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The Wolverine Trilogy: X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), The Wolverine (2013), Logan (2017).
The origin movie re-told some of the backstory revealed in X2, but in a terribly convoluted way. It also brought in younger versions of several of the characters from the previous films, forcing us to wonder why, for example, Cyclops had no memory of the place he was kidnapped and taken to as a child. The timeline is a train wreck, which is one of the other things that made it easy to swallow later when Days of Future Past just wiped it all out. The movie was so poorly-received that plans for a Magneto origin movie were scrapped. As that story was later told briefly and very effectively in First Class, I maintain that this is a good thing.
The worst thing about the movie -- is must be said -- is the damnable Jean Grey relationship. At this point Wolverine had already killed Jean in The Last Stand, but this movie insists on bringing back Famke Janssen
Set in a slightly-more-distant future, in a world where the X-Men are dead and mutantkind is on the brink of extinction, Logan is caring for an ailing Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart sitting in the chair one last time) and dealing with his own deteriorating healing factor and the fact that the adamantium bonded to his bones is slowly poisoning him. He also meets a young girl, Laura (Dafne KeenThe Dark Knight as a film that proves the real storytelling potential of superheroes as more than simple action films.
Logan
After years of pushing for the film, in 2016 Reynolds and director Tim Miller gave us the first Deadpool movie, an origin film adjacent to the X-Men universe without being slavishly devoted to it. With plenty of fourth wall-breaking meta humor and hyperviolence, the film still managed to tell a story with real heart -- Wade Wilson may have been a lunatic who was aware that he was in a movie, but he was also a man deeply in love (with Morena BaccarinStan Lee cameo to date.
without would
That said, I also think that superheroes are a genre, not tell a superhero story that has mature themes and dark content. Logan is actually a better example of how it was used well, but Deadpool was a lot of fun in its own right.
The new cast is pretty good too. Josh Brolin, who seems to be spending 2018 doing great comic book character performances as atonement for Jonah Hex, really nails Cable. Zazie Beetz as Domino is playful and brings in great energy, and Julian DennisonX-Force
The Future of Xavier's Children.
like New Mutants drops dramatically.
Blake M. Petit, who would totally fund the Power Pack movie if only he had funds, has been pontificating about pop culture online for over a decade. You can follow him at BlakeMPetit.com and, if you're feeling generous, check out his books on Amazon.
Now I just need a Nova movie, and I will officially be out of movies I am waiting for...
There are still plenty of movies I want to see made, but I live with greater hope that some of them may happen someday.