Logan is a more or less self-contained entry in the X-Men franchise with director James
Mangold saying he set it in 2029 around 5 or 6 years after the events of Days of Future
Past to ensure he didn't have to worry too much about X-Men movie continuity.
However, Logan still teases numerous connections to the X-Men cinematic universe and drops
some nice easter eggs to the comic books.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, it's Jan here, and in this video, I'm going to unpack some
of the best easter eggs and X-Men references in Hugh Jackman's last movie as Wolverine.
I've also got an awesome set of Logan merchandise to give away which includes a T-shirt, shot
glasses, a dog-tag bottle opener and a metal notebook.
For a chance to win, all you need to do is subscribe and leave a comment about the easter
eggs or let me know about any I missed.
And for bonus ways to enter, check out the Gleam link in the video description below.
Quick warning there will be spoilers ahead if you haven't seen the movie yet, so if that's
you, check out my spoiler-free review of Logan and come back when you've had a chance to
see the movie!
Wolverine's healing factor isn't working properly in Logan, he's aging and he just doesn't look
like the same Wolverine we're used to seeing in the X-Men movies.
Still, there's an amusing shout-out to Hugh Jackman's signature Wolverine look when the
mutant children trim Logan's thick beard while he's asleep and give him back some of that
distinctive Wolverine look we're used to from the movies!
And there's also a fun little nod to Wolverine's love of cigars when he grabs a handful of
them just before leaving the gas station.
The Statue of Liberty which was centre stage during the climactic battle at the end of
the first X-Men movie is referenced a couple of times; first via the Liberty Motel where
Laura and her guardian Gabriela Lopez are staying, and secondly during a conversation
between Charles and Logan who discuss the events at Liberty Island from the first movie.
Logan builds on the post-credits scene from X-Men: Apocalypse where we saw dark suited
men from Essex Corp walking in to the Weapon X facility at Alkali Lake to collect various
blood samples being stored there.
In Logan, there's a company called Alkali Transigen which has taken up the Weapon X
program creating new young mutants like X-23.
The name Alkali Transigen could be a double reference to both Alkali Lake where the Weapon
X program started and Transigen could be a nod to Terrigen Mist.
Terrigen is a substance from the comics that when it was released into the Earth's atmosphere
slowly started killing off mutants.
And there's a curious parallel in the movie when Zander Rice explains how Alkali Transigen
distributed gene therapy through soda and breakfast cereals to almost eradicate random
mutations.
Rice's plan wasn't to exterminate all mutants, but to eradicate any mutants that they didn't
develop and control themselves.
By the way, Rice's virus-like gene therapy could also provide an explanation for why
Logan's mutant healing factor has been waning.
By the way, Zander Rice is the lead scientist responsible for creating X-23, just like he
is in the comics.
And in Logan we also learn that Wolverine was responsible for killing Rice's father,
which also happened in the comics, when he went beserker during his escape from Weapon
X in X-Men: Apocalypse.
When Logan flips through Transigen case files at the hotel, we see notes revealing some
of the source DNA for the young mutants including DNA from James Howlett, aka Logan, which was
used for X-23.
Another case file reveals that one of the sources of DNA is Christopher Bradley who
appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and was one of the original Team X members.
Bradley was able to control electrical devices, but left the team until he was hunted down
by Sabretooth to retrieve his DNA for the Weapon XI program.
In Logan, we find out that Professor X has gone into hiding and has to take regular medication
to prevent seizures that can cause catastrophe all around him.
And at one point in the movie, a radio report mentions the Westchester incident which occurred
a year previously in which various mutants were killed.
Westchester is the location of the X-Mansion and there's a heavy implication that Charles
accidentally lost control of his powers killing many of the X-Men.
This is a nod to the Old Man Logan comic storyline which Logan loosely adapts where it was Wolverine
who accidentally slaughtered the X-Men after being tricked by the villain Mysterio.
By the way, there are also some cool visual nods to that comic series such as this shot
of Logan punching a guy all the way through his skull with his claws.
And there's another picture of Hugh Jackman's Logan looking grizzled and worn with a couple
of chest wounds which is evocative of this look in Old Man Logan.
Another comic book series which heavily influenced the Logan movie is "Death of Wolverine".
In the comic book series, Wolverine also meets his end as he rescues a group of mutants that
are being experimented on by Doctor Cornelius, a senior member of the Weapon X program.
And in Logan, the young mutants' hideout is a location called Eden, a name that has echoes
of the Paradise base that Logan rescues them from in Death of Wolverine.
Death of Wolverine also features a Logan whose healing factor has stopped working properly,
and when Wolverine uses a serum on himself at the end of the movie, it's a nod to how
he gave the mutants he rescued in the comic a regenerative serum.
By the way, some of the mutants that Logan and X-23 meet up with at Eden hint towards
possible future X-Force members.
There's Rictor, an original X-Force member in the comics with extremely powerful seismic
abilities which, in the movie at one point, he uses against X-24.
And another young mutant, Gideon, is an X-Force mutant villain in the comics.
Although Wolverine's comic book canary costume was teased in the alternate ending to James
Mangold's movie The Wolverine, we don't actually get to see it in Logan where it would have
probably felt out of place in terms of the tone set by the movie.
There's still a cool easter egg to the costume at the very end of the movie during Logan's
funeral when one of the mutant children is holding a Wolverine toy dressed in the canary
costume.
The costume also appears earlier via the X-Men comics that Logan finds Laura is reading.
The X-Men comics that Laura was reading were made especially for the movie, however one
of the issue numbers is issue 132, which could hint to the real comic book Uncanny X-Men
#132 where Wolverine meets Donald Pierce for the first time.
As they fight in the comic, Wolverine discovers Donald Pierce's cybernetic arm which of course
he also has in the Logan movie.
And Logan's comments, as he flips through the comics, are an interesting bit of commentary
on the status of superheroes in this part of the X-Men universe.
When Logan says that "Maybe a quarter of it happened.
And not like this", he's commenting on how he's tired of heroes being mythologised and
turned into celebrities whose stories are constantly retold and distorted.
And it could also be a little side swipe at the X-Men movie franchise and how it's become
known for messing around with the timelines which end up wiping away the events of whole
movie trilogies and introducing new continuity problems at the same time.
Nevertheless, Logan still includes a little homage to how Fox like to sprinkle X symbols
into the X-Men movies when Laura turns the cross on Wolverine's grave on to its side
so that it resembles an X.
Mangold's Logan also channels several non-superhero movies.
A couple of particular note are the road movie Little Miss Sunshine starring Abigail Breslin
and the c western Shane, which features a gunslinger hero who wants to leave his past
behind.
Shane gets various shout-outs in the film and it's clear that Mangold feels a real connection
between the story of Shane and the legend of Logan, including Logan's desire for a simple
life and weariness with his life as a hero, as well as the effect violence has had on
Logan's life and the lives of those he loves.
By the way, at one point we see Wolverine's dog tags that he was given in X-Men Origins:
Wolverine, just before undergoing the adamantium bonding procedure.
Wolverine actually tossed his dog tags away at the end of X-Men 2 when he abandoned Stryker
next to the collapsing dam at Alkali Lake.
Those dog tags would have been washed away at the end of X-Men 2 so how Wolverine has
them in Logan is presumably because he changed the timeline in Days of Future Past or they're
simply a different version of those tags.
And there's a nod to James Mangold's The Wolverine movie via a samurai sword that you can spot
in Logan and Caliban's home.
It could be the same katana that Yashida gives Logan in that movie after he saves him during
the bombing of Nagasaki in World War II or a similar samurai sword that hints to Wolverine's
connection to Japan and samurai culture.
Now, what other easter eggs and references did you spot in Logan?
And what was your favourite moment or easter egg from the movie?
Don't forget to leave a comment and subscribe for your chance to win this awesome pack of
Logan merchandise!
And if you enjoyed this, do please like and share the video with your friends!
Coming shortly, I'll have another Logan video looking at some of the scenes and things which
didn't make it into the final movie, so be sure to turn on your notifications so you
don't miss that video.
And you can tap or click here for more videos you might like!
Thanks for watching and see you next time!
Yippee ki-yay, movie lovers!