The end is near for Wolverine. The impending release of Logan next year marks the closing of a long chapter in the X-Men franchise, as actor Hugh Jackman readies to step away from the role that made him a star. As illustrated by the first trailer for the movie, neither Logan nor Jackman plan on going out quietly. From what we’ve seen so far, Logan aims to be a fitting send off for the hottest actor in the franchise, reuniting Jackman with Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier and introducing Dafne Keen (The Refugees) as Laura Kinney/X-23.
Always a fan favorite, Logan/Wolverine has come a long way over the years. Everyone has their favorite portrayal of the character, whether it be in comic books or cinematic form. For a certain segment of fans, however, you just can’t beat the Wolverine from the X-Men or X-Men Evolution cartoons. The portrayal in those series solidified in the minds of many fans just who Wolverine is and how he should be seen, and both series retain a high popularity to this day. While it’s easy to think that Jackman is the one and only Wolverine for Logan, one YouTube user has shown just how similar his portrayal is to those who came before him.
Using scenes from both X-Men and X-Men Evolution, and the dialogue from the Logan trailer, YouTube user PhilySteak pieced together a fan edit of the Logan trailer in full. Surprisingly, it works pretty well. The trailer still retains the sense of brooding and foreboding found in the official trailer, in addition to allowing fans to have a nice comparison between Wolverine’s cinematic and animated portrayals.
Scenes from some of the most memorable episodes of both series are found here, including “Days of Future Past” and “X-23” (the episode which first introduced the now popular mutant clone of Logan). While this fan-made trailer, of course, doesn’t match up exactly with the official Logan trailer, there are some pretty stunning similarities. This just goes to show you how much the X-Men movies and cartoons have similar interpretations of the Wolverine character, at least in terms of broad strokes.
To some degree, Wolverine has always had a propensity for brooding self-reflection. While the X-Men cartoons had somewhat a lighter heart than the movies, it’s interesting to see just how those moments were worked in. Perhaps the best moment from the fan edit comes as Wolverine looks upon the graveyard of his fallen mutant comrades. Another great parallel comes at around 1:23, when Wolverine tackles a suited man right as Johnny Cash sings “I will make you hurt.” This lines up well with a similar moment from the original trailer, as Jackman’s Wolverine unleashes his claws in anger.
Of course, Cash’s cover of “Hurt” can bring a sense of dreary darkness to just about any situation, which proves just how important music can be to setting the tone of a trailer. “Hurt” brings an incredible heaviness to the original trailer, and it does so again here, effectively tying together the rather tragic character of Wolverine in ways that might not have been fully visible otherwise.
Fan edits are nothing new, of course, especially when it comes to superhero movies. Most of the time, it serves to help anticipation for the coming film, and it’s no different with Logan. This is set to be a big moment in the X-Men franchise, and you can bet fans will be doing plenty of comparing and contrasting in the months leading up to the film’s release.
NEXT: Dafne Keen Confirmed as Laura/X-23
Source: YouTube
