9) Don’t Overcrowd The Character
One of the many problems with Origins is the fact that those behind it seemingly felt the need to make the movie a who’s who of X-Men side-characters. Really, there was no room to introduce Gambit, Deadpool and The Blob alongside new versions of Sabretooth and William Stryker. This was supposed to be Wolverine’s movie, not an opportunity for Fox to roll out its leftover X-characters.
To an extent, The Wolverine is guilty of shoehorning characters in, too (Viper, Yukio and Silver Samurai all have virtually nothing to do in the movie). If Fox want to make a Wolverine film, they should make it a Wolverine film. Having full confidence in the character and giving him room to breathe is the first step to creating a platform for his strengths, of which there are plenty – obviously, or Fox wouldn’t want to make standalone films about him in the first place.
8) Give Him A Truly Formidable Foe
To put it bluntly, Origins fucked up with Deadpool, and The Wolverine never really figured out what to do with any of its antagonists. It’s what’s kept the threat level in the standalone Wolverine movies so far so relatively low. And though it’s difficult to know what kind of villain to pit against a virtually indestructible protagonist, as Wolverine is, the main X-Men movies have all the same somehow managed it before.
X-Men showed us Rogue had the power to drain Logan’s strength, X2 presented his match in Lady Deathstrike, while even the weak X-Men: The Last Stand threatened Wolverine with Dark Phoenix. Nothing and no one has yet made Wolverine look vulnerable in his standalones, however (not even the removal of his healing powers in The Wolverine was pushed hard enough). Wolverine 3 should amend that and raise the stakes.
