Hugh Jackman‘s time as the Wolverine is coming to an end. And from the looks of the first trailer of Logan that dropped on Thursday, it’s with good reason too. Man, does he look old.
Speaking of looking old, this rugged, decrepit Logan is perhaps (probably) inspired by the Old Man Logan line of comics. Here’s a couple of reasons why.
For starters, Logan appears stunned as his right arm is shown shaking as it dangles at his side. Professor X (played by Patrick Stewart) asks, “What did you do?” Now, there’s a couple of things to take away from this. Like previous movies, the professor calls him Logan. That’s not a big deal, except that unlike past Wolverine spin-off movies, there’s always the name “Wolverine” inserted in the title. This one is simply Logan.
In the Old Man Logan storyline, Wolverine is responsible for killing the mutants at the X-Men’s mansion. He was tricked by an illusion manifested by Mysterio—notoriously a Spider-Man villain—to make Wolverine think he was fighting intruders. Since that event, Logan renounced the name “Wolverine” and vowed to never use his claws again.
Another indicator that says this is probably an Old Man Logan storyline is that Jackman’s decrepit voice eerily says, “Charles, the world is not the same it was. Mutants… They’re gone now.”
Additionally, Logan‘s first trailer established a significantly darker tone to the story, as Johnny Cash’s Hurt plays throughout the nearly two-minute long trailer. It’s a significantly stark difference compared to the two other hack-and-slash Wolverine movies, further pushing the idea that this is an Old Man Logan iteration.
As for the plot, there’s a little bit of a sense of The Last of Us, as Logan is tasked by Professor X to help a young girl who is “very much like” Logan. According a report by Wired.com’s Matt Kamen, Dafne Keen plays the clone X-23. To keep it simple, X-23 basically becomes the next Wolverine.
Logan’s new escort mission is no easy task, though, as he faces off against a group of cybernetically enhanced individuals called the Reavers with a significantly weakened healing ability.
The Reavers are led by Donald Pierce (played by Boyd Holbrook). In the comics, Pierce and the Reavers’ main purpose is to kill all mutants. Perhaps Logan, Professor X and X-23 are his final targets.
James Mangold returns to direct his second Wolverine film after directing The Wolverine in 2013. Logan hits theaters on March 3.
