The Wolverine’s end-credits sequence then takes place two years after the other events in the movie, as Professor Xavier and Magneto return to warn Logan about “dark forces building a weapon that could bring about the end of our kind”. We also know that The Wolverine takes place after X-Men: The Last Stand, as Logan is dealing with the aftermath of killing the love of his life, Jean Grey. Unsurprisingly, X-Men 2 and X-Men: The Last Stand continue from there in linear fashion. Then the chronology moves onto the original X-Men, which was set in an undefined “near future” when the film was released in 2000. The prequel saga concludes in the 1992-set X-Men: Dark Phoenix. In fact, an augmented Wolvie with anger management issues then crops up in the 1983-set X-Men: Apocalypse. Then, while some key scenes in X-Men Origins: Wolverine take place in 1973, the majority of the movie – notably the scenes where Logan gets his adamantium skeleton – is set in 1979. Ignoring the numerous flashbacks to the 19th century (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and World War II (X-Men, X-Men: First Class, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Wolverine), the mutants’ screen story begins in the 1962-set X-Men: First Class, continuing into the 1973-set X-Men: Days of Future Past. On the face of it, the chronology is fairly straightforward. Even supercomputer Cerebro would struggle to get its circuits around the intricacies of the X-Men timeline. In recent years there have also been a pair of TV shows based on X-Men comics: Here's how to watch the X-Men movies in order of their release: That means that next time you see Professor Xavier, Magneto and the rest, they may well be fighting alongside Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy.

The upcoming film is set to be the final release in the current incarnation of the X-franchise, as Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox (holders of the mutants’ screen rights since 1993) brings them back into the Disney-owned fold. In the two decades since there have been a further 12 movies released in the X-Men universe, most recently The New Mutants.

But along with Blade (released in 1998), the first X-Men film was at the vanguard of the comic publisher's successful assault on the big screen – if it hadn't been a hit, it's unlikely the MCU would exist in its current form. With movies based on Marvel Comics properties now the biggest cash cow in Hollywood, it’s almost unbelievable that they were considered a risky proposition at the turn of the 21st century.

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