“THE WORLD IS NOT THE SAME AS IT WAS, CHARLES...”

“...Mutants... they're gone now.”

Logan  

Maybe you've heard (ha!) but there seems to be a new Wolverine film coming out... 
Or is there?

 

I'm guessing that vest's not the result of a messy hotdog-eating contest.

Enigmatically named 'Logan', the film seemingly follows in the footsteps of other single-name franchise-finishers by changing tact and reaching for something a little more serious. You have only to see the moody black-and-white photography of the press releases, or catch the first few sombre chords of Johnny Cash's 'Hurt' in the trailer, to know that Logan is aspiring to be a different beast entirely. Just how different remains to be seen, because we all know that looks can be deceiving (Prometheus- I'm talking to you!), but what we do know is Fox have finally allowed Jackman's feral character to push past the constraints of the usual 12a superhero fodder. A higher age rating alone is nothing to be particularly excited about, gore and violence won't necessarily make for a better film. However, of all the superhero films in an over-saturated market, it's the character of the Wolverine who feels like he could truly shine in a more mature film; whose always felt like he's holding something back for the family-audience. Wolverine is, after all, when push comes to shove, a berserk and unstoppable killer, complete with razor-sharp claws.

Let's take a look at what we know about Logan. As you're probably aware, I'm not much into speculation, so the following is based on facts alone.

The Setting:

Any link with the image below? You tell me...

Set in a bleak dystopian future where mutants are seemingly now on the verge of extinction, the films sees the remaining mutants persecuted by a highly militarised global corporation led by Nathaniel Essex. It appears that most of the X-Men have already perished, with only Logan and Charles Xavier leftover, living an impoverished existence while in hiding. Logan himself is no longer the near-invincible Wolverine of previous adventures, his body now ravaged with age and insurmountable wounds, while Xavier is now a frail old man attempting to cope with his dilapidating Alzheimer's. So far, so dark.

“Nature made me a freak. Man made me a weapon. And God made it last too long.”

Logan

In The Making:

 

Armed or unarmed?

This will be the character's third solo film after 'X-Men Origins' and 'The Wolverine', and Hugh Jackman's final portrayal after having played this part for seventeen years (Christ, finding that out that made me feel old). James Mangold, the director of 'The Wolverine', one of the more highly regarded of the X-men cannon, returns to direct this final installment, itself only a "loose continuation" of the previous two films- seeing how it's set in an alternative timeline established by 'Days Of Future Past' and 'Apocalypse' (which still allows the studio to take the remaining X-men films in yet a different direction to the dead-end presented in this setting).

Logan's failing health finally means we, as an audience, don't have to keep overlooking this (strikingly handsome) man is no longer as young as he once was. Stewart will also finally be playing the part much closer to his own age, and it's worth noting a prosthetic needed to be used to make the sprietly-looking Stewart look “believably” haggard (nobody would ever believe he's actually 76).

While in no small part 'Logan' takes it's inspiration from Mark Millar's 'Old Man Logan' comic run, the project has it's roots in a more innocuous and innocent observation made by Hugh Jackman himself, who, when asked what his next Wolverine film would be about, light heatedly referred to the character being a grumpy old man, a self referential swipe at his own age. Little did Jackman know that Old Man Logan was actually 'a thing' and the nerdier corners of the internet went into melt-down. And much to his credit, Jackman is a man who listens to his fans.

Comic Mythos:

Not your average pensioner.

Mark Millar's 'Old Man Logan' series sees the titular character, now decrepit and defeated, rising to the task of one final, bloody adventure in a post-apocalyptic future. Although the source material has been thankfully toned-down from the garish grotesqueness of Millar's imaginings (including but not exclusive to gigantic dinosaur carcasses, a world carved up between super-villains, and incestuous hill-billy Hulks), the overall conceit remains unchanged: Logan is now a shell of his old self, and the world around him has turned bad...

In all likelihood Laura, the girl protected by Logan during the film, is the cinematic incarnation of the comic character X-23, a female clone of Wolverine. Judging by the trailer, Laura is pursued by the military, including the Essex corporations' relentless head of security Pierce.

“She's like you... she's very much like you...”

Charles Xavier 

Scowling villain? Check.

 

Pierce is also a character ripped straight from the pages of the comics, although his portrayal here is obviously a little more gritty. In the comics he was a mutant-hating cyborg, and among his affiliations were the Reavers, a group dedicated to the destruction of mutants (a match forged in Hell). In the film 'Logan', both the Reavers and Pierce seem to be the muscle for the 'sinister' Essex Corporation.

Nathaniel Essex in the world of the X-Men is the alias of one of the most dangerous of their enemies, Mister Sinister- himself a powerful mutant with a penchant for genetic experimentation. The comics draw him as a sort of cyber-goth Eddie Izzard, yet how he translates to film, and who will go on to play him (assuming he makes an actual appearance) remains to be confirmed. Some believe  English thesp Richard E. Grant will play the role.

Liev Schriber expressed an interest in returning to the role of Victor Creed, aka Sabourtooth. Creed is Logan's half-brother and fellow mutant, a role Liev first portrayed in Wolverine Origins. Liev was a stand-out highlight in what was otherwise a mess of a film, although how (if at all) his portrayal links with the Sabourtooth seen in the first X-men film has never been made clear. It would be nice to see Liev bring the character back so the Logan/Creed relationship/rivalry can finally be bought to a (likely bloody) ending.

To add to the growing list of confusing cast changes and character reboots within the X-Men movie-universe, Stephen Merchent will be portraying the underground-dwelling mutant Caliban, who has previously been played by someone else. Again, what relation the two portrayals have to do with each other has not yet been made clear, and could well be another case of “don't think too hard on this and move along”. In the new film, Caliban appears to be, at least in some way, helping Logan and Xavier keep a low profile.

This does not look like it's going to end well...

So, with the rest of you, I now wait with bated breath for the release date of 'Logan' in March, and for the first time in over ten years I'm actually pretty excited for an X-men film, if this still qualifies as such? Let's hope Jackman, Mangold and company don't disappoint.