Since the 1960s, the X-Men have been a big part of Marvel comics. What began as a small team of mutants and their foes has grown into a huge roster of characters with many amazing and some quite odd abilities. The team starred in a very popular cartoon series in the 1990s, then finally jumped to the big screen 25 years ago in 2000.

The X-Men movie introduces Charles Xavier/Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and his X-Men, Ororo Munroe/Storm (Halle Berry), Scott Summers/Cyclops (James Marsden), and Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) who operate as superheroes and teach young mutants at the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. They save Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Marie/Rogue (Anna Paquin) from Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto (Ian McKellen) and learn that he wants to use Rogue’s abilities to power a machine that will turn all people into mutants. Wolverine joins the X-Men for a big showdown against Magneto’s team of Mystique (Rebecca Romijn), Toad (Ray Park), and Sabretooth (Tyler Mane). Directed by Bryan Singer and written by David Hayter, X-Men arrived in theaters 25 years ago on July 14, 2000.

The first attempt to make an X-Men movie was long before that in 1984 when comic writers Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas wrote a script. After it stalled, Stan Lee and Chris Claremont were in talks with James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow for a movie in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s, but it went through several script revisions and fell through. The next attempt began in 1996 when Singer and producer Tom DeSanto boarded the project. Claremont talked to Fox about what makes the X-Men different from other superheroes, while Singer and DeSanto worked on the story. The script went through several writers until Hayter, who had knowledge of the X-Men comics, took the concepts they liked and wrote the script.

When it came to casting, the role of Wolverine garnered several options, including Russell Crowe, Viggo Mortensen, and Dougray Scott. Janet Jackson was offered the part of Storm, Rachael Leigh Cook was offered Rogue, and Charlize Theron was offered Jean Grey, but all three turned them down. Jim Caviezel was originally set to play Cyclops before he dropped out. Stewart, McKellen, and Bruce Davison were all immediately cast as Professor X, Magneto, and Senator Kelly, respectively.

Filming took place from late ’99 to early 2000 in and around Toronto, Ontario with Spencer Smith Park doubling for Liberty Island. They decided against using comic-accurate costumes, a decision that was supported by Lee and Claremont, going for a sleek black leather look instead. Romijn had the most intensive special effects makeup which included 110 silicone prosthetics and head to toe paint. The special effects were handled by multiple companies with Mike Fink as the visual effects supervisor.

The movie opened to huge success, making $21.4 million on the first day to become the then-third highest opening day (after The Phantom Menace and The Lost World). The debut weekend totaled $57.5 million, becoming the then-highest grossing opener for a superhero movie.

It also spawned two connected sequels, X2 (2003) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). Jackman starred in his own trilogy, X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), The Wolverine (2013), and Logan (2017). The prequel films recast many roles with younger actors starting with X-Men: First Class (2011), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), and Dark Phoenix (2019). Additional spinoffs have included The New Mutants (2020), and the Deadpool trilogy released in 2016, 2018, and 2024. Several of the original X-Men trilogy stars – including Stewart, McKellen, Romijn, Marsden, Alan Cumming as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler, and Kelsey Grammer as Hank McCoy/Beast – are reprising their roles in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday.