Mark Millar Explains ‘Old Man Logan’ Movie Without Marvel

“Old Man Logan” creator Mark Millar speaks on the Marvel disconnect with the upcoming film.

Hugh Jackman has continually teased his last film being based on Mark Millar’s “Old Man Logan.” While Fox may not have confirmed the project as of yet, Jackman’s response at San Diego Comic Con made it pretty clear that the Mark Millar story will be the basis for the film.

If the studios do confirm Hugh Jackman’s last Wolverine film to be “Old Man Logan” then many fans of the series have been curious as to how the film will work. In Millar’s storyline there is a lot of involvement from other key Marvel characters that Fox obviously does not have the rights to. Both the Hulk and Hawkeye play key roles in the original story which could make the film a more distant adaptation than fans would prefer. To put speculation somewhat to reset, Mark Millar addressed these issues in a recent interview.

They’re not important to the story. The way I worked that thing is I actually structured it as, I broke it down mechanically – I figured out going from this part of America to that part of America and what he would encounter along the way, and then I added in the adversities later. Basically Wolverine doing The Road movie is the important thing and he has a friend [a blind Hawkeye] with him. But that friend could be Cyclops and he could be blind by the fact that his ruby-quartz visor is broken and he has to keep his eyes closed the whole time and everything, but still insists on driving the car they’re crossing America with. There’s lots of stuff. Instead of the Hulk, you could have the Blob or something.
 
Honestly, the continuity stuff is the most boring side of it. I kind of like it, keeping it in the X-Men universe a little, too, because comic fans are different from the mainstream world. I know this stuff backwards because I’ve lived my whole life loving this stuff, but most people don’t know all the minutia and everything so I think keeping it simplified and keeping it generally X-Men universe is a smarter thing to do.

As a fan, I would disagree with Millar saying these characters are as interchangeable as he insists. I could see another character taking the place of Hawkeye but if it were another X-Man then it would be a slight differentiation in the origin story at the beginning of the series. Click below for the spoiler alert to find out why Cyclops would be a strange choice.

As far as switching the Hulk for someone like the Blob, that would be disappointing for many nostalgic reasons. The Blob is definitely a more inferior opponent in both the comics and film (as seen in “X-Men Origins Wolverine”). In addition, Wolverine’s comic book origins begin with the Hulk and they have had many iconic battles throughout their history. We haven’t seen them in the film universe yet, but even if the studios only have the film universe to work from, it will be difficult to find another worthy opponent.

What do you think of this potential variation? Can “Old Man Logan” work without these characters?

This was first reported by Slash Film