X-Men re-reviewed: The beginning of a 20 -year long film franchise

It all started for the X-Men in 2000 with the release of one film about Marvel’s massive comic book universe of mutants.

No one knew it at the time but X-Men was the beginning of Fox’s longstanding superhero franchise – one that would lead to one of the most successful superhero film series of all time.

However, while it all started with a huge movie release, the overall franchise was filled with some ups and downs, and left fans wondering how it managed to last as long as it did.

X-Men in the comics

The original line-up of the X-Men appeared in The X-Men #1 in 1963. Created by comic book legends Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, the story focused on a group of young mutants led by Professor Charles Xavier.

Their goal was to protect the world from evil, like the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. But they also existed to promote tolerance and understanding for mutants in society. Fighting evil mutants was a much easier and more achievable task, unfortunately.

It became clear quite that the X-Men were an analogy for the Civil Rights movement going on at the time. The mutants were disenfranchised, and fighting for a fair seat at the table against the establishment as so many people were in real life.

That theme continues to be relevant today. The fight for Civil Rights is never-ending, so the X-Men’s fight has also continued. There are always groups being persecuted by the establishment, and there’s always someone ready and willing to fight back.

A franchise is born

In the early 1990s, Marvel had what could best be described as a fire sale of their film rights to drum up capital. It was all a bit of a mess and Disney is still in the process of cleaning up today. But Fox ended up with the film rights for the entire universe of X-Men characters.

X-Men was released in 2000, featuring a cast of well-known actors playing some of the best-known mutants from the comics. That included the spot-on perfect casting of Sir Patrick Stewart as the team’s founder, Professor X.

Fox also cast a relative newcomer in Hugh Jackman to play the most popular mutant of all time, Wolverine. That turned out to also be an auspicious choice as Jackman now holds a Guinness World Record for the longest career as a live-action Marvel superhero.

This movie was both a critical and box office success, becoming the ninth highest grossing movie in the world for 2000. But more importantly, it launched a franchise that lasted 20 years across 13 feature films.

The legacy of X-Men

Following X-Men, Fox produced 12 more movies in their X-Men franchise. If fans are being generous, maybe five or six of those movies are honestly watchable. In more recent years, the Deadpool movies have been the best parts of this group of films.

X-Men itself actually holds up reasonably well 20 years later, all things considered. The action looks good and the story is still relevant. But there are certain elements that have a distinct feel that only superhero movies from the late 1990s and early 2000s have.

There are definitely different choices a current director would make that would improve the movie and now that Disney and Marvel have all of the X-Men film rights back, fans are going to see what a modern X-Men film looks like.

The final film in the franchise this movie started was The New Mutants and was released in 2020. Fox sold much of their entertainment division to Disney in 2019. The New Mutants was the last movie made by them, and was released by Disney as an official end to Fox’s tenure.

While its legacy has been tarnished by the many bad movies that came after it and the actions of its director, X-Men remains a key piece of comic book movie history. It was the start of something big, and will play a part in shaping the next generation of X-Men films.

What did you think of X-Men? Do you still enjoy the movie? Let us know in the comments below!