10 Marvel Easter Eggs You Should Look for in 'Logan'

It’s the last ride for Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in Logan, directed by James Mangold. In the year 2029, mutants have been wiped out except for a small group created by the shady, paramilitary laboratory, Transgien. Crossing paths with a young mutant girl named Laura (Dafne Keen), Wolverine and Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) embark on a dangerous road trip all across the southwest to the north to bring Laura to safety.

As the last movie set in the X-Men timeline (so far), there aren’t a heck of a lot of Easter eggs as there would be in a DC or Marvel Studios movie. But there’s still just enough callbacks to the long 17-year history, going back to Bryan Singer’s X-Men and to the original comics. Here they are in no particular order.

1. A katana from The Wolverine

After 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, Wolverine traveled to Japan in James Mangold’s previous Wolverine flick, The Wolverine, from 2013. A katana hangs above Logan’s bed, a souvenir from more exciting times.

2. Logan’s dog tags.

A relic from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Logan keeps his military dog tags on him as a memento. They’re featured prominently in the trailer.

3. Cigars, bub.

When Logan stops Laura from slicing some poor sap at the convenience store, he grabs a phone charger (to charge Gabriela’s phone containing video evidence of Laura’s experiments at Transgien) and some cigars. Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine is a regular cigar smoker in the X-Men movies.

4. Bolt

Speaking of Gabriela’s video, the names mutant DNA was taken from includes “Christopher Bradley.” In the comics, Chris Bradley is Bolt, a mutant with electrical powers. He was played by Dominic Monaghan in X-Men Origins: Wolverine as part of Team X led by Colonel Stryker.

5. Those comics are only kind of real.

While the comics Laura keeps on her were made up exclusively for the film, their numbering refers to actual issues of Uncanny X-Men that resemble what unfolds in Logan. In Uncanny X-Men #117, Xavier explains why he seeks to bridge the gap between man and mutant-kind. In #132, Wolverine fights Donald Pierce, whom Boyd Holbrook plays in the film.

6. WER 112

Speaking of comics, Logan’s license plate “WER 112” might be nothing. Or it could be Uncanny X-Men #112, a comic about Magneto rendering the X-Men powerless. It’s a bit coincidental that Wolverine is extremely de-powered in Logan too. Hmm…

7. Westchester

Xavier’s School is never mentioned by name in the film, but it’s strongly alluded to in the devastating “Westchester” incident. Xavier’s School was located in Westchester, New York, and was a haven for mutant youths to learn and come into their own. However, Xavier’s devastating sickness pretty much killed all mutants, which leaves the world of Logan bleak and dreary.

8. Greenwood Cemetery

The graveyard Wolverine is at in the beginning of the film is a known cemetery in the Marvel Universe, seen in Fantastic Four and the Deadpool mini-series Deadpool: Too Soon? Don’t squint looking for recognizable names, though.

9. Shane (1953)

It’s not really an Easter egg because it’s not hiding in plain sight, but while in the hotel Laura and Xavier bond watching Shane, an iconic Western film from 1953. What’s a little more opaque is that Shane, directed by George Stevens, is about an old gunslinger who comes out of retirement for one last fight. The filmmakers have expressed how much Westerns, specifically Shane, influenced Logan.

10. The Statue of Liberty and cage-fighting

And just to round it all back, early in the film Xavier alludes to old memories of the very beginning of the X-Men movies. A cranky Xavier tells Logan that when they first met, he was wasting away as a cage fighter (not true, they met in the early ‘60s in X-Men: First Class) and that the Statue of Liberty was a “long time ago.” The climax of Bryan Singer’s X-Men happened at the New York City monument.

Logan will be released on March 3.