Confused by the Cinematic X-Men Universe? You’re Not Alone!

Matt Singer has words of comfort. His article is titled No, It’s Not Just You, the ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ Timeline Makes No Sense. To be fair, part of the appeal of comics is that they track characters through complex stories in even more complex settings written and illustrated over decades by many different people. And even with categories like “imaginary stories” with no precedential value, comics have always had inconsistencies and mis-chronologies.

But the “X-Men” movie series, even within its own universe, has not really worried much about logic or consistency, and Matt Singer does a great job of laying it all out. For example, it’s 1983, and Magneto, who was a child during WWII, is in his 30’s. Unless his mutant powers include perpetual youth, that does not make sense. Same for Moira MacTaggert, and she isn’t even a mutant. And this is my favorite.

Speaking of Mystique: Wasn’t she kind of a villain in the last movie? She was trying to kill Boliver Trask. Now she’s leading the X-Men into battle? Does that even have any precedent in X-Men comics?

Jennifer Lawrence is really popular, guys. Like hugely popular. They’ve gotta keep her involved somehow.