Warning: spoilers for "The Wolverine" ahead!

Star Hugh Jackman and director James Mangold brought Logan on a solo journey to Japan in The Wolverine, with few fellow mutants in sight. But by the end of the adventure, the claw-popping hero found his way back to the X-Men fold, reuniting with old foe Magneto and old friend Xavier in a post-credits airport scene teasing next summer's Days of Future Past.

Mangold spoke with Digital Spy about crafting the sequence, saying it was crucial to make sure it didn't come off as a joke. "My only stipulation that was important to me was just that I really didn't want it to be tongue-in-cheek," the filmmaker said about working with Days of Future Past director Bryan Singer and writer Simon Kinberg. "I feel like a lot of these bonus things almost make the film into a joke, and that wasn't interesting to me."

Instead, Mangold was allowed to create "something quite promising," a scene that actually gives X-Men fans "a piece" of a grander story. Additionally, it was a meaty scene to shoot, built on the great reveal of the resurrected Charles Xavier.

"I created this shot where he's weaving through all these frozen airport patrons and that is Patrick Stewart with a joystick and electric wheelchair and that isn't easy," he said. "He's doing a kind of Olympic slalom through all these extras and he's a badass on that thing."