Logan Director Reveals Why Mister Sinister Didn't Make The Cut

CBR

By Brett White

Published Jan 19, 2017

Director James Mangold reveals why Logan sidestepped Mister Sinister, even after the character was teased in X-Men: Apocalypse.

The final, violent trailer for the upcoming "Logan" film has slashed its way online, showing more of the down-to-earth drama that will unfold in Hugh Jackman's final outing as the clawed ex-X-Man. In addition to being Wolverine's final film, the movie will also introduce Dafne Keen as a young girl with claws and Logan's abilities named Laura. Her involvement in "Logan" was first teased in the post-credits scene of 2016's "X-Men: Apocalypse," and she wasn't the only character hinted at in that scene.

The classic X-villain Mister Sinister was also pointed to in that scene, since the mystery men in suits worked for a company called "Essex Corp." Sinister's involvement in "Logan" was then seemingly confirmed by "Apocalypse" director Bryan Singer and writer Simon Kinberg. But even with that confirmation, a report in October surfaced saying that Sinister wouldn't be featured in the film.

While speaking with CinemaBlend, director James Mangold revealed why Sinister wasn't used in the film even though some setup had been done in "X-Men: Apocalypse." Mangold says that the film is grounded in reality and avoids "the kind of operatic highly-costumed, stroboscopic villainy" that's usually featured in superhero movies. And really, it doesn't get more operatic and highly-costumed than Mister Sinister.

"[T]hat's not in this movie. Everything is kind of as real as we can make it," said Mangold. "The movie is trying to kind of take a step backward from that kind of spectacle, so that we get another kind of gain, you know. There's that loss, but the gain is that the movie feels extremely real and is -- as one person who saw the film said to me, 'I feel like I could go down the street and run into that Wolverine.' Meaning that this is in my world, not some shiny other world. This is actually taking place in my world."

Additionally, "Logan" will tackle some real world themes and, as indicated in the trailers, depict Professor X, Logan and Laura as a kind of makeshift family.

"We all are faced with the issues of dealing for an ailing parent, but what happens when the ailing parent has the world's most powerful brain and they're losing control of their brain," said Mangold. "That's an interesting question. What happens when you're a superhero who has saved worlds and defeated villains, but you're not healing and your power is not the same as it used to be in the case of Logan, and you have to hold a day job just to take care of your ailing parent. And then the last question is, what happens when suddenly fatherhood is thrust upon you and a child comes into your life? How do you make those connections? How do you deal with it? And if that child is a mutant, how do you deal with the interesting reflection of your own self you see in that kid?"

Set beyond the events of “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” 2017’s “Logan” is set in the near future following a cataclysmic event that ravaged the mutant race. It will also be Hugh Jackman’s final outing as Wolverine, and will introduce Dafne Keen as the character’s teenage clone X-23.

Directed by James Mangold, written by Michael Green, Scott Frank, James Mangold and David James Kelly, and starring Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Boyd Holbrook, Richard E. Grant, Dafne Keen and Stephen Merchant, “Logan” arrives in theaters on March 3, 2017.