The Logan Scene That Made Hugh Jackman & Patrick Stewart Cry
Director James Mangold's "Logan" is full of Easter eggs, but more importantly, strong emotional scenes, to say the least. It's hard seeing Logan (Hugh Jackman) at the end of his life, falling apart at the seams as he tries to protect himself, Charles Xavier (Sir Patrick Stewart), and later his daughter, Laura (Dafne Keen) in a near-mutantless world. It also served as the send-off for Stewart and Jackman's characters, who had anchored the 20th Century Fox "X-Men" franchise for years up to that point. Therefore, it's no surprise that the actors themselves got a bit choked up while watching a key scene for the first time.
By the end of "Logan," both the titular character and Xavier are dead, having been killed by an evil clone of the former called X-24 (Jackman). Still, they both accomplished their goal of getting Laura to safety and freeing her from the evil Alkali-Transigen corporation. As she weeps over Logan's grave, she turns the makeshift cross before it on its side so that it resembles an X.
At the film's premiere in Berlin, Germany, Jackman and Stewart witnessed this scene for the first time and couldn't help but cry. "When I saw it, I cried. I sat next to Patrick Stewart. We saw it for the first time, and both of us wept," Jackman shared at a screening of the black-and-white "Logan Noir" (via The Hollywood Reporter).
Bearing in mind the symbolic importance of this scene, it's clear why Jackman and Stewart shed tears over it. However, has this scene been diminished by more recent Marvel productions?
Has the emotional impact of Logan's ending been diminished?
As mentioned previously, "Logan" initially marked the end of Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart's runs as Wolverine and Professor X. The two were the benchmarks of the "X-Men" saga, so it was sad to see them go after so long. Additionally, "Logan" is regarded as the true end of the Fox franchise, even though "Dark Phoenix" and, after being delayed four times, "The New Mutants" came a few years later. Laura turning the cross into an X drives this point home. With Charles and Logan's deaths, the film series died as well. Of course, one could argue that this sense of finality has been somewhat lessened in recent years thanks to the slow introduction of mutants into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Not only has Stewart returned to play Professor X in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" — even though he found it frustrating and disappointing — but Jackman is set to return as Wolverine in the aptly-titled "Deadpool & Wolverine." Even the Fox logo makes an appearance in the latter film. Granted, this version of Stewart's Professor X isn't from the Fox timeline, and, despite the logo, it's possible that this version of Jackman's Wolverine isn't either, so that preserves the end of "Logan" somewhat. At the same time, Stewart and Jackman were synonymous with these characters, so a case can be made that their return via the MCU does some harm to the 2017 film's finale.
Regardless of where you stand on Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart's Wolverine and Professor X comebacks, there's no denying that the end of "Logan" is special. After all, it did manage to make the two actors cry, and surely countless moviegoers around the world did the same.