While it hasn’t been confirmed just yet, Hugh Jackman made it very clear at this year’s Comic-Con that his third and final solo Wolverine movie is going to be some sort of adaptation of Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s Old Man Logan. If you’ve read that story, you’ll know that it’s crammed full of characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, none of whom can appear in Fox’s X-Men Universe.
That’s a great shame, especially as it means many of the story’s best moments won’t make it into the movie. However, Patrick Stewart taking on a key role in the James Mangold helmed release has already made it clear that this won’t be an entirely faithful adaptation of Old Man Logan, something which isn’t all that surprising given Fox’s history of not paying too much attention to the comics.
Regardless, if there’s one person who isn’t too worried about characters from the MCU not making it into Wolverine’s next movie, it’s Mark Millar:
“They’re not important to the story. The way I worked that thing is I actually structured it as, I broke it down mechanically – I figured out going from this part of America to that part of America and what he would encounter along the way, and then I added in the adversities later,” said Millar.
“Basically Wolverine doing The Road movie is the important thing and he has a friend [a blind Hawkeye] with him. But that friend could be Cyclops and he could be blind by the fact that his ruby-quartz visor is broken and he has to keep his eyes closed the whole time and everything, but still insists on driving the car they’re crossing America with. There’s lots of stuff. Instead of the Hulk, you could have the Blob or something.”
The writer makes a very good point, and many of the heroes and villains who factored into Old Man Logan could very easily be replaced by X-Men characters. It won’t be quite the same of course, but it could definitely still work. Regardless, it remains to be seen just how close to the comics the next Wolverine movie is going to stick. Either way though, just borrowing small elements from the comic book could ensure that this is Logan’s best adventure to date.
