‘Logan’ Director James Mangold Criticizes Shared Movie Universes

The latest Marvel movie event, Deadpool & Wolverine, is making bank at the box office despite the R-Rating. The movie is seen by many as a bookend to the nearly 25 years of X-Men films that began at 20th Century Fox back in July of 2000. The X-Men series is considered the predecessor to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and this last installment is considered one of the best Marvel movies in years.

One of the biggest parts of Deadpool & Wolverine has to do with the multiverse as well as the history of many past Marvel movies. We see several character returns that audiences loved. But there’s one person who doesn’t seem all that happy, and that person is James Mangold.



James Mangold is perhaps best known for helming the 2017 X-Men drama Logan, a film that was seen as the perfect farewell to Hugh Jackman’s legacy as the uncanny hero. But Deadpool & Wolverine make fun of that emotional end less than five minutes in by literally digging up its corpse. Mangold is also known for directing the 2013 film The Wolverine, another Hugh Jackman X-Men movie, and 2023’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. 

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, while promoting his upcoming Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, he was asked if Joaquin Phoenix could potentially reprise his role as Johnny Cash from the 2005 movie Walk the Line, which Mangold directed. Mangold then responded with: 

“I love Joaquin, but he’s not 30, or whatever Johnny was at this moment. They’re both young people in that moment in life. It’s weird that I’ve even worked in the world of IP entertainment because I don’t like multi-movie universe-building. I think 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.“

“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. You want the movie to work on an emotional level.“



In hindsight, it makes you wonder why he decided to work on movies based on pre-existing universes like X-Men and Indiana Jones. And while he didn’t directly mention Deadpool & Wolverine, we can only imagine what he thinks of it based on these comments. While we can’t see the future, Mangold seems more interested in pursuing more personal projects over established franchises. 

What do you think? Is his criticisms of shared universes “The death of storytelling“? Or does it depend on who is creating those movies? Let us know your thoughts. 

Source: Hollywood Reporter