This is somewhat strange. So a new “Logan” trailer has been released and as you’ve likely heard by now, Hugh Jackman intends this to be the last Wolverine film — or at least the last one he stars in as the X-Men mutant. As you’ve probably gleaned from the footage and or our in-depth “Logan” report (we saw the first 40 minutes of the film), this James Mangold-directed outing is very different. Not only is it tonally disparate from the “X-Men” movies —more ragged and raw Western than super hero movies — it’s set in the near future, 2025 according to the filmmaker.
READ MORE: Hugh Jackman Fights For Mutant Lives In 2 New Trailers For ‘Logan’
“It’s year 2029 when the movie takes place,” James Mangold recently revealed via ComicBook.com. There’s an epilogue scene in Days of Future Past which is 2024, or 2023, something like that. I just wanted to get far enough past. My goal was real simple: it was to pick a time where I had enough elbow room that I was clear of existing entanglements.”
OK, so part of the “X-Men” universe and set after the events of “X-Men: Days Of Future Past,” got it. Mangold went on to explain he’s not a fan of essentially making a television series with $200 million episodes where the story picks up exactly where the last one left off.
“Then, it’s impossible to do something fresh, meaning essentially you’re just a director on the 14th episode of a television show picking up where the last one left off and people are going to be really startled by any discontinuity or changes,” he said. “The goal here was to somehow make a film that’s different: to be a filmmaker myself and go, ‘How would I bring myself to this? What would I do if I was starting from scratch? What would I explore? What have I seen not explored?’ Not only in the X-Men universe but in comic book movies in general.”
Makes sense, but in a recent interview with Digital Spy, Hugh Jackman told the outlet that “Logan” exists outside the “X-Men” universe and the aforementioned timeline. “When you see the full movie you’ll understand,” he explained. “Not only is it different in terms of timeline and tone, it’s a slightly different universe. It’s actually a different paradigm and that will become clear.”
OK, hmm, seems totally contradictory to what was said above by the director unless Jackman is talking more abstractly. The actor explained that the movie was influenced by “The Wrestler,” Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven” and “The Gauntlet.”
“We wanted to make something really different. Definitely tonally different,” he continued,” he said. “Early on we had the idea for the title not having anything to do with Wolverine in it but just being about the man. And what the collateral damage of being Wolverine your entire life would be.”
Sounds much like the movie we saw, or at least the first 40-minutes of. So does “Logan” fit into the “X-Men” universe or not? Professor X is apparently 90-years old in the film so presumably they cannot keep going with this character forward, but with the “X-Men: Apocalypse” universe, a younger cast and Professor Xavier played by James McAvoy, perhaps he’s saying the movie doesn’t connect to that timeline? Boy, Fox and Simon Kinberg are really painting themselves into a corner with this thicket. Don’t even get me started on where “Deadpool” fits into all of this.
I suppose we don’t have long to wait to understand what Jackman is clarifying. “Logan” opens in theaters on March 3. [via ComicbookMovie]
Update: Mangold says to relax and that Jackman misspoke. “[I] Don’t think @RealHughJackman said that exactly. Simple fact. We take place in 2029, 5 yrs past anything depicted in XMEN [films]. Because we take place after all the other movies, we have freedom. That’s all he meant. Breathe.”
