006, X-Men: The Official Game was released, which was set between X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand.

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External links

• X-Men Movie Hub at Marvel Comics
• Trilogy comparison at Box Office Mojo
• X-MenFilms.net
• Template:Amg movie
• Staff (2008-11-19). "'Cap' writers an encouraging hire; new 'X' writer less so". Variety.
• Marc Graser (2008-11-21). "'X-Men' spawns family of sequels". Variety.
• Michael Fleming (2009-03-31). "Josh Schwartz directing 'Big City'". Variety.
• Michael Fleming (2009-05-05). "Reynolds to star in 'X-Men' spinoff". Variety.
• Michael Fleming (2009-08-20). "WB, Singer to lift 'Excalibur'". Variety.

• X-Men films
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