Where to Stream the X-Men Movies That Deadpool Will Make Fun of in Deadpool & Wolverine

While the Marvel Cinematic Universe only recently began exploring multiverses, the first big-screen Marvel multiverse originated from the X-Men franchise, which is part of Fox's Marvel universe. There are at least four distinct timelines: the original X-Men movie timeline, the Days of Future Past alternate history timeline, the Deadpool movie timeline, and Logan, which exists in its own bubble. And with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman's Deadpool & Wolverine hitting theaters very soon — Friday, July 26 — as part of the MCU in our multiverse-obsessed era, the number of timelines is about to increase exponentially.

Fortunately for us, since it's a Deadpool movie and not serious business, the plot likely won't require you to remember 25 years of X-Men franchise lore — it's all fun and games in this corner of the Marvel catalog. What I'm saying is that while there will be many cameos and references to previous X-Men movies, you won't need to remember all the granular details. For example, Aaron Stanton's Pyro from the original three X-Men movies will have a role in Deadpool & Wolverine, but you only need to remember who he is, his powers, and that he was on Team Magneto.

Beyond past stories involving Deadpool & Wolverine's title characters, rumors suggest the film could serve as a denouement for the entire Fox Marvel franchise, including Daredevil, Elektra, and Fantastic Four.

So, if you want to get the most out of your Deadpool & Wolverine viewing experience, it's best to have some of this cinematic history fresh in your brain when you see it even if you don't need to sweat too many of the details — Deadpool is not here to test your nerd cred. Nope, he's here to make crude jokes and appeal to the masses. Consider this article a list of things to remember and keep in mind, rather than a list of movies you must rewatch for Deadpool & Wolverine to make sense.

Let's take a look at the X-Men and other Marvel movies to consider revisiting before heading to the theater on July 26.

Where to watch Fox's Marvel movies in 2024

Nearly every Marvel movie released by Fox is currently available on Disney+. 

There are only two exceptions, and they're the two worst-reviewed movies from this group, with the worst box office performances: Elektra and the 2015 reboot of Fantastic Four. Fortunately, both are available on Max.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Metacritic score: 40

There are a few serious stinkers in the X-Men franchise, and this one easily stinks the most. X-Men Origins was intended to be a spinoff series of prequels about other mutants — but this Wolverine flick was such a disaster that plans for individual prequels were scrapped and replaced with X-Men: First Class. But that's not why it matters for Deadpool & Wolverine. No, this movie is most relevant because it featured Ryan Reynolds' first live-action appearance as Wade Wilson/Deadpool.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is the story of Logan being put through the Weapon X program, where he was given the adamantium coating for his skeleton. But this film also has a Weapon XI — that's Deadpool, baby. Amazingly, this film's version of Deadpool is mute, his mouth literally sewn shut as a meta joke about the movie being PG-13. But nobody thought it was funny — which is why Deadpool 2 has a bit about Wade going back in time to murder that version of the character. With Jackman involved this time, you can expect a lot of jokes at X-Men Origins' expense.

The original three X-Men films

Metacritic scores:
X-Men: 64
X2: 68
The Last Stand: 58

X-Men, X2: X-Men United, and X-Men: The Last Stand form a trilogy, with X2 as the high mark and The Last Stand reviled nearly as much as X-Men Origins. Together, they depict a conflict between two groups of mutants — the good guys, led by Professor X (Patrick Stewart), who want to live in peace with regular people, and the bad guys, led by Magneto (Ian McKellen), who want to use their powers to rule over the regular folk.

Although these are ensemble films, Wolverine is essentially the franchise's main character, serving as the audience surrogate to whom all the mutant stuff is explained in the first movie, and driving most of the action. Throughout this portion of the franchise, he also acts as a father figure for the young mutant Rogue (Anna Paquin), whose best friends are Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) and Pyro. Three villains from these movies are expected to appear in Deadpool & Wolverine: Kelly Hu's Deathstrike, Ray Park's Toad, and Tyler Mane's Sabertooth.

The Wolverine and Logan

Metacritic scores:
The Wolverine: 61
Logan: 77

After the failure of X-Men Origins, Fox went ahead with two more movies focused on Wolverine's solo adventures, each with a smaller budget compared to mainline X-Men films. The Wolverine, released in 2013, details key parts of Logan/Wolverine's backstory and his encounter with an old friend who offers to remove Logan's mutant abilities so he can die. Logan, set in 2030, depicts a world with almost no mutants left aside from some children that the government has been experimenting on, and was the first R-rated X-Men movie aside from Deadpool.

Technically, these two movies aren't in continuity with each other — The Wolverine aligns with the original movies, while Logan exists in its own separate universe. However, they form a clear thematic pair, both directed by James Mangold. Since the events of The Wolverine are never referenced elsewhere, it works best as a duology with Logan.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Metacritic score: 75

Marvel's first big-screen multiverse began here. After the events of the X-Men trilogy, things got real bad, with robot Sentinels hunting and killing mutants until they were nearly wiped out — a war that resulted in a tattered, post-apocalyptic-ish Earth. Professor X and Kitty Pryde (Elliot Page) send Logan's mind back to the 1970s to prevent the Sentinels from being invented, creating a new timeline. Given the multiverse aspect and the success of Days of Future Past at the box office, there will likely be jokes about this one in Deadpool & Wolverine.

The Deadpool movies

Metacritic scores:
Deadpool: 65
Deadpool 2: 66

These are comedies first, so the story is basically incidental, but there are lots of running gags you should refresh yourself on — if you can believe it, it's been six whole years since Deadpool 2 came out. 

The first film is just Wade's (Reynolds) origin story — how he had terminal cancer and then was tricked into joining a project that would unlock his healing mutation by torturing him for months, and then got revenge on the guy in charge of that project. The second had Deadpool face down a mysterious angry guy from the future named Cable (Josh Brolin) — it's probably Cable's time travel device, which Deadpool stole at the end of the movie, that will get Deadpool started down the path toward whatever multiversal adventure has him run into Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine.

OPTIONAL: The remaining X-Men films

Metacritic scores:
X-Men: First Class: 65
X-Men: Apocalypse: 52
Dark Phoenix: 43

X-Men: First Class is messy, but the cast is so good that it doesn't matter. But things took a bad turn after Days of Future Past. We got two more prequel X-Men movies set in the '80s and '90s — Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix. They're both notoriously terrible, and Wolverine isn't in either of them beyond a brief Weapon X cameo, which is why they're optional. But it's the "notoriously bad" part that could make them relevant. You gotta think Deadpool has some Dark Phoenix jokes ready, especially since Wolverine is obsessed with Jean Grey (Famke Janssen and Sophie Turner).

OPTIONAL: Daredevil and Elektra

Metacritic scores:
Daredevil: 42
Elektra: 34

On top of X-Men, 20th Century Fox had the film rights to two additional Marvel properties, and in 2003, Ben Affleck's Daredevil (about a blind guy who uses sonar to see, more or less) was the studio's second Marvel franchise starter. We haven't heard anything about Affleck popping up in Deadpool & Wolverine, but Jennifer Garner's Elektra has been rumored to make a cameo appearance for over a year. Garner starred in both mid-2000s films, which are decent but also relics of a time before superhero movies had $250 million budgets. Revisiting these comic book flicks offers a nostalgic experience.

OPTIONAL: Any of the Fantastic Four movies

Metacritic scores:
Fantastic Four (2005): 40
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer: 45
Fantastic Four (2015): 27

There haven't been any rumors about Fantastic Four characters showing up in Deadpool & Wolverine, but with an MCU Fantastic Four slated for next summer, it seems unlikely that Marvel's First Family will sit this one out completely, especially after the John Krasinski/Mr. Fantastic thing in the last Doctor Strange movie.

Fox produced three Fantastic Four movies, with two iterations of the titular team. The original group had Ioan Gruffudd as Mr. Fantastic, Jessica Alba as Sue Storm, Chris Evans (yes, the guy who would go on to play Captain America) as Johnny Storm, Michael Chiklis as the Thing, and Julian McMahon as Dr. Doom. In the reboot a decade later, those roles were played by Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan (yes, the guy who would go on to play Black Panther's Killmonger), Jamie Bell and Toby Kebbell, respectively. It wouldn't be surprising if any of those folks showed up, but it's doubtful the particulars of those movies would matter much since none of them is really well liked.