X-Men Movie Guide: What’s Canon And What’s Not?

In case you wanted to know if it’s okay to skip the first Wolverine movie.

The general consensus is that X-Men: Days of Future Past was a great movie on several levels. Not only did it deliver a strong story with excellent character drama, but it also used a time travel mechanic to reset the timeline. As a result, you may be wondering what state the X-Men universe is in following Wolverine’s trip to the 70s. Well, we’re here to set the record straight.

What isn’t part of the current canon?

Most of the films leading up to Days of Future Past. That includes:

X-Men

X2: X-Men United

X-Men 3: The Last Stand

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

The Wolverine

So, what comprises the current canon?

Two released films and three unreleased films. They are:

X-Men First Class

X-Men: Days of Future Past

X-Men: Apocalypse

Gambit

Deadpool

How do we know those last two are part of the same timeline?

In a recent interview with MTV, Simon Kinberg himself declared Gambit and Deadpool part of the new canon:

“The Gambit movie, the Deadpool movie, will exist in a world that acknowledges whatever happened in Days of Future Past and moving forward. Doesn’t mean they’ll always interact with those characters, obviously, it’s not like every movie has all the characters, but they all have to exist within the same rules.”

We have a clear sense of the directions we want to take [the characters] in, and in my mind at least, how we could start to cross-pollinate sort of with those characters that have their standalone movies.”

What about the third Wolverine movie?

We can assume that one takes place in the new continuity. After all, the end of Days of Future Past had Wolverine waking up in a new future and discussing it with Professor X. If the rumor of Patrick Stewart returning in the third Wolverine film is true then it seems that narrative is a natural extension of that moment.

So, all movies going forward going to be set in the new continuity?

Yes. Simon Kinberg has also confirmed that:

“The idea is that we’ve sort of reset the timeline after Days of Future Past in some ways, and if not erased, certainly allowed for change from [the original X-Men movie], 2, 3, everything from Days of Future Past forward. Everything we set now becomes canon.”

It makes a lot of sense. Obviously, Fox wants their X-Men films to be interconnected in the same way Marvel’s films are. That way, they can have several characters in standalone movies like Gambit and Deadpool… then bring them together for a team up film in order to make the big bucks. Marvel proved that the formula can work if done correctly, and if any franchise can replicate that success it’s the X-Men films.