10 Logan Easter Eggs You May Have Missed

Logan, Hugh Jackman's final stint in the role of Wolverine, is finally here and thankfully, it's everything we wanted it to be and more - with critics and audiences alike showering heaps of praise upon it. A stripped-back, sombre take on the superhero genre, it's being called one of the finest comic book movies ever by many and that's a sentiment we wholeheartedly agree with. Its unique, down-to-earth approach means that it's largely cut off from the wider X-Men universe. However, that doesn't stop it from featuring a bunch of easter eggs and references to the previous movies in the franchise, comic books both old and new and other classics of cinema. Some are easy to catch, while others not so much. What you'll find here, then, are 10 that may have slipped past you. Of course, spoilers will follow from this point on. So, if you haven't yet seen Logan, bookmark this page and return later. If you've already had the pleasure of experiencing the threequel though, then dive right in! 10) Old Man Logan If you're a comic book fan, you'll recognize that Logan is very loosely adapted from Mark Millar's Old Man Logan arc. Despite the huge differences between them, the movie does call back to the source material in several ways. First of all, when Caliban tells Logan something's wrong with him, he replies with a nod to the comic's title: "That's right, I'm an old man." Later on, the kids at Eden cut Logan's beard while he's sleeping. The resulting facial hair style almost exactly matches the look of the character in the comic. In terms of plot points, the shocking reveal that Professor X accidentally wiped out the X-Men is a twist on how things play out in the source material; where it was Logan who slaughtered his friends after being tricked by Mysterio. One of the posters for the movie also borrows from Old Man Logan. The image of the hero protecting Laura in his arms is so similar to a variant cover of Old Man Logan: Secret Wars #1 that it has to be deliberate. Speaking of the film's posters, another one shows Logan and Laura holding hands - which heavily brings to mind the iconic poster of Schindler's List. 9) X-Men (2000) Callbacks Seeing as this is the final appearance of both Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart in their long-running roles of Wolvie and Charles Xavier, respectively, Logan brings things full circle by referencing the pair's first movie together: 2000's X-Men. In the scene where Charles is first introduced, as a confused old man suffering from perhaps Alzheimer's or ALS, he talks to Logan about when they first met, back when he was making a living as a cage fighter. Those with long memories will recall that Rogue finds Wolverine in a cage fight at the beginning of the original X-Men. Less on the nose is Charles' muddled talk about Laura waiting for Logan at the Statue of Liberty. Wolverine reminds him that the event on Liberty Island "was a long time ago," clearly referencing X-Men's big third act, which revolved around Magneto's evil plan based at the Statue of Liberty. 8) Wolverine Movies Of Future Past As well as calling back to the first X-Men movie, Logan also features some sly references to the two previous Wolverine solo outings. First, an obvious one. Logan is seen holding his familiar dog tag at one point. It was given to him during his time in the Weapon X program in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and has been seen in several other movies, too. Origins is also referenced in the adamantium bullet that Logan carries around with him. The bullet previously appeared in that movie, where it was criticized by fans for being nonsensical (why would an adamantium bullet hurt him more than a regular one?). It was a brave choice to return to the idea here, then, but it's another nice way of bringing things full circle. Finally, The Wolverine is also referenced in a much more subtle way. At Logan, Charles and Caliban's home in the Mexican desert, a samurai sword can be seen hanging on the hero's bedroom wall. This harkens back to the Samurai-themed 2013 movie, which was also directed by James Mangold. 7) Shane Speaking of The Wolverine, if that film cast the mutant as a sort of lone samurai figure, then Logan reimagines him as a reluctant gunslinger, in the style of various classic western movies. In particular, it's most inspired by 1953's Shane in depicting a man whose life has been defined by violence ending in tragedy. The influence is lampshaded when Laura watches the movie with Charles in their hotel room. She recognizes the similarities between Shane and her father and later recites the character's final speech at Logan's funeral. Here it is in full: "A man has to be what he is, Joey. Can't break the mould. I tried it and it didn't work for me... Joey, there's no living with... with a killing. There's no going back from one. Right or wrong, it's a brand. A brand sticks. There's no going back. Now you run on home to your mother, and tell her... tell her everything's all right. And there aren't any more guns in the valley." The subplot involving the Munson family and their troubles with greedy landowners is also likely a nod to Shane, as it heavily resembles the predicament of the characters in that film. Finally, when he's watching it with Laura, Charles reminisces about seeing Shane for the first time at his local movie theater, The Essoldo Cinema. This was a chain of British cinemas back in the day and there were a few in Patrick Stewart's home county of Yorkshire, so it's possible this detail was a little autobiographical touch from the actor. 6) Greenwood Cemetery And Logan's License Plate It turns out that scene that was used in the trailers, of Logan drinking while attending a funeral, was not what it seemed. He was actually only there as a driver. Still, there are a couple of easter eggs hidden throughout here to keep it significant. For one, the funeral occurs at Greenwood Cemetery. As well as a real-world location in Brooklyn, it's also appeared in several Marvel comics including Deadpool and Fantastic Four. It might be a coincidence, but a couple of the gravestones in the cemetery read 'Peters' and 'Rogers.' Are these some grim references to Quicksilver actor Evan Peters and Captain America himself, Steve Rogers, or just coincidences? You can decide. Meanwhile, the license plate of Logan's Chrysler limo is also of interest: WER112. It's most likely that it's a nod to Wolverine #112, which sees a lonely Logan feeling guilty for his role in Professor X's transformation into the evil Onslaught. Swap Onslaught for the mysterious Westchester incident, and you have the plot of the movie. 5) Caliban Ricky Gervais' frequent comedy partner, Stephen Merchant, gives a rare dramatic performance in Logan as albino mutant Caliban. Fans who know their stuff will remember that Caliban previously appeared in X-Men: Apocalypse, as played by Icelandic/French actor Tomas Lemarquis. The varying depictions of Caliban are one of the main reasons why Logan must take place in a slightly alternate timeline from the other movies, as confirmed by James Mangold. There is some crossover between the two, however. Donald Pierce talks to Caliban at one stage and references how he used to be on "our side." This is perhaps a nod to Caliban being a shady underground broker in Apocalypse rather than the good guy aid to Charles that he is in Logan. The idea that Caliban's a bad guy gone good is also a reverse of his situation in the comics. At first, he was an ally to the X-Men but later became one of Apocalypse's Four Horsemen. 4) Dr. Zander Rice Logan isn't the type of film to have an out-and-out supervillain, but it does have an amoral scientist pulling the strings behind the scenes. Richard E. Grant's Dr. Zander Rice is the chief scientist at Alkali-Transigen and is responsible for wiping out mutantkind - his team planted mutant-gene suppressors into popular food and drink products. He also mentions that his father worked for Weapon X and was murdered by Wolverine. It's likely that he's referring to Logan's breakout from Alkali Lake where he massacred everyone in sight. We previously saw this in X-Men: Apocalypse and this is also how it plays out in the comics, where Rice Sr.'s murder is what propels Zander to take his vengeance on the mutant race Though it isn't referenced in the movie, it's likely that Alkali-Transigen are a branch of Essex Corp - the company that took Logan's blood from Alkali Lake in the post-credits scene of Apocalypse. We can assume that Transigen used that blood to create Laura and that Essex Corp's CEO Nathaniel Essex AKA Mr. Sinister is still waiting in the wings. 3) Rictor And The New Mutants Just like the Weapon X program, Transigen hoped to make mutants work for them as super-soldiers. Their plan, however, was to clone mutants from scratch to do their bidding. Thankfully, these kids - including Laura - escape to the Canadian border. Their leader is Rictor, a young mutant with the power to create earthquakes who's also a member of X-Force in the comics. Another one is called Bobby and has ice powers - heavily suggesting that he's a clone of Bobby Drake AKA Iceman. Another is the telekinetic Joey - possibly a version of Joey Bailey, Jean Grey's cousin from the comics. Another has fire powers, so could be the "son" of John Allerdyce AKA Pyro. When Logan is flicking through the X-23 project papers, we see that another child was cloned from the DNA of Christopher Bradley. Bradley was a Weapon X man and appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine as played by Lost and Lord of the Rings star Dominic Monaghan. Lastly, Logan frequently refers to the kids as "new mutants" throughout the film. New Mutants is, of course, another upcoming movie in the X-Men franchise. Is the use of the term here a coincidence, or will the film tie into Logan in some form? 2) X-23 And X-24 Logan gains a daughter of sorts here, in the form of Laura AKA X-23. In the comics, Laura takes on the mantle of Wolverine after he dies, so it's entirely possible that we haven't seen the last of her. Laura's backstory, being experimented on by Rice but being cared for by one of the facility's nurses, is taken straight from her comics origin story X-23: Innocence Lost. In particular, the scene where she cuts her own arm with her adamantium claws is pulled right out of its pages. Similarly, the image of Laura on her knees with her claws out recalls the cover of NYX #4. Logan is also revealed to have a second fully-grown clone, named X-24. The character is original to the film, but the unseen X-24 project was mentioned in Innocence Lost, being destroyed before it was unleashed. There have been other evil Logan clones in the comics, too, including a zombie and a robot. It might be a bit of a stretch, but there's also a certain similarity to Daken, Logan's evil son from the comics. 1) Classic Costume Despite fans having called for it for the past, oh, nearly twenty years, Hugh Jackman never got to wear Wolverine's classic yellow costume on screen. While it was the right decision to do away with it again in Logan - the colourful suit wouldn't have fit in with the film's sombre tone - it is alluded to at several points. As we glimpsed in the trailers, Logan reveals that X-Men comics exist in this universe, as fictionalized versions of the adventures of the mutant team. In these comics - specially-commissioned for the film by Marvel artists Joe Quesada and Dan Panosian - Wolverine wears the typical outfit. Logan later angrily rants about how the world is nothing like the comic books though, including the fact that heroes don't wear "leotards." Classic Wolverine also appears in action figure form in the tragic final scene of Logan's funeral. One of the mutant children is seen holding his Wolvie doll, acting as a final, touching reminder that these children will remember him as a hero.