10 X-Men Movie Mistakes You’ll Never Be Able to Unsee

Fox’s (and now, Disney’s) X-Men franchise has had as many misses as hits in the quality department, but merit can be still be found even in the lesser films. And, in the hits, flaws are also readily apparent. Big-budget movie productions are far from immune to the occasional gaffe. With such a convoluted creation process fueled by so many people how could they be? But every now and then there’s a mistake that, once seen, just can’t be unseen, like the Stormtrooper bonking his head in the original Star Wars film. What follows are the head bonking Stormtroopers of the X-Men cinematic saga.

The only exceptions form this list are the three Deadpool movies, as they could have a list all their own. As for the original X-Men trilogy, the Wolverine trilogy, the X-Men prequel films, and The New Mutants…all fair game. Without further delay, the X-Men movie mistakes you’re going to have a hard time forgetting during the next rewatch.

Wolverine & Cyclops’ Height Changes

When the production of Bryan Singer’s X-Men started, there was effort put in to make Cyclops and Wolverine’s sizes accurate to the Marvel comics. Specifically, Wolverine would be on the shorter side, and Cyclops would certainly be taller.

But, for reasons unknown (perhaps the added stress on getting shots just right during set-up), this effort was discarded midway through the shoot. Instead, they just shot the actors as they are, with the taller Hugh Jackman standing a bit over James Marsden. Even still, in some of the film’s shots, Scott Summers is noticeably taller than Logan. It makes sense they let this focus go faster than Halle Berry dropped Storm’s Kenyan accent, as it’s something they would have had to continue doing in the sequels that were likely before the movie hit theaters and guaranteed afterwards.

Nightcrawler’s a Little Early in X2: X-Men United

During X2: X-Men United‘s Alkali Lake finale, the teleporting Nightcrawler teams up with Storm to save a few young mutants being kept in a cell. At one point, the camera is centered on those kids with Alan Cumming’s Nightcrawler standing behind them. Yet, he hasn’t actually teleported into their cell yet.

Admittedly, Nightcrawler does teleport into that cell mere moments later, but it’s still a lack of logic in terms of chronology. That is, unless he teleported in there, then back out to Storm, then back in for no apparent reason. But, on the whole, the best installment of the original X-Men trilogy is fairly free of glaring gaffes.

Night Falls Very Quickly in X-Men : The Last Stand

Admittedly, it works well to have a high-stakes final battle in a trilogy-capper occur at night. Not only can it help cover up shoddy CGI shots, it also just works for the mood. But the final battle in X-Men: The Last Stand, even though it doesn’t occur throughout the course of numerous hours, seemingly does just that.

When Magneto and his band of mutants first step onto the Golden Gate Bridge, it couldn’t be brighter outside. Sunset is on its way and there’s some fog, but for the most part it’s broad daylight. Once Magneto has lifted it up, redirecting it to Alcatraz, there’s a wide shot that is still in the daytime. But, once he drops that bridge, it’s suddenly about nine o’ clock at night. It’s an error so apparent it is even mentioned on the DVD commentary.

Wolverine’s Dry Hair in X-Men Origins: Wolverine

If there’s an X-movie with a greater number of noticeable flaws than usual, it’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. For one, the blatantly CGI claws, which have been oft discussed. Then there’s the fact that, in all the flashbacks to Wolverine’s surgery strewn throughout the original trilogy, just about everything looks different from the surgery sequence seen here.

Speaking of that surgery scene, there’s also Logan’s hair. Once he breaks out of the chamber, rushing towards his escape into the forest, his hair looks like he just got done with the blow dryer, not like he was just submerged in a pool for a long period of time. It’s the Michael Caine’s shirt in Jaws: The Revenge of the X-Men film franchise.

[RELATED: Former Marvel Star Liev Schreiber Admits Relief Over Not Returning for a Cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine]

A Gun at Not-So-Point Blank in X-Men: First Class

In X-Men: First Class, Charles Xavier raises a pistol to Magneto’s head at the latter’s request. Magneto wants to test himself and claims he could stop the bullet even at point blank range.

The thing is, just how far that gun is from Magneto’s head changes from shot to shot. First, it’s close to touching the skin. In the next shot, the gun is touching the skin. After that, it’s back to being close, but not touching.

Logan Apparently Doesn’t Have Kneecaps in The Wolverine

The Wolverine has a blunder you don’t need to be a doctor to recognize, but it helps. In the scene where Logan is trying to remove a heart parasite from his own body, he pulls an X-Ray machine over his sternum so he can get a better look at the critter’s location.

The gaffe occurs early during that relatively quick process up pulling up the X-Ray machine. Specifically, when it’s ascending his legs towards the sternum, it shows an utter lack of kneecaps.

Magneto’s Weird Beard in X-Men: Apocalypse

The length of facial hair on Magneto (Michael Fassbender) changes quite a bit throughout the forgettable X-Men: Apocalypse. Part of that is due to the narrative, as in the first act, when he’s with his family, he’s more scraggly, less clean shaven. But another part of that is the simple fact that the length of the facial hair is oftentimes a gaffe.

There’s hair changing length throughout the course of a narrative and there’s hair changing length throughout the course of a single scene. For instance, when Apocalypse and Magneto have kidnapped Charles Xavier and they’re looking over Cairo as Magneto is altering its topography, one can see the landscape of the magnetic mutant’s face change, as well. Sometimes there’s some stubble, sometimes it’s as if he shaved two minutes prior. Facial hair is a frequently seen continuity error, but it’s somewhat rarer that there is noticeable within the same scene.

A Gambler Unaffected by Xavier’s Seizure

In Logan, during their trip to the hotel slash casino, the title character, young X-23, and everyone else is greatly affected by Charles Xavier’s seizure. They freeze up, hearing a horrible ringing in their ears. The only one can move at all is Logan, thanks to his surplus of strength and mutant ability, even if he has seen better days.

Well, Logan and one other individual. As he struggles towards the hotel room where Xavier has guns pointed to his head, he has to pass a room filled with slot machines. Playing one of those machines is a woman who is, apparently, immune to the threatened mutant upstairs’ seizure. She’s just looking around, somewhat nonchalantly, perhaps wondering why everyone seems painfully frozen in time. It goes to show that even one of the best comic book movies of all time isn’t exempt from readily apparent gaffes.

A Delayed Response for Mystique’s Blood in X-Men: Dark Phoenix

During the fight on Jean Gray’s home street in X-Men: Dark Phoenix, she accidentally sends Raven AKA Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) flying to her death. And, after that impalement, the viewer gets a shot of Jean with a fully clean shirt. But it doesn’t stay clean.

A handful of scenes later, Jean is seen huddled over, crying in an alleyway. Even through the beating down rain, the viewer can very clearly see what should have been on her shirt just after Raven’s death: a bloodstain. And considering the bloodstain is again seen when she’s in Genosha, one wonders why they didn’t just either go back and film a few more reaction shots for Jean on that suburban street or re-do the alleyway (and Genosha) scenes. Dark Phoenix went through a lot of struggles making it to the big screen in its sometimes-incomprehensible form, but this was a pretty huge lapse even still.

Magic Disappearing Graffiti in The New Mutants

During The New Mutants‘ first act, Magik (Anya Taylor-Joy) begrudgingly shows Mirage (Blu Hunt) around the school’s campus. The movie makes a point of showing a stone fountain in which Magik has stored away some spray paint, which she then uses to craft a small artwork on the fountain.

It’s not the last time the viewer sees that stone fountain, and it’s not even the last time they see Magik’s artwork on it. But the graffiti artwork comes and goes, depending on the shot. There are bigger gaffes on this list, but it’s still noticeable. And, given how The New Mutants had as hard a time reaching its finished form as X-Men: Dark Phoenix, it’s really just surprising there weren’t more glaring mistakes than some disappearing and reappearing graffiti.