Watch the surprise "cameo" by Spider-Man during a blooper scene from 2000's X-Men. Following the success of Blade in 1998, it was really X-Men that kicked off the modern-day comic book movie craze. The studio didn't have much faith in the blockbuster and assigned it a relatively modest budget, but its great cast - including Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen as Professor X and Magneto respectively - and fun setpieces saw it become a major success.

The X-Men movie franchise itself would last for 20 years, though the critical rankings for the series varied greatly. The likes of X-Men: First Class or 2017's Logan - the final entry in the solo Wolverine trilogy - are regarded as the best, while X-Men Origins: Wolverine or 2019's Dark Phoenix proved disappointing to many. The saga came to an ignoble close with the release of The New Mutants, a long-delayed spinoff once intended to launch its own spinoff series. The X-Men franchise is set to be rebooted within the MCU, though when or where they'll first appear has yet to be confirmed.

Related: Sony Owes It To Sam Raimi To Make Spider-Man 4

Given the popularity of shared universes and multiverses now, it's strange to think that Spider-Man and the X-Men have yet to appear together onscreen. Hugh Jackman once revealed that Wolverine was set to make a cameo appearance in 2002's Spider-Man - which had many famous cameos - but while he flew to New York to film it, his costume was tied up elsewhere so it didn't happen. While this may imply the X-Men exists within the world of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man movies, it sounded like this Wolverine appearance was more of a tongue-in-cheek gag. Technically, Spider-Man did cameo in 2000's X-Men, but only as part of a blooper.

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Spider-Man's X-Men "cameo" sees the character run up behind the titular superheroes, only to awkwardly apologize for being in the "wrong movie" and running off. For this blooper scene, stuntman Scott Leva played the part, with Leva having been a previous contender to play Peter Parker during the 1980s when Cannon Films were prepping a movie about the character that didn't ultimately happen. Leva also has a credited role in X-Men as Waterboy #2.

Of course, Spider-Man's surprise X-Men cameo was intended to be a silly gag, and it's doubtful that anyone at the time had serious designs on crossovers. Over 20 years later, such an appearance is much more plausible - or maybe even inevitable - but even as a blooper scene, it's kind of nice to see Spider-Man and the X-Men share the screen.

Next: The Complete X-Men Movie Timeline Explained (From 2000 To Dark Phoenix)