Early on in development, conflicting rumors began to emerge regarding the core story of Logan – then known simply as The Wolverine 3 – with excited X-Men fans dreaming up weird and wonderful theories regarding Hugh Jackman’s final stand as the enraged mutant.
One such tidbit proved bang on point, too, and it’s the one that correctly guessed that James Mangold’s 2017 feature would herald the arrival of X-23, a young mutant named Laura who displays many of the same abilities that have empowered (afflicted?) Wolverine since Jackman first donned those iconic claws more than a decade ago. It tees up a powerful dynamic between the Aussie actor and young up-and-comer Dafne Keen, who can be seen together on the first official Logan banner above, as spotted by CBM.
Hitching a ride on her newfound guardian, we know that Keen’s character is essentially the catalyst to James Mangold’s story, not only lending Hugh Jackman’s world-weary mutant a reason to get out of bed in the morning, but also setting the stage for an intense game of cat-and-mouse between our two heroes – as well as Patrick Stewart’s Professor X, of course – and the shadowy government agency known as Transgien. With the mutant population on the wane, said corporation wants nothing more but to round up the remaining freaks and geeks and turn them into weapons, and both X-23 and Wolverine soon find themselves between the crosshairs.
Logan will prowl into theaters on March 3, 2017 and judging by the film’s stark slew of images, it’s going to be a very, very stylish affair.