Here’s a clear way to answer “how to watch X‑Men movies in order” with both release order and an easy-to-follow story order, including the newer Deadpool & Wolverine era.

Best simple answer

For a first watch, the best way is release order: it’s smoother, jokes land better, and the time‑travel twists in Days of Future Past feel more impactful.

Release order (recommended first watch)

Follow this list straight down:

  1. X‑Men (2000)
  1. X2: X‑Men United (2003)
  1. X‑Men: The Last Stand (2006)
  1. X‑Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
  1. X‑Men: First Class (2011)
  1. The Wolverine (2013)
  1. X‑Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
  1. Deadpool (2016)
  1. X‑Men: Apocalypse (2016)
  1. Logan (2017)
  1. Deadpool 2 (2018)
  1. Dark Phoenix (2019)
  1. The New Mutants (2020)
  1. Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

Fans often suggest this path because many references, cameos, and post‑credits scenes are written assuming this release order.

Chronological / timeline order

If you want more of an in‑universe story flow and do not mind the timelines getting messy, use a “two‑timeline” approach that many guides now recommend.

Pre‑reboot / original timeline core

This treats the early films as one main line leading into the time‑travel of Days of Future Past.

  1. X‑Men: First Class – 1960s beginnings of Xavier, Magneto, and the team.
  1. X‑Men Origins: Wolverine – Wolverine’s long backstory up to the late 1970s.
  1. X‑Men – The team in the early 2000s.
  1. X2: X‑Men United – Direct follow‑up to X‑Men.
  1. X‑Men: The Last Stand – Closes the original trilogy.
  1. The Wolverine – Set after The Last Stand, in Japan.
  1. X‑Men: Days of Future Past – Future and 1973 past collide and effectively split the timeline.

New / altered timeline path

After Days of Future Past’s time‑travel events, many guides treat this as a soft reboot timeline.

  1. X‑Men: First Class (optional rewatch, since it still fits this path).
  1. X‑Men: Days of Future Past – focus on the 1973 storyline.
  1. X‑Men: Apocalypse – 1983 team in the altered timeline.
  1. Dark Phoenix – 1992 events with the same younger cast.
  1. The New Mutants – a later‑set side story; exact year is fuzzy but post‑Apocalypse/Dark Phoenix works well.
  1. Deadpool – Set around mid‑2010s in the X‑verse.
  1. Deadpool 2 – Continues the Deadpool story and has timeline gags.
  1. Logan – A 2029 future that many guides and fans treat as a kind of endpoint for (at least) one timeline.
  1. Deadpool & Wolverine – Multiverse/timeline‑hopping craziness that plays best if you already know most of the earlier movies.

Because Days of Future Past deliberately rewrites history, no single “chronological” order is perfectly clean, which is why most expert and fan lists now emphasize either release order or a “two‑timeline” story flow like this.

Story‑focused viewing for new fans

If you want a tight, character‑driven marathon that hits the most important beats without every side film, many people suggest focusing on:

  • X‑Men
  • X2: X‑Men United
  • X‑Men: The Last Stand
  • X‑Men: First Class
  • X‑Men: Days of Future Past
  • Logan
  • Deadpool
  • Deadpool 2
  • Deadpool & Wolverine

This route keeps the core X‑team arc plus Wolverine’s emotional endgame and the Deadpool pieces that are now very relevant to current Marvel discussions.

How forums are talking about it

On fan forums, you’ll see three main viewpoints repeat:

  • “Always watch in release order first” – to avoid jokes and references falling flat and to keep the big timeline twists as surprises.
  • “Chronological is fun for a rewatch” – once you know the story, it’s entertaining to line things up by in‑universe years, even if time‑travel breaks strict logic.
  • “Mix and match” – some viewers build hybrid orders, for example starting with First Class, then the original trilogy, then Days of Future Past, then the Deadpool/Logan era.

Overall, if your core goal is simply “how to watch X‑Men movies in order” and you’re new to them, going in release order is the most straightforward and least confusing path.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.