25 Years of X-Men on the Big Screen

Posted on July 14, 2025

by Eric S

Superhero films and comic book adaptations are so pervasive these days, it can be hard to keep up with them all (I mean, how many MCU shows do you still need to catch up on?). However, the first X-Men film (which debuted 25 years ago this week) was released during a very different pop culture climate. Eleven years prior, Tim Burton’s Batman proved that darker, more serious superhero movies could both strike a chord with the public and make absolutely absurd amounts of money. However, the ‘90s were not necessarily an indicator of how big the genre would become (see: Spawn, The Shadow, The Phantom, Steel, Batman & Robin, Darkman, Blankman, The Crow, Mystery Men, Barb Wire, and even Blade, which massively downplayed its comic book origins).

So, X-Men was not the guaranteed hit it might seem to have been in retrospect. And you could tell that the studio was hedging its bets by downplaying the comic book aspect of the IP, particularly in the dark, leather costumes (after all, The Matrix had been released one year prior and was sort of a big deal). On top of that, the plot drew on ideas that were thematically very X-Men, but did not adapt any one particular comic story. A lot of fans, myself included, were just happy to see some of our favorite mutants on screen, in whatever capacity that was.

Fortunately for X-Men fans, 2000’s X-Men exceeded expectations and opened the door for not only more X-Men movies, but big budget superhero movies that appealed to more than just a niche group of comic fans. Amazingly, this legacy lives on a quarter century later, with many of these characters slated to appear in the much-anticipated film, Avengers: Doomsday. Before that movie comes out in 2026, however, celebrate 25 years of X-Men on the big screen with the films below.

For more great movies, make sure to check out the offerings of your local branch as well as the Kanopy app.