If you haven’t seen Deadpool and Wolverine yet, we’ll refrain from stating how the film references Logan in both hilarious and poignant ways. Logan was originally intended as Hugh Jackman’s final Wolverine performance before he changed his mind and returned for the third Deadpool movie. Now, Logan director James Mangold is weighing in on what he sees as a big problem for shared movie universes like the MCU.
“I don’t do multiverses,” said Mangold during an interview with Rolling Stone. “It’s weird that I’ve even worked in the world of IP entertainment because I don’t like multi-movie universe-building. It’s the enemy of storytelling. The death of storytelling. It’s more interesting to people the way the Legos connect than the way the story works in front of us.”
Mangold has previously directed The Wolverine and Logan, as well as Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. But the surprising thing about the director’s aversion to multi-movie universes is that he’s lined up for two of those franchises. Mangold will direct a Swamp Thing reboot for DC studios, and a Star Wars film about the origins of the Force. Those projects will undoubtedly be referring to other films, or they will be referenced by movies in the future. But Mangold insists that his approach is to put characters first.
“For me, the goal becomes, always, ‘What is unique about this film, and these characters?’ Not making you think about some other movie or some Easter egg or something else, which is all an intellectual act, not an emotional act,” noted Mangold. “You want the movie to work on an emotional level.”
Deadpool and Wolverine is now playing in theaters. And as hinted at for months, there were a lot of Marvel cameos in the final film.
