Here’s our definitive ranking of every Fox Marvel movie, running from 2000’s X-Men to 2018’s Deadpool 2. Nowadays, moviegoers are used to the idea of Marvel being a big name. Back in the 1990s, though, they were simply a comic book publisher who’d been trying to get film adaptations of their characters made for decades. The bottom fell out of the comic book market in the mid-’90s, and Marvel was forced to sell off the film rights to a host of their most popular superheroes in order to avoid bankruptcy.

Fox purchased the film rights for a number of heroes, and in the year 2000 they released the first X-Men movie. It was an unexpected hit, grossing nearly $300 million worldwide against a budget of just $75 million. X-Men blazed the trail for a wave of Marvel (and even DC) superhero films through the 2000s, and within a few years Marvel was considering the possibility of producing their own films rather than continuing to sell off the movie rights. Without the success of X-Men, it’s probably true to say Marvel Studios would never have gotten off the ground.

After all, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige got his start in the industry working under producer Lauren Shuler Donner on the original X-Men films. Of course, not all of Fox’s Marvel movies have been particularly good. In fact, some of them have been pretty dire, with Fantastic Four director slating his own film on Twitter on the day of its release. So let’s take a look at the highlights (and lowlights) of Fox’s Marvel films.

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16. Fantastic Four (2015)

Fantastic Four is a film with serious problems. Director Josh Trank wanted to produce a superhero body-horror movie, but Fox lost confidence in him after some of his original ideas leaked online. As a result, the final finished product is a strange, mismatched film that feels like it’s suffering from an identity crisis. The body horror, oddly enough, is probably the most effective part of Fantastic Four; but that approach is so at odds with the overarching franchise that it just seems bizarre.

Fox had originally hoped that Fantastic Four would launch a new superhero franchise that they could tie into the X-Men films, allowing them to create their own shared cinematic universe. Suffice to say, with the release of Fantastic Four that plan was dead on arrival. The stars - Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell - have been keen to forget this film ever happened, with Bell “bitterly disappointed” and Jordan relieved he got to make a better impression on superhero fans in Black Panther.

15. Elektra (2005)

The Daredevil spinoff nobody really asked for, Rob Bowman’s Elektra featured Jennifer Garner as the resurrected assassin. Garner did her best with what she was given, but her heart wasn’t in it; as she openly admitted in TV interviews at the time, she was only on board because of contractual obligations she’d signed up to before Daredevil. Elektra was a critical and commercial failure, grossing $56.7 million worldwide. It was slated for a tone-deaf script, poor dialogue, and sloppy directing.

In the aftermath of Elektra, Fox gave up on the Daredevil film rights, allowing them to revert back to Marvel. Years later, Marvel’s Ike Perlmutter would famously point to Elektra as evidence that female-led superhero films just don’t work in the box office. The success of Wonder Woman and Marvel’s own Captain Marvel has proved him wrong; it’s more a case that bad superhero films are the ones that don’t perform.

14. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

With the first Fantastic Four grossing more than $330 million worldwide, Fox greenlit a sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer. Inspired by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s Galactus trilogy, it saw Ioan Grufford, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, and Michael Chiklis reprise their roles as the Fantastic Four, cosmic-powered superheroes who are battling to save the world from cosmic threats. Fox originally planned this to be the second in a trilogy of films, even entertaining dreams of launching a Silver Surfer spinoff. All these hopes were dashed when Rise of the Silver Surfer performed poorly at the box office, and on this occasion comic book fans agreed with the critics in pouring scorn upon the film. It will forever be remembered for a surprisingly poor version of Galactus, which reimagined the Devourer of Worlds as a sort of cosmic cloud.

One of the highlights of Rise of the Silver Surfer is its Stan Lee cameo, in which the Fantastic Four’s creator was turned away from the wedding of Reed and Sue. This is lifted straight from the comics, and the cameo alone means Rise of the Silver Surfer will always be remembered fondly by Marvel fans - even if they don’t consider it a good adaptation.

13. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

Back in 2009, the big screen story of the X-Men franchise appeared to have come to an end. But Fox wanted to keep the franchise going, not least in order to retain the X-Men film rights, and as a result they came up with the idea of doing origin movies for Marvel’s merry mutants. X-Men Origins: Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman as Logan, was intended to be the first of these spinoff origin stories. It was hardly a success, and the studio quickly ditched these plans.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is something of a mixed bag. The ideas are all there, but nothing quite comes together cohesively. Action sequences are well-directed, but undermined by sloppy CGI that really hasn’t aged well. Unfortunately, director Gavin Hood even went for CGI claws rather than prosthetics, fatally undermining his film. The movie’s worst sin is undeniably its waste of Ryan Reynolds, who was cast as Deadpool - a character whose mouth was stitched up for the third act.

12. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

Directed by Brett Ratner, X-Men: The Last Stand brought an unsatisfactory close to the first X-Men trilogy. In theory the film was inspired by Chris Claremont’s classic “Dark Phoenix Saga” from the comics, with Famke Janssen resurrected as an out-of-control Jean Grey. Unfortunately, James Marsden’s Cyclops was killed off in short order, with the focus going on the strange, obsessive pseudo-relationship between Jean and Wolverine.

Matters were made worse by a B-plot involving a mutant cure, that at times seemed more like the A-plot than the story of Jean Grey. Too many ideas and characters are tossed in for little apparent reason, and action sequences are effective but lack any real sense of soul. X-Men: The Last Stand came close to killing off the entire X-Men franchise. Most of the characters were left dead or depowered, and for a while it looked as though Fox’s X-Men films had come to an end.

11. X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

Directed by Bryan Singer, X-Men: Apocalypse kicks off when the powerful, ageless mutant Apocalypse is unlocked from his ancient slumber. He resolves to burn the world with nuclear fire, and it doesn’t take long for him to cross paths with the X-Men. Apocalypse is most notable for introducing a new generation of X-Men; Tye Sheridan’s Cyclops, Sophie Turner’s Jean Grey, and Kodi Smit-McPhee’s Nightcrawler. However, the script really doesn’t give them much of a chance to shine, instead focusing on the star power of James McAvoy’s Xavier, Michael Fassbender’s Magneto, and Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique. The second act is really a side-story that’s an excuse for an extended - and frankly pointless - Wolverine cameo.

X-Men: Apocalypse is most notable for a smart bit of worldplay. In popular culture, an “apocalypse” is a disastrous, world-threatening event. But, in ancient times, an apocalypse is actually an unveiling, a revelation of something that was previously hidden. In functional terms, X-Men: Apocalypse is the unveiling of Jean Grey’s true power, as she reveals just what she’s capable of when she takes down Apocalypse. It clearly signposted the future direction of the franchise.

Page 2 of 3: Fox/Marvel Movies, #10-6

10. Daredevil (2003)

Years before he became Batman, Ben Affleck starred as lawyer-turned-vigilante Matt Murdock in Daredevil. Directed by Mark Steven Johnson, Daredevil pitted the Man Without Fear against Michael Clarke Duncan’s Kingpin and Colin Farrel’s Bullseye. Affleck put in a lot of effort for the role, working with the blind performer Tom Sullivan in order to understand what it felt like to be blind; the film’s special effects were actually quite innovative, particularly when it came to realizing Daredevil’s Radar Sense. Unfortunately, though, the plot was basically a paint-by-numbers superhero origin story. Daredevil was a commercial flop, grossing just $179 million in the global box office.

There’s a sense in which it’s hard to rank Daredevil. The R-rated Director’s Cut was of a far superior quality to the theatrical release, and Johnson is rightly proud of it. “We hadn’t seen a superhero come home covered in scars, and chewing on pain pills,” he noted, “and it was kind of grim. You’re not going to get that right now from a Disney-owned Marvel character.”

9. Fantastic Four (2005)

Next up is the first Fantastic Four film, starring Ioan Grufford, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, and Michael Chiklis as Marvel’s First Family. Where most of Fox’s superhero movies pivot towards the dark and gritty, director Tim Story decided to honor all the cheesiness and lightweight humor of the original comics. It has its highlights - Chiklis starred in several memorable scenes, pulling off an effective performance in spite of the heavy makeup - but on the whole Fantastic Four demonstrates that a comic book concept from the 1960s does actually need a bit of adapting in order to work on the big screen.

Jessica Alba has been scathing about the whole experience, telling Syfy that it even made her consider giving up acting. “The director was like, ‘It looks too real. It looks too painful. Can you be prettier when you cry? Cry pretty, Jessica.’ He was like, ‘Don’t do that thing with your face. Just make it flat. We can CGI the tears in.’”

8. The Wolverine (2013)

There’s a sharp jump in quality between Fantastic Four and James Mangold’s The Wolverine. Set in the aftermath of X-Men: The Last Stand, The Wolverine is a character piece in which Jackman’s Logan is struggling to deal with pain and grief. He’s gradually drawn to Japan, where he gains a sidekick in Rila Fukushima’s Yukio and an ally - and potential lover - in Tao Okamoto’s Mariko. The plot is adapted from one of the most popular Chris Claremont stories of all time, and a number of scenes are reproduced faithfully as part of the story, including a tremendous sequence in which the Hand bring Wolverine down.

While this is a strong film, it isn’t really Jackman who shines in it. Fukushima was perfectly cast, with Mangold dramatically reinventing her comic book character; she changed from a black-clad assassin to a manga-inspired bodyguard. It worked perfectly, and Fukushima reveled in the action scenes, admitting she had a blast.

7. X-Men: First Class (2011)

2011’s X-Men: First Class was essentially a smart way of relaunching the X-Men franchise. Directed by Matthew Vaughn, it was envisioned as a prequel to the original X-Men trilogy, revealing the backstory of Charles Xavier, Magneto, and Mystique. Fox struck gold with a series of high-profile castings, with James McAvoy playing the young Xavier, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, and Jennifer Lawrence becoming the shapeshifting Mystique. The plot is a smart one, weaving the X-Men into real-world history in a version of the Cuban Missile Crisis. It’s something of a character piece, exploring the relationship between Xavier and Magneto and laying the foundations for the bitter rivalry of the X-Men trilogy.

Unfortunately, this film also marks the point where the X-Men continuity really began to get a bad rep. The inclusion of Emma Frost flatly contradicted X-Men Origins: Wolverine, while the childhood friendship between Xavier and Mystique doesn’t quite work in light of their adversarial relationship in the first three X-Men movies. Still, First Class was a box office success, grossing over $350 million worldwide and gaining positive reviews. The future of the X-Men franchise was secured.

6. Deadpool (2016)

One of the most popular X-Men characters from the ’90s, Deadpool had long been a subject of interest to Fox. They’d cast Ryan Reynolds for the part in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and at the time had even contemplated a spinoff Deadpool movie. But that film disappointed, and frankly made very strange decisions when it came to Deadpool. For years, the project seemed to be dead in the water.

Then, to everybody’s surprise, test footage leaked online and went viral. Fox relented in the face of proven demand, and Reynolds got his chance to redeem the role. He flourished in the role, winning over viewers the widecracking, fourth-wall-breaking Merc With A Mouth. Deadpool grossed a stunning $783 million against a budget of just $58 million, a staggering achievement given its R-rating. Reynolds was joined by Stefan Kapičić as the voice of Colossus, and Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, with the latter character dramatically reinvented for the film. The success of Deadpool emboldened Fox to take a more experimental, and frankly far more successful, approach to their superhero movies.

And yet, it’s important to note that Deadpool isn’t perfect. It’s a triumph of style over substance; when viewed through a critical lens the plot is frankly rather lackluster. But that doesn’t really matter; it’s the performances that made this film a hit.

Page 3 of 3: The Top 5 Fox Superhero Movies

5. X-Men (2000)

This was the film that started it all. Directed by Bryan Singer, X-Men was Fox’s first big screen Marvel adaptation. Amusingly enough, one of the associate producers was Kevin Feige, who would go on to become the visionary of the MCU; in fact, he had a cameo as a Weapon X technician, but the cameo didn’t make it past the editing room floor.

X-Men featured a tremendous cast, including the likes of Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellen, and Hugh Jackman. This was back before anybody believed comic book adaptations could work on the big screen, and as a result Singer adopted a much darker, grittier tone. That approach is much criticized now, but in truth back in 2000 it was easy to understand; traditional comic book adaptations were thought to have been killed off by Batman & Robin, and everybody thought Fox was wise to take a different approach. The plot honored the comics, and there was a better balance of characters than in some of the sequels. Stewart and McKellen absolutely shone, while Jackman became an instant fan-favorite.

4. Deadpool 2 (2018)

Last year’s Deadpool 2 expanded the Merc With A Mouth’s world, introducing Josh Brolin as Cable, Julian Dennison as Firefist, Zazie Beetz as Domino, and Shioli Kutsuna as a new version of Yukio. This time around the plot was a fun time travel adventure, with Cable traveling back in time to kill the young Firefist in order to rewrite history. It’s a pretty traditional time travel trope, but Deadpool 2 played it out well. The surprise appearance of the Juggernaut - voiced by Reynolds himself so Fox didn’t need to hire another actor and the secret didn’t break online - delighted fans.

Deadpool 2 matched the first film, grossing $785 million in the global box office and securing the future of the franchise even after the Disney/Fox acquisition. One major subplot laid the foundations for X-Force, but it’s unknown whether or not Marvel will continue with those plans. Only time will tell whether or not this becomes another of the X-Men franchise’s loose ends.

3. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

Bryan Singer’s Days of Future Past is one of the strongest of all the X-Men movies. It’s a smart time travel film that unites both the original X-Men cast and the First Class stars, with Wolverine attempting to rewrite history in order to prevent a dystopian future. It was also an attempt to “fix” the franchise, with Wolverine creating a whole new timeline, meaning the original trilogy - and X-Men Origins: Wolverine - were mostly written out of continuity. Days of Future Past is a lavish production, with a number of standout scenes in which past and future versions of characters interacted. A particular highlight was a Quicksilver scene in which Evan Peters’ super-speedster saves the day during a prison break.

Of course, Days of Future Past isn’t a perfect film. The focus on Lawrence’s Mystique doesn’t quite work, instead signposting the sense of discontinuity between the First Class and the original trilogy - even before history’s rewritten. Ellen Page’s Rogue featured heavily in promotional material, but her character was cut, with those scenes only released on DVD and Blu-Ray in a money-making “Rogue Cut” edition. But it’s still one of Fox’s best productions.

2. Logan (2017)

Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart’s swan song for the X-Men franchise, James Mangold’s Logan is a stunning character piece. It’s more of a Western than your traditional superhero flick, advertised with a haunting rendition of Johnny Cash’s “Hurt,” and ending with a deeply symbolic confrontation in which Logan dies stopping a monster created from his own DNA. The film unleashed Dafne Keen as X-23, a young female clone of Wolverine; she absolutely reveled in the role, projecting sheer animalistic fury and clearly having a blast. Audiences responded positively to Logan, caught up in the sheer emotion of Wolverine’s death, and it rightly earned Jackman, Stewart and Keen a string of accolades. This was one film that really did need an R-rating, with Mangold’s directing truly showing the savagery of Wolverine and X-23.

Logan isn’t just one of the best Fox Marvel movies; it’s one of the best superhero films ever made, the perfect ending to Jackman’s 17-year-long tenure as Wolverine. Plus, it was the first superhero movie to be nominated in one of the big Oscar categories - this one being for Best Adapted Screenplay. This film is a reminder that, while Fox’s run has included films like 2015’s Fantastic Four, it’s also included some unforgettable blockbuster hits.

1. X2 (2003)

But the top slot can only go to Bryan Singer’s X2: X-Men United, easily the strongest movie of the entire X-Men franchise. Inspired by Chris Claremont’s God Loves, Man Kills graphic novel, X2 kicks off with an excellent sequence in which Alan Cumming’s Nightcrawler attacks the White House. The action builds from there, with Brian Cox’s Colonel Stryker launching an attack on the X-Mansion and leaving the X-Men on their defensive. Their greatest weapon is turned against them, when Stryker attempts to use Xavier’s telepathy to kill every mutant on the planet. In the face of this terrible threat, the X-Men are forced to ally themselves with their sworn enemies.

The arc forces old foes to work together, allowing the opportunity to explore the character dynamic between Jackman’s Wolverine and Rebecca Romjin’s Mystique. Another entertaining subplot explores the tentative romance between Anna Paquin’s Rogue and Shawn Ashmore’s Iceman, and there’s one key scene in which the battle for mutant rights is subtly paralleled with the quest for homosexual rights in the real world. The film isn’t without some problems; the script notably doesn’t really give much time to James Marsden’s Cyclops, a character who’s chronically underserved in the first three X-Men movies. But it’s another classic of the superhero genre nonetheless.

More: What The Fox/Disney Deal Means For Marvel’s Future

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