The Wolverine
Film · 2013 · 126 minutes · Wolverine Trilogy
Still tormented by guilt over killing Jean Grey, Logan is living as a recluse in the wilderness when he is sought out by Yukio, an emissary of Yashida, a dying Japanese industrialist whose life he saved decades earlier during the bombing of Nagasaki. In Japan, Yashida offers to take away Logan's immortality and let him die a natural, mortal death, an offer Logan refuses before Yashida passes away. Logan is drawn into a conspiracy involving Yashida's granddaughter Mariko, the Yakuza, ninjas, and the mutant Viper, and finds his healing factor mysteriously suppressed, leaving him vulnerable for the first time in decades. He must protect Mariko and uncover the truth behind Yashida's scheme while fighting through the Yakuza and a giant Silver Samurai mech. A post-credits scene reveals Magneto and Professor X approaching Logan with a warning about a coming threat, setting up events to come.
Follows on from
- X-Men: The Last Standdirect-sequel — Set years after The Last Stand; Logan is still consumed by guilt over having killed Jean Grey, which drives his self-imposed exile and haunts him throughout the film via visions of her.
Leads to
- X-Men: Days of Future Pastdirect-sequel — Picks up from The Wolverine's mid-credits scene, in which Magneto and Professor X (revealed alive) approach Logan at an airport to recruit him for the mission that opens this film.
- Logancameo-only · optional — Logan carries the katana that Yashida/Mariko gave him at the end of The Wolverine (2013); the sword returns as a plot object and is ultimately the weapon used to kill Logan in this film's climax.