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| source// Marvel Comics |
When Hugh Jackman polled social media asking for what fans want to see in the third and final Wolverine solo film, one of the most recurrent requests was an adaptation of Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s iconic 2009 comic book storyline Old Man Logan. This arc, set in a far-flung future where super villains reign supreme, undeniably has huge cinematic potential.
The world – in Old Man Logan – has been reduced to a lawless wasteland, leaving Wolverine as one of the last good guys standing in a barren world devoid of pretty much everything. Haunted by actions from his past, Logan is hesitant to step up and put things right. As a result, he takes on a reluctant and grumpling persona that feels like the superhero equivalent of Clint Eastwood’s character from Unforgiven.
A dark future story like this could be the perfect ending to Hugh Jackman’s immense run as the cinematic Wolverine, but some massive changes would need to be made in order to turn this comic book into a movie…
10. Replace Hawkeye With Someone That Fox Can Actually Use
In the comics, one of the few superheroes who survives the villainous uprising is Hawkeye. When Logan is desperately in need of cash to pay his landlords (sadly, rent has not become a thing of the past) and keep a room over his family’s heads, an elderly Clint Barton approaches him with a job. He needs someone to traverse a great distance with him and deliver a package, and Logan decides to help.
Because the rights to Hawkeye are obviously at Marvel Studios, Fox would need to swap out Clint for someone they actually have the rights to for the movie version of the story. And, since Patrick Stewart is said to be involved with Wolverine 3, Professor X seems like the obvious choice.
Stewart’s cinematic Charles Xavier has a knack of surviving tough situations, so it wouldn’t be too hard to swap him in for Hawkeye. Charles may not bring the comedic chops that Clint had in the comics, but he could bring something equally interesting to the table.
If his old mentor emerged from the wilderness and asked for help, Jackman’s Wolverine would surely accept the call. But the relationship between the two powerful mutants could have become frosty in the years since Days Of Future Past, allowing some friction and bickering throughout the film.
9. Rewrite All The Easter Eggs
In the comics, there’s not shortage of knowing nods and winks as Logan and Clint travel across the barren remains of the world. Again, due to the cinematic rights to characters being as they are, many of these would need to be changed in order to translate Old Man Logan to the big screen.
At one point, they drive past the rotting corpse of Giant-Man (a humungous version of Ant-Man, who’s rights are at Marvel). Perhaps Fox could swap in the Blob or another massive mutant. At another stage, they’re chased by a dinosaur that has been possessed by the Venom symbiote (part of Sony’s Spider-Man package, cinematically). Maybe this action sequence could be replaced with a giant mutated monster of some other kind.
Later on, Logan encounters Captain America’s shield and Iron Man’s armour. These would need to go, too, but there’s no shortage of artefacts that Fox do have the rights to that could take their place instead. Remnants of deceased X-Men’s costumes, for instance, or perhaps some ancient evidence of Apocalypse’s evildoing. This world needs to feel like it was once lived in, so Fox will need to dig out some old props and characters to get that across via Easter Eggs.
8. Add Some More Action Scenes
Logan’s defining trait in the Old Man Logan comics is that he’s put his claws away for good. At least, that’s what he claims until the very end of the book, when he’s so pissed off that he finally whips them out and doles out some violent justice. There’s a couple of fist fights and chases along the way, but this is the main action segment of the comics series.
Fox, surely, would rather have a few more slash-y battles thrown in that they could show off in the trailers. If this truly is the last Wolverine movie ever, Fox would want go out with a bang instead of a whimper. Perhaps, then, the cinematic version of elderly Logan can be reluctant about using his claws but not completely against using them in extreme circumstance.
Also, Fox could beef up the flashback segments as a way to squeeze in some more action. Why did Wolverine stop fighting? What went down in his final showdown with the baddies? The audience could learn this in a series of flashbacks dotted in throughout the film, while the old Logan travels across the wilderness (in a similar way to how Deadpool cut between origin and action using non-linear editing).
With a few more fights and brutal flashbacks thrown in, Fox would surely be much more on-board with the Old Man Logan story and happier to offer up a big budget and a massive marketing push. This could make it the biggest Wolverine movie to date.
7. Write Out The Super Soldier Serum
In the comics, it’s revealed that Hawkeye’s package that needs delivering is a collection of vials containing a successful recreation of the super soldier serum that created Captain America (not just a package of drugs like a sceptical Logan predicted). It’s enough to create an army, which could help turn the tide against the super villains and reclaim Earth for the good guys.
Trademarked terms like ‘Captain America’ and ‘super soldier serum’ obviously can’t be used in a Fox film because they belong to Marvel Studios. However, in Deadpool, Fox added their own magical formula which could serve the same purpose – that fluid that Ajax injected in Wade Wilson, which unlocked his latent mutant genes and gave him his superpowers.
So, instead of super soldier serum, Hugh Jackman’s Logan could be on a mission to deliver some mutant-making formula to an underground resistance group that wants to bring down the bad guys, in the hope that an army of mutants could make the difference in the ongoing struggle. Perhaps these could be leftovers from Ajax’s workshop and/or the Weapon X program, serving to tie the Old Man Logan movie back to previous Fox films.
6. Find An Alternative To The Red Skull
One of the main antagonists of the Old Man Logan comics is the Red Skull, who controls a section of the USA and has killed many superheroes that stood in his way (including his arch nemesis Captain America, who’s costume he likes to wear as a trophy). The Red Skull’s men end up stealing the super soldier serum and murdering Clint Barton. Without using his claws, Logan takes vengeance by killing the Red Skull and all his men.
For the film version, the Red Skull would need to be replaced with a villain that Fox has access to. Ideally, like Red Skull, they’d also need to be a household name villain among comic book fans. And, to make things really personal, it might help it they have pre-established beef with Wolverine as well.
The obvious choice seems to be Ian McKellen’s Magneto, who has flitted between fierce rival and reluctant ally to Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine multiple times in the years since 2000’s X-Men movie. I, for one, would love to see McKellen really let loose as an unhinged Magneto that has given up trying to be a good guy altogether and instead rules a section of mankind with an iron fist. This could provide a tragic ending for Patrick Stewart’s Professor X as well, if the film follows the beat of the main villain killing Logan’s ally.
5. Recast The Hulk’s Role
After taking down the Red Skull, in the comics, Logan returns home to pay his landlord, who happens to be the Hulk (who has gone bad and rules a territory of the USA). It’s revealed that Hulk’s grandchildren have killed Logan’s family, resulting in the Wolverine claws finally being unleashed. He kills all of Bruce Banner’s family, before confronting the man himself for one last epic and brutal battle.
Story-wise, this is interesting stuff and again reminiscent of the western (the hero returns home to find that evil forces have wreaked havoc is a bit of a cowboy trope, after all). Fox wouldn’t want to cut all this material from the film version, so they’d need to replace Hulk with a character that they’re allowed to use.
Ideally, they would need to be a powerful character that Logan was once good friends with, in order to keep all of the challenge and emotion of the original text. Someone like Colossus could possibly work, although it’s hard to imagine either cinematic version of that character ever going bad.
Blob could work as a replacement, potentially, allowing Fox to stage a better battle than that one from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. That could be a fitting end to Wolverine’s solo franchise, if the effects and the action are strong.
4. Squeeze Deadpool In Somewhere
In the comics, Deadpool is suspicious in his absence from the Old Man Logan story. Seeing as his healing factor is arguably just as powerful as Wolverine’s, you’d expect Wade Wilson to still be hanging around when the world descends into an apocalyptic wastelands. An Old Man Logan film could fix this oversight, which could in turn add a massive box office draw to the movie.
Fox executives will be very aware by now that the Deadpool film has made more money than both of the solo Wolverine films at the global box office. To try and make Hugh Jackman’s third and apparently final Wolverine film more profitable, then, Fox may want to sneak Ryan Reynolds’ Merc With The Mouth in.
Considering that Reynolds slate is already pretty busy, he may not have the time to play a major part in Wolverine 3. However, a cameo could be enough to get fans talking and therefore increase the box office appeal of the movie. Squeezing Deadpool in as a humorous aside somewhere during the road trip section of the movie could be a highly entertaining movie moment, as well as a wise studio decision.
3. Add In A Big Sabretooth Showdown
Like Deadpool, Sabretooth was entirely absent from the original Old Man Logan comics (although he did have a role in the recent Secret Wars version of the story). As he’s immortal too, it’s easy to assume that Wolverine’s evil brother survived the villainous uprising as well and is still out in the world somewhere. In the movie, Fox should actually show us this.
This is especially vital in light of Hugh Jackman’s recent social media poll. When he asked fans what they’d want to see in Wolverine 3, ‘one last fight with Sabretooth’ was almost as popular as ‘Old Man Logan’ among the responses. Resultantly, talks have already begun to bring Leiv Schreiber back to the X-Men universe to reprise his X-Men Origins: Wolverine version of Sabretooth.
But how would he fit into the story? Well, the most obvious way to include him would be as a henchman to the main villain. Tyler Mane’s version of Sabretooth was a lackey to Magneto in the first X-Men film, so perhaps that’s where the Old Man Logan film could pick up with the character (albeit with Schreiber taking the role instead of Mane). Regardless of where he fits in, the final fight between these un-killable brothers is bound to be epic.
2. Make Wolverine Less Irredeemable
Through flashbacks, the Old Man Logan comics explain why Logan is so haunted by his past and reluctant to use his claws. Years prior to main bit of the story, he was hypnotised by Mysterio into killing all his X-Men colleagues (Wolverine actually thought he was slashing down super villains, but that was just an illusion).
For Hugh Jackman’s final cinematic send-off as Wolverine, I can’t see Fox signing off on the idea of him killing all the X-Men, whether it was actually his fault or not. This section of the story will need a major rewrite, then, in order for Logan to seem less irredeemable and more likeable. After all, Fox want audiences to love this character, not loathe him.
The easiest way I can see to do this is by swapping out the flashback Logan for Sabretooth. He’s immortal as well, so could probably wipe out all the X-Men if he had the right fighting training/the right person hypnotising him.
If the script threw in a different reason for Wolverine to be guilty and reluctant to use his claws (perhaps he failed to stop Sabretooth?), Fox could essentially tell the same story without irredeemably screwing over the main character. This would also add another layer of personal vendetta to the Wolverine/Sabretooth showdown, which is no bad thing.
1. Give It A Greater Sense Of Finality
The ending to Old Man Logan could possibly do with a rewrite, too, especially if the film adaptation is indeed going to be Hugh Jackman’s last time in the role. The comics end with Red Skull and the Bruce Banner both dead, but there’s no sense of finality to the story. Wolverine adopts a baby Hulk that he spared in his revenge massacre of the Banners, and decides to form a new super-team to set the world right. And then the comics end, before he gets to do so.
If this was to be directly adapted into film form, it would feel like a tee-up for a sequel rather than the final instalment of Hugh Jackman’s cinematic Wolverine tenure. Instead, I think the story should be rejigged so that the film ends with Logan actually having saved the world, rather than just planning to do so at some point in the future.
At the end of the comic book series, Logan still needed to defeat the Kingpin and Dr. Doom (who ruled different sections of the USA) in order to save the world. In the film, Fox would be wise to streamline the story and have just one big villain who rules everything (my choice would be Magneto, but they might have different ideas).
This way, when Wolverine defeats them and then goes home to kill his evil landlord, the story will be over and Hugh Jackman can have a proper send-off with a sense of finality. Wolverine can retire in peace, call people ‘bub’ all he likes, and smoke massive cigars all day long. He’s still a loner, but the world is safe. How else could his story end?
What changes do you think Old Man Logan needs in order to be a movie? Let us know in the comments…
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