The 10 Biggest Questions We Have After Watching Logan

Logan is now out in theaters and being met with one heck of a positive response from critics and fans alike. In fact, here at We Got This Covered, we've argued that it's the finest X-Men movie of all-time due to its exemplary character dynamics, tonal consistency and standout work from the cast and director. However, that's not to say that we didn't come out of our first screening bubbling over with questions that were left frustratingly unanswered during the film. Some of these were no doubt deliberately left vague, while others might be posed for future movies to answer. A few of them could very well even constitute as plot holes - hey, even the best movies have them. On that note, here are 10 burning questions that we're finding ourselves asking after watching Logan. Given that we'll be discussing the entirety of the film's narrative, there will obviously be spoilers of herculean proportions within. You've been warned. 10) Is Logan Canon? This is the question that's been plaguing fans from even before they saw the movie. As the trailers made clear, Logan is set in another dystopian future where mutantkind has been all but wiped out - even though this sort of contradicts the happy ending of X-Men: Days of Future Past. Hugh Jackman clarified this by claiming that Logan took place in its own "alternate universe." So, that that... Or is it? It's revealed in the movie that it takes place in 2029, six years after the events of Days of Future Past - which leaves room for the future to go out of whack once again. Director James Mangold also seemed to believe that Logan was a proper part of the X-Men timeline, as he tweeted: "Because we take place after all the other movies, we have freedom." So, there you go, Logan actually is canon. And yet, there are still things that don't quite add up, such as the movie's different approach to Wolvie's abilities and the variant portrayal of Caliban. It looks like the debate over Logan's canonical status will rage on for a while yet. 9) Will Caliban Return In Some Form? It's a small, insignificant moment in the wider context of the movie, but one short scene in Logan hints at the future return of one of the characters. No, not Wolverine or Professor X, but Caliban, Stephen Merchant's albino mutant who assists the ailing Charles. After the Reavers use his mutant-tracking abilities to hunt down Laura, the brave mutant kills himself to save his friends. Later, however, Dr. Zander Rice suggests that Caliban's genes could still be useful, presumably referring to his powers. This is an intriguing hint that Caliban - or, at least, his clone - will turn up in a future movie, presumably whichever one it is that reveals Mister Sinister (more on him later). Given that we've had two separate versions of the character so far - Tomas Lemarquis also played him in X-Men: Apocalypse - it's possible that a third iteration of Caliban will appear on that occasion. It could even be a more monstrous take on him, as per the comics. 8) What Really Happened During "The Westchester Incident"? One of Logan's great surprises was its tragic suggested backstory, namely the enigmatic "Westchester incident." Though it's never stated outright, we gather that Professor X had one of his mental seizures back when he was still living at the X-Mansion in Westchester, New York. The telepathic attack injured 600 civilians and killed several of the X-Men. This was a shock to fans, to say the least. In the Old Man Logan comics, Wolverine is responsible for the death of the X-Men after he massacred them while suffering from a hallucination. As there's no concrete evidence of what happened, however, it's possible that this is still what occurred. Charles is a confused old man, so when he talks about suddenly remembering the event at one point, it could be him muddling his experiences up with Logan's. There isn't much to suggest that in the movie itself, though, so we probably have to accept the sad truth that Professor X, while not in control of his powers, killed his own team. Wow, that's really going to affect how we re-watch the old X-Men movies in future. 7) Are Logan And Charles Really The Last Of The X-Men? Are Logan and Charles really the last of the X-Men? On the face of it, this would make sense - Charles would have survived the incident himself and obviously Logan would have got through it due to his healing factor. But surely Charles can't have wiped out the entirety of the team? For instance, what about those not at the mansion at the time? Perhaps some X-Men did survive, but the trauma of losing their teammates - and, we hate to say it, but probably the students of the school, too - meant that they broke up and went their separate ways. Perhaps they couldn't face Charles again knowing what he did and Logan was left to look after him. Damn, this is sad stuff. At one stage, there was going to be a flashback that fully explained the Westchester Incident. However, James Mangold took it out to retain an air of ambiguity. That's kind of unfortunate, as it would be fascinating to know how things went down in that scripted scene. 6) Is Wolverine Really Dead? Let's jump the gun and tackle the question we all had going through our minds when the movie faded to black; is Logan really dead? The movie's emotional final scene saw Wolverine buried by a lake by his daughter Laura and the other mutant children. What appears to be his final end was a surprisingly low-key affair - while fighting his evil clone, he was impaled on a shard of wood. With his healing factor dissipating, his body couldn't keep him alive any longer. But is one impaling really enough to stop Wolverine, he who has survived much worse over his long, long life? We have a sneaky suspicion that Logan deliberately gave him a slightly less-destructive death just in case Jackman decides to return in the future. It would be very easy to explain his return, after all. He might just be doing a Batman V Superman in that grave and recuperating before he comes back to life. Alternatively, Wolverine's death could be a way to cast a new actor in the role. The effort that it takes his body to heal from this wound might cause his cells to regenerate at a cellular level, changing his form completely. I mean, it works for Doctor Who, right? 5) Will X-23 Become The Second Wolverine? The likeliest option, though, is that Jackman's shadow looms too large for another actor to play Logan again so soon. Instead, we can see Laura taking on her father's mantle when she's older. This would fit in with the current status quo in the comics. So, when might this happen? Well, assuming that Fox would like to continue on with actress Dafne Keen in the role - and we hope they do as she was terrific in this movie - then it probably won't be for a few years. Keen is 12-years-old at the moment, so perhaps wait five or six years down the line and see what happens. Not that it's happening any time soon, but we would imagine that Laura's version of Wolverine will be much more comic book-y, seeing as she's a fan of the X-Men comics that exist in the Logan universe. She might even wear the classic yellow and blue costume! 4) Are These The New Mutants (Or Alpha Flight)? Intriguingly, Logan refers to the Transigen-created kids as "new mutants" at several points in the movie. That term is, of course, the title for the upcoming teen-themed X-Men movie New Mutants from director Josh Boone. So, is Logan sowing the seeds for that film? Probably not. Seeing as New Mutants has been in the works for a good few years, and that prequel-era actors like James McAvoy and Alexandra Shipp are rumoured to appear, we doubt that the movie will really link up with Logan. Still, it feels like these characters are being set up for something. In which case, could these kids grow up to become Alpha Flight, the Canadian superhero team affiliated with Wolverine in the comics? They're last seen heading off across the Canadian border, after all, and producer Simon Kinberg recently announced that an Alpha Flight movie is in the early stages - which could mean that it grows out of Logan. 3) So Has Logan Just Been Aging Really, Really Slowly All This Time? Something that will really stump fans about Logan is that it takes a completely different approach to his healing factor. In previous movies, his abilities have always been portrayed to make him functionally immortal. As memorably shown in the montage sequence of the different wars he's fought in at the start of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Logan has been around for about 200 years now without much change in his appearance or strength. In Logan, however, he's physically aged and his powers have weakened considerably. This seems to retcon the previous assumption that he's immortal and implies that he merely has a protracted lifespan. He was still aging over those years, just really slowly, and now time is catching up with him. Like all of us, Wolverine's body is now failing him in his old age. 2) Or Did Transigen's Chemicals Affect Him (And Charles) Too? Alternatively, is there an explanation for Logan's failing powers hidden within the film? During the movie, we find out that Alkali Transigen has been secretly distributing anti-mutant gene chemicals into popular food and drink brands. Thus, they've prevented new mutants from being born and all but wiped out mutantkind. However, could these chemicals have also affected adult mutants as well? This would not only account for the weakening of Logan's healing factor but also Charles' failing mental faculties, too. The main piece of evidence for this theory is that a doctor who treats Logan at one point says that he has something "poisoning" him from within. Logan suggests that it could be his adamantium skeleton which, fair enough, would make sense if his healing factor was not preventing the metal from infecting him. However, it could be that Transigen's chemicals, which Logan presumably unknowingly ingested, are dampening his powers. 1) Where Does Mister Sinister Fit Into All This? The post-credits scene of X-Men: Apocalypse showed a representative of the Essex Corporation withdrawing some of Logan's blood from Alkali Lake. Seeing as the very next X-Men movie features several clones grown from Wolverine's DNA, it's heavily suggested that the two are connected. And yet they don't easily match up. The biggest issue is that Essex Corp are not mentioned in any form in Logan. That company, by the way, is run by Nathaniel Essex AKA Mister Sinister, a supervillain from the comics who has a prediction for cloning. Given that, it's not too hard to imagine that Transigen is just the scientific research branch of Essex Corp, with Sinister pulling the strings in the background. It's also important to note that Transigen are not defeated at the end of Logan. Yes, Laura and the kids got away and their secret weapon X-24 is dead, but in the grand scheme of things the company survives to continue its evil schemes. This leaves the door open for Mister Sinister to step out of the shadows and reveal himself in some future X-Men movie. Which one that will be - X-Men: Supernova? X-Force? New Mutants? - is the million dollar question. For more on the film, be sure to check out our spoiler-filled discussion below.