3) So Has Logan Just Been Aging Really, Really Slowly All This Time?
Something that will really stump fans about Logan is that it takes a completely different approach to his healing factor. In previous movies, his abilities have always been portrayed to make him functionally immortal. As memorably shown in the montage sequence of the different wars he’s fought in at the start of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Logan has been around for about 200 years now without much change in his appearance or strength.
In Logan, however, he’s physically aged and his powers have weakened considerably. This seems to retcon the previous assumption that he’s immortal and implies that he merely has a protracted lifespan. He was still aging over those years, just really slowly, and now time is catching up with him. Like all of us, Wolverine’s body is now failing him in his old age.
2) Or Did Transigen’s Chemicals Affect Him (And Charles) Too?
Alternatively, is there an explanation for Logan’s failing powers hidden within the film?
During the movie, we find out that Alkali Transigen has been secretly distributing anti-mutant gene chemicals into popular food and drink brands. Thus, they’ve prevented new mutants from being born and all but wiped out mutantkind. However, could these chemicals have also affected adult mutants as well? This would not only account for the weakening of Logan’s healing factor but also Charles’ failing mental faculties, too.
The main piece of evidence for this theory is that a doctor who treats Logan at one point says that he has something “poisoning” him from within. Logan suggests that it could be his adamantium skeleton which, fair enough, would make sense if his healing factor was not preventing the metal from infecting him. However, it could be that Transigen’s chemicals, which Logan presumably unknowingly ingested, are dampening his powers.