Logan Director Reveals Hugh Jackman Never Put on the Wolverine Mask

Over three years after its initial release, Logan still remains one of the most iconic comic book-inspired movies to ever hit the big screen. The film brought an emotional and action-packed conclusion to Hugh Jackman’s tenure as Wolverine, while also weaving in some major Marvel Comics lore in the process. One thing that fans desperately wanted to see in Logan was Wolverine wearing his iconic brown and yellow costume, something that was teased in a post-credits scene of 2013’s The Wolverine. According to director James Mangold, there was never a plan for Jackman to wear the comic costume in Logan — not even behind the scenes. As Mangold revealed during ComicBook.com’s Quarantine Watch Party of Logan, it never happened because he thought Wolverine’s characterization “would keep him from donning a self-promoting ‘uniform’”.

That reasoning is absolutely understandable, especially given the dramatic and raw energy that Logan filters through the X-Men universe. As Mangold told ComicBook.com ahead of the Quarantine Watch Party, his goal was to turn the conventions of a superhero movie on its head.

“There are as many kinds of superhero movies as there are movie genres. And what I mean by that is that you could make a Greek myth, warriors and gods superhero movie, like a Hercules story,” Mangold told ComicBook.com. “You can make a Bible story as a superhero story, which has been done, a Christ parable. You could make a Western as a superior story. As Chris [Nolan] did, you can make a noir film as a superhero story. We’ve seen comedies. We’ve seen buddy pictures. We’ve seen all of the most successful ones, to me in my personal opinion, don’t just say to themselves, “I’m making a superhero movie.” They take it somewhere specific, and I think that was true to the comic books. I don’t think the comic book artists were satisfied with just making in a sense straight “superhero” stories. They were always adding a prism through which to view this particular story. At least the most memorable comic books sagas I know, had a narrative position in terms of what they were trying to do with these characters. And that was very much what I set out for. When the opportunity arose, I realized I’d have the freedom, and I even traded budget for more freedom.”

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