The X-Men Timelines Explained!

Ever wonder exactly how the 'X-Men' movies fit together, after 'Days of Future Past' changed history? Here's your definitive guide to both of the 'X-Men' timelines, how 'First Class' exists in all of them, and whether 'Logan' is set in a separate universe.

[lenardregencia]

These timelines are so confusing.
- Deadpool (2016)

[djfoot]

if you remember DOFP, Kitty told Logan he would be the only one who would remember the other time line after he changed it.

[elijahcampbell]

Here’s the actual timeline from the producers and directors confirmed. I will break it all down so no one is confused....hopefully.

X-Men: First Class
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men
X-Men 2: United
X-Men: The Last Stand
The Wolverine
X-Men: Days of Future Past
X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Dark Phoenix
Deadpool
Deadpool 2
The New Mutants
Logan

Ok so the old timeline starts off with First Class all the way to The Wolverine. First a Class is when Magneto and Professor X meet and make the first X-Men team and then in Wolverine Origins. This is when Logan gets his Admantium Claws and fights his brother Sabertooth and the messed up Deadpool and then at the end Wolverine loses his memory because Stryker shoots him in the head and then right after Logan is taken to Professor X school and joins the X-Men to fight Magneto. In Origins Professor X makes a cameo and takes Cyclops and the other mutants to his school.

Then X-Men 1 and 2 right after Origins.

X-Men: The Last Stand is Jean Grey and the Dark Phoenix and then Logan kills her to stop the Dark Phoenix and then we get Wolverine. At the end of Wolverine we see Professor X and Magneto. Now how did Professor X die and come back? He transferred his conscious into his twin brother. If you don’t believe me then watch the post credit scene for X-Men: The Last Stand and in the hospital is Professor X twin brother. Both Magneto and X work together and recruit Logan to go back in time and change the events of 1973. To stop Mystique from killing Trask and stopping the Sentinels. At the end of DOFP, Wolverine comes back from the Past and Everything from X-Men Origins: Wolverine to The Wolverine, are all erased and never happens.

Wolverine creates two new timelines. One timeline which I will refer to as the Old timeline or OG timeline is at the end of DOFP Wolverine Wales up and everyone is Alive. Storm, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Professor X, Beast, etc. Wolverine has some of his memory lost but Professor X helps him retrieve all of his lost memory.

In the New Timeline is back in 1973 when Wolverine went back in time in DOFP is when he is fighting Magneto and then he gets drowned in the ocean. But is saved by Stryker and he takes him to the Weapon X program. There is a Post Credit Scene in DOFP which features Young Apocalypse rising the pyramids along with the four horsemen. Then we have Apocalypse.

In Apocalypse we see a Cameo of Wolverine after Stryker takes him to Weapon X and he breaks out with some of his memory gone but Jean Grey helps him restore some like who he is and where he cane from but then he leaves never to be seen again. Now in the New Timeline DOFP is in 1973 and Apocalypse takes place during the 80’s and Dark Phoenix which is coming this years is in the 90s. At the end of Apocalypse we see a post credit scene of Logan’s blood being used to make mutants.

That Post Credit Scene takes place during the Old OG timeline where Wolverine goes back and is in the happy ending with everyone alive and they are all older. This is in the year 2014. Now 25 years later after that ending is Logan. Logan takes place in 2029 and is in the Old Timeline NOT the new one. Logan takes place right after when Wolverine wakes up and see that everyone is alive.

Now in Logan, Wolverine remembers all the events of Origins and the wars he encountered and all the people he hurt with his brother Sabertooth and everything that happens in X-Men 1, 2, 3, The Wolverine, and DOFP. Even though that timeline got erased, Wolverine still remembers everything that happened. Reason being is because there is a deleted scene in Logan where he is talking about his brother Sabertooth. In Logan there is a scene where Logan and Charles are talking about the Westchester incident. The Westchester incident is that there hasn’t been any New Mutants for over 25 years. In Logan we discover that Professor X accidentally killed all the X-Men and children at his school due to his Alzheimer’s and his brain powers to cause his seizures and that’s why they all are dead. And then if you seen Logan you know what happens. R.I.P. to the Logan and Charles.

But remember the facility which other mutants and Laura which is Logan’s daughter. I said the post credit scene in Apocalypse shows the blood used by Logan to create other Mutants such as Laura and X-24.

Now Deadpool, Deadpool is apart of the X-Men and is apart of the New Timeline when Wolverine erased all of Origins all the way to The Wolverine. Now Deadpool is in 2016 and Deadpool 2 is in 2018 which is present day. Dark Phoenix is in the 90’s and the X-Men are still young. Now I just saw Deadpool 2 and not really a spoiler but in the movie Deadpool is in Professor X school and he is ranting about how Colossus and Teenage Warhead are the only ones here. But there is a small cameo and it is very easy to miss cause it happens very fast. When Deadpool is ranting we see a glimpse of Beast, Quicksilver, Professor X, and some others I can’t remember but yeah they are talking in Professor X office and Beast quickly hilariously closes the door before Deadpool can see then while he is ranting. This is in the New Timeline btw just reminding you. After The Events of Dark Phoenix is when Deadpool comes right after and then Deadpool 2 then we have the New Mutants but I have no idea whether it is in the Old Timeline or New Timeline. Then it’s Logan. So there you have it. The official timeline and correct order for watching the X-Men movies.

Sorry for this being so long I just want to give a lot of details. Your Welcome

[MegaSnippezz]

Timeline 1:
X-Men: First Class (1962)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (1979)
X-Men (2002)
X2 - X-Men United (2004)
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
The Wolverine (2013)
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2023)

Timeline 2:
X-Men: First Class (1962)
X-Men: Days of Future Past (1973)
X-Men: Apocalypse (1983)
X-Men: Dark Phoenix (1993)
Deadpool (2016)
Deadpool 2 (2018)
The New Mutants (2019)
Logan (2029)

[ultimatewall-crawler]

Logan thought Professor X was talking about the Statue of Liberty incident, but he was actually telling him that Laura is waiting for him at the liberty motel. Logan in Logan is the original timeline version who took over the body of new timeline Logan in 2023 at the end of Dofp.

[akshajbarve]

This is the way to watch the movies:

First class
Origins wolverine
X men
X2
The last stand
The wolverine
Days of future past
Apocalypse
Dead pool
Dead pool 2
Logan

[MrDK]

Alright lads, now let's fit this into the MCU lmao

[wesleygreen]

I have watched 4 videos on this and still confused af

[TheKersey]

Occam's Razor: EVERY inconsistency and plot-hole in every X-Men movie can be blamed on Deadpool & Cable screwing around with time travel shenanigans.

[weed]

The logan at the end of days of future past (2029) is the logan from the original time line. He wakes up having taken over the T2 logans body. He could have easily told proffesor X how they orignaly met in X1 and the events that took place after that.

[shenalminusha]

This is what I was looking for... There are hundreds of videos with 30, 40 mins of runtime. But they don't talk about these timelines in the first place... This chart is the key. It literary solved all of my problems.. Thank you for this explanation.

[ariefhf]

And deadpool come back to fix the timeline (watch the after credit of deadpool 2)

[henrymiller]

They should've done Days of future past somewhere between 2006-2011 so Hugh Jackman could've been in more movies

[tnemomhurb]

EXPLAINING THE STATUE OF LIBERTY REFERENCE: Earlier in the DoFP Logan showed a young Charles how the future will be if Trask is killed and this is how Charles knows about the battle at Liberty Island. By my understanding the original trilogy actually never happened or at least a majority of it never happened ( specifically X-men last stand).

[Black-Panther]

Xavier knew about timeline 1 because he read logan's mind.
Problem solved

[tjjordan]

There is a way to explain away a good chunk of the plot-holes and help make the timeline more consistent. Simply put, First Class does not work well when you look into what Xavier says to Logan during the events of X-Men (2000), about how and when he met Magneto and so on. But with the release of the extended cut of Days of Future Past, the Rogue Cut just might be the missing link to making everything make sense now.

We're not dealing with a single universe; we're dealing with two.

Universe 1: Origins: Wolverine, X-Men, X-Men 2, X-Men 3, The Wolverine, and Days of Future Past

Universe 2: First Class, Origins: Wolverine, X-Men, X-Men 2, X-Men 3, The Wolverine, the Rogue Cut, Apocalypse, Dark Pheonix, Deadpool, Deadpool 2, and Logan


In Universe 1, the original trilogy happened as they did in the movies, but an entirely different set of events happened when it comes to First Class. Only in this universe, Days of Future Past is where it truly ends. Everything turns out for the better, with the world accepting mutants and so on.

But Universe 2 is where things took a very dark turn because of how First Class (the movie) went. The original trilogy happened but with slight differences to align with what happened in First Class. But the Rogue Cut is where the ultimate difference happens, allowing for the events of Apocalypse, Dark Pheonix, Deadpool, Deadpool 2, and Logan all happen.

[trikitsu]

I completely understood it before watching this video, and I can say, this was told perfectly

[paulariesvalera]

Maybe Wolverine states some of his references from the 1st timeline but keep in mind he might be confused ore than we are because after all he experienced both tmelines

[romaina.]

Why do people still believe there is something coherent in this mess? Xavier resurrecting, Emma Frost being 30 in First Class and 16 in Wolverine, Sabretooth not knowing Logan in X-men...
Just assume this is badly written and move on.

[datboi]

For anyone confused this is the complete timeline so far for the X MEN movies and tv shows.

X men first class (1960s)

X men origins wolverine ( late 70s or early 80s)

X men (2000s)

X men 2 (2000s)

X men 3 (2000s)

The Wolverine (2010s)

The gifted tv show (2010s)

X men days of future past (2020s/1970s)

X men apocalypse (1980s)

Legion season 1 (late 80s)

Legion season 2 (late 80s)

X men dark phenix (early 90s)

Legion season 3 (1990s)

Deadpool (2010s)

Deadpool 2 (2010s)

Logan (2040)