Movies - TV
The X-Men Timeline Explained
By JOE GARZA
Since time travel was introduced in “Days of Future Past,” there have been conflicting events and multiple versions of the same characters. It’s not just time travel that made the series’ timeline confusing, though — sometimes it was a lack of communication on the filmmakers’ part, such as when Caliban appears in two different films set in two different time periods.
Throughout History
Before the X-Men set out to protect a world that hates and fears them, mutants slowly made their presence known throughout history. One of the first mutants to appear was En Sabah Nur, better known as Apocalypse, in 3,600 BC, who is seen at the end of “Days of Future Past” building a pyramid with only his mind.
World War II
World War II was an important moment in history for the X-Men. “The Wolverine” depicts Logan imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp, where he rescues Ichirō Yashida, while “X-Men: First Class” shows a young Erik Lehnsherr separated from his family at Auschwitz, an experience so traumatic it unleashes his magnetic powers.
1962
In 1962, CIA agent MacTaggert, Xavier, and Lehnsherr recruit young mutants and train them to use their powers to stop the Hellfire Club from causing World War III. While they manage to stop the Hellfire Club, Xavier is shot in the back, leaving him unable to walk, and Lehnsherr turns his back on the X-Men to become Magneto.
The 1970s
Much of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” takes place in the '70s, where Logan serves in the Vietnam War and undergoes a procedure to have adamantium grafted to his skeleton. The film’s events are altered when, in 1973, the consciousness of the older Logan is sent back into the body of his younger self to stop an assassination attempt.