“Logan,” start of new superhero movie era?

Hugh Jackman has been the Wolverine for 17 years, and he could not have done a better job of saying goodbye to his fans than he did in Logan. Taking place in the not-so-distant future, Logan has hidden himself away from society, only coming out to do a few jobs to get money. But as always, he just wants to be left alone, and something happens that makes him have to come out of hiding.

Logan has a different feel to it than other superhero movies such as Captain America, or even the other X-Men movies. While there aren’t many main characters, the movie is driven by its characters and not so much by the plot. Usually, superhero movies have a big bad guy that the heroes must come together to fight before they take over the world. But Logan’s lack of a main villain allows the characters to shine more, because they are able to react to situations without having to worry about saving the world.

Another thing to be noticed throughout the movie is that the filmmakers don’t explain why the characters react to situations the way they do. But they also don’t have to, which is the brilliant part. We have been with the main characters for 17 years, and we as the fans know why they do what they do. This allows for more time for the actual movie that might otherwise be wasted on flashbacks or other forms of explanation for the characters’ behaviors.

Could this be a new era of superhero movies? We have been with many of the heroes for a long time, and unless filmmakers keep using new characters in their movies, it might start to get repetitive if the creators just keep throwing bad guys at them that they have to defeat. And while they don’t have to make every superhero movie rated R, it would not be such a bad thing if they started to transition their movies to Logan’s format.

Fun fact: Before the X-Men comic books, Wolverine was one of the Hulk’s enemies.