In the Old Man Logan comic book, Wolverine was fooled into killing his fellow X-Men by Mysterio and a number of other villains. However, James Mangold's Logan took things one step further (and arguably went down an even darker route) by revealing that Professor X losing his faculties resulted in him killing the team with some sort of psychic outburst.
That was a shocking route to take Charles Xavier down given how much time we had spent with the character, and Mangold has now admitted that he was suprised that both Fox and fans embraced that plot beat.
Given how great the movie was, it didn't really garner the level of controversy you might think, and that's a testament to the filmmaker's work. Charles' story was undeniably tragic, and it was a clever decision to delve into what happens when the world's most powerful psychic loses his mind.
Check out Mangold's Logan comments in full below:
Click on the "Next" button below to see which Wolverine
stories we're hoping to see in the hero's MCU debut!
10. Alpha Flight
Wolverine could be introduced in his own solo outing or an X-Men movie, but why not bring him to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as part of Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight?
Fox dropped the ball when it came to exploring Wolverine’s early years in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but his connection to this group is a story which could arguably take place either in the past (thereby fleshing out Logan’s backstory) or present.
Featuring an eclectic cast of characters including the likes of Guardian, Northstar, Aurora, Sasquatch, Shaman and Snowbird, including Alpha Flight in the next Wolverine movie would not only give us the chance to see the clawed X-Man teaming up with a very different team of superheroes, but for us to also learn more about his past with the Canadian government.
9. Mister X
Mister X is a wealthy businessman with a killing addiction who cuts a scar into his body for every life he takes (which admittedly isn't all that different to Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey villain Victor Zsasz).
Wolverine encounters him when the two come face to face in a tournament that Logan is forced to take part in, and after initially being overpowered by X, the hero soon realises that he too is a mutant (with the ability to psychically predict the next movement of his opponents) and goes into a berserker rage to stop him once and for all.
However, their rivalry is far from over at this point and this is the first of many epic battles between the two. The Madripoor setting and tournament would make a great backdrop for a movie based on Wolverine’s encounters with Mister X, and he could even make his debut in an upcoming film like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
8. Savage Wolverine
Savage Wolverine was written and pencilled by Frank Cho. Stranded in the Savage Land (an iconic Marvel location which no studio has taken advantage of as of yet), Logan takes on dinosaurs and mutates, ultimately finding an unlikely ally in Shanna the She-Devil.
However, the twist here is that rather than having Wolverine and Shanna become romantically attached during their adventure, they actually annoy the crap out of each other (which would make for a fun dynamic on screen). It’s a fun and pulpy tale which would offer up a unique take on the well-known mutant, while also giving Marvel Studios some great material to work with.
A setting like this also means that Wolverine could slash his way through monstrous enemies without his potential first adventure in the MCU becoming too R-Rated for Disney's tastes.
7. Enemy Of The State
After being brainwashed by HYDRA, Logan is sent on a number of missions which involve him hunting down some of his fellow superheroes and even killing another member of the X-Men! When he does finally regain his senses, Wolverine heads off on a mission of revenge, using a Sentinel to take out a group of ninjas and taking on the ninja Gorgon in an epic, bloody battle.
Wolverine remains a popular character, but it won't be easy for Marvel Studios to get fans interested in the X-Men again. However, sending Wolverine through the Marvel Cinematic Universe and having him cross paths with everyone from Captain America to the Fantastic Four would make this an event movie which would prove to be unmissable for any moviegoer out there.
It's a great comic book series, and it could even bring Daredevil and Elektra into the MCU given what key roles they end up playing in Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.'s memorable story.
6. Get Mystique
Mystique was a major part of pretty much every single one of Fox's X-Men movies, and fans have had quite enough of her at this stage. However, there are still ways the MCU could reinvent her.
With that in mind, why not give her a role in Wolverine’s next solo outing? In "Get Mystique," Logan hunts down the blue skinned beauty after she betrays the X-Men, but as well as being a story that features the two mutants outmanoeuvring each other at every turn in the present, it also reveals some of their shared history in flashbacks to the 1920s.
In that, hey went on a Bonnie-and-Clyde-esque robbery spree in Kansas, and that could be an enjoyable way to explore the history of both Wolverine and the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe.
5. Wolverine & Kitty Pryde
There were once plans at Fox for Kitty Pryde to get her own spinoff, but that fell by the wayside after the Disney merger, but a movie teaming her up with her father figure/mentor Wolverine would give Marvel Studios a great opportunity to highlight one of the strongest female characters in comics.
After Kitty follows her actual father to Tokyo where she believes he is being harassed by the Yakuza, Wolverine goes after the young mutant. However, he finds that Kitty has been brainwashed by one of the samurai’s who once trained him; Ogun. Delving into their relationship, a movie (hell, it could even be a Disney+ TV series) based on this series would be a breath of fresh air.
Kitty, now known as Kate, is one of the best X-Men characters out there, and we're definitely optimistic that the hero is going to have a bright future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in future.
4. New Mutants
No, we're not talking about the team of mutants who will receive the spotlight in the long-delayed movie supposedly coming to theaters this August (we're not banking on it). Instead, this one-shot story featured the Ultimate version of Wolverine tasked with perhaps his most difficult mission yet.
Starting off with a young boy who is baffled to discover that his family and neighbours are all missing, he heads off to school only to later be confronted by his girlfriend…however, she then disintegrates before him! Fleeing to a cave, Wolverine catches up with the boy and explains that his new mutant power is to kill any organic life form in his vicinity.
Wolverine can cope with it because of his healing factor, but has no other choice than to kill the teenager. It's a dark and upsetting story which emphasises what being a mutant can mean, and while it wouldn't make for a good movie, it could prove to be a compelling subplot in a future film.
3. Patch
Madripoor is a fictional island located in Southeast Asia in the Marvel Universe, and a place which Wolverine has called home on more than one occasion. Full of thugs and criminals, Logan donned an eye patch and went by the moniker of “Patch” for a time in order to remain undercover (as the X-Men were, at that time, attempting to keep their recent resurrection under wraps).
There are a number of stories that Fox could pick and choose from for a movie based on Wolverine’s time in Madripoor, but his hunt for the Muramasa Blade (a blade that all who wielded were possessed by its demonic essence, except for the one warrior destined to be it’s true master) could be a great start, especially as it could even be combined with that Kitty Pryde adventure.
Madripoor is going to be introduced in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, so the groundwork is potentially already being laid for Wolverine to spend some time in this corner of the MCU.
2. Nitro
While the X-Men decided to keep out of the superhuman Civil War in the comic books, Wolverine still took it upon himself to track down the villain responsible for the explosion which killed sixty children at a nearby elementary school and around 600 people in the surrounding neighbourhood in Stamford, Connecticut: Nitro.
We've obviously had a "Civil War" in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Nitro could instead be a mutant that Wolverine decides to hunt down for causing a similar disaster (one which perhaps takes out a young group of mutant superheroes rather than the New Warriors). Wolverine is always at his best hunting down an enemy, and this is a story with a great deal of potential.
A movie like this could also tie into the concept of mutants in the MCU being viewed as a threat, especially if one of them kills hundreds of people while battling a group like the New Mutants.
1. Old Man Logan
"Old Man Logan" is rightfully considered one of the greatest Wolverine stories of all-time, and bringing a faithful adaptation of Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s celebrated arc to the big screen is something that could only be done by Marvel Studios in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Characters like the Hulk, Venom (he's owned by Sony Pictures, so that probably wouldn't happen), Hawkeye and the Red Skull all play pivotal roles in this story, and without them, we’d be left with, well, Logan. That was still very good, of course, but it wasn't what many fans were hoping for from Hugh Jackman's final appearance as Wolverine.
How would this work in the MCU? Well, with time-travel and alternate realities becoming commonplace, heading into the far-flung future of this shared world surely won't be off the table.