Logan, directed by James Mangold, is a marvel of the superhero genre and a fitting conclusion to Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of the character. Its bleak plot imagined a future in which the X-Men had vanished, having been slain by a mental blast from a decaying Professor X, and the mutant gene had been discreetly suppressed in the general population. Logan, Xavier, and Caliban appear to be the only remaining mutants, and each of them must deal with their own history and shortcomings while maintaining hope for a new generation of mutants.
The film’s appeal comes from the connection between Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart, which begs the question of why Magneto isn’t present.
The Master of Magnetism
Magneto’s whereabouts are unknown, other that he’s presumed dead along with the rest of the world’s mutants, according to Logan. The causes for this might be anything from ultimately being put to death for his crimes to being present during Xavier’s attack despite appearances and suffering. His presence would have clashed with the film’s themes of isolation and loneliness on a thematic level. McKellen and Stewart had shared a “final scene” in X-Men: Days of Future Past’s Sentinel-filled future, so doing so again could have felt like gilding the lily. The Master of Magnetism poses issues in terms of raw might as well. With a sweep of his hand, he could have dispatched Logan’s main opponents, the cybernetic Reavers, and erased the majority of the film’s action scenes.
Why Isn’t Magneto Included?
In reality, Mangold made the decision because he wanted to convey a simple, straightforward story rather than anything large and flashy. He described how the picture was envisioned as more of a Western than a superhero feature in an interview with SlashFilm to promote the film.
Magneto was inextricably linked to that equation. In Mangold’s opinion, the “heroes save the world” concept had been worn out, and putting the X-oldest Men’s and greatest nemesis into the tale would just serve to highlight it again. More crucially, it would have taken Xavier’s focus away from Logan and Laura’s major story, weakening the relationship between Jackman and Stewart.
Finally, the canon timeline for the X-Men films is, to put it bluntly, a horror show, with a slew of continuity mistakes. Given what he and Jackman wanted for the film, Mangold had to keep distractions to a minimum, which most likely meant creating an alternate timeline in which he could keep and lose whatever he wanted. That featured Magneto, and as good as he was, removing him would have made for a better movie.
