History YMMV / XMenFilmSeries

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The first two ''Film/XMen'' movies have largely been overshadowed in recent years by more bombastic fair like ''Film/TheAvengers'', but at the time, the [[Film/XMen1 first movie]] was a surprise hit that proved vital in convincing Hollywood that {{superhero}}es could be viable again after ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' had [[GenreKiller killed the genre several years earlier]]. People tend to forget that alongside ''Film/{{Blade}}'', the original ''X-Men'' films were massively influential in terms of tone and costuming, arguably becoming the TropeCodifier for MovieSuperheroesWearBlack.

** Anyone who is a fan of both [=McAvoy=]'s Xavier in ''Film/XMenFirstClass''[=/=]''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'' and Will Graham from ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'' will notice the striking similarities between the two characters. (You can read a more detailed comparison in the ReferencedBy section in the [[Trivia/XMenFilmSeries Trivia tab]], but for the sake of this entry, it's enough to know that Will is a [[TheEmpath "pure empath"]] who is physically and emotionally scarred by his abusive love-hate relationship with the murderous Hannibal Lecter--heck, Hugh Dancy and Creator/JamesMcAvoy even look somewhat alike.) The ''Film/XMen'' fandom coined the term "Mutant husbands" to describe Charles' and Erik's homoerotic friendship, so all Cherik shippers who watch ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'' burst out laughing when Freddie Lounds called Graham and Lecter "Murder husbands."

** Anyone who is a fan of both [=McAvoy=]'s Xavier in ''Film/XMenFirstClass''[=/=]''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'' and Will Graham from ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'' will notice the striking similarities between the two characters. (You can read a more detailed comparison in the ReferencedBy section in the [[Trivia/XMenFilmSeries Trivia tab]], but for the sake of this entry, it's enough to know that Will is a [[TheEmpath "pure empath"]] who is physically and emotionally scarred by his abusive love-hate relationship with the murderous Hannibal Lecter--heck, Hugh Dancy and Creator/JamesMcAvoy even look somewhat alike.) The ''Film/XMen'' fandom coined the term "Mutant husbands" to described Charles' and Erik's homoerotic friendship, so all Cherik shippers who watch ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'' burst out laughing when Freddie Lounds called Graham and Lecter "Murder husbands."

** One of the guards present during Magneto's breakout in ''X2'' looks a lot like Michael Fassbender.

** It's hilarious that Michael Fassbender and James [=McAvoy=] were chosen to play the past versions of Magneto and Xavier. Before they were famous they both starred in separate episodes of ''Series/BandOfBrothers'' - a drama in World War II.

** Also, up till then, superhero films tended to be star-driven vehicles in order to avoid a perceived comic-book ghetto; you needed a $20-million headliner like Jack Nicholson, Val Kilmer, or Wesley Snipes to pull in a mass audience, and ones that didn't like ''Film/ThePhantom'' and ''Film/TheRocketeer'' got destroyed at the box office. Here, the two biggest under-50 names were Halle Berry and Anna Paquin, both supporting characters (and both ''women''!) and two of the three central leads were played by aged Shakespearean actors, while the other was an American unknown in Hugh Jackman. Nowadays, especially in the TurnOfTheMillennium and TheNewTens movie landscape where star vehicles have given way to ensemble pieces driven by premise and spectacle, superhero films have no qualms about casting [[Film/{{Thor}} unknown actors]] or [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy ones who had never headlined before]], knowing that the license will do the selling and the movies will propel the actors to further heights instead of the other way around.

* StrangledByTheRedString: The supposed 'great love' between Logan and Jean Grey can be hard to take seriously, since they only knew each other for about five days, ''at the most.'' The majority of the first film's plot takes place over roughly two or three days, then Logan goes off to Canada to find out about his past; they spend a day or two more together in the second film before she dies, and then most of their interaction in the third film is her crazily beating the crap out of him before he kills her (again) to set her free. Plus, in the first two films ''Jean was already in a long-term relationship with Scott.'' [[SarcasmMode Truly, a love story for the ages.]]

* Narm: Mystique kidnapping Senator Kelly is a serious scene but her using her feet to threateningly grab his face causes the scene to lose some impact. Kelly looks like he is more disgusted at having a blue mutant's bare feet on his face and Mystique looks more like a mistress dominating a slave with a foot fetish rather than an experienced agent kidnapping a politician.

* StrangledByTheRedString: The supposed 'great love' between Logan and Jean Grey can be hard to take seriously, since they only knew each other for about five days, ''at the most.'' The majority of the first film's plot takes place over roughly two or three days, then Logan goes off to Canada to find out about his past; they spend a day or two more together in the second film before she dies, and then most of their interaction in the third film is her crazily beating the crap out of him before he kills her (again) to set her free. Plus, in the first two films ''Jean was already in a long-term relationship with Scott.'' Truly, a love story for the ages.

** The latest victim of this seems to be the role of Gambit, [[http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/05/13/channing-tatum-confirmed-as-gambit having been Darrin'd from]] Taylor Kitsch, who previously portrayed the character in ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'', to Creator/ChanningTatum. A common complaint is that, aside of Tatum's questionable acting chops [[note]]as opposed to just being [[MrFanservice eye candy for the ladies]][[/note]], he looks and sounds nothing like the character in question. And even if the role was going to go to another actor, fans seem to prefer a more convincing one for the part like [[Series/{{Lost}} Josh Holloway]]. Probably one of the most negatively preemptive examples of this trope for the series so far, as all that we know is that Tatum will play the character in future movies.

* BaseBreaker:
** Main/HalleBerry's performance as Storm has been incredibly controversial since the first film was released back in 2000. Originally, director Bryan Singer originally had written Storm with Main/AngelaBassett in mind for the role, who turned it down. Bassett's refusal caused Storm's role to be completely rewritten, and then Berry joined the film. Although it has been infamously attributed to Berry demanding more screentime for all three films, many put the blame for Storm's characterization solely on her, without realizing that Singer originally did not even want the character to be in the film at all, and thus, the character was quickly sidelined. There are also those that take issue with Storm's skin color (as both Halle and the recently cast Alexandra Shipp have light skin) but [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement that will not be discussed in detail here.]]
** Main/JenniferLawrence's performance as Mystique, particularly when compared to Rebecca Romjin's more nostalgic performance. Essentially, the casting for all younger versions of the characters has been a major source of controversy, continuing with the recent castings for ''Film/XMenApocalypse''.
** The characterization of Rogue throughout all of the films, in contrast to her comic counterpart. Main/AnnaPaquin ended up throwing some subtle shade at the screenwriters with [[https://twitter.com/AnnaPaquin/status/589581154799484928/ this tweet in response to being asked if she would return to the films.]]

* StrangledByTheRedString: The supposed 'great love' between Logan and Jean Grey can be hard to take seriously, since they only knew each other for about five days, ''at the most.'' The first film takes place over roughly two or three days, then Logan goes off to Canada to find out about his past; they spend a day or two more together in the second film before she dies, and then most of their interaction in the third film is her crazily beating the crap out of him before he kills her (again) to set her free. Plus, in the first two films ''Jean was already in a long-term relationship with Scott.'' Truly, a love story for the ages.

* StrangledByTheRedString: The supposed 'great love' between Logan and Jean Grey can be hard to take seriously, since they only knew each other for about five days, ''at the most.'' The first film takes place over about two days, then Logan goes off to Canada to find out about his past; they spend a day or two more together in the second film before she dies, and then most of their interaction in the third film is her crazily beating the crap out of him before he kills her (again) to set her free. Plus, in the first two films ''Jean was already in a long-term relationship with Scott.'' Truly, a love story for the ages.

* StrangledByTheRedString: The supposed 'great love' between Logan and Jean Grey can be hard to take seriously, since they only knew each other for about five days, ''at the most.'' The first film takes place over about two days, then Logan goes off to Canada find out about his past; they spend a day or two more together in the second film before she dies, and then most of their interaction in the third film is her crazily beating the crap out of him before he kills her (again) to set her free. Truly, a love story for the ages.

** The villain in ''X2'' is so extremely anti-mutant that he would experiment on and enslave his own son to exterminate them all. In the process he enslaves another mutant to attack the president of the U.S., just so he can offer a target for the president to authorize an attack on. Before the strike, though, an objection is made that the target is a school. The villain responds sarcastically, "sure it is," showing x-ray imagery of a secret jet underneath the school's basketball court. A dispassionate observer should note, actually, that that is actually ''extremely'' suspicious. Normally schools don't have military-grade equipment hidden in their facility, and after all "schools" in some parts of the world have been used as recruiting centers/supply bases/et cetera by terrorist organizations before--both for the purpose of camouflage, and making attacks on them politically troublesome. The president then orders a non-lethal infiltration and capture mission, which from his position is ''entirely'' reasonable.
** Also, while Stryker lobotomizing his son is truly awful, from his point of view -- can you ''' ''blame'' ''' him? While he might not have meant to go that far, Jason still drove his own mother to kill herself in an extremely gruesome manner. And who's to say he wouldn't have done the same to other people? While it's sickening that Stryker kept him alive to use as a lab rat, you can still sympathize with his mutant hatred after hearing this story.

* FridgeHorror:

** When Bobby informs Logan in ''Film/X2XMenUnited'' that there is no beer at the school, it's obviously because Professor X doesn't want to encourage underage drinking, but there is an additional reason for the alcohol-free environment. ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'' reveals that Charles Xavier was a drunkard in between 1963 and 1973, so naturally his older, wiser self doesn't want to be tempted by drink and risk a relapse.

* StrangledByTheRedString: The supposed 'great love' between Logan and Jean Grey can be hard to take seriously, since they only knew each other for a few days in the first film before he took off to find out about his past, spent a day or two more together in the second before she died, and spent most of the third film with her crazily beating the crap out of him before he killed her (again) to set her free. Truly, a love story for the ages.

** And on the topic of female superheroes, here was a movie that not just featured multiple female heroes, but a movie where the female characters were not eye candy there for the designated girl fight. Storm, Rogue, Jean Grey, and Mystique, along with Lady Deathstrike in the sequel, were treated as equals in terms of deadly mutant skills, no overt sex appeal was on display aside from Mystique's appearance, and only fought male counterparts with no attention being called to it. Now, female superheroes in movies being treated as hero-driven without the usual female trappings (like relationships) are seen across multiple brands, although X-Men is still seen as a shining example of avoiding TheSmurfettePrinciple, something Marvel Studios [[Film/TheAvengers2012 still comes under fire for.]]

** Someone ''must'' have been killed by Cerebro 2 affecting the whole world (people having surgery, in traffic, landing planes, etc.).

** Also, up till then, superhero films tended to be star-driven vehicles in order to avoid a perceived comic-book ghetto; you needed a $20-million headliner like Jack Nicholson, Val Kilmer, or Wesley Snipes to pull in a mass audience, and ones that didn't like ''Film/ThePhantom'' and ''Film/TheRocketeer'' got destroyed at the box office. Here, the two biggest under-50 names were Halle Berry and Anna Paquin, both supporting characters (and both ''women''!) and two of the three central leads were played by aged Shakespearean actors, while the other was an American unknown in Hugh Jackman. Nowadays, especially in the TurnOfTheMillenium and TheNewTens movie landscape where star vehicles have given way to ensemble pieces driven by premise and spectacle, superhero films have no qualms about casting [[Film/{{Thor}} unknown actors]] or [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy ones who had never headlined before]], knowing that the license will do the selling and the movies will propel the actors to further heights instead of the other way around.

** Also, up till then, superhero films tended to be star-driven vehicles in order to avoid a perceived comic-book ghetto; you needed a $20-million headliner like Jack Nicholson, Val Kilmer, or Wesley Snipes to pull in a mass audience, and ones that didn't like ''Film/ThePhantom'' and ''Film/TheRocketeer'' got destroyed at the box office. Here, the two biggest under-50 names were Halle Berry and Anna Paquin, both supporting characters (and both ''women''!) and two of the three central leads were played by aged Shakespearean actors, while the other was an American unknown in Hugh Jackman. Nowadays, especially in TheNewTens movie landscape where star vehicles have given way to ensemble pieces driven by premise and spectacle, superhero films have no qualms about casting [[Film/{{Thor}} unknown actors]] or [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy ones who had never headlined before]], knowing that the license will do the selling and the movies will propel the actors to further heights instead of the other way around.

** Storm setting off a bunch of tornadoes in the New England countryside.
* Jerkass: Bobby's Brother casually sells out his own brother just for being a mutant.

** Also, while Stryker lobotomizing his son is truly awful, from his point of view -- can you ''blame'' him? While he might not have meant to go that far, Jason still drove his mother to kill herself in an extremely gruesome manner. While it's sickening that Stryker kept him alive to use as a lab rat, you can still sympathize with his mutant hatred after hearing this story.

* SugarWiki/AndTheFandomRejoiced: See [[AndTheFandomRejoiced/XMen here]].

* MemeticMutation: "Well, now they know, Bobby, just '''[[Disney/{{Frozen}} let it go]]'''." is what some fans like to say to Bobby Drake a.k.a. [[AnIcePerson Iceman]] regarding his interaction with his family, when they are shocked and uncomfortable about having a mutant son in ''Film/X2XMenUnited''.

* MemeticMutation: Thanks to the release of ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'', fans like to say this about Bobby Drake, a.k.a. [[AnIcePerson Iceman]], regarding his interaction with his parents, who are rather shocked and uncomfortable about having a mutant son in ''Film/X2XMenUnited'': "Well, now they know, Bobby, just '''let it go'''."