Logan hit theaters this March to massive critical and commercial success. Hugh Jackman finally gave fans what they’d been longing for and sent off Wolverine in the most fitting of ways. A fantastical blend of dark near future realism and optimistic fantasy, Logan is an unique experience in the world of celluloid superheroes. But one of the things the movie only briefly touched on is its main adversary. Now, thanks to an exclusive clip from the upcoming Logan Blu-ray
If you haven’t seen Logan yet, first WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GO AND WATCH IT RIGHT NOW! Second, this clip contains minor spoilers for the movie’s third act. Oh, it also contains bad language.
Our exclusive clip shows Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook), leader of the film’s mutant-hunting Reavers, revealing the location of Laura Kinney and Wolverine to the evil Dr. Zander Rice (Richard E. Grant). The movie’s innovative use of X-Men comic books as an in-story plot device was one of many unique and striking storytelling decisions, and they once again play a vital role in this moment.
Donald Pierce is searching for the mutant children who escaped from Zander Rice’s brutal medical experimentation facility. During the chase he discovers a photograph which holds coordinates to their secret location. Those same coordinates happen to appear in an X-Men comic and lead to a mutant safehaven named Eden, a story which was shared as a beacon of hope with the children by their carers at the facility. Donald reveals to Zander that the nurses loved to tell the mutant children these hopeful stories, leading the evil doctor to question his captive nurse.
Dr. Zander Rice is well known in the X-Men comics as the creator of X-23. His father also happened to work on the original Weapon X program. Yes, we’re talking about the one that gave Wolverine his adamantium skeleton, massive emotional trauma, and decades of amnesia. This deleted scene showcases that Dr. Rice Jr. is just as cruel as his father before him, imprisoning a nurse from his own now defunct mutant experimentation program and angrily probing her for answers.
Richard E. Grant is an inspired choice for Zander Rice, a man so secure in the righteousness of his own evil that he might just convince you to take his side if the acts he’s committing weren’t so abhorrent. Though this scene is relatively brief, it establishes the easy rapport that the film’s big bads share whilst confirming that Dr. Rice is a man who’ll stop at nothing to find Laura and Logan as he attempts to rid the world of mutants for good.
Logan is out right now (and right here) on Digital HD and on 4K Ultra HD, and on Tuesday, May 23 on Blu-ray and DVD.
Would you have liked more Dr. Rice in the finished film? What do you think about further adventures of X-23? Let us know in the comments below!
Images: Twentieth Century Fox
