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When it comes to “Mothers’ Instinct,” not every movie needs to be ART. Review.

Somewhere between What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and Carol lies Mothers’ Instinct. Set vaguely in the early 1960s, this psychological thriller thrusts two of America’s most thrilling actresses at each other in a queer-coded battle of wills and mental illness. 

Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain star as a pair of (mostly) happy homemakers who live side by side in charming suburbia. Established cinematographer Benoît Delhomme makes his directorial debut here, draping the film in a dreamy pastel palette that cools as the plot kicks in. An untimely death throws these very, very close friends into a spiral of suspicion that threatens to not only end their bond but maybe even several lives along the way. 

Steeped in tension and twisted possibilities, Mothers’ Instinct is a deliciously deranged drama that’s destined to find an audience that appreciates its brand of camp.  

Mothers’ Instinct delivers a tale of motherhood and jealousy.  

Hathaway stars as Celine, an unflappably chic housewife who is as beloved by her dashing husband Damian (Josh Charles) and chipper son Max as she is by the local PTA. But no one loves her as much as Alice does. Played by Chastain, the next-door neighbor/best friend looks at Celine with a yawning awe, not only for all Celine’s capable of but also how easy she makes it look. 

While Celine is utterly content with her picture-perfect domesticity, Alice pines to return to work, hungry to be “more” than a wife and mother. Their differences fester when a tragic accident robs Celine of her only child, leaving her bereft and staring at the greener grass on her neighbor’s lawn — where a little boy still frolics. 

Celine’s attitude chills so sharply toward Alice that she begins to wonder if her friend resents her. Desperate to reconnect, Alice gives all she can to her grief-stricken bosom buddy. But before long, she begins to wonder if Celine is scheming to take something more from her… maybe even revenge. 

Mothers’ Instinct has a Lifetime movie plot with a queer undercurrent. 

Based on Barbara Abel’s 2012 novel Behind the Hatred, Mothers’ Instinct plunges unapologetically into domestic terror, pitting two young mothers against each other in a war of emotion and manipulation. Because Alice has a history of mental illness, Celine’s hesitant to confess her suspicions to her husband, Simon (Anders Danielsen Lie). Which is probably for the best, as Simon is an insensitive oaf, ever ready to ignore his wife’s inconvenient feelings. 

However, as bodies begin to pile up around the ballet flats of lovely Celine, Alice won’t be ignored. But how can she hit back at the woman she loves, even if that woman is turning homicidal?

A queer undercurrent brings a juicy layer to this plot line. The menfolk bop about the lawns and dining rooms, chortling and considering themselves kings of their castles, intentionally two-dimensional. They are nowhere near as real or alive to their wives as their wives are to each other. A sex scene between Alice and her husband is cut short when he declares he wants to impregnate her, a turn-off to a woman who dreams of passion, not more dirty diapers. Meanwhile, simple scenes where Alice and Celine dance together or console each other throb with intimacy and even (potentially one-sided) desire. Combined with Delhomme’s romantic palette, Mothers’ Instinct feels more Todd Haynes than Alfred Hitchcock. And it’s easy to imagine if circumstances were a little different, Alice might take Celine to lunch and declare her “flung out of space.” 

Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain are Mothers’ Instinct biggest asset and its greatest obstacle. 

Both actresses ably hip-swivel through the dastardly dance that is the movie’s most vicious turns. Hathaway offering a chilliness that is enticingly enigmatic, while Chastain is often on the brink of tears, eyes on fire. Together, they play a battle of love and hatred that is so twisted, intense, and entertaining that it recalls Robert Aldrich’s iconic psycho-biddy thriller What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Hathaway and Chastain don’t go as theatrical as Bette Davis and Joan Crawford once did, but rightfully so; their at-war heroines are not decades into their festered bond. Still, their performances shimmy knowingly into camp. 

But this might be the problem. Not the performances themselves, which are divinely committed and juicy, but the simple fact that Hathaway and Chastain are so respected and so damn famous. When Davis and Crawford went off the rails in that hagsploitation classic, they were aging leading ladies using their fading status to fuel the subtext of the showbiz horror gem. Watching them go feral was a bold and educated choice. (And it paid off, earning Davis a Best Actress Oscar nomination ten years after her last, plus a slew of other horror roles.)

Hathaway and Chastain are far from fading; they are still undeniable headliners and Oscar winners. So when they join forces for a movie, audiences might not expect something as willfully tawdry as Mothers’ Instinct. This is not a sophisticated thriller on par with Vertigo or even Dial M for Murder, but neither does it need to be to satisfy. 

Hathaway is too interesting an actress to be relegated only to prestige pics. Recently, she elated critics in the flirty rom-com The Idea of You and the gnarly thriller Eileen. But personally, I most love her big swings, like when she played a toxic femme fatale in the psycho-sexual thriller Serenity or an alcoholic who accidentally manifests a rampaging kaiju in Colossal. Meanwhile, Chastain has mixed it up, leaping genres from the superhero flick X-Men: Dark Phoenix to the horror movie IT Chapter Two, to the utterly forgettable espionage thriller Ava. But after her Oscar win for her transformative performance in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, it’s about time she gets to cut loose with some trashy thrills. And she does just that in Mothers’ Instinct. 

All this is to say, Mothers’ Instinct doesn’t reach the glorious heights of Hitchcock, or Haynes, or even Aldrich. Rather, Delhomme builds his domestic thriller in a valley in between. His heroines don’t reach the delicious camp hysteria of Davis or Crawford. They don’t pose in the elegant and openly queer yearning of Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. They might be formed in the mold of Hitchcock’s femme fatales, but to their credit, Hathaway and Chastain make these roles their own. 

In the end, Mothers’ Instinct might not be great cinema, but it is great fun. Spiked with twisted turns, explosive emotions, and a feud that’s frightening and fun to behold, it’s a thriller well worth its gnashed teeth and salty tears. 

Mothers’ Instinct opens in select theaters July 26 and on digital Aug. 13.

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The Comic-Con trailer for “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Season 2 is chock-full of glorious Middle-earth action.

The Comic-Con trailer for “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Season 2 is chock-full of glorious Middle-earth action.

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Live stream the Australia basketball team at Paris 2024 online for free from anywhere in the world.

TL;DR: Live stream Australia in the Paris 2024 basketball for free on BBC iPlayer. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

For basketball fans, it doesn’t get much more exciting than watching the game at this elite level: fast-and-furious, back-and-forth action with one of the most coveted prizes in all of sports up for grabs — a Paris 2024 gold medal.

There are twelve nations represented in each of the men’s and women’s competition, including Australia. But how can you watch the Australia basketball games for free from anywhere in the world? Here’s all the information you need.

When are Australia competing in the Paris 2024 basketball?

Australia are set to compete in the below group games at Paris 2024:

Men’s basketball

Australia vs. Spain in Group A — 5:00 a.m. ET on Jul. 27

Canada vs. Australia in Group A — 7:30 a.m. ET on Jul. 30

Australia vs. Greece in Group A — 7:30 a.m. ET on Aug. 2

Women’s basketball

Nigeria vs. Australia in Group B — 5:00 a.m. ET on Jul. 29

Australia vs. Canada in Group B — 7:30 a.m. ET on Aug. 1

Australia vs. France in Group B — 3:00 p.m. ET on Aug. 4

How to watch Australia in the Paris 2024 basketball for free

The basketball at Paris 2024 is available to live stream for free on BBC iPlayer.

BBC iPlayer is geo-restricted to the UK, but basketball fans from across the globe can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the UK, unblocking free streaming sites such as BBC iPlayer, along with all the Paris 2024 action, from anywhere in the world.

Unblock BBC iPlayer for free by following this simple process:

Sign up for a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

Open up the app and connect to a server in the UK

Visit BBC iPlayer

Live stream the basketball at Paris 2024 from anywhere in the world

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but leading VPNs do tend to offer free-trial periods or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can unblock BBC iPlayer without committing with your cash. This is obviously not a long-term solution, but it gives you time to stream the basketball events at Paris 2024, not to mention all other events, before recovering any initial investment.

What is the best VPN for BBC iPlayer?

ExpressVPN is the best service for streaming live sport on BBC iPlayer, for a number of reasons:

Servers in 105 countries including the UK

Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

Fast connection speeds free from throttling

Up to eight simultaneous connections

30-day money-back guarantee

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. As part of this plan you’ll get a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee.

Live stream Australia in the Paris 2024 basketball for free with ExpressVPN.

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Live stream the Canada basketball team at Paris 2024 online for free from anywhere in the world.

TL;DR: Live stream Canada in the Paris 2024 basketball for free on BBC iPlayer. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

Paris 2024 is offering up so much sport that its liable to make your spin like a basketball bouncing around the hoop. And there’s plenty of b-ball amongst it all, with the top basketballing nation competing for gold, silver, and bronze.

Canada are among the nations who are shooting to win a medal at Paris 2024, but how can you watch the Canada basketball games for free from anywhere in the world? Read on to find out.

When are Canada competing in the Paris 2024 basketball?

Canada are set to compete in the below group games at Paris 2024:

Men’s basketball

Greece vs. Canada in Group A — 3:00 p.m. ET on Jul. 27

Canada vs. Australia in Group A — 7:30 a.m. ET on Jul. 30

Canada vs. Spain in Group A — 11:15 a.m. ET on Aug. 2

Women’s basketball

Canada vs. France in Group B — 11:15 a.m. ET on Jul. 29

Australia vs. Canada in Group B — 7:30 a.m. ET on Aug. 1

Canada vs. Nigeria in Group B — 7:30 a.m. ET on Aug. 4

How to watch Canada in the Paris 2024 basketball for free

The basketball at Paris 2024 is available to live stream for free on BBC iPlayer.

BBC iPlayer is a free streaming platform that’s geo-restricted to the UK. But basketball fans from across the globe can watch it by using a VPN. A VPN can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server based in the UK, unblocking free streaming sites such as BBC iPlayer, giving you access to all the Paris 2024 action, from anywhere in the world.

Unblock BBC iPlayer for free by following this simple process:

Sign up for a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

Open up the app and connect to a server in the UK

Visit BBC iPlayer

Live stream the basketball at Paris 2024 from anywhere in the world

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but leading VPN providers usually have free trial offers or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these deals, you can unblock BBC iPlayer without committing any cash in the long run. This is obviously a short-term solution, but it gives you time to stream the basketball, along with lots more sporting action at Paris 2024, before recovering any initial investment.

What is the best VPN for BBC iPlayer?

ExpressVPN is the best service for streaming live sport on BBC iPlayer, for a number of reasons:

Servers in 105 countries including the UK

Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

Fast connection speeds free from throttling

Up to eight simultaneous connections

30-day money-back guarantee

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. Within that plan you’ll also get a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee.

Live stream Canada in the Paris 2024 basketball for free with ExpressVPN.

Read More 

Live stream the France basketball team at Paris 2024 online for free from anywhere in the world.

TL;DR: Live stream France in the Paris 2024 basketball for free on BBC iPlayer. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

France are sure to be hometown favorites in lots of the Paris 2024 events, not least of all in the basketball — one of the most exciting, fastest-paced sports you’ll see across the entire two weeks of action. Indeed, France are among the many nations shooting for gold, silver, and bronze in the Paris 2024 basketball, with twelve nations represented in both the men’s and women’s competitions.

But how can you watch the France basketball games for free from anywhere in the world? Keep reading to find out.

When are France competing in the Paris 2024 basketball?

France are set to compete in the below group games at Paris 2024:

Men’s basketball

France vs. Brazil in Group B — 11:15 a.m. ET on Jul. 27

Japan vs. France in Group B — 11:15 a.m. ET on Jul. 30

France vs. Germany in Group B — 3:00 p.m. ET on Aug. 2

Women’s basketball

Canada vs. France in Group B — 11:15 a.m. ET on Jul. 29

France vs. Nigeria in Group B —11:15 a.m. ET on Aug. 1

Australia vs. France in Group B — 3:00 p.m. ET on Aug. 4

How to watch France in the Paris 2024 basketball for free

The basketball at Paris 2024 is available to live stream for free on BBC iPlayer.

BBC iPlayer is a free streaming platform that’s geo-blocked outside of the UK. But basketball fans from across the globe can watch it by using a VPN. A VPN will hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect with a secure server in the UK, helping unblock free streaming sites such as BBC iPlayer, giving you access to all the Paris 2024 action, from anywhere around the world.

Unblock BBC iPlayer for free by following this simple process:

Sign up for a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

Open up the app and connect to a server in the UK

Visit BBC iPlayer

Live stream the basketball at Paris 2024 from anywhere in the world

The best VPNs for streaming are not actually free to use, but leading VPN providers usually sweeten the deal with free trial periods or money-back guarantees. By using these deals, you can unblock BBC iPlayer without committing any cash. This is obviously a short-term solution, but it gives you time to stream the basketball, and plenty more sporting action at Paris 2024, before claiming back any initial investment.

What is the best VPN for BBC iPlayer?

ExpressVPN is the best service for streaming live sport on BBC iPlayer, for a number of reasons:

Servers in 105 countries including the UK

Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

Fast connection speeds free from throttling

Up to eight simultaneous connections

30-day money-back guarantee

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. That plan also gives you a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee.

Live stream France in the Paris 2024 basketball for free with ExpressVPN.

Read More 

The Lego Disney and Pixar ‘Up’ house is on sale at Amazon for $47.99, down from the full price of $59.99.

TL;DR: The Lego Disney and Pixar Up House building set is available at Amazon for $47.99, down from the full price of $59.99.

Before the Mashable Shopping team shares a deal with our readers, we check to make sure it’s actually a good deal. Major retailers (we’re looking at you, Amazon), sometimes use the word “deal” a bit liberally. We find a lot of always-on discounts when hunting for deals, and we typically skip over these in favor of new and notable discounts. But we’re making an exception today for this adorable Lego building set.

Right now, the Lego Disney and Pixar Up House building set is discounted 20% to a sale price of $47.99. Technically, that is a deal compared to the MSRP of $59.99, but Amazon almost always sells the Lego Up House at this discounted price.

While this sale doesn’t meet our normal deals standards, we couldn’t resist sharing this set. Anyone who shed a few tears (or bawled) during that scene in Up will understand. Plus, it’s still a genuine bargain compared to the full price of $59.99 listed on the Lego site.

The Lego Disney and Pixar Up House is a colorful display of Carl Fredricksen’s iconic home, complete with balloons anchored to the chimney. Ready to fly off to Paradise Falls, the set also comes with Carl, his dog Dug, and his new pal Russell. With 598 pieces, the set is designed for Lego fans ages nine and up. The house measures about 10.5 inches tall, 6 inches wide, and 4 inches deep, so it’s compact enough to display on a bookshelf once you’re done building. Let the adventure and imagination of Up live on in your home.

An iconic Pixar film paired with the legendary experience of a Lego set is something special for Disney fans of all ages. But we have to admit that we’re bending the rules a bit to bring you this one. Head to Amazon to grab this Disney Pixar Lego set. For once, there’s no rush — the Lego Disney and Pixar Up House set will probably still be on sale tomorrow.

More Disney Lego deals at Amazon today:

Lego Duplo Disney and Pixar’s Cars Lightning McQueen & Mater’s Car Wash Fun — $23.99 $29.99 (save $6)

Lego Disney Princess Creative Castles — $27.99 $34.99 (save $7)

Lego Disney Princess Moana’s Wayfinding Boat — $28 $34.99 (save $6.99)

Lego Disney Frozen Elsa’s Frozen Princess Castle — $35.99 $44.99 (save $9)

Lego Disney Classic 100 Years of Disney Animation Icons — $44.97 $59.99 (save $15.02)

Lego Disney Stitch Toy Building Kit — $59.99 $64.99 (save $5)

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Tony Hale, Zosia Mamet, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Tanya Reynolds and Jessica Plummer recall the most hilarious improvised moments while filming ‘The Decameron’.

Tony Hale, Zosia Mamet, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Tanya Reynolds and Jessica Plummer recall the most hilarious improvised moments while filming ‘The Decameron’.

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The series’ labyrinthine continuity will clash with the MCU in “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

With Deadpool & Wolverine hitting theaters, the long-running X-Men film series will, once and for all, canonically collide with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, thanks to time-travel shenanigans. But how will Deadpool’s latest romp factor into the X-Men franchise’s already confounding timeline? 

Well before Marvel’s multiple realities grabbed a hold of pop culture, the X-Men movies had their own messy continuity, including an ostensible multiverse before this was really a fad. After kicking off with a trilogy set more or less in the modern day, followed by a Wolverine spin-off, the story moved firmly into prequel territory. It soon brought its older and younger casts together through a time travel story, all but erasing its original timeline and starting afresh. However, the desire to retread and retool the film series while also maintaining the appearance of a single, continuous franchise has led to, shall we say, complications.

For instance: How is the diamond-skinned telepath Emma Frost both a teenager in the 1980s, in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and an adult in the 1962-set prequel movie X-Men: First Class, released just two years later? Series producer Lauren Shuler Donner claims the two characters are only coincidentally named Emma and happen to share the same powers — okay, sure — but the real answer is that two different filmmakers simply opted to use the character in different contexts, continuity be damned.

These discrepancies haven’t always mattered to general audiences. But in light of Marvel’s new rules about character “variants” and the emergence of timeline “branches,” the fourteenth X-Men entry can’t help but recontextualize these creative decisions. Deadpool & Wolverine also features Marvel’s Time Variance Authority, or the TVA — keepers of continuity introduced in the streaming series Loki — so it only makes sense to dive in and unpack what exactly is going on with the winding X-Men timeline. After all, the much-awaited team-up between Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine is actually the second time these actors and characters have crossed paths on-screen, but those were also different versions of each character who have long since died. So, how exactly did we get here?

To see the full timeline grapgic, scroll to the bottom, where slight spoilers for Deadpool and Wolverine lie.

X-Men, X2, and X-Men: The Last Stand : 2000 to 2006 

Established canon: Released in 2000 and set in “the near future,” Bryan Singer’s X-Men introduced a sprawling ensemble of X-Men, under the guidance of telepathic, wheelchair-using headmaster Professor X/Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart). When the film series begins, our heroes have been locked in a quiet battle for recognition and rights with both the U.S. government and the antagonistic Mutant Brotherhood, led by metal-bending radical Magneto/Erik Lehnsherr (Ian McKellen), a survivor of the Holocaust. This premise runs through nearly all the mainline X-Men movies.

The first film is also where we meet Jackman’s Wolverine, a loner with no memory of his origins who soon joins up with the X-Men, a shifting roster that expands with every entry. The mainstays include Professor X, his telekinetic protege Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), the weather witch Storm/Ororo Munroe (Halle Berry) and the laser-eyed Cyclops/Scott Summers (James Marsden). Later entries saw the addition of the metal-skinned Colossus (Daniel Cudmore) in X2: X-Men United (2003), followed by the wall-phasing Kitty Pryde (Elliot Page), the animalistic yet erudite Beast/Hank McCoy (Kelsey Grammer), and the burdened, winged Angel (Ben Foster) in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). 

The X-Men are teachers and students, but they’re also a paramilitary force with their own stealth jets and black leather uniforms. This comes in handy when they fight villains like the feral Sabretooth (Tyler Mane), the shape-shifting Mystique (Rebecca Romijn), the rampaging Juggernaut (Vinnie Jones) and the ruthless Col. William Stryker (Brian Cox), an old man tied to Logan’s mysterious origins.

Retcons: Continuity is largely linear for these first three films. Characters recur without much fuss, or disappear between entries — like teleporting circus attraction Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) —and no one is the wiser. The film series’ minor Easter eggs pose only the tiniest of problems. For instance, Beast cameos on a TV screen in human form in X2 (played by Steve Bacic), but by the time Grammer plays him in the third movie, he appears in all his blue and furry glory, and he seems to have been that way for some time.

Deaths and major events, however, all seem to be built with wiggle room, just in case they need to be undone. X2′s ending, in which Jean sacrifices her life to save the X-Men, dovetails into Last Stand, where she’s resurrected under the ”Phoenix” moniker — a powerful cosmic force in the comics, reimagined as an alternate persona. And as the third entry wraps up, it drops hints that its radically altered status quo might not be permanent.   Magneto, who’s been de-powered by a mutant “cure,” appears to move a metal chess piece with his mind in the trilogy’s closing frames. Even Xavier’s violent death is poised to be rewritten in a post-credit scene, when a long-comatose body speaks to Dr. Moira MacTaggert (Olivia Williams) in Stewart’s distinct tenor.

Without a fourth linear X-Men film on the horizon, these were little more than wishes destined to remain unfulfilled, though they would eventually come into play a few entries down the line. In the meantime, the franchise was all set to venture into the past, with a string of origin stories based on specific characters.

The X-Men prequels and spin-offs: 2009 to 2013 

Established canon: In 2009, X-Men Origins: Wolverine was the test case for mutant spin-offs. Director Gavin Hood’s poorly received action prequel attempts not only to fill the gaps in Logan’s memory, but also to recast and reimagine several existing characters. 

After detailing Wolverine’s childhood in 1845, X-Men Origins is set largely in the mid-1980s, and turns hints of flashbacks from previous films into their own narrative centerpieces. These explain how Wolverine lost his memory, and how he had the indestructible metal adamantium grafted onto his bones, creating his signature claws, by a middle-aged Stryker (Danny Huston), leader of the Weapon X program. Origins was also the movie that introduced a teenage Emma Frost (Tahyna MacManus), as well as the sword-wielding mercenary Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), albeit as a mute, mind-controlled villain largely ignored by the character’s more comedic entries. 

The plan, at the time, was to follow Wolverine’s solo film with a similar “Origins” story about Magneto. But this idea was eventually folded into Matthew Vaughn’s 1962-set ensemble prequel, X-Men: First Class (2011). While a more colorful film than its predecessors, First Class made distinct overtures towards being deeply entwined with the original X-Men trilogy, beginning with its opening scene of a young Erik in a Nazi concentration camp — practically a shot-for-shot recreation of the first film’s prologue — before focusing, once more, on the ideological rift between Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender). Shortly thereafter, The Wolverine (2013), Logan’s second solo spin-off, would take the character to Japan long after the events of the original trilogy. There, he loses himself in mourning over a long-dead Jean Grey, and subsequently has his adamantium claws hacked off by a giant robot samurai. 

Retcons: Perhaps the biggest liberty taken by X-Men Origins is its reimagining of Sabretooth — now played by Liev Schreiber — as Wolverine’s half-brother, and his comrade during every American war. That Wolverine has no memory of this in previous entries makes sense, thanks to his amnesia. The fact that Mane’s version of Sabretooth (in 2000’s X-Men) doesn’t acknowledge this either is a gap in continuity that, while irksome, is ultimately forgivable, since it led to Schreiber’s delightfully evil performance. 

X-Men: First Class similarly reimagines Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) as Xavier’s adopted sister; this is another sibling relationship that isn’t acknowledged in films set decades later, and the first of many instances in which the prequel plays fast and loose with continuity. Some of its narrative liberties, like MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) showing up as a CIA agent rather than a doctor, or Emma Frost (January Jones) being an adult character 20-plus years before appearing as a teenager in X-Men: Origins, don’t matter quite as much. However, they start to become noticeable if you’re paying close attention. Some changes to the timeline even fix inconsistencies elsewhere: Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult) transforms into his furry, blue form, aligning First Class with Grammer’s later appearance while ignoring the character’s minor human cameo in X2. Other changes, however, have a more adverse impact: while Origins and The Last Stand feature scenes of Xavier walking around in the ’80s and ’90s, First Class ends with him being paralyzed from the waist down for dramatic effect, several decades prior.

Xavier and McCoy’s continuity, however, becomes even more fluid thanks to a future entry — the time-travel crossover X-Men: Days of Future Past — first teased in the post-credit scene of The Wolverine. Logan’s solo sequel is isolated enough from the rest of the series, both narratively and geographically, that it doesn’t impact continuity, but its credit tag promises monumental changes when the character is visited by not only a re-powered Magneto (McKellan), but also a mysteriously resurrected Professor X (Stewart), who warn him of oncoming dangers. 

The alternate X-Men timeline: 2014 to 2017

Established canon: Singer, who helmed the first two X-Men movies, returned to the director’s chair for X-Men: Days of Future Past, and brought with him his signature black leather outfits. In his grim future timeline — a dystopian 2023, about a decade after The Wolverine is set — mutants are hunted and killed, thanks to the domino effects of Mystique assassinating a weapons developer in the 1970s. 

The aged Magneto (McKellan) and Xavier (Stewart) have teamed up once more, and their survival depends on Kitty Pryde using her inexplicable time-travel powers. Logan, who somehow has his adamantium claws back — another unexplained return to status quo — has his consciousness psychically transported by Pryde into his younger body in the 1970s. Here, he meets up with a younger Xavier and McCoy (played by prequel actors McAvoy and Hoult), who have figured out how to suppress their powers. Xavier can also temporarily walk again, while McCoy retains his human appearance, ensuring that any future discrepancies on this front can be easily hand-waved.

The film, in essence, resets the entire X-Men timeline as we know it, erasing the past continuity before our eyes and yielding the ’80s- and ’90s-set sequels X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) and Dark Phoenix (2019). These films, while they don’t feature Wolverine except in a cameo capacity, see the re-introduction of trilogy mainstays, now played by younger characters: Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), and Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee). 

Retcons: Despite starting afresh, and having the ability to pull from any corners of the vast comic catalog, this ostensibly new X-Men series retreads characters and concepts already seen. However, the changes it makes along the way don’t always add up. The point of divergence between the two timelines (in X-Men: Days of Future Past) is 1973, which should only affect the future, at least in theory. However, the 1980s-set X-Men: Apocalypse happens to feature a version of Angel (Ben Hardy) as a young adult, around the age he already appeared in The Last Stand in the 2000s. He would have already had to have been born by Days of Future Past for this to happen, which kind of implies that the team’s time-travel antics didn’t just impact the future, but the past as well (cue Michael Keaton’s kooky spaghetti monologue from The Flash).

The new film series does gesture towards a brand new story in some ways, like the ending of X-Men: Days of Future Past, which sees Wolverine waking up in an alternate 2023 where Jean, Scott, and the other X-Men are still alive, though he remembers the original timeline in which they died. The ripple effects of his time travel also mean it’s no longer a young Stryker (Josh Helman) who captured him but Mystique in disguise. Therefore, it ought to follow that Wolverine doesn’t become a subject of Weapon X, but he’s seen right back in its clutches — memory wipe and all — in Apocalypse, the very next entry. The more things change in the X-Men film series, the more they seem to stay the same.

Deadpool, Logan, and the TV shows you forgot: 2016 to 2020

Established canon: It can be hard to remember just how much X-Men media there was between 2016 and 2019 (after which Fox came under Disney’s control). Alongside Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix, there was also Deadpool, Deadpool 2, Logan, two seasons of ensemble mutant show The Gifted — which features the daughter of Magneto and young triplet clones of Emma Frost — and a further three seasons of trippy psychic series Legion, featuring Xavier’s estranged son. These shows take a mutable approach to continuity, if only so that they don’t actually impact the movies.

A similar approach is taken in the somber Wolverine spin-off Logan — the question of when and where it takes place could have multiple explanations — albeit with a more story-centric reason in mind. On one hand, since the events of the original trilogy (and the dystopia of X-Men: Days of Future Past) have been deleted from continuity, this rules Logan out as a direct sequel to them. It’s more likely that the spin-off emanates from the alternate future glimpsed at the end of Days of Future Past. But since that version of Wolverine seemed to remember the original timeline, Logan works as a character-centric sequel to those films as well. It’s a neat way for the series to have its cake and eat it too, thus creating an all-encompassing sequel that draws on the audience’s general familiarity with the X-Men movies, whether they’ve been “erased” or not. 

Retcons: At the end of the day, trying to decipher a linear approach to Logan‘s continuity runs counter to the film’s own themes. Its take on the X-Men canon becomes all but explicit in a key exchange between Wolverine and his clone/adopted daughter Laura (Dafne Keen), when she presents him with a series of vibrant X-Men comics. “You do know they’re all bullshit, right?” he tells her. “Maybe a quarter of it happened, and not like this.” 

The movie’s neo-Western lens frames Wolverine as an aged gunman at the end of his life, a man about whom legends have been whispered around campfires over the years. While the events of all the previous movies “happened” in some fashion, whether literally or just in the character’s memory, Logan all but instructs the audience not to get bogged down by these details. The emotional truths therein are what matter most, i.e. that Logan was once an X-Man who went on grand, whiz-bang adventures, but ended up partially (if not wholly) responsible for the deaths of his colorful comrades.

Note: The New Mutants (2020) features fleeting archival footage of Laura, thus setting it in the same continuity as Logan, but chances are you didn’t remember that movie exists until just now.

The past, in the X-Men movies, is entirely fluid. This has long been the case in superhero comics, where writers being selective about decades of continuity is practically a given, if anyone’s going to even attempt a new story. This pliability is a perfect fit for a film like Logan, which captures Wolverine through a mythic lens and treats the X-Men tales as folklore. However, this is remarkably (if unintentionally) similar to how the Deadpool movies treat continuity too, as parodies that don’t bother taking canon too seriously. 

When exactly are Tim Miller’s Deadpool (2016) and David Leitch’s Deadpool 2 (2018) set in relation to the X-Men films? The answer, as with Logan, is “it doesn’t really matter,” since the series is too busy poking fun at superheroes to figure that out. But if you really want to do the math, it isn’t hard.

By process of elimination, they definitively do not take place in the same continuity as X-Men Origins: Wolverine (and thus, the original trilogy), given their more comic-accurate Deadpool and a supporting roster that features much more cartoonish versions of characters seen in other films, like Colossus (Stefan Kapičić) and Juggernaut (Reynolds). And since the main cast of X-Men: Apocalypse makes a brief cameo in Deadpool 2 — albeit as a fleeting gag about how the production can’t afford them — it’s safe to assume the two movies are at least nominally connected, even though it makes no real sense for characters from the 1980s to show up in present day. This places the Deadpool films in the new timeline created by Days of Future Past. Voila!

However, the story of the X-Men movies’ doesn’t end there. As it turns out, Deadpool & Wolverine does actually provide a definitive answer about where the Deadpool movies fit in, where one really wasn’t clear before, or even really needed. 

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) 

In Deadpool 2, Wade uses a time-travel device to save his girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), which theoretically creates another branched reality in which she doesn’t die. In Deadpool & Wolverine, the TVA agent. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) clearly establishes that the Deadpool movies take place in the same universe as Logan, since the Wolverine of Wade’s reality is dead and buried in a shallow grave. 

Therefore, Logan theoretically takes place in the new reality where Deadpool’s time-travel antics caused a further shift in continuity, though the Deadpool movies’ timeline fudging do shift around some existing specifics. According to on-screen text in Deadpool & Wolverine, the film is set in 2024, but dialogue in Logan sets that film in 2029. So, when did Wolverine die, exactly? Well, in keeping with Logan, it depends on who you ask — or in this case, which movie studio you ask, since this appears to be a definitive retcon under Disney. 

However, the Wolverine in the yellow suit seen in all the trailers is from another different timeline, which seems to be unconnected to the X-Men movies altogether. However, this “Worst Wolverine” – as Paradox declares him — harbors the same rage and self-doubt as the Logan we’ve seen before.

This is a must, if Jackman’s return is to have any emotional resonance for the audience. For better or worse, the nitty-gritties of the X-Men timeline may actually be important for once, if only to make sense of Wade and Logan’s MCU debuts. 

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As of July 26, get the Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max bundle starting at $16.99 with savings on each tier. Save up to 38% depending on which plan you choose.

SAVE UP TO 38% OFF: As of July 26, get the Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max bundle for up to $17.98 off the price of purchasing a monthly subscription to each service separately.

Need something new to watch? The Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max streaming bundle is finally available. This cost-cutting deal brings all three streaming platforms together to bring you big savings on a wide selection of TV shows and movies that you don’t have to shell out the big bucks to take advantage of. In fact, you can save up to 38% when you subscribe, a significant drop when compared to signing up for all three services independently of one another.

As of July 26, you can get the Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max Bundle starting at just $16.99 per month for the ad-supported tier. That’s 34%, or $8.98, off its normal price of $25.97. Alternatively, you can get the ad-free tier for $29.99 monthly, which is 38%, or $17.98, off its normal price of $47.97. This bundle deal is open to everyone, even if you’re a previous subscriber.

Each subscription grants access to content from Disney, ABC, HBO, Hulu, FX, Warner Bros., Pixar, and more. You’ll also get access to B/R Sports, though there’s no ESPN Plus available as with the Disney Trio bundle. It’s important to note that with these services, you’ll still get ads even if you choose the ad-free bundle on some content, as the services note when you sign up for your account. You’ll also need to sign in to each service separately, as they’re only united in terms of pricing, not logins (though MyDisney lets you log in to Hulu and Disney Plus with the same email address).

If you’ve been waiting for a good reason to sign up for or resubscribe to any of these services, now’s a good time to do so.

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As of July 26, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate memberships are on sale at Amazon. Get a one-month subscription for just $14.99 ($5 off), or a three-month subscription for $44.99 ($15 off).

SAVE UP to $15: As of July 26, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate memberships are on sale at Amazon. You can get a one-month subscription for $14.99 ($5 off), or a three-month subscription for $44.99 ($15 off).

If you have an Xbox, tacking on a Game Pass membership is a necessity. At least, we think it is — it’s one of the best deals in gaming, after all. Who wouldn’t want unlimited access to a Netflix-style library of games to download and play from whenever you please? That’s true gaming freedom right there (and a huge money-saver).

Luckily, one of our favorite deals in gaming consistently becomes an even better deal by going on sale, and right now is one of those times. As of the time of this writing, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate memberships are on sale at Amazon for up to $15 off the usual price (Amazon has their MSRP prices listed incorrectly — you can find the accurate prices on Xbox’s direct site). You can either snag a one-month membership to test things out for just $14.99 ($5 off), or a three-month subscription for $44.99 ($15 off). Whichever one you choose, you can’t really go wrong.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is simple in its concept. You pay a monthly fee, and in return you get access to a massive library of games both old and new to download and play from whenever you want. It’s that simple. It’s a fantastic deal for anyone who plays a lot of games, or for those who prefer to test out new titles before committing to playing the whole thing (and without paying full price).

With the Ultimate version of Game Pass, you’ll also get some extra perks like online play, access to the PC Game Pass library, exclusive deals and discounts, and more. How could you pass all that up? We certainly couldn’t.

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