When Logan came out in 2017, it would have been reasonable to assume that it was going to be the last time we’d ever see Hugh Jackman in action as the most iconic member of the X-Men. Of course, it didn’t quite work out that way (which we predicted years ago), with the mutant now anchoring a billion-dollar grossing buddy flick with none other than Ryan Reynolds’s Deadpool.
Yet, as wild as Deadpool & Wolverine is, they made it in a way where Logan can still serve as a powerful ending to Wolverine’s story, and indeed, it’s a movie that stands the test of time. In this episode of Marvel Revisited, written, edited and narrated by Kier Gomes, we dig into the making of one of the edgiest superhero movies of all time.
People may forget now just how controversial it was when it came out. An R-rated Wolverine movie had long been planned, but every time it came close to happening, Marvel and Fox got cold feet. X-Men Origins: Wolverine, was originally supposed to be a dark Darren Aronofsky movie, but it became one of the worst superhero movies ever. When James Mangold signed up to do the sequel, The Wolverine, he was allowed to release an R-rated version on home media, but the theatrical cut was still PG-13. When it came time to do Logan, Mangold was left off the leash and turned it into a dark, violent action movie that perhaps owes as much to classic westerns like Shane as it does to any other superhero movie.
Check out our retrospective and let us know in the comments if you think it still holds up!