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Logan's Revolutionary Aspects Put Both DC And Marvel Movies To Shame

Each genre has its own set of conventions.

It's certainly unlikely to see a noir without a single hat or tobacco, and a Western without cowboy hats and shootouts. Similarly, there aren't many recent superhero films that don't feature shattering towers and massive CGI effects. Superhero stories are as much about violence and action as noir novels are about shadows and corruption. Fans and reviewers have debated for years how monotonous and numbing the superhero genre's focus on climactic CGI fights can be, but few filmmakers have attempted to produce a comic book film about the genre's fetishization of destruction. That is what distinguishes Logan.
nullLogan, directed by James Mangold, is not just a tribute to Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, but also a study on the superhero genre as a whole. Mangold, Michael Green, and Scott Frank co-wrote the movie's story, which attempts to portray what too much violence and strife can do to a person. The consequence is a movie that not only portrays death as real in a genre that rejects letting its heroes die but also serves as a reflection on the ups and downs of superhero fiction.
nullAlmost all of the X-Men are gone at the start of Logan, Wolverine is dying, and Professor X (Patrick Stewart) has dementia. Both guys are in their later years and are looking forward to the end. Something none of them understands is that Alkali-Transigen has covertly developed a new generation of heroes to replace the old by imbuing infants with abilities through mutated DNA. Logan is compelled to return to the fray one final time when he agrees to carry Laura (Dafne Keen) to a refuge populated by her fellow Transigen fugitives. Logan is confronted with a ruthless company as well as a cloned version of himself in the ferocious X-24 as a result of his actions (also played by Jackman). Unlike Laura, who possesses Logan's abilities while still possessing her own personality and feelings, X-24 is Logan at his most basic: a murdering machine who executes whatever his corporation owners command.

The Deaths

Death has always been an issue in the comic world. Characters in comic books are never permitted to really die due to the continuing, never-ending nature of the material. That makes perfect sense from a business viewpoint. On a narrative level, though, the absence of conclusion gives most long-running superhero stories a cynical look. Is it intended for these individuals to do nothing but battle and suffer?
nullFor better or worse, many of the films and TV series based on comic books have adopted a similar approach. Despite spanning almost 30 movies and an increasing number of television episodes, the MCU has sacrificed relatively few heroes, with several of them being resurrected after their "deaths.". From the beginning to the end, Logan struggles with this truth. Logan is set in a genre dominated by corporations determined to keep their franchises alive and profitable at all means, so it's only right that the movie pushes its hero to fight a greedy business hellbent on keeping heroes alive and profitable. In a time when heroes have never been more at danger of being reduced to violent, two-dimensional characters, there's no better opponent for Logan to fight than a soulless, physically flawless version of himself.
nullLogan, on the other hand, is fighting Transigen and X-24 for Laura and the other kids Transigen has harmed. Logan is able to be both a study of the comic book genre and a criticism of the superhero genre because of this fact. Logan is depicted in the movie as a dying, feeble person with scars and wrinkles on his skin, rather than a flawless superhero in a fancy suit. And his triumph at the conclusion of the movie comes from saving Laura and her companions, not from eliminating X-24 or his corporate superiors. His calm comes from knowing that people he sought to help would be secure when he's gone, not from knowing that his enemies are dead.
nullLogan isn't focused on its hero "winning" a final confrontation or adding to some all-consuming legend, unlike Avengers: Endgame, which is more focused on bringing the MCU's overarching storyline to a climax than expressing something about the genre. Wolverine passes peacefully in a wilderness after giving his life to save a future of kids who are just like him. As a result, the scene reveals that the finest heroes are those who fight not to win, but to ensure that those who follow after them never have to suffer.

What did Logan change?

The movie's R rating drew a lot of attention before it was released. Logan, it appeared, was going to offer comic book readers exactly what they sought: a violent film in which Wolverine literally sinks his claws into skulls and slashes off limbs. Logan succeeds on all of these fronts, but it's not just violent for the sake of blood. Green, Frank, and Mangold make their goals apparent on the second page of the screenplay. The writers address the script's reader directly just before the movie's opening limousine fight swings into full speed. The screenplay says, “Now might be a good time to talk about ‘fights’ described in the next 100 or so pages,”. “Basically, if you’re on the make for a hyper choreographed, gravity-defying, city-block destroying, CG f***athon, this ain’t your movie.” The script goes on to promise that “should anyone in our story have the misfortune to fall off a roof or out a window, they won’t bounce. They will die.”
nullLogan follows through on his mission statement. The film depicts what it would be like if the finale of a Marvel film wasn't intentionally bloodless, making the violence of the superhero genre gory and genuine. By the time Logan's last setpiece concludes, it's difficult not to be drained and disgusted by the movie's never-ending violence. But that is precisely the goal. Logan is supposed to make us feel that way.
nullLogan is a portrayal of a hero on his deathbed, suffering from the one thing that makes him indestructible. Mangold and Jackman take on the most well-known rhythms in every superhero film, demonstrating what too much exposure to them can do to a person. Then Logan concludes with not only the end of an era but the beginning of a new one devoid of the same agony and bloodshed that has come to characterize the superhero genre. It's a world in which, as per Logan's final wish to Laura, a superhero's narrative doesn't have to be the same as the ones before it. Instead, it could be something completely different. Something more suitable.
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