Well, it's official. While many were anticipating the next Wolverine sequel to be titled Old Man Logan (based possibly on the story by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven), it looks like it will be simply, LOGAN. Director James Mangold took to Twitter to make the announcement (with star Hugh Jackman also sharing the news) in both the form of a poster and a page from the script, both of which are quite revealing. First up is the poster, which features Wolverine's hand with claws popped and a child's hand holding onto it, presumably a female based on early set photos (see below) and rumored to be X-23, the female clone daughter of Wolverine from the comics (and current "Wolverine" in the Marvel books).
Next up is the script page, which reads much more like a hard R action movie than a watered down PG-13 superhero romp and is quite clear about what kind of tone they're going for:
"In this flick, people will get hurt or killed when shit falls on them. They will get just as hurt or just as killed if they get hit with something big and heavy like, say, a car. Should anyone in our story have the misfortune to fall off a roof or out a window, they won't bounce. They will die."
The page also starts off with a "fuck" from Logan and indicates that his character is "older now and it's clear his abilities aren't what they once were" using booze as the painkiller for his constant, chronic pain. That definitely reads like an endgame status for the character and Jackman has been pretty clear that this is his last outing as Wolverine, so let's just hope he goes out with a bloody bang. Will he pass the torch to a young X-23? Will we see a recast Wolverine in the future? Anything is possible and it's a long road ahead, but for now, I'm certainly intrigued by the direction they're headed with LOGAN.
LOGAN slices and dices into theaters on March 3, 2017.