Hugh Jackman's time as Wolverine will soon come to an end, but it seems that his final outing will definitely send him out with a bang. Logan will center on a much weaker version of the legendary X-Men hero as he struggles to protect an increasingly unstable Charles Xavier, and a mysterious young girl in the not-too-distant future. It was recently reported that this young girl is none other than X-23, and her presence in Logan seems to have some serious implications for the future of the X-Men series.
A new report from The Wrap seems to indicate that Logan will see the introduction of fan favorite X-Men character, X-23. The character will reportedly be portrayed by actress Sienna Novikov, and will go by the name "Laura" during the events of the film. In the comics, X-23 is typically depicted as a clone of Logan (they have a deep father-daughter relationship) who shares his healing factor, claws (although she only has two instead of three), and adamantium skeleton. It generally sounds like Logan will make her origin a result of experiments conducted by the mysterious "Transigen" organization, before she finds herself in Wolverine's care. At this point it's assumed that the small, young hand holding Wolverine's on the Logan poster belongs to X-23, which means she will be a very young girl during the events of the film.
Beyond her impact on Logan's story, the introduction of X-23 into the X-Men franchise could have some awesome implications for future movies. With Hugh Jackman about to step down from his role as the adamantium-laced superhero, Logan could potentially be grooming X-23 to eventually take his place as the X-Men team's resident berserker. This would make plenty of sense, as the mantle of "Wolverine" was recently handed own to X-23 in the comics as well. In that regard, the way she holds his hand on the poster almost looks like he's passing the torch to a new generation.
This most certainly seems like a smarter move for the franchise, because it allows 20th Century Fox to neatly retire the character of Wolverine and preserve Jackman's legacy, while still keeping a violent, clawed hero in on the action. After all, it would be nearly impossible for any male actor to match Hugh Jackman's take on Wolverine if they simply opted to recast.
While the likely arrival of X-23 in the X-Men universe is a major moment for the franchise, we will have to wait and see how the story ultimately plays out. Logan will hit theaters next year on March 3, 2017.
