Tracking Fox's
X-Men timeline,
Charles Xavier graduated from the University of Oxford in 1962. If he's the average graduate age of 22, that would make him 89 in 2029. Across
Professor X's 67 years adventuring as the leader of the
X-Men, the team's exploits somehow became public knowledge as evidenced by the comic book
Wolverine remarks as being sensationalized in
Logan's final trailer.
What happened to the rest of the
X-Men to leave
Professor X and
Wolverine hiding on the Mexican border? The setting and atmosphere of
Logan is a far cry from the hopeful and triumphant tone of
X-Men: DoFP's epilogue. Five to six years seems like a relative short time for such a drastic change to occur but James Mangold felt that was enough of a time skip to give himself room to tell his take on the
Old Man Logan storyline from Mark Millar and Steve McNiven.
"
It's year 2029 when the movie takes place," James Mangold told ComicBook.com. He added, "T
here's an epilogue scene in Days of Future Past which is 2024, or 2023, something like that. I just wanted to get far enough past. My goal was real simple: it was to pick a time where I had enough elbow room that I was clear of existing entanglements. Part of the way I think this films stop being fresh (these films being franchise comic book movies) is when you find yourself making essentially a television series with $200 million episodes where you're literally just picking up where the last one left off and you're making a mini-series. Then, it's impossible to do something fresh, meaning essentially you're just a director on the 14th episode of a television show picking up where the last one left off and people are going to be really startled by any discontinuity or changes."
Aside from freeing himself up from entanglements with Fox's confusing continuity, Mangold had one other goal in mind with the time skip. "
The goal here was to somehow make a film that's different: to be a filmmaker myself and go, 'How would I bring myself to this? What would I do if I was starting from scratch? What would I explore? What have I seen not explored?' Not only in the X-Men universe but in comic book movies in general."
ABOUT LOGAN
Logan will be released in North American theaters on March 3, 2017. The film is directed and written by James Mangold, who returns after directing 2013's The Wolverine. The film will reportedly mark Hugh Jackman's last outing as the titular hero after having played the character for 17 years, beginning with 2000's X-Men. Patrick Stewart will reprise his role as Professor X. He'll be joined by Dafne Keen as Laura (rumored to be X-23), Stephen Merchant as Caliban, Boyd Holbrook as Donald Pierce (leader of The Reavers) and Richard E. Grant as Zander Rice (head of the Transigen project).
Logan is loosely based on the Old Man Logan miniseries from comic book author Mark Millar and artist Steve McNiven. The plot find Logan and Professor X on the run, years after the epilogue of X-Men: Days Of Future Past in the year 2024. For undisclosed reasons, the world has transformed into an apocalyptic landscape where mutants are nearly extinct. Professor X and Wolverine are protecting the young Laura who somehow holds the key to a better future.
OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: 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.