Logan Easter Eggs You Totally Missed

Logan is arguably the best X-Men movie yet, liberally borrowing elements from the popular Old Man Logan comics arc. That story was packed with references from the Marvel Universe, and since Fox doesn't have the rights to most of those characters, it might seem safe to assume Logan doesn't have many Easter eggs of its own—but nothing could be further from the truth. Here's a spoiler-filled look at some Logan Easter eggs you totally missed.

One of Logan's key plot points comes from the old issues of X-Men comics that Laura carries around with her, one of which supposedly contains the coordinates for the secret mutant haven Eden. One of these issues is #132. While the comic they show is a prop made for the film, the decision to use #132 as the issue number isn't random at all. In the real world, X-Men #132 marks the first appearance of the cyborg Donald Pierce—one of the film's main bad guys, who battled Wolverine in that very issue. So meta!

The evil Wolverine clone X-24 isn't in the comics, but he's based on a real character with the slightly less scary name Albert. Albert was a robotic version of Wolverine built by Donald Pierce as part of a weird plan to kill Wolverine using an android bomb disguised as a little girl. It didn't work, but at least Albert acquitted himself a little better in the movies.

Just as Laura was created using Wolverine's DNA, so too were her friends apparently created using the DNA of other X-Men and mutants from the comics. One of the kids, for instance, has Iceman's freezing power, while another has Pyro's fire power. Joey, meanwhile, demonstrates telekinetic powers in the final battle, suggesting he could be a version of Jean Grey's comic book nephew, Joey Bailey. Logan also finds in the case files a reference to Christopher Bradley, who appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine as part of Team X. He was the mutant who could control electricity, just like the kid who electrifies the Jeep at the end. And finally, the leader of the kids, Rictor, is a member of the New Mutants and X-Force in the comics.

The evil corporation breeding mutant slaves, Alkali Transigen, got its really awkward name from the comics: the secret facility where Wolverine had the adamantium bonded to his bones by William Stryker was actually located at Alkali Lake.

Alkali Transigen isn't just making mutant slaves, they're also really busy enhancing their private army of human soldiers with mechanical arms, legs, and other cybernetic doodads. At one point in the movie, this gang of cyborg mercenaries is referred to as the Reavers, which is fitting, because in the comics, the Reavers are an army of cyborgs financed and commanded by—you guessed it—Donald Pierce.

Considering how eagerly Logan seems to want to forget, he carries an awful lot of doodads to remind him of the past. Not only is he toting around Chekov's adamantium bullet, he also has a samurai sword on the wall of his hovel as a nod to his time spent in Japan. And he apparently bought his dog tags in bulk at some point, because not only have they appeared in three previous movies, he's actually symbolically thrown them away in disgust before—twice. It just wouldn't be a Wolverine movie without him staring at those dog tags.

At the beginning of the film, Logan is making ends meet as a driver. He ends up bringing some random people to a cemetery, where he has his first encounter with Laura. But that's not just any burial ground: Greenwood Cemetery has appeared in Marvel Comics for years, in titles ranging from Fantastic Four to The New Warriors.

During a key bonding scene in which Professor X and Laura watch the classic 1953 western Shane, Xavier tells her he saw the movie in the Essoldo Cinema when he was just a little kid himself. That may have actually been a true story, because Essoldo was a chain of theaters that operated in Northern England during the 1940s and 1950s when Patrick Stewart was growing up. Neat!

With Wolverine dead in his grave, look closely at the mutant kids standing around him in mourning. The young boy Bobby, the one with the electric mutation, is holding a vintage Wolverine action figure—complete with the yellow spandex suit fans have been dying to see on the big screen for decades. This isn't exactly the payoff, but it's a nice nod to the look. We know there are X-Men comics and merch in this world, so does this mean Wolverine actually sported the yellow look at some point in an era not shown in a film? If you remember, it was briefly teased in The Wolverine.

The film's marketing campaign made it clear this isn't your typical comic book movie, and that goes all the way back to the marketing campaign. Does that main Logan poster look a bit familiar? That's because it's a straight-up homage to the poster for Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, with an adult holding a child's hand. In case you didn't get the hint this is a very dark, and very serious, film.

You remember that shot of Laura and Wolverine in the car together? It definitely evokes the feel of the hit video game The Last of Us (specifically the scene here), while also sharing some very similar themes. A dude with a beard, traveling with a young girl he's trying to protect in a somewhat post-apocalyptic world? Yeah, there are definitely some parallels there.

In Logan, we finally got to see the death of Wolverine. For a character who has lived for 200 years and is practically invincible, it made for a huge moment—but it was also set up in the previous film. In 2013's The Wolverine, the character Yukio (Rila Fukushima) tells Logan she's seen his death. Her exact description: "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."

That setup seemed to pay off toward the end of the movie in the scene above, when Logan has to cut into his own chest and remove a parasite that's killing him. But it turned out director James Mangold (who helmed both Logan and The Wolverine) was planning a bit further ahead with that tease. A fan asked him on Twitter if he was actually setting up the real death in Logan all this time, with Logan holding Laura's hand (a bit more of a metaphor than his literal heart, but still), and Mangold seemed to agree it was the plan all along.