We have gotten a lot of great superhero movies in recent years. (We’ve gotten a lot of great superhero movies in recent year; just 2018 has been full of really good ones.) But Logan was something special. It took a hero who had previously been the star of one of the worst superhero films of all time and turned him into a flesh-and-blood character. And I mean there was a lot of flesh and blood. This thing earned its R rating.

In the video essay above by Eric Cuadrado, we explore what Logan meant to Wolverine and to the superhero genre as a whole, why it was so groundbreaking, and how it changed the world forever. Yeah the R rating is part of it, but that’s just one component of what made the third Wolverine movie so unique. A lot of it has to do with star Hugh Jackman and his willingness to give Logan something most superheroes never get: An ending.

If you enjoyed this video about how Logan changed the superhero genre forever, check out some more of our videos below, including our complete recap of the entire X-Men movie franchise (including Wolverine and Deadpool’s movies), an essay on why Syndrome was secretly a tragic hero in The Incredibles, and a side-by-side comparison of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight and Tim Burton’s Batman. Plus, there’s tons more over at ScreenCrush’s YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe to catch all our future episodes.

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