The X-Men movie franchise has had its ups and downs, but most fans would agree that Hugh Jackman’s appearances as Wolverine - all 8 of them, including cameos - have been among the highlights, regardless of the quality of the individual movies around him. The last Wolverine solo outing, The Wolverine, was originally intended as a simple and intimate story about Wolverine in Japan, focusing on Logan as the only mutant in the story. In the end, several blockbuster conventions won out, and the movie strayed from its original pitch, adding multiple additional mutants and a final fight between Wolverine and a giant mechanized Silver Samurai. Fortunately, it looks like they’re straying away from past mistakes with Logan.

After the success of Deadpool, Fox seems to have softened on the idea of sticking to standard superhero movie tactics, and it appears as if James Mangold and Hugh Jackman are intent on doing things right for their purported final outing. All the marketing so far has teased a superhero movie unlike anything we’ve seen before. Instead of the shine and colors of most major blockbuster films, Logan tones everything way down. The movie’s title even eschews the words “Wolverine” or “X-Men,” declining the opportunity to capitalize on an established brand to sell the movie. Jackman even accepted a smaller paycheck just so they could justify an R rating.

A glance at the movie’s official Instagram page, @WPONX, almost looks more like an art house photography exhibition than a comic book movie, with only one photo on the page that isn’t in monochrome. Several images have been released over the past few weeks in anticipation of the official reveal of the second trailer tomorrow, the newest of which, captioned “waiting,” focuses on the young X-23 riding a mechanical pony outside of an abandoned storefront. You can see the photo below:

Waiting A photo posted by @wponx on Jan 18, 2017 at 10:57am PST

According to the plot summary released by Hugh Jackman, “Logan’s attempts to hide from the world and his legacy are up-ended when a young mutant arrives, being pursued by dark forces.” That young mutant is obviously X-23. In the first trailer we see that Professor X is trying to get Logan to help the young girl, whom Xavier describes as “very much like you.”

It’s not quite clear exactly what role X-23 plays in the events of the film, but as a young mutant “very much like” Wolverine in a world where most mutants have been killed off, her presence could be integral to the survival of mutant kind. In the comics, she’s actually a clone of Logan, which would seem to align with the movie’s focus on Logan’s legacy if that’s the case here.

Regardless, fans have less than a month a half to wait before Logan finally hits the big screen. In the meantime, we’re about to get a second big look a the film when the second trailer drops tomorrow.

Source: Instagram

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