If there’s one element that absolutely makes the jump from the X-Men comic books to the X-Men movies, it’s a history of complex continuity that’s only convoluted further with every release. There’s even time travel, because of course there is.
And let’s be clear: the movies have done themselves no favors. Not only is there the aforementioned time travel, but several of the movies have released out of chronological order in the first place. By the end of 2016, there’s set to be nine total movies in continuity in one way or another. It’s ... a lot.
So, where to start? There’s release order, which is simple enough, and then in-continuity chronological order, which is way more complicated. For the sake of completion, we’ve included both Deadpool and X-Men: Apocalypse here but not, say, the upcoming Gambit or the third Wolverine solo film. There’s nothing definitive about the release of the latter two, so it’s kind of hard to determine where they fall.
X-Men: Days of Future Past, as previously mentioned, essentially begins a new timeline. Thanks, time travel! Due to this, our timeline is actually split into two different timelines - one where Days of Future Past happens in the future following The Last Stand, and one where it happens following First Class.
Also worth noting here is that Deadpool certainly seems to be within continuity - and even references both actors that play Professor X - but it’s hard to place relative to the others. If we were to place it arbitrarily, it's somewhere between after the past events of Days of Future Past chronologically. Beyond that? Who knows.
Release Timeline:
X-Men
X2
X-Men: The Last Stand
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men: First Class
The Wolverine
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Deadpool
X-Men: Apocalypse
Chronological Timeline:
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men: First Class
X-Men
X2
X-Men: The Last Stand
The Wolverine
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Second Chronological Timeline:
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men: First Class
X-Men: Days of Future Past
X-Men: Apocalypse
???
Deadpool
