The timeline of Fox’s X-Men universe has always been thought to be a hot mess, given how the films themselves cannot keep their continuity straight. However, there seems to be a fan theory that explains all the problems that seem to expose themselves in the canon narrative, whether it be the Days of Future Past timeline or the First Class timeline.
The theory pins the blame on two individuals in particular: Deadpool and Shadowcat (a.k.a, Kitty Pryde). Given that Deadpool had been jumping around ‘fixing’ things at the end of Deadpool and that Kitty Pryde has sent people back in time multiple times to defend against the Sentinals, the theory posits that their frequent meddling with the timeline is what would have caused all the canon breaking narrative points.
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The X-Men universe seems to be abusing The Butterfly Effect
Let us take Colossus for example. This is the character that has changed the most between his many appearances, perhaps followed closely by Deadpool. In X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand, we see an American Colossus, who can shift between his metallic and human forms.
Then, come Deadpool 2(which exists in the same universe as Days of Future Past, because we see the actors in character hiding from a grieving Deadpool), Colossus is suddenly a lot bigger and Russian, This could have been written off as a separate universe, except Colossus returns in Days of Future Past, shapeshifting and American again.
The theory, posited by Reddit user u/filmnerd14, is that because Kitty Pryde and Deadpool are constantly messing with the timeline in the past and the future, the X-Men timeline is always in flux, causing small unrelated alterations to have massive canon-breaking consequences (like killing baby Hitler, gives us a Russian Colossus, and then saving Trask from death, reverts him being American.)
It must also be noted that the two appearances of Colossus as America are slightly different, in that in one form he has black hair that turns metallic and stays black, while the other has him turning completely chrome, hair and all.
This is why characters seem to be able to reference events from multiple timelines
In a deleted scene from Logan, The Professor remembers Logan killing Jean and him fighting in a cage. Both those events were part of the original timeline, before Days of Future Past. Logan takes place after the 2016 film, making these events from the first timeline obsolete. Further, the new timeline has Jean dying in X-Men: Dark Phoenix, where Logan was absent from the main action.
The theory essentially posits that when such obsolete events from dead timelines are recalled by characters through Deadpool’s time-hopping shenanigans causing the butterfly effect in the timeline, while Kitty Pryde’s sending people back in time fixes the timeline, so that the characters remember events from the new timeline too. This is the exact reason why Sabretooth and Wolverine act like they don’t know each other, while in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the characters are depicted to be brothers.
Deadpool 3 is set to be the first feature-length entry about mutants in the MCU. There are no details about whether Deadpool will still have access to Cable’s time travelling watch, but it is confirmed via set photos that Wolverine and Sabretooth will make an appearance in the film. It remains to be seen how much will they reference the old X-Men films, or whether they will treat the MCU as a completely new timeline.
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