"Logan," premiering March 3, is already getting positive reviews and word of mouth. It's supposedly full of heart, as well as R-rated violence. So where did this story originate?
"Logan" is set in 2029, but not in a fabulous, high-tech future. Instead, the movie begins in a shabby area on the U.S.-Mexican border, where an aging (but not dying, thanks to his healing factor) Wolverine works as a driver for hire to support the remainder of the X-Men, his makeshift family. That consists of an aging (and probably dying) Professor Xavier, who is deteriorating mentally, and Caliban, although a different version than the one who had a cameo in "X-Men: Apocalypse." (Evidently, all the rest of the X-Men are X-tinct.) This life changes when a young mutant named Laura shows up, pursued by powerful, evil forces.
The premise, which promises a unique movie, isn't entirely unique itself. It didn't leap fully-formed from Zeus' forehead, but instead has roots in various X-comics:
Q: Where did the idea for Old Man Logan come from?
A: Appropriately, a story titled "Old Man Logan" by writer Mark Millar and artist Steve McNiven that ran in "Wolverine" comics in 2008-09. The story is set in a shabby, dystopic future 50 years after the world's supervillains teamed up, took on the greatly outnumbered superheroes, and won. The United States has been carved up into various fiefdoms, with, for example, the Red Skull as the "president" and boss of the East Coast. The U.S. has regressed into a lawless, poverty-stricken dystopia.
"Old Man Logan" begins in what used to be California, but is now a territory run by the "Hulk Gang." These are the children and grand-children of Bruce "Hulk" Banner and Jennifer "She-Hulk" Walters, who are a cannibalistic, super-strong, redneck family running a state-wide protection racket on the subsistence farmers who live there. It becomes evident that the Hulk joined the supervillains _ it's rumored he delivered the death blow to Thor _ with some speculating that the gamma radiation that turns him into the Emerald Behemoth finally poisoned his brain.
One of the preyed-upon farmers is an old man who calls himself Logan, who used to be The Wolverine. Whatever happened to him 50 years ago turned him into a pacifist; he hasn't popped his claws since. He lives with his wife and two kids, and allows himself to be bullied and beaten up rather than raise a hand (or claw) in violence.
Behind on the "rent," Logan is desperate when a very old, blind, but still alive Hawkeye shows up with a job offer _ help him deliver a package to the East Coast, and the reward could get the ex-X-Man out from under the Hulk Gang for good. Reluctantly, Logan agrees, going on a road trip where readers get a look at the rest of the tortured U.S., learn the fate of various superheroes and discover what experience was so devastating it turned the berserker Wolverine into the pacifist Logan.
The story didn't end there, either. When Marvel Comics rebooted its universe in 2015, Old Man Logan was included in the reborn Marvel Universe (whereas his younger doppelganger remains dead). His adventures continued, first in the "Wolverine: Old Man Logan: Warzones" series, and currently in the ongoing "Wolverine: Old Man Logan," set in the present.
Q: Why aren't Hawkeye, the Hulks and Red Skull in "Logan"?
A: Because Twentieth Century Fox, which has the rights to make X-Men films, can't use those characters, whose rights are owned by Marvel Films. Hence the presence of Xavier (Patrick Stewart), Caliban (Stephen Merchant) and Laura (Dafne Keen) as Logan's companions, and Pierce (Boyd Holbrook) as the Big Bad.
These are no cosmetic changes. With the absence of Hawkeye and his mysterious package, the plot changes to one of Logan protecting Laura from Pierce. It appears that a road trip will take place, but not one that leads to the Red Skull.
Q: Does "Laura" come from the comics, too?
A: Given that the trailers have shown Laura popping claws, I don't think it's a spoiler to say she's based on the same Laura who is Wolverine in the current comics.
That character is a female clone of Wolverine, who is still a teenager and has had perhaps a worse life than her namesake, including being raised without human contact, multiple missions as an involuntary assassin and spending her early teens as a prostitute. She attempts to make up for her past sins by taking up Logan's mantle and fighting for the underdog with the X-Men. She wields twin claws on her fists, and one on each foot, and possesses Logan's healing factor and adamantium skeleton.
Laura is also referred to as X-23. It turns out that the organization that cloned her was working with damaged DNA from the Weapon X program that created Wolverine, and had failed 22 times attempting a male clone. The damage was to the "Y" chromosome, so when they attempted a female clone on the 23rd try, it worked.
X-23 actually first appeared on TV, in a couple of 2002 episodes of the "X-Men: Evolution" cartoon, but made her full-fledged comic book debut as an ongoing character in the comic book miniseries "NYX" in 2004. She graduated to a pair of miniseries in 2005 and 2006, as well as 21 issues of a series titled "X-23" (2010-12). Currently she appears in her own ongoing title, "All New Wolverine," as well as "All New X-Men."
Q: Will Hugh Jackman continue as Old Man Logan in future X-Men movies?
A: Jackman says this is his last performance as the feral X-Man. And since he has made the role so much his own, it's hard to believe audiences would accept anyone else. It's far more likely that, with the introduction of a female Wolverine, we'll probably see some version of Laura carry the role forward.
Q: How does this movie fit in with the other X-Men movies?
A: Don't worry about it � because director James Mangold didn't. In fact, Mangold told comicbook.com that he chose the year 2029 so he wouldn't have to deal with continuity from previous movies.
"There's an epilogue scene in 'Days of Future Past' which is 2024, or 2023, something like that, (that) I just wanted to get far enough past," Mangold said. "My goal was real simple: it was to pick a time where I had enough elbow room that I was clear of existing entanglements."
And since everybody from the previous movies is (probably) dead (except Logan and Xavier) you really don't need to worry about any other characters or timelines. "Logan" pretty much stands alone.
And I can't imagine a better farewell to Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. So long, bub. (Snikt!)
