The beloved Australian actor Hugh Jackman is very satisfied and emotional about playing Logan/Wolverine in the final standalone movie of the franchise directed by James Mangold. He pulled off a masterful performance in Logan which deserves an Oscar nomination. He has given over a decade of his life to this character, and have played it like a boss. He has been revered by both critics and fans for his gritty performances in successive X-Men and independent Wolverine movies. It’s almost unimaginable to even think of any other actor besides Hugh Jackman to bring Wolverine to life. He recently said in an interview –
“I’m really, really proud of this movie. I was really keen that I didn’t leave the party feeling like I could dance more. I think I’m pretty much danced out, and I had a great time. It’s been an unbelievable ride, but it feels right.”
The movie has opened to a massive start with box-office collections in excess of $80 million in the opening weekend, making it among the top five R-rated movies. The story of Logan is set up in 2029 which is way past 2024, the year mentioned in the epilogue scene of X-Men: Days of Future Past. But there were many easter eggs in the movie which connects it with the X-Men franchise.
Caliban:
A character played by Stephen Merchant is a key player in X-Men comics including apocalypse, plus his ability to track mutants is a tribute to an original comic where he assembled ‘Morlocks’ (an underground community of mutants).
The Adamantium Bullet:
The fact that Logan kept a metal bullet made of adamantium, which is the only weapon that can kill him. It played a significant role in X-Men: Origins where he was shot by an adamantium bullet which erased his memory of life (which is why he was lost in first X-Men).
Donald Pierce:
The famous actor Boyd Holbrook (of Narcos fame) is a cyborg supervillain Donald Pierce (the name is taken directly from X-Men comics) who is running a unit of criminal cyborgs hell-bent on mutant’s blood. His business card revealed that he works for a company called Transigen. Further, Donald Pierce appeared as a high-ranking member of Hellfire Club of Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw (the villains of X-Men: First Class).
The Statue of Liberty:
Prof. Charles Xavier mentioned to Logan there is a meet-up planned at the Statue of Liberty, Logan replied it was a long time ago. This is a reference to the original movie when Logan experienced a victory with friends by his side, indicating how much things have changed since the old timeline.
X-23:
She is the young mutant who possess Wolverine’s DNA. In the movie, she is among several test subjects but in comics, she is a full-blown Weapon-X successor who was freed to find a path of her own. Also, she put an X sign beside Logan’s grave.
Old Man Logan:
The character of Wolverine in the movie is inspired by “Old Man Logan” story based on a dystopian future where villains finally prevailed over Wolverine when supervillain Mysterio laid a trap.
Berserker rage:
As expected, we saw berserker rage from X-Men comics i.e a mental state when Wolverine turns absolutely crazy, goes on a rampage, without thinking about the moral consequences of the act.
