Originally published October 7th, 2016 at https://creators.co/@thatfilmbloguk/4113491. Details accurate as of that date.

The past few days have been critical for the future of the X-Men franchise, as huge details regarding the next Wolverine solo movie have been revealed. Today, we’re going to be breaking down everything we know about Wolverine 3, looking at the facts and making a few predictions along the way

The Title

The primary thing we’ve learned about this next film is its name: Logan. A far more back-to-basics approach, the title suggests a more character-driven dissection of Wolverine than anything we’ve seen before, and perhaps hints that we’ll learn more about the man with the claws than other solo adventures have given us. It also ties nicely into the Old Man Logan comic arc that Logan is heavily rumored to be adapting, with the name certainly suggesting this is the case.

The Poster

Also breaking on October 5th, Hugh Jackman tweeted out an image of the first poster for Logan, spread on a huge billboard. You can see it here:

The poster is reasonably understated, with Wolverine’s clawed hand holding that of a child, leaving plenty to the imagination. The current popular rumor is that it is the hand of X-23, a mutant with similar capabilities to Logan, with two claws instead of three. This would certainly make sense considering that this is supposedly Jackman’s last turn as Wolverine, thus introducing X-23 as a way of passing on the mantle to another generation. An alternate theory is that this is the hand of one of Logan’s children, which would tie nicely into the Old Man Logan arc, although that’s entirely our own speculation.

The Script

On the same day (October 5th), Logan director James Mangold tweeted out the second page of the film’s screenplay, which you can also see below:

 This in itself opens a new can of worms to explore, and it sets itself aside as a character-driven, deeper superhero film right from the opening paragraph: if you’re on the make for a hyper choreographed, gravity defying, city-block destroying, CG f**kathon, this ain’t your movie. The entire excerpt suggests this is going to be a darker, more grounded and genuinely impactful entry, that very well may have some serious ramifications affecting the entire X-Men universe.

Jackman’s Wolverine appears to be much older, and it’s said that his abilities are fading, which hugely raises the stakes of the film, potentially foreshadowing a monumental death (contractually speaking, it would make sense).

There’s also some pretty brutal action at the bottom of the page, which points hugely towards an R-rating, having been confirmed at numerous points before. If this is Jackman’s last time donning the claws, at least he’ll go out with a bang (and plenty of blood).

The Picture

Our most recent (non-leak) glimmer into Logan is a picture tweeted by Mangold, portraying Patrick Stewart’s Professor X as we’ve never seen him before:

A far cry from the de-ageing technology used in X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, this portrayal of Professor X looks old, decrepit, and on death’s door. Rumors are swirling that Wolverine will be looking after the Professor throughout the film, and this image definitely backs that up. And based on what Mangold said in the script earlier, this could be Stewart’s swansong too…

Aside from these recent announcements, we do know that actors such as Stephen Merchant and Richard E. Grant will be filling up the cast, but there’s plenty of separate theories about their characters swirling around chatrooms right now.

From what we’ve heard so far, Logan could shape up to be the best entry in the X-Men franchise in a very long time, and as a trailer drop is impending, it’s only a matter of time before we find out more.

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