The live-action X-Men movies from 20th Century Fox had many epic moments that fans absolutely loved. They've also garnered some of the biggest hate ever leveled against comic book movies through a series of disappointing scenes and character interpretations.
With such a long lifespan, and so much talent working on the series of movies over the years, these moments of satisfaction and disappointment are pretty evenly spread throughout the franchise. Each one has stood the test of time as being either exceptionally good or bad thanks to a number of distinct reasons.
Most Disappointing: Professor X's first death (X-Men: The Last Stand)
Major character deaths are an important thing to get right in superhero stories. Even the most seemingly insignificant characters from comic book movies can turn out to be huge fan-favorites and Professor X–of all people in an X-Men movie–deserved so much more than he got in The Last Stand.
Though it would be far from the last time that audiences would see Professor Xavier or Patrick Stewart portraying him, the character's death in the third live-action X-Men movie was abrupt and unsatisfying. He's totally overpowered by the Phoenix and disintegrated, leaving the rest of the team reeling from the death. It could have been an interesting idea to explore, as it removed the superteam's mentor in their darkest hour. But nobody really steps up to fill his shoes and Charles is brought back pretty quickly in a post-credits scene.
Most Satisfying: Magneto lifts the submarine (X-Men: First Class)
X-Men: First Class is really Magneto's movie, in many ways. Not only is his backstory one of the most famous from the X-Men comics, but Michael Fassbender's performance–in several languages–is one of the movie's best. It's very satisfying, therefore, to see the character truly tap into their incredible powers.
The big moment of the whole movie comes when Magneto lifts the villain's submarine right out of the water to drop it onto a nearby beach. He's only able to do this, however, by taking Charles Xavier's advice to tap into his emotional side to amplify his magnetic manipulation powers. It produces a triumphant moment for not just the character and their development but also the development of their important relationship with Charles.
Most Disappointing: The original debut of Deadpool (X-Men Origins: Wolverine)
Ryan Reynolds became the actor behind one of comic book movie history's most beloved interpretations when he starred as Deadpool in the character's first standalone movie in 2016. But this wasn't the first time that Reynolds had appeared on screen as the character and his debut had been met with far less enthusiasm from fans.
The Deadpool from X-Men Origins: Wolverine attempted to make a joke out of the character's reputation for his talkative nature by literally removing his mouth and turning him into a robotic killing machine with retractable arm swords, amongst many other powers. This version of the character was a lot of stuff that fans didn't want and none of the stuff that they did. It's no wonder why the Deadpool movies would treat this version of the character as harshly as Reynolds' take on Green Lantern in the film's jokes.
Most Satisfying: The opening credits of Deadpool (Deadpool)
After the big disappointment of Deadpool's first live-action movie appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, fans were understandably anxious to find out what the character's first solo movie, with the same actor, would be like. Luckily, it didn't disappoint and the laughs started right out of the gate in the hilarious opening credits.
Poking fun at the idea of opening credits in general, the intro to Deadpool has plenty of meta-jokes and playful digs at the cast and crew with it also successfully establishing the comedically graphic style of the movie's violence right off the bat also.
Most Disappointing: The first attempt at Juggernaut (X-Men: The Last Stand)
Juggernaut is another beloved Marvel Comics character that got a less-than-stellar debut in the live-action movies. He was played by Vinnie Jones in The Last Stand and, aside from being as heavily underutilized as many other important characters were in that movie, the performance simply failed to capture the intimidating nature of the unstoppable mutant. The actor himself would even open up about how massively disappointed he was with the outcome many years later.
Playing to the redemptive quality of the first Deadpool movie, Deadpool 2 had another crack at the character with much better results but the Last Stand version still remains as a sorry emblem of the franchise's lowest points.
Most Satisfying: Magneto moves the coin (X-Men: First Class)
Another big moment in X-Men: First Class that demonstrates how it's really Magneto's movie is when the character takes a turn towards villainy after the big emotional release of the submarine lifting scene.
Having incapacitated the villain with the help of Charles Xavier, Magneto brings the movie full circle back to the opening where his mother was killed by the villain to motivate a young Magneto to use his powers to move a coin. Magneto carries the coin with him as a token of his revenge quest, he then repeats the villain's original instructions back to him before using his vastly developed powers to move the coin through the villain's head. It's a cold kill that's both totally deserved and unforgettably awesome to watch.
Most Disappointing: Mystique's death (Dark Phoenix)
After sticking with the franchise through thick and thin during its modern run, with her character escaping certain death many times, Jennifer Lawrence had earned a much more impactful exit from the series of movies than what she got in Dark Phoenix.
Her fan-favorite character, Mystique, was accidentally killed by Jean Grey in an emotional moment but it's all too abrupt to settle in properly, with Lawrence having very little to do in the movie before it happens. It's also one of those big movie moments that was effectively spoiled by the film's own promotional footage, dulling its edge even further.
Most Satisfying: Quicksilver's kitchen scene (X-Men: Days of Future Past)
With Days of Future Past, the X-Men movies became trendsetters within the genre again and the movie's most standout moment–of many–was when Quicksilver showed off the extent of his powers in a hyper slow-motion sequence.
Saving Wolverine and Charles Xavier as they attempt to break Magneto out of his prison cell beneath the Pentagon, Quicksilver casually breezes around the kitchen where the heroes have been cornered to easily disrupt the hail of bullets flying in midair, tying it all around the thematically appropriate song "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce.
Most Disappointing: Storm's weird one-liner (X-Men)
There are few things better than an epic payoff line in an action movie – if it's done correctly, that is. Storm's big moment during the finale of the original X-Men movie quickly stood out to movie fans as an oddly unsatisfying quip that has stood the test of time for all the wrong reasons.
Facing off against the classic villain Toad, Storm has the mutant on the backfoot and builds up the anticipation with the question "Do you know what happens to a toad when it's struck by lightning?" Only for her to answer her own question with the resoundingly disappointing line "The same thing that happens to everything else."
Most Satisfying: Logan says goodbye to Laura (Logan)
Logan functioned as a big sendoff for Hugh Jackman's take on Wolverine whilst taking the movie series to new territory, with quieter emotional moments balancing the more grounded action scenes. Jackman's final goodbye scene sees him bloodied and dying as he tries to tell his daughter all the things he should have before the last of his strength fades.
It's a heartbreaking moment but one that the movies had built up to perfectly with the closed-off character showing some honest vulnerability and no last-minute deus ex machina moments coming to spoil it.