Boyd Holbrook’s character description seemingly might be the first confirmation that we might not be getting the straight-up Old Man Logan adaptation in Wolverine 3.
Holbrook will play a relentless, calculating and intense head of security for a global enterprise who is set against Jackman’s clawed Wolverine/Logan hero.
The Wrap says the character is an original one created for the film, but we believe that’s not entirely true.
This is the final bow for Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and he’s alluded to them putting everything in they could, meaning actual or reworked villains from the comics are likely a priority for fans. Jackman asked for input from fans just before work the major screenwriting took place. All that fan feedback likely led to the creative choices James and Hugh have made for the film. This being the last film it’s hard to imagine that the villains won’t be one of the most important aspects.
There has been discussion of rebooting The Weapon X Program along with Logan’s haphazard origins from the abysmal first film. Potentially, the the villains could reveal if this is happening or not. It’s starting to seem unlike that reboot won’t be making it’s way into X-Men: Apocalypse, even though William Stryker will be back.
Wolverine 3 could employ many unused pieces of plot from the comics to paint a cooler picture compared to the mess in Origins.
Arkady Rossovich aka Omega Red is a malleable X-Men villain, because of his ties to both the Weapon X Program and The Hand/Yakuza. Allowing him to be placed where he’s needed or convenient to the plot, he doesn’t really have a side and only wants to kill Wolverine. He’s ultimately Logan’s last great villain and we’d hate to see Jackman retire before clashing with him on screen.
Rossovich was court-martialed and forced into USSR’s own Super Soldier Project after the potential of his abilities was noticed. Rossovich underwent years of experimental torture and enhancements that not only turned his skin chalk-white, but transformed into a deadly cyborg who soon took the name Omega Red. He needed the material known as Carbonadium Synthesizer (C-Synth) to help stabilize his condition, so that the implants he gained didn’t turn against him. However, his quest for C-Synth was foiled when Wolverine, Maverick, and Sabretooth took the C-Synth and hid it where Omega Red would never be able to obtain it. Even the lack C-Synth didn’t stop the USSR using their new Super Soldier as a new operative for theKGB. Yet the lack of C-Synth took a different effect on Omega Red, who was forced into a form of vampirism to sustain himself. Betrayed by his own government, Omega Red later escaped custody and hid in Europe where he began committing several murders.
Red would make an excellent third act villain and doesn’t exactly need to be the big bad, more like a looming threat or McGuffin throughout the movie. I’m not entirely convinced now that Boyd is actually playing Rossovich based on his character description, but more than likely someone who unleashes him.
That being said there are indeed a plethora of other villains Boyd could be playing.
One that comes to mind is Hellfire Club member Donald Pierce who teams-up with Lady Deathstrike last seen dead in X2: X-Men United likely now alive in the new timeline. The two creating the paramilitary group The Reavers. Their only purpose is to again, kill Wolverine. Their ranks are made-up of Wolvie’s various maimed combatants outfitted with cybernetic enhancements, this could explain the bad-blood.
Another is militant leader Graydon Creed, who heads-up the mutant hate-group The Friends of Humanity. He just happens to be the human son of Mystique and Victor Creed aka Sabretooth, making him Logan’s nephew according to X-Men Origins. He’s more a fringe character but could easily be the head of security team and even take the place of William Stryker.
What seemingly feels like the best bet out of the bunch via the character description, is Holbrook being a member of evil military contractor The Blackguard (think Blackwater meets Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare‘s Atlas). They somehow get ahold of the Weapon X files and start creating their own super-soldier program, which gives us the badass enhanced soldiers Strikeforce X.
I couldn’t name a single person in that group off the top of my head, so if they were to create an “original villain” this is where they might draw inspiration from.
Logan has tracked down Blackguard, the private military contractor that took hold of the Weapon X files, but he may regret this success when he encounters the deadly Strikeforce X!
Strikeforce X is a team of agents that used humans as test subjects and were given animal-like senses, enhanced strength and reflexes (probably drug-induced), an artificially engineered healing factor (techno-organic), nanites in their blood to help regrow tissue, adamantium-laced skeletons, claw energy blades, and maybe some bionic implants as well.
Dr. Abraham Cornelius is responsible for giving Logan his adamantium skeleton and later on helps The Hand resurrect Omega Red to take out Wolverine. It would’t be hard to imagine Cornelius is the source of the Weapon X files getting into the wrong hands. He also played a role in the recent Death of Wolverine comics.
It’s even possible The Blackguard and Cornelius are behind Ajax‘s Workshop seen in Deadpool, creating mutant slaves to sell on the blackmarket. A nifty way to connect Deadpool and Wolverine 3, without having to actually rely on a cameo from Ryan Reynolds. It would even explain why Tim Miller didn’t go with the Weapon X Program and went with something that mimicked it.
Having Wolverine tie-up lose ends connected to Weapon X would make for interesting end to Jackman’s run of the character. It’s also simple enough that they could sprinkle elements from Old Man Logan into the movie without having to make such a oddball project that wouldn’t look anything like the original comics, due to not having certain character rights.
If this turns out to be the real direction of Wolverine 3 compared to a straight-up adaptation of Old Man Logan, I don’t think many fans would be too upset. A Weapon X movie would indeed merit that confirmed R-rating because of the graphic violence that would be involved.
Do you think we’re getting a Weapon X storyline in Wolverine 3?