(Note: This story contains spoilers for the plot of “Logan.”)
When “X-Men: Days of Future Past” sent Logan (Hugh Jackman), better known as Wolverine, back in time, it rewrote the continuity timeline of the “X-Men” franchise.
“Logan,” the final film in which Jackman will play the role of Wolverine, takes place in 2029, years after all the other “X-Men” movies featuring him have taken place. Just where “Logan” fits in the “X-Men” timeline isn’t made explicitly clear — it’s more of a standalone story, and likely isn’t intended to fit inside the greater continuity. But it does reference several past events in the “X-Men” film lore.
First, “Logan” makes an explicit reference to the Statue of Liberty when Professor Charles Xavier mentions the landmark in a bit of a delirium. Logan takes him to mean the events of the original “X-Men” movie — at the film’s climax, Wolverine and the X-Men defeat Magneto (Ian McKellen) and his evil plans on Ellis Island.
“Logan” also has an Easter Egg callout to “The Wolverine” (2013) in the form of a samurai sword seen hanging on the wall in his room. In that movie, Logan travels to Japan at the behest of a Japanese military officer he met during World War II. In that movie, Logan appears to lose some of his healing powers. By 2029, his healing powers have diminished considerably, causing Logan to age and struggle to recover from injuries.
Of course, those references introduce all sorts of continuity problems if we’re trying to figure out how “Logan” fits because “Days of Future Past” (2014) basically erased the events of those movies from history. That movie, which starts around 2024, takes place in a future where powerful robots called Sentinels are being used to wipe out mutants. “Logan,” meanwhile, takes place in 2029 and it’s clear the apocalyptic future that follows the first three “X-Men” movies and “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (2009) and “The Wolverine” has not taken place.
For Wolverine specifically, there were two major changes. His time at Weapon X, where he was implanted with his adamantium skeleton and trademark claws, happened completely differently. “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” had previously told that story, and in that film he joined Weapon X voluntarily. But after the timeline shift he was forced into Weapon X by being taken while unconscious at the end of “Days of Future Past.”
And, second, the entire affair in Japan where he lost some of his healing powers would also seem to have never happened.
“Days of Future Past,” as you’ll recall, is about Wolverine traveling back in time to prevent that future. Logan’s consciousness is projected back into his past body in 1973. He then sets about trying to stop the events that lead to the creation of the Sentinels. He’s successful, changing 2024 to a much more peaceful alternate version. He also greatly alters the history of the X-Men, as seen in the final scenes of “Days of Future Past.”
In theory, everything after the altered 1973 — including parts of “X-Men Origins,” all of the events in the first three “X-Men” movies, and “The Wolverine” — have been either completely erased or at least significantly altered.
Yet “Logan” — despite references to the old, defunct timeline — also seems to be part of the new, post-“Days of Future Past” timeline. Last year’s “X-Men: Apocalypse” continued that new timeline, and in that film Logan is freed from the Weapon X facility at Alkali Lake by the young X-Men in 1983.
In the post-credits scene, after Logan has escaped, scientists from a company called the Essex Corporation enter the facility and gather Logan’s DNA samples. In “Logan,” it seems that DNA is what’s used to create Laura, a clone of Logan, as part of the X-23 program. (The name of the company responsible for X-23, Alkali Transigen, is also a reference to Alkali Lake.)
So is “Logan” part of the new timeline or the old one? In short, the answer is: neither. The movie operates more like a Marvel Comics “What If” story, messing around with its characters’ histories for one-off tales.
The “What If” timeline of “Logan” starts with the creation of a genetically altered version of corn syrup that’s introduced to food around 2004. The food additive has a side effect: it somehow prevents mutant births. By 2029, there haven’t been any new mutants born for two decades.
Alkali Transigen creates the X-23 project to clone new mutants and try to turn them into weapons. They find they can’t make kids evil in a lab, though, so they scrap the project and start X-24, a straight-up, rage-powered clone of Logan. The nurses who work with the kids in Transigen’s secret Mexico facility get wind of what’s happening and help the kids escape.
Meanwhile, a few years earlier, Professor X has started to suffer from seizures. Coupled with his incredible psychic powers, the seizures are deadly to other people. “Logan” references “The Westchester Incident,” an unexplained event where six mutants and several others were killed. Westchester is the location of the X-Men’s base and Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. It seems that one of Xavier’s seizures wiped out the X-Men, with only Logan surviving.
It also seems probable that the ending of “Logan” won’t actually spell the end of the X-Men. In the film, both Wolverine and Professor X are killed. Jackman is done playing Wolverine, that much we know, but Stewart has said he’ll still return to the role. And there’s at least one more “X-Men” movie on the way — “X-Men: Supernova” — that continues the movies started by “X-Men: First Class” that star James McAvoy as Professor X.
All that to say it seems unlikely the “X-Men” franchise means to have most of its characters die off-screen in a Wolverine-centric movie. The best way to think about “Logan” is a stand-alone movie with some common lore. How it fits with the “X-Men” franchise is less important than what happens to its characters along the way.
The Complete History of Wolverine in the 'X-Men' Movies, Including the Setup for 'Logan' (Photos)
The seemingly immortal Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) has been alive for a very long time. He's also gone through some seriously tragic stuff. But following the "X-Men" movie timeline and all the stuff that's happened to Logan isn't easy, especially since half of it got rewritten by time travel. Here's Wolverine's complete history, including time travel changes and the setup for "Logan."
Apocalypse is entombed in Ancient Egypt ("X-Men: Apocalypse") En Sabah Nur (aka Apocalypse), believed to be the first mutant, rules in Ancient Egypt. His people turn on him, though, and manage to bury him alive and kill his powerful mutant allies.
James Howlett is born in the 1800s ("X-Men Origins: Wolverine") Wolverine's mutant powers first manifest when he was a child, including his bone claws and his superhuman healing ability. After accidentally killing the groundskeeper on his family's estate, Thomas Logan (who is actually James' real dad), he flees with Victor, his half-brother who becomes Sabretooth.
James and Victor fight in American wars ("X-Men Origins: Wolverine") Being superpowered, tough to kill, and basically immortal, James and Victor float around America for about a century. They fight in the American Civil War, World War I, World War II and Vietnam. Their exploits get them noticed by William Stryker, the guy who will help create the persona known as The Wolverine. James starts calling himself Logan.
Logan survives the Nagasaki atomic bomb ("The Wolverine") 1945: Captured and held in a Japanese POW camp, Logan is on-hand when Nagasaki is bombed. A Japanese officer lets him out of the well he's being kept in, but Logan instead uses the well to save himself and the officer from the blast. The officer, Ichiro Yashida, spends the rest of his life grateful to Logan for his aid.
Xavier and Magneto try to recruit Logan ("X-Men: First Class") 1962: In a brief cameo moment, young Professor Charles Xavier and Eric Lehnsherr (soon to become Magneto) attempt to recruit Logan into the nascent X-Men team. Logan is ... not interested.
The X-Men fight Sebastian Shaw and his mutants ("X-Men: First Class") 1962: During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the evil Sebastian Shaw and his mutants attempt to start the next world war. The X-Men stop them, but Xavier is shot and paralyzed, and the "X-Men" mostly break up. As a result of the battle, some members of the government and military become aware that mutants exist, but not the general public.
Logan joins Team X ("X-Men Origins: Wolverine") In Vietnam, Col. William Stryker recruits Logan and Victor to join a mutant strike force called Team X. Victor takes to it and Wade Wilson, AKA Deadpool, is also part of the team. Logan eventually bails on the team. He's not a fan of their overly violent methods and disregard for humanity.
Bolivar Trask captures Mystique and starts the Sentinel program ("X-Men: Days of Future Past") 1973: During the Vietnam War, scientist and industrialist Bolivar Trask learns of mutants and dedicates himself to finding a way to destroy them. He captures Mystique and experiments on her, copying her shapeshifting powers for his robots. It'll be years before his Sentinel program comes to fruition.
Logan gets his indestructible adamantium skeleton ("X-Men Origins: Wolverine") Six years after Logan leaves Team X, he falls in love with a woman named Kayla Silvefox. But she turns out to be a plant by Stryker, and fakes her own death, framing Victor for the killing. That leads Logan back to Stryker to get revenge on his brother. Logan agrees to let Stryker coat his skeleton in adamantium so he can beat Victor, giving him his metal claws and nearly indestructible bones. His mutant healing superpowers allow him to survive the process.
Stryker gives Logan amnesia ("X-Men Origins: Wolverine") Logan escapes the Weapon X program, but heads to Stryker's base on Three Mile Island and fights the next generation, Weapon XI (a transformed Deadpool). Stryker escapes, but not before shooting Logan in the head with two adamantium bullets. The shots don't kill him, but they do cause Logan to lose his memory.
Logan joins the X-Men ("X-Men") Years later, Professor X recruits Logan to the X-Men after he's attacked by Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants, including Sabretooth. They go on to stop Magneto from turning all humans into mutants. Logan falls in love with psychic team member Jean Grey, but she's already with Scott Summers, otherwise known as Cyclops.
Stryker attacks the X-Men Mansion ("X-2: X-Men United") Logan has rejoined the X-Men years later when Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters is attacked by Stryker and several students are kidnapped. The X-Men follow Stryker to his facility at Alkali Lake, where Logan kills Lady Deathstrike, a mutant with adamantium finger claws, and leaves Stryker to die. Jean Grey, who Logan has fallen in love with, sacrifices herself so the other X-Men can escape.
Jean becomes Phoenix and Logan kills her ("X-Men: The Last Stand") Jean Grey isn't dead after all and returns as the Phoenix, a super-powerful mutant personality who has been dormant inside Jean for years. Logan and the remaining X-Men fight off an army of mutants led by Magneto and defeat him. In the end, to save everyone from Jean's power, Logan has to kill her. It'll take him years to deal with the guilt.
Mutants gain rights ("X-Men: The Last Stand") In the aftermath of Magneto's defeat, mutants apparently become accepted by society. A mutant cure circulates that allows people to choose to become normal and many mutants take it. The effects apparently aren't permanent, however.
Logan goes to Japan ("The Wolverine") Still plagued by guilt and mourning the loss of Jean Grey, Logan lives off the grid. He's eventually found by Yukio, a mutant woman. She works for Ichiro Yashida, who Logan saved in 1945 in Nagasaki. Yashida is dying and offers to take Logan's healing powers, freeing him from his immortality. Logan refuses the offer and Yashida apparently dies.
Assassins attack Yashida's heir ("The Wolverine") Logan saves Yashida's daughter and heir, Mariko, from assassins, but loses some of his healing abilities when a mutant called Viper infects him with her venom. Eventually, Logan tracks the conspiracy back to Viper, where he's attacked by a not-dead Yashida. Logan and Yukio kill him after he saps some of Logan's healing ability in an attempt to steal it and make himself immortal.
The government uses Sentinels to round up mutants ("X-Men: Days of Future Past") Approx. 2024: In the not-too-distant future, Trask's Sentinel program is being used to wipe out mutants and humans who support them. The Sentinels possess Mystique's shapeshifting powers, which makes them almost indestructible. Professor X, Magneto and a handful of mutants use Kitty Pryde's power to project Logan's consciousness back in time to stop the Sentinel program in its infancy.
Logan travels back to the 1970s ("X-Men: Days of Future Past") 1973: Arriving back in his own body, Logan recruits Professor X, Magneto and Hank McCoy (otherwise known as Beast) to stop Mystique from trying to assassinate Trask. Her failed attempt in Saigon is the moment she's captured, so changing the event should stop the Sentinels in the future. The team saves Mystique, but Trask still gets hold of some of her DNA, and mutants are revealed to the public much earlier than in the original timeline.
Magneto tries to kill Mystique and Trask ("X-Men: Days of Future Past") 1973: Knowing the future, Magneto attempts to kill both Mystique and Trask to stop the Sentinel program. Mystique stops him, Xavier convinces her to spare Trask. President Nixon in turn is cancels the Sentinel program after Mystique saves him from Magneto, and Trask is arrested. A new timeline is created, rewriting everything that happens after 1973.
Stryker captures Logan ("X-Men: Days of Future Past") Alternate 1973: In the newly changed timeline, during the battle with Magneto, Logan is tossed into the Potomac. A young Stryker finds Logan and inducts him into the Weapon X program. The timeline of Logan's life is altered from what happens in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."
Apocalypse wakes up in 1983 ("X-Men: Apocalypse") Alternate 1983: Cultist followers of Apocalypse find him buried in Egypt find and free him. This didn't happen in the original timeline, but perhaps occurs because of the reveal of mutants living among humans in 1973. He recruits new lieutenants in Storm, Psylocke, Angel and Magneto.
Stryker captures the young X-Men ("X-Men: Apocalypse") Professor X's school is destroyed when Apocalypse and pals attack and kidnap Xavier. In the aftermath, Stryker's forces show up and capture some of the X-Men. The students, including Jean Grey, Quicksilver and Scott Summers, otherwise known as Cyclops. In doing so, they free an adamantium-infused Logan, who is at this point the brainwashed Weapon X. Jean returns some of Logan's memories before he escapes into the wilderness.
The X-Men defeat Apocalypse with Magneto's help ("X-Men: Apocalypse") Mystique convinces Magneto to stop inverting the world's magnetic poles, and together with the young X-Men, they save Professor X and defeat Apocalypse. Meanwhile, at Stryker's Weapon X facility, a team of scientists from the Essex Corporation recover blood samples from Logan.
Deadpool and some X-Men beat up bad guys ("Deadpool") In the alternate 2010s, Wade Wilson was apparently never part of Team X. A bad dude called Ajax experiments on Wade, giving him mutant healing but leaving him disfigured. He becomes Deadpool and teams up with X-Men Colossus and Negasonic to go after Ajax and rescue his girlfriend.
Logan rejoins the X-Men at some point or another ("X-Men: Days of Future Past") The final scene of "Days of Future Past" shows Logan's consciousness returning to his body in alternate circa 2024 from 1973. He realizes he's changed a number of events in the original timeline, like saving Jean Grey and Scott Summers, who both died in "The Last Stand," and preventing the Sentinel apocalypse. He's the only one who remembers the old timeline, but he doesn't remember anything that happened since 1973.
Logan looks after a debilitated Professor X ("Logan") 2029: Logan works as a limo driver at the start of "Logan," earning money to buy medication for Professor X. Logan, aided by Caliban, takes care of Xavier, who suffers from seizures. Coupled with his incredibly powerful psychic abilities, Xavier's seizures can paralyze the people around him and even kill if he's not medicated.
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Here’s everything that happened before “Logan,” free of spoilers for the new movie
The seemingly immortal Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) has been alive for a very long time. He's also gone through some seriously tragic stuff. But following the "X-Men" movie timeline and all the stuff that's happened to Logan isn't easy, especially since half of it got rewritten by time travel. Here's Wolverine's complete history, including time travel changes and the setup for "Logan."
