‘Logan’: How the Ending Was Beautifully Foreshadowed in ‘The Wolverine’

[Warning: This story contains spoilers for Logan.]

It was likely the most emotional ending in superhero movie history, and it turns out director James Mangold had been planning it for awhile.

In 2013’s The Wolverine, Yukio (Rila Fukushima) has the power of seeing how people will die, and she warns Logan (Hugh Jackman) that she has seen his death.

“It’s not like I get a complete picture, more like looking through a keyhole. But I’m always right. All I can see is one part of a person’s life, their death. And I saw yours,” she says. “I see you on your back, there’s blood everywhere. You’re holding your own heart in your hand. It’s not beating.”

The prophecy appeared to come true later in the movie, when Logan performs surgery on himself to remove a parasite from his own heart. But a Twitter user noticed with Logan, the prophecy scene takes on new meaning.

In the film, Logan dies covered in blood, holding hands with his daughter Laura. The Twitter user asked Mangold if this had been the plan all along, and the filmmaker confirmed that was the intent.

@mang0ld you had this set up the whole time?!?!?!?!?!?!? pic.twitter.com/ZBuWZbYyF5

— MauriceTheChosenOne© (@_moegonzales3_) March 9, 2017

And the prize goes to Maurice! https://t.co/9GyRffqUlg

— Mangold (@mang0ld) March 9, 2017

(For the record, a different Twitter user actually pointed out the foreshadowing earlier.)

The emotionally draining scene was a challenge to Jackman and young actress Dafne Keen, who plays Laura, so cinematographer John Mathieson used two cameras rather than one for the scene. 

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“It’s very important to get into the eyes of both of them. The tears are going to come. You don’t just shoot Hugh and go, ‘That was very nice. Now let’s shoot Dafne,'” Mathieson told Heat Vision. “Because they are giving it their all. They will be drained. Jim is very much a one-camera man, but I didn’t even look back at him. I’m sure he got cross at me, but I think he’d agree that whatever is going to happen is going to happen. You better make sure you get it on two cameras.”

Here’s the “death” scene from The Wolverine:

(H/T Collider.)

March 9, 5:40 p.m. Updated with an additional Twitter user who had noticed the foreshadowing.