Logan Costume Designs for Wolverine, X-23, Charles Xavier, and Caliban

20th Century Fox’s R-rated superhero film Logan is set in the future, though you wouldn’t know it based on clothing the characters wear. Nobody’s wearing sneakers with the auto-lacing technology, or clothes that can dry themselves, or even gaudy silver metallic outfits. This is because director James Mangold wanted to ground the film in reality, making it more of a Western than a futuristic sci-fi film.

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Christian Cordella, a costume illustrator who recently worked on Captain America: Civil War, Star Trek Beyond, and The Tick, was one of the many talented artists that worked on Logan. He was nice enough to partake in an interview and provide us his costume designs for four of the main leads — which you can view by clicking on “Start Slideshow.”

With Logan, X-23, Charles Xavier, and Caliban, did you approach their clothing style is an extension of their personalities?

Christian Cordella: It’s very important to reflect the personalities through the sketches, especially when you approach a movie like this, which is not a “superhero movie” in the traditional sense. I feel very lucky to have worked with costume designer, Daniel Orlandi. Thanks to his vision, we were able to achieve our goals.

Since Logan is set in the not so distant future, how did that influence your costume designs?

Christian Cordella: The costumes are being treated as contemporary as possible…except the bionic parts of the Reavers, everything else was supposed to feel very real and grounded.

In the previous films, Charles Xavier has been shown to be a sharp dresser, so was it challenging coming up with an unfashionable look for him?

Christian Cordella: This is the first time that these characters are represented without their “coolness;” they had to be developed as real people with real, human problems, so a lot of care had to be taken to adapt them into their new looks. We approached Xavier as an elderly patient in a retirement house, so we did research into retirees and what they would wear.

How did you approach Caliban’s costume since he has an aversion to sunlight?

Christian Cordella: The characters spent a lot of time in Mexico, so we tried to give them costumes that would reflect their environments. The challenge was to make Caliban feel like he blends into this world.

Knowing that Logan and X-23 would have a lot of action scenes, did that affect your designs?

Christian Cordella: In this case, knowing that the director was going for a very realistic look made the costume design choices easier. The costumes ground the action into reality. If they were in a superhero costume, these scenes would look much different. With jeans and a t-shirt, the characters are much more vulnerable.

In 2029, the mutant population has shrunk significantly and the X-Men have disbanded. Logan, whose power to self-heal is dwindling, has surrendered himself to alcohol and now earns a living as a chauffeur. He takes care of the ailing old Professor X whom he keeps hidden away. One day, a female stranger asks Logan to drive a girl named Laura to the Canadian border. At first he refuses, but the Professor has been waiting for a long time for her to appear. Laura possesses an extraordinary fighting prowess and is in many ways like Wolverine. She is pursued by sinister figures working for a powerful corporation; this is because her DNA contains the secret that connects her to Logan. A relentless pursuit begins … In this third cinematic outing featuring the Marvel comic book character Wolverine we see the superheroes beset by everyday problems. They are ageing, ailing and struggling to survive financially. A decrepit Logan is forced to ask himself if he can or even wants to put his remaining powers to good use. It would appear that in the near-future, the times in which they were able put the world to rights with razor sharp claws and telepathic powers are now over.

Logan stars Hugh Jackman (Logan), Boyd Holbrook (Donald Pierce), Patrick Stewart (Charles Xavier), Dafne Keen (Laura Kinney/X-23), Stephen Merchant (Caliban), Elizabeth Rodriguez (Gabriela), and Richard E. Grant (Dr. Zander Rice).

James Mangold (The Wolverine) directed, based on a screenplay he co-wrote with screenwriters Scott Frank and Michael Green.

Logan is now playing!

MORE: Logan: Where Are All The Mutants? / Did Logan Go Too Far With X-24?