The Fox X-Men franchise definitely had its ups and downs across all fourteen films. Yet, one thing is certain: the X-Men movies were groundbreaking for new superhero movies, doing some truly awesome things ahead of their time. They were the first to do a lot of things in the comic book movie space, and now, one of the series actors, James McAvoy, says his X-movies beat the Marvel Cinematic Universe to the punch in one big way, and I have to say, he’s right.
What James McAvoy Said About His X-Films
James McAvoy has love for his whole X-Men run, but when it comes to his favorite, he keeps circling back to two titles, and one bold swing those movies took before it was trendy. The British star appeared at New York Comic Con last week, and in a video (via EW’s Instagram), the actor was asked to pick his favorite Mutant-centric film.
I go back and forth. There’s a toss-up between First Class and Days of Future Past. First Class tried to do something quite different and a different kind of tonal approach, which I thought was really cool.
James McAvoy said he couldn’t quite choose between the reboot spark of First Class and the operatic time-knot of Days of Future Past. But, as he put it, Days of Future Past did do something that we Marvel movie fans hadn’t quite seen before, and this is where his thoughts got really interesting. He continued:
And then Days of Future Past went more classic, but did it so, so well. And it was… sort of one of the first ones that did all that timeline stuff and different-universe-y, crossover-y stuff we weren’t used to back then… It just felt a bit different and a bit new, so I go back and forth between the two.
That last bit tracks. In DOFP, McAvoy’s younger Xavier spends much of the film torn between cynicism and hope, a meaty arc that gave him more to play than the usual “wise mentor in a wheelchair” stereotype. But also, though we now take Marvel’s Multiverse for granted — even if I am kind of multiverse worn out these days — the “timey-twisty” superhero movie did do some of the crossover stuff first.
How Days of Future Past Was Ahead Of Its Time
McAvoy’s not wrong. Years before the MCU built Phase-spanning bridges with Loki, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Days of Future Past (2014) was out here smashing eras together like action figures on the living-room floor, before it was cool. Here’s how it set the template:
- A true generational crossover. Bringing the X-Men OGs (Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, et al.) into a story shared with the First Class cohort (McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult) gave the film a legitimacy and emotional continuity that modern cameos often chase but rarely earn.
- Timeline mechanics with stakes. The dystopian future framed every decision in the past, and the movie communicated those causal ripples cleanly. When comic-book films later embraced branching realities, DOFP had already road-tested how to do it without turning character arcs into math homework.
- Character first, spectacle second. The Quicksilver showcase still rips, the Sentinels still menace, but the spine of the movie is Charles and Erik. That emphasis is what keeps the timeline gymnastics from feeling like gimmickry.
- Soft reboot by design. The film’s endgame quietly re-threads continuity, resetting fates without erasing emotional history.
- Tonally balanced. First Class reintroduced the brand with a swinging-’60s vibe and a youthful edge; DOFP married that freshness to the operatic fatalism of the original trilogy. The result felt both “classic” and new, precisely the duality McAvoy points out.
Today’s slate of new Marvel movies sometimes feels like it treats the multiverse as a cameo vending machine. Still, Days of Future Past was in the game first and treated the themes with the narrative responsibility they deserve.
When you go back and watch all the Marvel movies in order with your Disney+ subscription, make sure to trace the cinematic genealogy of branching timelines and cross-era reunions. That’s right, the X-Men beat the MCU l to the punch, making time-twist personal first and spectacular second, and I think that’s a lesson worth revisiting.