BeforeLoganhit theaters, directorJames Mangoldmade it quite clear that he wanted this movie to stand apart from the rest of theX-Menmovies, and every other superhero movie, for that matter. The director recently defended his decision to not have apost credit scene, and the movie is set in the year 2029, the farthest in the future this franchise has ever been. Aside fromHugh Jackman’s title character andPatrick Stewart’s Professor X, we don’t see any other characters from the originalX-Mentrilogy, but it seems there was almost a reference to one, according to directorJames Mangold.
Just days afterLoganhit theaters, directorJames Mangoldsat down withEmpireto reveal some new details about this story. Towards the middle of the film, Logan, Professor X and X-23 (Dafne Keen) help a man named Will Munson (Eriq La Salle) and his family get their horses back in their trailer after a freeway mishap. To repay them for their kindness, Will, his wife (Elise Neal) and son (Quincy Fouse) invite them for a home-cooked dinner.James Mangoldrevealed that, during this dinner scene, there was originally a reference to the iconic mutant Jean Grey, which will most likely make it onto the Blu-ray release as a deleted scene. Here’s what the director had to say.
“I sketched out different conversations for that dinner scene and one of them went to a much darker place. Mrs Munson asks Logan if he’s married, and Charles says he was, but he killed her. Of course, he wasn’t really married, but what that then spawns is Charles waxing poetic about Jean Grey, and it’s a really cool moment. BothHugh and Patrickwere amazing. The problem was, it created an incredibly powerful lead brick in the middle of the only moment in the movie where there was a breather. Even I, with my taste for the dark, felt that it was one too many. Things go pretty shitty within seconds after that. I think [the deleted scene] will make it to the Blu-ray.”
Even without this scene, there was one glimpse ofJean Greyin the movie, but not exactly in a conventional way. We reported last month that Marvel’s chief creative officerJoe Quesadaworked with directorJames Mangoldin creating theX-Mencomic books that X-23 has with her in the movie. While we only get a brief glimpse of the comics in the movie itself, the panels featured Jean Grey and Wolverine along with other X-Men characters such as Professor X, Cyclops, Storm and Colossus. It’s possible that the Blu-ray release may include more panels created for these in-movie comics as well, but that hasn’t been confirmed.
After just one week in theaters,Loganis already abox office hit, taking in $114.8 million domestically and $305.5 million worldwide, from a $97 million budget. This weekend, it will go up against Warner Bros.' massive adventureKong: Skull Island, which could become a hotly-contested race for the box office crown, but we’ll find out for sure on Sunday when the box office estimates come in. It remains uncertain when 20th Century Fox will announce any home video details forLogan, but at least now there is one scene fans can look forward to.
