X-Men Dark Phoenix timeline EXPLAINED: Is Dark Phoenix set in the past or future?

X-Men: Dark Phoenix concludes the current crop of X-Men films which started in 2000. Fox’s X-Men universe won’t quite make it to 20 years after the Fox-Disney merger saw the film rights back with Marvel. Marvel Cinematic Universe curators now plan to contain the X-Men within the MCU, meaning the mutant team is likely heading for another reboot. The films received a soft reboot in 2011 from director Matthew Vaughn which slightly altered the timeline of events and confused fans.

The timeline for the X-Men films was uncomplicated from the outset, as the first three films ran parallel to the modern day.

However, after X-Men: The Last Stand, a number of spin-offs and a soft reboot made the timeline more troublesome.

The Hugh Jackman spinoff X-Men Origins: Wolverine was set in 1845, followed by the X-Men reboot First Class in 2011 which traced the origins of Charles Xavier and Magneto to 1962.

The new X-Men films up to Dark Phoenix come after 1962.

READ MORE: What is the future of the X-Men universe?

The original films and the reboot were joined together in X-Men: Days of Future Past which erased the events of the original films.

The X-Men timelines are as follows:

Original X-Men Timeline

– 1845: X-Men Origins: Wolverine (first act)

– 1962: X-Men: First Class

– 1979: X-Men Origins: Wolverine (second act)

– 2003: X-Men

– 2003: X2: X-Men United

– 2006: X-Men: The Last Stand

– 2013: The Wolverine

– 2023: X-Men: Days of Future Past

READ MORE: X-Men Dark Phoenix ending EXPLAINED

Revised X-Men Timeline

– 1845: X-Men Origins: Wolverine (first section)

– 1962: X-Men: First Class

– 1973: X-Men: Days of Future Past

– 1983: X-Men: Apocalypse

– 1990s: X-Men: Dark Phoenix

– 2029: Logan (alternate future)

READ MORE: Is there an end credits sequence in Dark Phoenix?

Is Dark Phoenix set in the past or future?

Given the current X-Men universe is set in the relaunched timeline, this makes Dark Phoenix the most current core franchise film.

Dark Phoenix is set in the present, and the 1990s is the present day for the X-Men universe right now.

The only film in the new timeline set after this is Logan – and this may branch off even from the revised timeline.