'X-Men' Fans Celebrate, Reflect on the Film's Influence 18 Years After Release

For fans of superhero movies, it's a great time to be alive. Not only is there a wealth of comic book inspired films to choose from, but those films are frequently massive mainstream successes appealing not just to traditional fans, but to the public at large and in many ways. we have X-Men to thank for that.

Opening on July 14th, 2000, 20th Century Fox's X-Men marked the beginning of not just the still-ongoing X-Men film franchise, but the boom of superhero movies we're still seeing dominate at the box office. While X-Men was by no means the first superhero movie, it was markedly different from those that came before it, presenting a very different kind of superhero film than fans had seen before. It's not entirely inaccurate to say that if it hadn't been for X-Men there may not have been a Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it today.

But X-Men is more than the beginning of a wave of well-made, entertaining, and successful films based off of beloved comic book characters and stories. For many fans, seeing the X-Men on the big screen gave them characters and figures that they could identify with and relate to, a story of those who were different and were perceived to not belong who became, well, heroes, rising above those who sought to hold them back.

So today, in honor of the 18th anniversary of the film's release, fans have taken to social media to celebrate the film that changed everything for superhero cinema as well as reflect on how the film has influenced not just the movie landscape, but their lives and culture as well. Read on for how the internet is honoring X-Men.