The attempt to tell the origin story of Wolverine doesn’t provide any insight into the character - if anything, it trivializes his backstory by filling in the gaps, it takes away much of his mystery - and it strains under the pressure of trying to tie into a larger X-Men universe.
Most well-known now for how terrible its version of Ryan Reynolds’s Deadpool is, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is pretty terrible in plenty of other ways, too. Here’s every X-Men movie, ranked from worst to best. (One of the chief reasons Ryan Reynolds’s Deadpool films are so good is that they take aim at the many X-Men cinematic lowlights.) With The New Mutants finally hitting theaters after years of delays, we wanted to spend a moment celebrating the series’ peaks - and lamenting the false steps and terrible creative decisions that stalled the mutants’ momentum. Even the franchise’s best movies failed to capture the zeitgeist the way the later Marvel Cinematic Universe movies did, and as magnetic of a presence as Hugh Jackman was, those standalone Wolverine movies can be pretty rough.
Unfortunately, Hollywood hasn’t always done right by the X-Men. It’s so much easier to relate to them than to Tony Stark. No matter the era, the X-Men resonate with viewers who feel like outsiders, connecting with fans either because of their nerdy love of comic books, their sexual orientation, their racial heritage, or another marker of social “otherness.” Superheroes are often thought of as invincible, but the X-Men, despite their fabulous powers, always come across as underdogs: misunderstood, outnumbered, fighting to be accepted for who they are. Lee’s “cowardly” decision to make them mutants has, in fact, been the secret to their enduring appeal. Since then, the X-Men have had sequels, prequels, and spin-offs, but what has remained constant is audiences’ fascination with these characters’ otherness. Making their comics debut in 1963, those mutants wouldn’t hit the big screen until 2000, when Usual Suspects director Bryan Singer teamed up with screenwriter David Hayter to bring the story of Professor X, Magneto, Jean Grey, and Wolverine to moviegoers. And I took the cowardly way out, and I figured, hey, the easiest thing in the world: They were born that way. “And we figured, my publisher and I, figured why not do another group? My problem was, what powers would I give them? … Then, once I figured out what powers they’d have, I had to figure, how did they get their powers? And they were all separate people that weren’t connected to each other, so I knew that would be a helluva job. “ Fantastic Four had sold so well,” co-creator Stan Lee once recalled. Corden’s performance has received considerable backlash, but most audiences and critics agree this is frothy fun that will put a smile on your face.The X-Men came into existence thanks to another gaggle of superheroes. The feel-good story follows four former Broadway stars who travel to the small conservative town of Edgewater to assist a lesbian teen banned from bringing her girlfriend to the prom. Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, James Corden, Keegan-Michael Key, Andrew Rannells, Kerry Washington and Jo Ellen Pellman star in Ryan Murphy‘s splashy adaptation of Matthew Sklar‘s 2018.
Related: Netflix’s Alex Strangelove Is An Edgy, Touching Dramedy About Finding Yourself 8. Alex Strangelove (2018)Īll at once joyous, raunchy and disarmingly poignant, this Netflix original movie stars Daniel Doheny as Alex Truelove, a deeply closeted high school senior who loves his girlfriend Claire ( Madeline Weinstein), but is overwhelmed with confusion when he falls for a handsome, comfortably out boy named Elliot ( Antonio Marziale). Madeline Weinstein, Daniel Doheny and Antonio Marziale star in ALEX STRANGELOVE (Netflix) 7.