Logan is a near perfect film and one of my top five superhero movies. Though the Wolverine Trilogy started on an incredibly low note with X-Men: Wolverine Origins, the film did offer a much more interesting and dynamic take on Wolverine’s nemesis/half-brother, Victor Creed aka Sabretooth. When capping off the trilogy, there was talk that Liev Schrieber was at one point set to return, completing his arc with Logan. Though the character didn’t make it past the writing phase, we now have details on exactly what Sabretooth’s role was in an earlier draft of the script.

Hugh Jackman discussed Sabretooth’s near-appearance in Logan with Collider; first about the frustration of figuring out an organic way to bring back Logan’s half-brother:

“[Director James Mangold] and I did talk about it. For my money, he was the best thing in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I thought Ryan made a lot out of his bit for it. I was always like ‘That would be so cool’ and the original script for X-Men Origins was a much smaller movie. We were sort of toying with the idea, in a way, of what we ended up doing with Logan—it was going to be a movie about these two brothers. Then different circumstances came in and the movie all of a sudden became twice the size, we had a big release date, and it was all of that. So that never happened, and I had harbored that all along and of course Jim and I worked with Liev on Kate & Leopold, so we did talk about it it was just ‘How the hell do we do it?’”

Jackman corrected himself slightly, going on to discuss what Sabretooth’s exact role was in a draft of the script:

“Oh no there was a script stage. There was a story point where they go to Vegas, you know how they go to the Oklahoma casino? They go there and at this point Sabretooth is running like a major casino and really, really wealthy, and really kind of runs a town, and sort of respectable in a way but is still himself. That idea was thrown around, I forgot about that.”

Though this appearance would have been a really cool way to include Sabretooth, the movie is probably all the better for losing it. Logan is a tightly scripted and smaller-scale film, which is one of its strengths. This scene makes me think of Back to the Future Part II, and would have been a distraction from the film’s focused story. It does mirror a few elements of Old Man Logan however, as that graphic novel features supervillains running different regions of the United States, including Las Vegas. 

Jackman went on to describe a few other ideas they couldn’t make work, including the classic costume and Birthday visits from Sabretooth:

“There were a couple of things I couldn’t work out how to do. Fans always say, ‘When are we gonna see you in the blue and yellow spandex? We’ve gotta see that shot!’ We tried a little bit in The Wolverine, it didn’t happen—on that plane at the end he opens up a box and there’s the suit, I think that ended up getting cut. So the suit was one thing but we just couldn’t work out how to do it, so if anyone can work that out you go for it. The other idea that I always loved was the idea in the comics that every year on Logan’s birthday, his brother comes and beats the crap out of him. I just thought that was such a cool very fun idea and very in keeping to those characters. His birthday present was just a beating and that’s the only time he sees him (laughs). I kept saying, ‘Jim can we put that in?’ and he goes ‘Eh this is not that movie.’ But anyway.”

Which of these elements would you have liked to see in Logan? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!

Logan is out on DVD and Blu-ray May 23, 2017.

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SOURCE: Collider