Wolverine has been known for two things since he was first introduced to movie audiences- His claws and his super-fast healing. The character seemed physically unbreakable, and that was appealing to many fans. With the premiere of Logan, we learn that one of the mutant abilities he had possessed for over 200 years was finally fledging on him.
Logan showcased a jaded man who had seen so much in the world, and the film also showcased something that was surprising. He was not healing as fast as he had two films back. This was an intentional decision made by the filmmaker James Mangold so that there would be a difference in tone and quality of the movie and the story. The Wolverine in Logan becomes an alcoholic to numb out the pain he suffered daily from old war wounds like a soldier.
Mangold sat down for an interview with Empire magazine to discuss this big plot point of the new movie:
“One of the things we all thought about as we worked on this film is, well, we don’t want to rebuild everything. We want to have some questions. In order to make a different Logan, and a different tone of a Wolverine movie, we felt like we couldn’t hold on to every tradition established in all the movies religiously, or we’d be trapped by the decisions made before us. So we questioned whether Logan’s healing factor causes him to heal without even a scar. We imagined that it may have when he was younger, but with age, he’s getting older and ailing. Perhaps his healing factor no longer produces baby-soft skin. So we imagined he heals quickly, still, but it leaves a scar. The simple idea was that his body would start to get a little more ravaged with a kind of tattooing of past battles, lacerations that remain of previous conflicts.”
