James Mangold Reveals How DC Movies Influenced Logan

Logan is currently crushing the global box office - and for good reason. Hugh Jackman's swan song [...]

By Charlie Ridgely - March 7, 2017 01:39 pm EST

Logan is currently crushing the global box office - and for good reason. Hugh Jackman's swan song to Wolverine is a modern superhero masterpiece, and fans are flooding back to theaters for repeat viewings.

What people are enjoying so much about the film is that it's a total departure from the rest of the comic movie genre. It's completely unique, but James Mangold has revealed that there were some superhero influences behind Logan.

It's no secret that Western films had a hand in Logan's style, but there were some prominent DC movies that also had some influence.

While talking to Empire, Mangold listed some of his influences, and they included one of most popular superhero films of all time - Superman.

"Richard Donner's Superman was extremely human to me – a different tone to Logan by far, but still. Those beautifully-written scenes by Robert Benton between him and Lois Lane on the terrace, the beautiful humanity and simplicity of those scenes, and the lyrical joy of being swept in the air by a god who also happens to have a crush on [her], the contradictions in all of that are beautiful to me."

Superman wasn't the only DC property to have some sway with Logan, although the other was much more indirect. Former Batman star Christian Bale was supposed to make his next movie with Mangold, but an injury he sustained while portraying the Dark Knight gave the director a new idea.

"After I finished The Wolverine, I was going to make a detective film called The Deep Blue Goodbye with Christian Bale. I had spent the previous two years in Marvel mode and I was really looking forward to escape. Fourteen days before we started shooting, Christian tore the ACL in his knee and could not perform, so the movie got cancelled. That was a dark film and a journey into the abyss. I was broken-hearted over that film not happening, and I think I brought a lot of that inward ambition from that movie to this."

If you loved Logan, be sure to rate it on our scale below. The film currently sits at #2 on the all-time comicbook movie rankings.

In Logan, in the near future, a weary Logan cares for an ailing Professor X in a hide out on the Mexican border. But Logan's attempts to hide from the world and his legacy are up-ended when a young mutant arrives, being pursued by dark forces.

Logan is directed by James Mangold, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Frank and Michael Green, from a story by Mangold, and also stars Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant and Dafne Keen.

Logan is now playing in theaters.

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