10 Worst Sins Of The X-Men Movie Franchise

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Summary

The X-Men movie franchise had a complex continuity with many conceptual errors and plot holes.
The inconsistent relationship between Magneto and Professor X was a major continuity issue in the franchise.
X-Men: Apocalypse wasted the character of Jubilee and failed to fulfill her potential.

Over its 20-year tenure, Fox's X-Men movie franchise made a good number of mistakes in the way it told its stories and represented its characters. Beginning in 2000 with X-Men, Fox's franchise sought to adapt Marvel's famous team of mutant superheroes to the big screen. Though not all the X-Men movies were well-received by critics, the franchise endured, with 13 films released over a period of 20 years. The characters are now set to join the MCU, bringing all of Marvel's most iconic heroes together in a single shared movie universe.
As the franchise features multiple prequels, sequels, and timeline-bending adventures, its continuity is somewhat complex. Between its non-linear narrative continuity and the fact that the movies attempt to adapt dozens of beloved X-Men characters into live-action, the franchise made more than a few missteps over the years. Some of these were conceptual errors, while others were simple plot holes or continuity mistakes, but regardless, many of them are practically impossible to overlook. With that in mind, here are the 10 worst sins of the X-Men movie franchise.
Your browser does not support the video tag. 10 No Continuity In Magneto & Professor X’s Relationship

Across the many prequels and sequels of the franchise, two of the most consistent characters have a friendship that seems anything but. The relationship between Professor X and Magneto is constantly rewritten and reworked, with the first film explaining they've known each other since age 17, but the prequels show them meeting for the first time at around age 30. Their love/hate dynamic is also barely explored, with their friendship downplayed essentially at will in order to elevate Magneto to villain status on a film-to-film basis. There's very little continuity in the pair's relationship, which is terrible considering how important they are to the franchise's story.
9 Beast’s Shock At The Cure Makes No Sense After The Prequels

X-Men: The Last Stand introduced Hank McCoy - A.K.A. Beast - to the live-action franchise, and featured a moment in which the mutant is shocked by Leech's ability to cure his mutation. However, the prequels (which are confirmed to exist in the same continuity) show McCoy creating and using his own cure, albeit with some adverse effects. Still, considering Beast developed his own cure decades prior, his powerful emotional shock at the effects of Leech's ability seems particularly silly in retrospect.
8 Drastically Recasting Bolivar Trask Was A Jarring Move

An important supporting character in the X-Men universe, Bolivar Trask made his first appearance in the movie franchise in X-Men: The Last Stand played by Bill Duke. 2014 saw the release of X-Men: Days of Future Past, a story in which Trask is essential, with the Peter Dinklage cast in the role. The films are confirmed to take place in the same continuity, so not addressing such a blatant recasting was more than a little odd. After all, Bill Duke and Peter Dinklage simply couldn't look much more different, and though both actors were good in the role, it was a strange choice to ignore it altogether.
7 X-Men: Apocalypse Wasted Jubilee

The original X-Men trilogy featured Jubilee in the form of a handful of silent cameos, but X-Men: Apocalypse teased the character's full live-action debut with Lana Condor in the role. Jubilee did indeed appear, complete with a live-action recreation of her iconic suit from X-Men: The Animated Series, but the film thoroughly wasted her by cutting her only significant scenes. After hinting that she might finally be given justice in live-action, X-Men: Apocalypse simply wasted her all over again, thoroughly failing to fulfill the character's potential in an especially insulting manner.
6 The Unexplained Restoration Of Wolverine’s Adamantium Claws

Though it's perhaps one of the X-Men movies' smallest continuity errors, it's also one of the most unnecessary. During the events of The Wolverine, the titular hero is shown losing his adamantium claws, forcing him to fight using the original bone claws of his mutation. The next film in the franchise, Days of Future Past, continues Wolverine's story, and though he's not shown fighting, he brandishes his adamantium claws while being transported into his younger body by Kitty Pryde. Considering there was no need to show the claws at all, the continuity error could have been easily avoided, making it stand out even more as a result.
5 Xavier's Resurrection Isn't Fully Explained

After X-Men: The Last Stand saw the death of Professor X, the franchise moved on to a series of prequel movies. However, Days of Future Past saw Patrick Stewart return to the role, although the continuity never adequately explains the specifics of his resurrection. The answer was alluded to in the director's commentary: Xavier transferred his consciousness into his comatose twin brother, although this convenient and non-canon explanation seems to raise more questions than it answers. Simply put, Xavier's miraculous return is never properly explored, despite being a major and somewhat shocking revelation for the franchise.
4 Wolverine’s Convenient Lack Of Amnesia In The Wolverine

One of the most consistent elements of Wolverine's story is the complete loss of his memories after being shot in the head with an adamantium bullet. It's enough to erase all of his memories from before the events of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, including those of his brother Sabretooth. However, The Wolverine sees him somehow remember specific events and people from World War II, recalling the circumstances of the bombing of Nagasaki and the life debt owed to him by Ichirō Yashida. It's a development that's simply too convenient to overlook, especially as the franchise had already seen Logan forget far more significant events in his life.
3 Cerebro Has Multiple Origin Stories

All the way back in 2000, the X-Men movies introduced Cerebro, Charles Xavier's powerful mutant detection device. It's explained that Magneto helped build Cerebro, affording him certain knowledge of the machine which is centered in his plans for mutantkind. However, the prequels then show the actual construction of Cerebro, and Magneto isn't actually involved - rather, it's Hank McCoy who helps Xavier build it. The fact that the machine has separate origin stories within the same continuity is decidedly odd and needlessly jarring.
2 Cyclops Doesn’t Age

As one of the most famous members of the X-Men, Cyclops was always going to be something of a staple in the franchise. Unfortunately, the movies eschewed the conventions of aging when it came to Scott Summers: he's seemingly in his 30s in the year 2000, then is shown to be in his late teens in the 1970s-set prequels. It's a phenomenon that simply isn't explained, but it makes it very clear that the X-Men movie timeline is more than a little broken by an utter lack of continuity.
1 Everything About Deadpool In X-Men Origins: Wolverine

There were many problems with X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but none of the film's mistakes were quite as egregious as its treatment of Deadpool. It took the infamous Merc with a Mouth and sewed his mouth shut, opting to do away with his classic comic book look in favor of a shirtless aesthetic, body paint, and swords for arms. The film essentially took the character's name and made him something entirely different, fundamentally misunderstanding the character's appeal and potential. Years later, X-Men Origins: Wolverine's iteration of Deadpool remains by far the worst sin of the X-Men movie franchise.
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