Every Single X-Men Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

5. X-Men

Back before comic book movies were a massive juggernaut, back before Hugh Jackman's Wolverine was the hottest brand in mutant movies and back before billion dollar box office hauls were the be-all-and-end-all, Bryan Singer bravely made X-Men as a Rogue movie. Sure, Wolverine was a big presence too (and casting Oklahoma's stage musical-starring lead late in the day was a weird one) but allowing us to follow Anna Paquin's wide-eyed wonder as she discovered the world of mutants along with us was inspired.

Overall, the cast is brilliantly balanced, even if Halle Berry is notoriously wooden, and the writing and relationships between characters is all great. You really believe them as a family, which is always crucial, and having Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart at the top of the bill channeling their Thespian experience into making Magneto and Xavier feel like two Shakespearean kings at war is perfection.

There's the obvious undercurrent of civil rights concerns here and if you look back through the franchise, pretty much all of the staples were formed here, which says a lot about how well Singer channelled the spirit of the comics.