LOGAN Director James Mangold Confirms Movie's Timeline; Talks X-23, Healing Factor, R-Rated Violence & More

Following today's excellent first teaser for Logan, director James Mangold sat down with Empire Magazine to go through it frame by frame. Though he doesn't offer up any particularly startling revelations, he does confirm a couple of interesting details about the film.

First and foremost, Logan is indeed set after the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past's epilogue - in other words, this future is the one Wolverine traveled back to the '60s to save in the events of Bryan Singer's movie. Why things didn't continue down the tranquil path Logan and the other X-Men found themselves on after the Sentinels were defeated remains to be seen.

Another thing fans were curious about was Logan's diminished healing factor. Turns out it still works, it's just that the wounds now leave scars behind. "We imagined he heals quickly, still, but it leaves a scar," Mangold explained. "The simple idea was that his body would start to get a little more ravaged with a kind of tattooing of past battles, lacerations that remain of previous conflicts.”

One thing the director won't confirm, however, is the identity of the character played by young newcomer Dafne Keane. Even though it's almost certainly X-23, Mangold isn't spilling just yet. “I think I will just let speculation run rampant about that," he tells the mag. "I think what this film is about in many ways is family. From there out I’d let everyone figure out what we’re up to on their own, at least at this early stage.”

As far as the R-rated violence glimpsed in the trailer goes, Mangold finally wanted to give fans the Wolverine movie they've been asking for since the character made his big screen debut. "We’re really trying to deliver what folks have always imagined those kind of battles would look like. There is a lot of high-octane action in the movie. We’re just trying to do it very differently and very viscerally.”

For more, be sure to head on over to Empire.