by: S. Scott Stanikmas

It’s been rumored that the next Wolverine film will be based on the popular Mark Millar / Steve McNiven storyline Old Man Logan. The only problem I have with that is the story has a bunch of central characters that FOX doesn’t have the rights to but are owned by Marvel Studios and Disney.

But writer Mark Millar isn’t too concerned. In an interview with IGN the scribe laid out just how we could get Old Man Logan without characters like Hawkeye and Captain America:

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.

It’s true the casual fan doesn’t know every minor detail but it’s those fun little Easter eggs, like hearing a name or seeing a costume, that make it worthwhile for the fanboys and fangirls that actually pore over the history and minute details.

But I still get it. I kind of figured this would be the direction the studio would go if they decided to go Old Man Logan. And the analogy to The Road and talks of the “father/son” relationship with Professor X make me think the bald psychic will take the place of Hawkeye in the story and bond with Logan one final time.

We’ll know for sure once the cameras start rolling on Wolverine 3, which is set to be directed by James Mangold. The film has a release date, as of right now, of March 3, 2017.