On July 12, 2000, Marvel and 20th Century Fox held the worldwide premiere of X-Men on Ellis Island. This marked the beginning of a billion-dollar film franchise that would revolutionize superhero cinema as a whole. Set in a world where superpowered “mutants” are common and discriminated against, X-Men saw Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) joining Professor X’s (Patrick Stewart) titular team as they clash with the evil Magneto (Ian McKellen) and his Brotherhood of Mutants.
The behind-the-scenes drama caused by X-Men‘s disgraced director Bryan Singer has somewhat tarnished the film’s reputation. Nevertheless, X-Men helped define an entire generation of comic book movie fans, and its extraordinary impact can still be felt in superhero cinema today. Hugh Jackman just played Wolverine once again in Deadpool & Wolverine, and the upcoming crossover blockbuster, Avengers: Doomsday, will feature multiple actors from X-Men reprising their roles. Overall, X-Men set the stage for comic book movies to dominate theaters throughout the 21st century, launching a successful franchise with its thrilling story, compelling characters, talented cast, and thought-provoking themes.
It helped make comic book movies more serious
Instead of setting its story in Metropolis or Gotham City, X-Men presented its version of the “real-world” America and explored the darker aspects of real human history and society. This storytelling approach added plenty of realism to the film, making its social commentary about prejudice and discrimination more impactful. The movie even opened with a young Magneto awakening his powers in a heartbreaking scene in Nazi-occupied Poland, setting the stage for a heavier comic book movie than what moviegoers were used to at the time. Also, the way the mutant characters in X-Men struggle to find acceptance in a fearful society made for a story that countless audiences can still find relatable.
However, as X-Men tried to present a realistic story, the film didn’t quite show as much reverence to the comic book source material when adapting it for the big screen. In fact, the filmmakers seemed embarrassed by the X-Men’s roots, as the film scoffed at the team’s colorful costumes from the comics, exchanging them for matching black leather uniforms. The director had reportedly banned the cast from reading X-Men comics during production, forcing associate producer and future Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige to sneak some comics to them to help them better prepare for their roles.
To be fair, X-Men came at a time when people were still learning to take comic books and their film adaptations seriously. Ultimately, things turned around as comic book movies became more popular and successful after X-Men, with Marvel fully embracing their comic book origins and finally giving Wolverine his iconic yellow outfit in Deadpool & Wolverine over 20 years later.
It was the first superhero team-up film
Long before the Avengers and the Justice League received movies, X-Men showed filmmakers how superhero teams could succeed on the big screen. The movie presented gripping emotional drama surrounding a group of dysfunctional characters who, despite their flaws, come together to fight for the greater good. The film arguably spent too much time on Wolverine and didn’t give characters like Cyclops, Jean, and Storm enough depth and development. Nevertheless, X-Men became a prototype of comic book team-up films that succeeded it.
It popularized the X-Men
The X-Men were already well-known to comic book readers and fans of their animated series from the ’90s. However, the X-Men reached a new level of mainstream popularity with the release of their 2000 film. The film introduced more people outside of comic book fandom to iconic characters like Wolverine, Professor X, Magneto, Mystique, Cyclops, Storm, and Jean Grey.
The movie also turned many of the actors who played such characters into household names, with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen becoming synonymous with their respective characters. However, the cast’s biggest success story is Jackman, who went from an unknown theater actor from Australia to one of the biggest movie stars in the world, embodying the character of Wolverine with roles in multiple Marvel movies in the decades since X-Men’s release.
It launched Marvel’s first cinematic universe
Long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was established, Fox’s X-Men franchise was the closest thing Marvel had to an interconnected film franchise on the big screen. X-Men led to the development of two sequels, a trilogy centered around Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, a series of prequels surrounding a young Magneto and Professor X, and Ryan Reynolds’s hit Deadpool trilogy. It also led to the standalone film, The New Mutants, as well as two TV series, Legion and The Gifted. While Fox’s X-Men universe was a mixed bag in terms of quality, the billions of dollars it grossed demonstrated that superheroes with crossover stories could be a massive success at the box office.
X-Men revived the superhero genre
Before X-Men premiered in theaters in 2000, Marvel’s only successful film at the time was 1998’s Blade. At the same time, comic book movies had garnered a negative reputation in the ’90s with campy, corny, and lackluster films like Steel, Spawn, and Batman & Robin. However, the success of X-Men reignited the superhero genre in film and television.
As a result, X-Men paved the way for other Marvel blockbusters like 2002’s Spider-Man, 2003’s Daredevil, and 2005’s Fantastic Four to score big at the box office. This gave DC the confidence to make a comeback with superhero blockbusters like Man of Steel and The Dark Knight trilogy. This also opened the door for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to rise up, with movies like Iron Man and The Avengers taking the world by storm, making Marvel the blockbuster giant it is today.
Looking back on X-Men today, the film hasn’t aged as well as Wolverine, as many modern comic book movies have raised the bar for the genre. Nevertheless, this blockbuster tale of mutants fighting for peace and equality gave all its cinematic successors the chance to succeed in theaters, as it showed how terrific comic book films can be in the modern age if done right.
X-Men is streaming on Disney+.
