Here's The Heartbreaking Detail In “Logan” You Probably Missed

1. If you’ve seen Logan, you know it has a very different feel from past X-Men movies. It’s gritty and dark and extremely violent — but it still reunites our two faves, Logan and Professor Charles Xavier.

If you’ll recall, the movie begins with our beloved mutants hiding out in the desert. And the professor is heavily medicated and secluded in a water tank to prevent him from having a seizure and accidentally killing a bunch of people with his mind.

2. The look of that water tank is important. This weekend at WonderCon, Logan production designer Francois Audouy explained how they included a sweet, extremely sad nod to Professor X’s past using it.

3. While scouting filming locations in New Mexico, Audouy came across an abandoned lumber mill, and was struck by the beehive burner on site (below).

“It had been sitting in the desert rusting for like 50 years, it looked like a Doctor Who Dalek,” he laughed. “[But] when we went inside, it was full of little holes that were quite striking, and it stuck with us as an image.”

4. When designing the Charles’ water tank from scratch, Auduoy remembered those little holes from the beehive burner, and incorporated that lighting effect into building the water tank.

5. An interesting parallel started to form in his mind. “As we were going down this path of designing this tank, it started to really feel like a strange fever dream version of Cerebro from the [past] X-Men films,” Audouy said.

Cerebro is the device Professor X used to mentally connect with fellow mutants.

7. So at the end of his life, Professor X is surrounded by lights, a constant reminder of his former power. I’m not crying you’re crying.