LogFAQs > #881402238

The movies cherrypick what's canon and not all the time.

X1 is it's own thing.
X2 is a direct successor to X1.
For X3, it uses everything from the first three.
For Origins: Wolverine, it accepts that the events of the first three will more or less happen, perhaps with some slight differences.Origins also starts getting ignored by the other movies shortly.
First Class starts the real big retcons. It's still implied the other movies will happen, but there are definite differences between the movies at this point.
The Wolverine implies that X1 and X2 happened almost exactly the way they appeared on screen. X3 and Origins are up in the air where the general gist of what happened is still there, but the minor details here and there that are different.
DOFP tries to reconcile the differences between "two" timelines, but even if it retcons some things without the time travel.
Apocalypse is a direct sequel from First Class and fits in nicely there, and also it fits in the past stuff from DOFP nicely enough. The biggest issue here is that it's supposed to take place ~20 years after First Class and no one has aged at all (and don't say mutants age slower, Moira is the same fucking age).
Logan sorta takes a mishmash of what happens in the different movies but still is clearly in it's own little thing.


So what I theorize is that there are about 6 timelines right now, with the potential for more.
The original timeline: X1 --> X2 --> X3
The Wolverine Origins timeline: Origins --> X1 --> X2 --> X3
The 'fixed' timeline: FC --> DOFP (past) --> Apocalypse --> Dark Phoenix --> end scene of DOFP
Another Wolverine timeline: Origins (the gist) --> X1 --> X2 --> X3 (small details different) --> The Wolverine
The 'bad' timeline: FC --> X1 --> X2 --> --> X3 --> The Wolverine --> DOFP (Future)
Fucked up timeline: FC (minor details changed) --> DOFP (past) (minor details changed) --> Apocalypse (minor details changed) --> X1 (minor details changed) --> X2 (minor details changed) --> Logan


It's not that the slight differences are enough to say "oh look! A new timeline guys!" It's just that there's quite a bit of incompatibility. I think it's easier to say that the movies tend to be their own things where they pick inspiration from where to say is canon to their story (unless it's the original trilogy or the prequel trilogy where they're clear where they get their canon from).
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There are some things where I just bypass critical thinking. - ROD
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