9 Reasons Why Logan Is The Greatest X-Men Movie

3) Superhero Deconstruction Done The Right Way

While never really dabbling in deconstructing its heroes, the X-Men series has traditionally been keen to place its fantastical characters in a semblance of the real world. For example, it’s generally avoided putting the X-Men in colourful costumes. On the whole, that’s probably a good thing, as dour deconstructions of our superheroes aren’t always what the audience wants. Logan finds a novel way to do it, though, and it’s entirely satisfying.

As glimpsed in the trailers for the movie, Logan takes place in a world where Wolverine is also a comic book character. A device which the film uses to show you that real heroes are not glory hounds in leotards who do what they do because it’s the right thing. Like Logan, real heroes have vulnerabilities and flaws, too.

Logan is a complicated soul – he’s saved a lot of people, yes, but he’s also killed an enormous amount in the process and his dangerous life has cost him a great deal over the years. Like the westerns it’s so clearly inspired by – e.g. Shane and Unforgiven – Logan depicts a hero with a great deal of darkness and regret

In many ways, this is the X-Men franchise’s equivalent of The Dark Knight. Both are grittier takes on the central hero, that while removing themselves far from the source material, somehow also nail the character better than ever before.