It is the rare comic book film that brings to light iconic storylines while forging an emotional narrative that strikes the hearts of fans.

Films like Avengers: Endgame delivered on many satisfying character arcs of the franchise, but when it comes to storytelling, Logan stands alone.

In 2017, the film should have been Hugh Jackman’s farewell to the rage-fueled Canadian mutant. Jackman had been playing the character since 2000, and the movie would ensure there would not be a dry eye in the house.

Logan lifts heavily from the classic Old Man Logan comic story (by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven) as the titular character attempts to navigate a world where mutants are an endangered species.

The film is also the live-action debut of Laura Kinney, also known as X-23. The pair learns that they are more alike than they realize in their fight for survival.

The film was indeed a farewell to Logan — at least for a time — and was arguably the perfect way to send off the character. But despite its emotional catharsis, it still raised many questions about the world it came from.

Logan Stands Apart From the X-Men Timeline

The first X-Men trilogy concluded in 2006 with X-Men: The Last Stand, which was not exactly the favorite of the franchise.

The film implements unpopular storylines like Rogue being sidelined, taking the mutant Cure, and disrespecting the timeless mutant, Mystique.

In 2011, Fox tried again with the prequel series that starred James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr, respectively. This also had varied results, though it merged with the former timeline in the admirable Days of Future Past. B

y 2017, it was about time the healing mutant to hang up his claws, especially considering Wolverine isn’t supposed to age so quickly. The result was Logan, which was a love letter to the character but also an outlier in many ways.

While previous X-Men iterations took great pains to unite Marvel characters in ensemble films, Logan did the opposite.

Set in the near future, the film posits that a terrible event wiped out all the X-Men to where only Logan, Professor X, and Caliban remain. This decision made Logan’s place in the continuity of Marvel somewhat confusing.

At the time, the X-Men were not part of the greater Marvel Studios pantheon that included Captain America, Black Widow, or Iron Man. At the same time, X-Men had been a valued property since the early aughts, and there was no dismissing that.

For Hugh Jackman’s supposed final act, the decision was made to make the timeline of the film somewhat ambiguous.

The only original cast member to reprise his role is Sir Patrick Stewart, as Logan finds himself with the heartwrenching task of taking care of the professor who is in the grips of dementia.

There is no mention in the dystopian Days of Future Past and there’s no mention of past events from other X-Men films that came before it.

Placing the film apart from any well-known benchmarks makes categorizing the film difficult, but it is ultimately for its benefit.

Logan’s Isolation Is a Good Thing

In both the continuity of the film and the progression of the character, Logan stands alone. Throughout the film, what remains of his loved ones gets ripped away until there is nothing left but the decisions he makes.

This allows the film to be the character-driven masterpiece that makes it stand the test of time.

Logan isn’t about big superhero battles or saving the world. At its core, the film is about a man who is lost and finally finds what he has been missing his entire life.

At the beginning of Logan, the former X-Man is a chauffeur, trying to save enough money to retire on the water where Xavier can be safe.

Both are hurt by all the people they have lost, but while Xavier has hope, Logan wants nothing more than to shut everyone out. He gets put on his path when he encounters Laura, a young girl with powers identical to Logan’s.

The subject of illegal experiments in Mexico, Laura’s rage and sharp claws make it clear that she is Logan’s daughter. But even as the pair run from the doctors who want to reclaim Laura, Logan is hesitant to accept her.

As a person who never knew his past and has lost so much in his life, Laura is a liability. Loving her opens a door that Logan is unwilling to walk through.

His arc throughout the film is connecting with Laura and finding that he does have the capacity to be a real father up until his last moments.

In the scope of previous X-Men films, Logan may feel particularly low stakes. He isn’t facing off against the villainous Magneto at the Statue of Liberty or traveling through time to stop deadly Sentinels from being unleashed.

Logan is simply trying to get a group of innocent children across the Canadian border so they can be free from getting terminated by the very people who created them.

Logan has no horse in this race, especially if he denies responsibility for Laura. But her innocence hits him hard, and he finally learns what unconditional love feels like. This is the X-Men magnum opus and could not have existed without separating it from the rest of canon.

Logan is the antithesis of many ensemble films that flood the movie market. Every other film feels like an advertisement for the next, popping in cameos to attract viewers like moths to a flame.

Logan strips away all the pomp and circumstance to make a superhero film that nourishes the soul.

With his dying breath, Logan accepts his mantle as Laura’s father and is happy to do it. After years of searching, he has finally found his purpose.

There could be no better ending and it proves that while the X-Men timeline is confusing and this film added to it, it served Logan rather than hindered it.

Deadpool Further Confuses Continuity But Keeps Logan’s Legacy Intact

Logan was, for all intents and purposes, supposed to be the end of the line for Hugh Jackman’s Marvel career, but that would prove not to be the case.

Years later, Ryan Reynolds finally achieved his dream by roping in the actor to appear in the Deadpool franchise.

The two first met in the cursed film X-Men Origins: Wolverine, where Deadpool was turned into something unrecognizable. From that point on, Reynolds was determined to do Deadpool right and found a way in 2016.

By the third film, he found a way to incorporate Wolverine, even though the character had been dead for seven years. But just like in the comics, Wolverine comes back from the dead — at least, in a fashion.

Deadpool & Wolverine is the first Deadpool film in the franchise since Fox’s merger with Disney.

This put Deadpool squarely in the MCU’s crosshairs and allowed for the multiverse to bring back Logan thanks to Loki and the TVA. Perhaps it wasn’t the Logan that fans were used to, but that was for the better.

Deadpool & Wolverine makes it clear that Deadpool and Hugh Jackman’s original iteration of Logan share a universe. It also doubles down on the final death in Logan.

The film is so determined to make this point that it depicts Wade literally digging up his bones to show that Logan’s legacy from the stand-alone film remains intact. From there, it is a mad dash to find another Wolverine that can help Wade save his universe.

Jackman returns to don the claws, but not as the Logan all know and love. He is a Wolverine from another universe that seemed to fail even harder than the one viewers became so fond of.

This Wolverine is even more dour and cynical than the first and allows Jackman to play with something different in the film. The new version is fun, and it doesn’t stop the significance of Logan.

Deadpool & Wolverine even allows Dafne Keen to return as Laura in the film years after she said goodbye to her father.

Laura also makes it clear that she understands this Wolverine isn’t her father or the person who sacrificed his life to save her. This makes the emotional weight of Logan’s final goodbye to Laura just as important to the world of X-Men.

Just as Laura inspired the Fox Studios Logan to be a better person, she also does this for the new Wolverine. She encourages him to join in the fight when everything seems hopeless.

 Laura has come into her own as a mutant and survives the events of the film to hopefully be seen again in the future.

Regardless, her appearance and support of her father from another timeline ensures that what made Logan so special remains.

It is doubtful that viewers will ever see its like again, but that only ensures that Logan remains as important today as the day it first premiered.