Fans eager for Hugh Jackman's expected final appearance as The Wolverine were nervous. With less than half a year left before its scheduled release, no official trailer, imagery, plot description, or even title had yet been made available to the public. Fortunately, earlier this month, the name of the film, Logan, finally hit, along with an official poster. Soon after, a flood of mysterious images have followed, leaving us to speculate on whether or not they indicate any more than a noirish tone for the film.
One of the most recent and noteworthy reveals has been today's image of the character Caliban, played by actor/writer Stephen Merchant (Portal 2). In the comics, the character is one of the sewer-dwelling Morlocks, whose most noteworthy mutant power is the ability to sense other mutants.
Just hours after the Twitter reveal from director James Mangold (The Wolverine), Merchant has dropped his own Caliban image via Instagram. The picture, which is shot in a familiar black-and-white, features Caliban in an outfit clearly designed to hide his identity.
How I spent my summer A photo posted by Stephen Merchant (@stephenmerchant) on
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The character of Caliban appeared just earlier this year in the 1980s-based X-Men: Apocalypse, but in that film, he was played by Tómas Lemarquis (Snowpiercer). It is rumored that Logan will take place in the year 2024, so it's uncertain why the actor was changed and whether this is just another instance of Fox's X-film recycling characters with no thought for series continuity, or if there's some other explanation for his unwillingness to age (i.e. "My friends call me Caliban. My father called me Caliban Jr.").
If Logan does strike the tone of a film noir as its photos suggest, the addition of a mutant tracker would make a lot of sense as a friend or foe to The Wolverine. The film's plot is rumored to revolve around Wolverine's protection of (his clone? Daughter?) Laura Kinney (X-23), and a recent photo has indicated that mutants will either be going extinct or in hiding. A mutant like Caliban could be a fantastic way for Logan to find allies - or could be his worst nightmare in keeping X-23 hidden.
Do you have your own theories about how Caliban could be utilized in the film? Let us know in the comments section, and stay tuned to Screen Rant for updates on Logan as they hit.
Source: Stephen Merchant
