Art for the FXM free preview on Sling featuring posters for 'Logan', 'The Amazing Spider-Man' and 'Deadpool 2'

Art for the FXM free preview on Sling featuring the poster for 'Logan'

Top 10 Superhero Movies to Watch for Free on FXM in July

FXM has a ton of Marvel movies during their July free preview. To get you ready for 'Deadpool and Wolverine,' here are our favorites, plus how to watch the FXM free preview with Sling.

Superheroes are a staple of the Summer movie season. However, this year, there’s only a single superhero movie on the schedule: Deadpool and Wolverine, which comes out July 26.

To prepare for Deadpool and the X-Men’s grand entrance to the MCU, FXM is trotting out more Marvel superheroes than cosplayers on their way to a comic book convention. From Ant-Man to the X-Men, you can get caught up on the Marvel saga this July on FXM. Did we forget to mention that FXM is in free preview on Sling all month long? As the saying goes, not all heroes wear capes.

To set the table for Deadpool’s MCU debut, here’s a look at 10 titles that tell the tale of Marvel movies through the years. To watch all of these titles and dozens more throughout the FXM free preview, use the link below to subscribe to Sling Orange + Sling Blue. And to watch the biggest hit movies on FXM all year long, be sure to add the Hollywood Extra pack to your Sling subscription.

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The Origin Story

https://www.youtube.com/embed/StnmzjqMKRo?si=XLc8xnlUoioMOCah

X2: X-Men United (2003)

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

With respect to the Batman films of the ‘90s, the beginning of the modern superhero boom is widely cited as the release of the first X-Men film in 2000. Although that film is quite good (and is also available this month on FXM), it’s somewhat bogged down by having to introduce the ensemble cast and establish the series’ premise of superpowered mutants.

Released three years later, X2: X-Men United is not only the high-water mark of the X-Men franchise, it’s among the best of the superhero genre, period. The opening sequence in which Nightcrawler attacks the President in the Oval Office still stands as one of the best comic book action setpieces (revisit in the video above), and Brian Cox is truly villainous as Colonel William Stryker. The X-Men series has its highs-and-lows, but X2 is clearly among the best.

Released the next year in 2004, Spider-Man 2 pushed the genre forward even further. Not only were the visual effects a major step-up from the original, the film takes its time to develop multidimensional characters. From Tobey McGuire’s put-upon Peter Parker to Alfred Molina’s conflicted Dr. Otto Octavious to Kirsten Dunst’s heartbroken Mary Jane, Spider-Man 2 takes the best elements of the original and improves on them.

That also applies to 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. While not as good as the aforementioned titles, it’s still a lot better than the first F4 film. Admittedly, it’s a little odd seeing Chris Evans play a different superhero than Steve “Captain America” Rodgers, but F42 has the same playfully corny tone the original comic is known for.

The Rise of the MCU

https://www.youtube.com/embed/hLUdF8cjzyA?si=URX-6AOaePH4uCx3

Iron Man (2008)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

It’s difficult to imagine more than 15 years later, but at the time of its release in 2008, Iron Man was considered a very risky film, largely because, by securing a massive loan to fund its own films like an indie studio, Marvel had staked the entire company’s future on its success. Compounding concerns was the fact that, due to his highly-publicized drug issues and prison stints, Robert Downey Jr. was almost uninsurable and was cast in spite of the concerns of many executives and producers.

We all know how things turned out. Thanks to a role that closely mirrored RDJ’s own redemption arc, Iron Man launched the MCU into the stratosphere. It’s difficult to imagine the studio would have achieved this level of success with anyone besides Downey. Bringing his quippy, chatterbox persona to the character (not to mention his acting chops, which earned him an Oscar for Oppenheimer this spring), RDJ seemed to personify his character like few actors in any role, comic book or otherwise.

Chris Evans was another masterstroke of casting. Captain America is an undeniably cheesy hero, yet Evans brought charm and a palpable sense of determination to pair with his character’s sincerity and sense of justice. Cap’s story arc may have reached its apex in 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, a twisty spy-thriller featuring one of the best action scenes of this century, the elevator fight embedded in the video above.

You Wanna Get Nuts? Let’s Get Nuts!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/HxswFQHn2qc?si=J3g_jFyJwnZeoDcS

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

By 2014, the success of the superhero genre gave studios license to try new ideas and introduce lesser-known characters. “Lesser-known” does not begin to describe how deep of a cut the Guardians of the Galaxy were to Marvel fans; even those of us with boxes of comic books in the basement had never heard of them. But like the long-forgotten radio hits found on the movie’s soundtrack, Guardians of the Galaxy was a quirky, energizing movie that elevated Marvel from successful studio to king-makers. After all, if you can build a multi-billion dollar film franchise out of a talking racoon and anthropomorphic tree, what can’t you do?

Similarly, 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was able to inject fresh energy into the franchise by bugging out in every sense of the word. Not only did it introduce a new Spider-Man in Miles Morales, Into the Spider-Verse incorporated imaginative variations like Spider-Ham and Spider-Man Noir – along with remixed versions of iconic villains like the Kingpin and Green Goblin. The fact it did this while ensuring narrative continuity via the multiverse was even more impressive. Yet what stands out now is the film’s innovative animation style, which has influenced countless animated features in the years since.

The Saga Continues

https://www.youtube.com/embed/aWzlQ2N6qqg?si=Ev59Dqfyj03Q2GKI

Logan (2017)

Deadpool 2 (2018)

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

Although we haven’t seen it, the plot of Deadpool and Wolverine – in which they’re tasked by the TVA to prune variants from the sacred timeline – could upend the continuity of every Marvel franchise. With such world-shattering stakes, it’s not a bad idea to refresh your memory about where things stand as we head into the film.

You’ll want to start with 2017’s Logan, an emotionally powerful, R-rated coda to the X-Men films that’s suffused with sadness. After his campy solo debut in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Logan provided Hugh Jackman with the opportunity to explore a mature version of the character, and the resultant film is second only to the Oscar-winning Joker for adult-oriented superhero cinema.

We’re pretty sure the new Deadpool will dispatch with all that mature drama nonsense right away, at least based on 2018’s Deadpool 2. Even more than the original, DP2 takes nothing seriously, as evidenced by the abrupt death of nearly every member of “X-Force”, the team he assembled just minutes before their on-screen deaths. Thanks to Ryan Reynolds’ unmistakable smarm, Deadpool is a singular superhero (or antihero), so moving forward, it should be fascinating to see the way his NSFW character integrates into the decidedly PG-13 world of the MCU.

If you got 1,200 words into this post and still don’t understand the multiverse that Deadpool and Wolverine are poised to explore, you’ll definitely want to fire up 2022’s underrated Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Not only does it further explore the MCU multiverse introduced in Spider-Man: No Way Home (also on FXM this month), the story includes multiversal variations of well-known characters, something we expect to be a big part of the MCU moving forward.

Here’s a full list of all the Marvel movies you can catch on FXM during the July free preview (select titles may not be available on demand). To quote a great man: Excelsior!