Since he first debuted in 2000's X-Men, the character of Professor X was a staple of the X-Men films, having appeared 11 times in the series and being portrayed by both Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy. This centrality to the franchise follows from his role as the founder and mentor of the X-Men in the comics.
With Patrick Stewart appearing in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, almost certainly as Professor X, how has IMDb felt about each of the films in which the long-running character has (so far) appeared in?
X-Men: Dark Phoenix - 5.7
Critics and audiences were far from kind when it came to their feelings on 2019's Dark Phoenix, the final appearance of James McAvoy and the X-Men series' second attempt at adapting the classic "Dark Phoenix" storyline from the comic books.
Released after the Disney acquisition of 21st Century Fox (and thereby the first X-Men film distributed by Disney), there was little interest in the film since it was clear Marvel would reboot the franchise for the MCU. Dark Phoenix didn't even open at number one.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine - 6.6
With the first X-Men trilogy coming to an end with The Last Stand, Fox looked into creating spin-off origin movies featuring the most popular characters from that trilogy, and there was no better place to start than Wolverine, it seemed.
However, X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a disappointing mess for fans who had come to love Hugh Jackman's performance. However, IMDb gave it a much better treatment than Rotten Tomatoes, and the movie made for a pretty great Wolverine video game. It's Patrick Stewart's lowest-rated appearance, and he's lucky to have had only a cameo at the end.
The Wolverine - 6.7
This sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine also acted as a follow-up to X-Men: The Last Stand, dealing with the psychological aftermath of Wolverine killing Jean Grey. When a man he saved during the atomic bombing of Nagasaki contacts Wolverine to thank him, the hero is brought into a new conflict.
Like with Origins, Patrick Stewart's Professor X only appears in this film in a cameo at the end, alongside Ian McKellen's Magneto, setting up, MCU-style, the next film in the series, 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past.
X-Men: The Last Stand - 6.7
The series' first attempt to adapt the "Dark Phoenix" saga ended up being the low point of the initial trilogy of X-Men films after the financial and critical success of X-Men and X2: X-Men United. The several storylines crammed into one movie didn't help, either.
While it would be the highest-grossing film in the franchise until Deadpool beat its record in 2016, its success didn't carry over into subsequent films, leading to a soft reboot with X-Men: First Class. Although not IMDb's least favorite, it's clear how much more fans expected.
X-Men: Apocalypse - 6.9
The first X-Men film in the rewritten timeline, X-Men: Apocalypse was billed as an epic battle between the X-Men and one of the most powerful mutants in history, En Sabah Nur, known as the titular Apocalypse.
X-Men: Apocalypse underwhelmed in comparison to its predecessor, Days of Future Past, and Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse failed to match Magneto as a villain. While Professor X's fight on the astral plane with Apocalypse has its moments of interest, the film's unnecessary backstory for his hair loss is nonsensical.
X2: X-Men United - 7.4
After the first X-Men film made a massive financial and cultural impact, 2003's follow-up X2 met IMDb users' expectations, tying with its predecessor in ratings and only being placed lower because it received less user ratings than the first film.
X2 upped the stakes of the first film by having Professor X and Magneto join forces to fight a common threat to mutantkind in the form of William Stryker, a mutant-hating army colonel. Inspired by the storyline "God Loves, Man Kills", X2 was everything a sequel to X-Men needed to be.
X-Men - 7.4
To stave off bankruptcy in the 1990s, Marvel sold off their films rights. That's how 20th Century Fox ended up acquiring the rights to, among other properties, the X-Men, with their 2000 first outing being the start of Marvel heroes banking at the box office.
Told from the viewpoints of Rogue and Wolverine, Professor X's role as a mentor is established from the beginning, and his feud with Magneto over the proper course of mutant-human relations is what drives the conflict of the first film.
Deadpool 2 - 7.7
Although Deadpool was part of the Fox X-Men deal, his disastrous first outing in X-Men Origins: Wolverine nearly killed his character's cinematic future, until he was resuscitated in 2016's enormously successful Deadpool.
In Deadpool 2, Deadpool ends up at the X-Mansion and breaks the fourth wall to point out that there's little connection between his films and the main series, only for a brief reveal that the newer X-Men characters, including James McAvoy's Professor X, are in the other room. It probably wasn't a big factor in Deadpool 2 becoming one of the most successful X-Men films, but who knows?
X-Men: First Class - 7.7
Originating as X-Men Origins: Magneto, Matthew Vaughn's prequel film reinvigorated the X-Men franchise with First Class by, in part, introducing younger versions of Professor X, Magneto, and Mystique, played by James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawrence, respectively.
First Class also switches up the genre, replacing regular superhero fare with a Cold War spy thriller about revenge and identity, while still setting up the fundamental disagreement between Professor X and Magneto. McAvoy more than earned his right to inherit the role with this performance.
X-Men: Days of Future Past - 7.9
Audiences, including IMDb users, loved this film, which combined both versions of the X-Men characters. Released in 2014, Days of Future Past acted as a kind of passing of the torch between the two generations, with McAvoy and Stewart even sharing a scene together as their respective versions of their characters.
One can almost see the basic shape of the multiversal hijinks of Spider-Man: No Way Home and the time-displacing adventure of Avengers: Endgame in Days of Future Past, as well. This combination of worlds, although pulled off very well, feels like Fox's attempt to copy the crossover-fueled success of 2012's The Avengers. It's also disappointing that its rebooted timeline was only explored in the past, and not the new present.
Logan - 8.1
Patrick Stewart's final appearance in the Fox X-Men series was in the emotional whirlwind that was 2017's Logan. Depicting a timeline separate from all of the other X-Men films, in which mutants have seemingly been nearly wiped out, Logan is a grim superhero film, but also one of the genre's best.
Any argument against Logan's acclaim is definitely an unpopular Wolverine opinion. Thes acclaim it received was due in no small part to the performances of Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart, and their versions in this movie are the most impressive of the entire series.