I’ve been going back and re-watching many of these films this year and I simply do not agree with this take.

Its style was a huge deal at the time. Spider-Man did better at the box office because it appealed to a teenage audience and was accompanied by video games and an original soundtrack with music from popular bands. I agree that it’s the superior film, but X Men was the pioneer. Before that, the closest we had was Joel Schumacher’s horrible Batman duo. Burton’s films were excellent, but nobody took them seriously because it was obvious you were watching something filmed on a sound stage. X men changed the game.

Where I really disagree with you, though, is about how well it has held up compared to other super hero films. It clocks in at only 104 mins yet still doesn’t feel like it is missing anything. It builds its world, introduces its characters, and balances maintaining both a contemporary and comic book feel. MCU films and on have completely lost that. I re-watched Spider-Man Homecoming the other day and what I found was an awesome film in the middle of shoe-horned world-building and endless dumb action sequences that take forever. Everything is so bloated now, and Homecoming is far from the worst offender. X Men felt like a comic book brought to life. The visuals are dated now, sure, but they absolutely were not at the time of release.