Logan Almost Began With The Death Of The X-Men

In some ways, not getting to see the tragic deaths of the X-Men in the past of James Mangold's exceptional Logan was an excellent, fitting call. It meant we got to see it revealed more subtly, and more devastatingly through the fragile recollection of Charles Xavier. But there's no getting around the fact that it would have made for grim, utterly compelling viewing.

And apparently we almost got to see it.

Director Mangold has spoken to IGN to reveal that the scene was included in an early draft, but that it was excised because it was deemed too distracting:

“I literally had written an opening which started with that sequence, and so it was quite literal, who was dead. But the reason we didn't do it wasn't to spare other films, it was that it redefined the movie. It made the movie about the X-Men, instead of being about Logan and Charles. And irrevocably, when you read the script opening that way, it became about this other tragedy, as opposed to that tragedy being something hovering like a shadow in the background for these characters.”

It's hard to argue with the logic - particularly given how well Logan was received in the end. It would still have been an excellent addition to the extra features on the blu-ray release of the film.

Would you have liked to see the catastrophe in Logan? Share your reactions below in the comments thread.