Mutation. The key to our evolution. And the key to X-Men - one of the longest-running comic and movie series to date, with some of the most iconic characters and best superhero performances of all time.Though some of the movies have garnered rampant criticism for the continuity and story bloopers, as well as often focusing on the wrong characters and themes. However, no one can deny that the X-Men films are a good watch, and introduced more than a whole generation to the superhero genre when it kicked off in the year 2000.This list will look at a specific aspect of the films - the opening scenes - and rank them as to which is the best. This won't include the two stand-alone Wolverine films.
8 X-Men: Dark Phoenix
Let's kick things off with Dark Phoenix, which contains next to no continuity. The movie opens with a very young Jean Grey in a car with her parents, going for a lovely drive. Suddenly, she switches the radio without knowing it, and then hears voices - this causes a (presumably) psionic wave to swerve the car and make it crash.
This, unfortunately, leads to the passing of her parents, at which point Charles Xavier rolls up and asks her to join his school. This is odd because it was shown in previous films that she does not join the school at this age, but then there was the great reset of The Last Stand...Either way, the opening is neither here nor there and doesn't introduce the best part of the film: Magneto.
7 X-Men: Days Of Future Past
X-Men: Days Of Future Past continued First Class' success with its futuristic story and large cast involving both young and old. The very beginning of the film, however, isn't as amazing as it potentially could have been.
In classic X-Men style, the world is introduced with a voice-over by Professor Xavier, this time in a dark and broken New York City setting. There's not a lot of life except streams of Mutants being herded through fluorescent pathways, leading to their deaths. There's also an unnamed character searching through the rubble from the destroyed city, but it seems like this is purely done to show the X-Men logo.
6 X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Considering the storyline of this movie, the opening scene makes sense. However, it started in such an odd place that it confused some. Set in 1845, there is a sick boy and his brother being taken care of, when chaos ensues as one of the boys' fathers comes home drunk and wielding a gun. This ends badly as the stepfather is shot, and sends the boys into a rage. This moment is what leads Logan - the sick child - to discover he has claws (among other powers).
The brothers then take off and the scene melts into a timeline of their lives until the present day. This does a good job of setting up the film, and Logan's history, but it still seemed so odd in terms of the X-Men films.
5 X-Men: The Last Stand
Like in Dark Phoenix, The Last Stand's beginning focuses on Jean Grey. We see Magneto and Professor X (with some questionable facial CGI) arrive in a suburban estate and enter the Grey household. They try to enroll Jean into the Xavier school, at which point she shows off her immense power - leading to a cameo of the late and great Stan Lee.
Now, The Last Stand is a controversial topic in X-Men history thanks to some messy plot lines and odd choices - which were scrubbed in Days Of Future Past, as it completely disregarded the plot to reset the timeline. Still, the opening scene is preferable to the other Jean Grey introduction.
4 X-Men: Apocalypse
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
The opening scene of Apocalypse scores higher due to the originality. Whereas Origins also had a historical beginning, this one is far more interesting. Set in Ancient Egypt, audiences are introduced to Apocalypse - the original and first mutant.
In this ancient setting, mutants are the leaders, which makes a nice change to the usual narrative that mutants are held in less regard than 'normal' humans. The scene does get a little clumsy with how much happens: helpers are seemingly transferring Apocalypse's soul, for lack of a better term, to a new vessel, when a planned attack happens, and they are entombed (and crushed) under the pyramid. And so, there they stayed until the present day...
3 X2
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
X2, even 20 years after release, remains firmly one of the best X-Men films. This is thanks, in part, to Nightcrawler, a lovable blue devil-shaped mutant. Though his introduction isn't particularly innocent.
We see Nightcrawler break swiftly into the White House, and single-handedly get past the President's guards; showing how dangerous mutants can truly be, and that they can be weaponized. Nightcrawler - Kurt Wagner to his friends - does not kill the President, but leaves a threatening message of a knife stabbed into the desk with a ribbon reading "mutant freedom now."
2 X-Men
This, and the last entry, are almost tied for first place - we'll explain why. The gloomy scene starts in Poland, in 1944. From this audiences can immediately surmise that it is set in a concentration camp. The scene focuses on a boy being separated from his parents, at which point he becomes distraught and awakens his mutation: metal manipulation.
This emotional entry is Magneto, one of the most popular characters of the X-Men franchise. The emotional effect of this cannot be beaten, however, X-Men misses out on the top spot as this scene quickly fades to a teenage Rogue making out with a boy in her bedroom.
1 X-Men First Class
X-Men First Class takes the poignant opening of the original film and improves it. The 2011 film opens with an almost frame-for-frame remake of Magneto's introduction. It does use some of the same footage, but splices in a new cast of actors.
There's also Kevin Bacon's introduction as the film's villain - Sebastian Shaw - watching the proceedings menacingly from a window above the cold, wet pathways. This obviously does not happen in the first film and shows immediately that he will be some sort of macabre character.