What do you get when you add adamantium, action, and a whole lot of “sckint”? It’s the world of the Wolverine. The Wolverine, also known as Logan, is one of the biggest and most resilient heroes from the X-Men franchise. With superhuman senses, retractable claws, a mutant healing factor, and a skeleton coated with virtually indestructible adamantium metal, there’s nothing in the world that can put him down.
We would be wrong to say that the character is the only thing that makes it loveable; we’ve got to give Hugh Jackman credit as he solely carried the role through the complete duration of the X-Men Franchise. The Australian actor brought the Canadian superhero to life with his stellar acting and incredible physique.
While Hugh did bring the fictional character to life, true fans admire Wolverine’s story as he isn’t your everyday superhero who saves the day. It’s a rollercoaster ride of intense suffering that fans don’t want Logan to go alone on.
There are multiple ways to watch the Wolverine movies in order. Here’s how to watch Hugh Jackman’s appearances chronologically and by the order of release date.
How to Watch Wolverine Movies in Order By Release Date?
| S.no | Movies | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | X-Men | July 14, 2000 |
| 2 | X2: X-Men United | May 2, 2003 |
| 3 | X-Men: The Last Stand | May 26, 2006 |
| 4 | X-Men Origins: Wolverine | May 1, 2009 |
| 5 | X-Men: First Class | May 25, 2011 |
| 6 | The Wolverine | July 26, 2013 |
| 7 | X-Men: Days of Future Past | May 23, 2014 |
| 8 | X-Men: Apocalypse | May 9, 2016 |
| 9 | Logan | March 3, 2017 |
| 10 | Deadpool &Wolverine | July 26, 2024 |
How to Watch Wolverine Movies in a Chronological Order?
For new fans who want to watch the Wolverine in action, we highly recommend that you watch the release date version. Although Fox did good on hiring a stellar cast, investing in VFX, and creating a ton of “MARVELlous” movies (pun intended), the only thing that they did screw up with was the timeline it followed.
The studio left a lot of plot holes and inconsistencies that can leave new fans scratching their head, wondering what’s the right order for the X-verse. However, if you’re as hard-headed as this adamantium-coated mutant, we’ve provided a sort of order broken down into timelines, which you’ll understand why later on.
Timeline 1
1. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Marvel fans would agree that among all movies, this one is the first Wolverine movie in order. The best way to start your Wolverine binge is through X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It serves as the origin story of the character, tracing back to his beginning in the 1800s in Canada, his time with Team X and Major William Striker, and how he got his adamantium skeleton.
Hugh Jackman starred along with Liev Schreiber, who played Victor Creed – aka Sabertooth (Logan’s brother). The movie offers a perfect backstory for the character, setting viewers ready to watch X-Men.
IMDb Rating 6.5/10
2. X-Men:
X-Men is the first movie of the X-Men franchise. The story follows an amnesiac Logan and troubled Rogue, played by Anna Paquin, brought into Professor Charles Xavier’s School for the Gifted Youngsters.
Through the course of the movie, we follow Logan and watch him grow as a character, helping Rogue, who has trouble controlling her power, while also fighting alongside the X-Men to stop Magneto and his Brother Hood of Mutants. The film has a stellar cast with A-list actors, including Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen Halle Berry, and James Marsden.
IMDb Rating 7.3/10
3. X2: X-Men United:
Wolverine doesn’t seem to catch a break, as X2, the sequel of the original X-Men trilogy, brings back ghosts from Wolverine’s origin story, William Stryker, played by Brian Cox. With the aid of the government on his side, he schemes to erase mutant-kind by hijacking the mutant-tracking system.
With Charles Xavier being abducted along with the majority of students in the mansion, Wolverine is forced to take leadership in order to protect his young fellow mutants. With the original cast as its prequel, new faces, including Alan Cumming, Aaron Stanford, and Kelly Hu also star alongside them.
IMDb Rating 7.4/10
4. X-Men: The Last Stand:
The third and final part of the original X-Men trilogy is the fourth Wolverine movie in order. X-Men: The Last Stand follows one of the biggest X-Men comic book arcs: The Dark Phoenix Saga and The Gifted. The story features Jean Grey losing control of her telepathic powers and developing a dark and twisted persona of destruction while Magneto tries to shut down a new “mutant cure” that threatens everyone with mutant powers.
With Kelsey Grammer, Elliot Page, and Vinnie Jones joining the mix, Wolverine has to understand not only the battle ahead but also his inner feelings about Jean as he has to stop her from causing mass destruction.
IMDb Rating 6.6/10
5. The Wolverine:
The Wolverine is another standalone movie on the superhero mutant, serving as the second installment of the Wolverine trilogy. Set directly after the events of the final X-Men movie, the story follows a grief-stricken Logan who travels to Japan upon the request of an unexpected old friend who promises to remove his curse of immortality.
Among all the Wolverine movies in order, this one tops the ranks of having the best action sequences. Being set in Japan, the film was able to diversify its cast, bringing in renowned Japanese actors, including Hiroyuki Sanada and Tao Okamoto. The Wolverine served as the last of Wolverine’s adventures in this timeline.
IMDb Rating 6.7/10
6. X-Men: Days of Future Past:
This is where the storyline gets tricky to follow. Although it does follow after the events of the Wolverine. It’s set ten years apart from the previous movie. The year is 2023, and mutants are on the brink of extinction due to the mutant-hunting Sentinel robots.
To save mutant-kind, Wolverine is tasked to travel back to team up with the past version of Professor Charles and friends to stop Mystique, played by Jennifer Lawrence, from assassinating a military scientist, which serves as a catalyst to the dark future.
IMDb Rating 7.9/10
Timeline 2:
1. X-Men: First Class:
Well, technically, it’s not a Wolverine movie to say; it’s the first movie of the rebooted X-Men universe with an all-new cast. It is also the first movie that doesn’t exactly have Wolverine as the main protagonist. If you want a rundown of how Professor Charles Xavier started his school for young mutants, this movie here fills you with the details.
It follows the story of the Young Charles Xavier, played by James McAvoy and Micheal Fassbender Magneto, recruiting young mutants for the first batch of Xavier’s schools. Regarding Wolverine, he doesn’t really play a big part in the story. However, he does appear in a brief cameo to show fans that even the rebooted universe finds it hard to kill the stubborn mutant.
IMDb Rating 7.7/10
2. X-Men: Days of the Future Past:
This movie is actually the second installment of the rebooted X-Men franchise that bridged both timelines to make a bit of sense of the X-verse. If you’ve already watched it alongside the previous Wolverine movies in order, you can skip it.
IMDb Rating 7.9/10
3. X-Men: Apocalypse:
Continuing with the events of the first and second movies of the rebooted universe, the story pits the young X-Men cast against a mutant unlike any other. Just like the previous movies, Wolverine isn’t the main highlight of the film.
As Days of the Future Past rebooted the timeline, Wolverine in this universe was captured by Stryker and has been brainwashed into becoming Weapon X. Jackman appears as Wolverine briefly, but even in that brief moment, he shows why he’s the best there is at what he does.
IMDb Rating 6.9/10
Floating Timeline:
If you thought that following the events of the second timeline was hard, wait till you read the floating timeline. The reason for calling the next movies is that they don’t exactly connect with any of the timelines. Even trying to make logic about how they connect is a debate in itself among Marvel fans. So, if you’ve already watched all Wolverine movies in order from the list we recommend, watch these at the end.
1. Logan:
Logan is the last and probably the best installment of the Wolverine trilogy that provides a proper closure to the century-old mutant. Logan, now just a shell of his past, has abandoned his mantle of the Wolverine. With the adamantium that gave him nigh invulnerability now slowly poisoning him, his mutant healing struggles to keep his body healthy, causing him to age.
Logan, in this timeline, seems to be among the last mutants left on Earth, with only an elderly Charles Xavier suffering from Alzheimer’s by his side. The story takes an unexpected turn when Logan meets Laura – aka X-23, who he needs to defend against cybernetically enhanced villains known as Reavers.
IMDb Rating 8.1/10
2. Deadpool & Wolverine:
During the release of the Wolverine trilogy’s final installment, Hugh Jackman announced that Logan would be the last time he would play the character Wolverine. And although it was true at first, fate had other plans. With the love and support shown by fans worldwide, and through the constant effort of his long-term frenemy Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman decided to pop those claws back out once again.
Deadpool & Wolverine is an upcoming movie that is highly anticipated to release in 2024. With Disney finally owning the X-Men franchise, the Merc with a Mouth has come up with a way to bring back the fan-favorite mutant. It’s unclear whether this version of Wolverine is from the same timeline as Logan. As there is no direct relation, you have the option of watching it without viewing the rest of the Wolverine movies in order. The movie is expected to release in cinemas globally on 27th July 2024.
Final Note:
The Wolverine movies can be a bit tricky to follow due to the two separate timelines. This guide provides a breakdown of how to watch the movies in both chronological order and order of release. For new fans, watching the movies in order of release is recommended to avoid confusion. However, die-hard fans may prefer the chronological order to follow Wolverine’s story throughout time. No matter which Wolverine movies in order you choose, get ready to experience the action, drama, and intensity of Wolverine’s world!