The X-Men films are a curious series. They have a bit more to say than the typical comic book fare, showing superheroes fighting bad guys as well as human prejudice and intolerance. Of course, it's a mixed bag like any long-running franchise. Some entries have been more inspired than others. On its best days, however, the X-Men series has captivated audiences with sharp filmmaking, passionate performances, and strong stories utilizing poignant themes.
For how carefully crafted many of them are as individual films, the same can't be said for their continuity. As the franchise progressed to multiple creative teams, it went in wildly different directions. The filmmakers of one project clearly didn't care about lining up with those that came before, leading to some glaring errors regarding certain characters and storylines. At this point, even the most devout fans can't make sense of the series.
10 From Victor Creed To Sabretooth
Plenty of other characters have had conflicting versions over the course of these films, but this one is especially egregious due to the time spent with him. Keep in mind, this was back when the series still tried to maintain some semblance of continuity. X-Men Origins: Wolverine undermines this with its portrayal of Victor Creed. Appearing as a normal guy with fangs and claws, Liev Schreiber plays him as a cool, smoldering menace with bouts of beastly bloodlust.
How did he go from this to the animalistic Tyler Mane rendition in the first movie? In addition, why doesn't he seem to remember Logan as his brother? One can assume that his feral tendencies caused his body to mutate and his mind to degrade, but the writers never make this clear. So, you're left with two radically different sides of one pivotal character.
9 Beast And Mystique
The X-Men: First Class film was where the plot hole floodgates really opened. The creators simply didn't prioritize lining this prequel up with the movies made before it. Among the more bizarre decisions was an impromptu romance between Beast and Mystique.
This would ordinarily be a harmless inclusion, but it somewhat flies in the face of X-Men: The Last Stand. In the cluttered finale of the original trilogy, this relationship is never acknowledged or even vaguely hinted at.
8 A Tale Of Two Trasks
This calculating villain's presence in The Last Stand was never more than a throwaway cameo. Bill Duke's Trask doesn't create the mutant-hunting Sentinels; he just sits around with the President and does nothing. That's not surprising given how messy the movie was.
Once X-Men: Days of Future Past reintroduces Trask to make his mechanical monstrosities in the '70s, the role has passed to Peter Dinklage. Evidently, he's such a maniacal genius that he changed his race, age, and size to escape the feds. Then again, The Last Stand opens with the X-Men fighting Sentinel simulations in the Danger Room, so maybe he's not as smart as he used to be. That's not even counting the X-Men Origins: Wolverine game, which has the Ol' Canucklehead thwarting Trask and the Sentinels by himself.
7 When Did Charles And Eric Meet?
It's no secret that Professor X and Magneto go way back, starting as friends before their differing ideologies made them enemies. That much remains constant. The manner of their meeting, however, is a different story. Charles explains in the first X-Men film that he was 17 years old when he first encountered Eric.
In First Class, they're both in their late 20s or early 30s. Charles is working on his thesis, and Eric is hunting former Nazis. Apparently, the professor can't even remember how he met his best buddy. How does anyone trust him to run a school?
6 Where Do The TV Shows Fit In?
While Marvel series like WandaVision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. adhere to the framework of the films, the two X-Men shows do their own thing. They adapt more obscure characters from the comics, sometimes paying lip service to the X-Men without letting them impact the narrative. This pays off for the most part.
From the psychedelic creativity of Legion to the family drama of The Gifted, both series provide a compelling alternative, venturing into wildly different genres, stories, and stylings than the films. Sadly, going this radical will likely confuse longtime fans, especially when the shows provide their own versions of established characters like Charles Xavier and Blink.
5 Who Created Cerebro?
Another offhand line from the first flick gets thrown away by First Class. Although Xavier reveals that Magneto helped him build this telepathic mutant-finding device, the prequel instead gives all the credit to Beast. Not only does he create a machine to enhance Charles's abilities mere days after meeting the guy, but he does so offscreen.
This somewhat lessens Eric's agency in forming the X-Men. More than that, though, it creates another plot hole. If Magneto didn't help create Cerebro, how would he know how to shield himself from it through a telepathy-proof helmet? Of course, that's also a moot point since he apparently just stole Sebastian Shaw's helmet.
4 That Deadpool Cameo
The Deadpool spinoff flicks have no interest in lining up with the mainline X-Men series. They make that clear from the get-go, only sometimes referencing the heroes for a punchline. At the very least, however, viewers know that the movies take place in the modern-day. As such, any cameos would come from the older X-Men cast, right?
Wrong. When the iconic team pops up with Deadpool 2, viewers instead see the prequel actors playing them. Granted, this is a simple sight gag. Fans aren't meant to take it seriously, but those who do will find the timeline more mangled than it already was. It's no wonder even Deadpool himself is confused at this point.
3 Wolverine's Claws
At the end of The Wolverine, Logan loses his metal claws to the Silver Samurai. He then regrows his bone blades, implying that they'll be his weapons going forward. The following ensemble piece, X-Men: Days of Future Past, retcons this by portraying the modern Wolverine with metal claws.
This wouldn't be such an issue if not for The Wolverine's mid-credits scene leading directly into the next film. Here, he explicitly has bone claws when the war with the Sentinels starts. Granted, he could have coated them with adamantium in the intervening years, but this is never made clear. He simply has his metal slicers back because they're more popular (and probably more effective against giant Terminators).
2 Logan And The New Mutants?
When Dani Moonstar and the other mutant misfits investigate their gilded cage, they discover that they're actually guinea pigs of Essex. This is the corporation experimenting on mutant kids in Logan. Even the handheld footage they find is the same.
Aside from this, however, nothing about The New Mutants indicates that it takes place in the same decaying world as Logan. Not to mention, Dani and the others talk about possibly becoming X-Men, but this superhero team was supposedly wiped out. These contradictions make this small connection a flimsy one at best. Speaking of Logan...
1 Logan's Entire Setting
At first glance, Logan appears to be a continuation of the series, specifically the exploits of the older cast. It even references events from past films, albeit vaguely. Oddly enough, these connections fall apart upon further inspection. Days of Future Past left these characters in a good place, with the heroes alive and well and a brighter tomorrow in sight for mutants.
Despite taking place just a few years after, Logan's setting couldn't be more different. The world is a hostile place, and mutants are practically extinct. The film also implies that Xavier inadvertently killed most (if not all) of the X-Men through a psychic episode. That's not even mentioning the fact that he and Logan look twenty or thirty years older.
Basically, this spits in the face of the previous movie's happy ending. That said, unlike other series (looking at you, Star Wars sequel trilogy), Logan is too good for fans to really disown. That's why some consider it an alternate take on the characters, which is nothing new. It's yet another in the long line of seemingly separate timelines in the X-Men series.