There was no escaping tragedy in "Logan," but believe it or not, there was almost even more of it.

Director James Mangold recently opened up to IGN about the Hugh Jackman-staring film, and he revealed that an earlier version of its opening kicked off with a number of deaths. (If you haven't seen "Logan" yet, there are spoilers ahead!) Instead of letting it come out subtly that Professor X (Patrick Stewart) accidentally caused multiple X-Men to die, the film was going to actually show their demises.

"I literally had written an opening which started with that sequence," Mangold told IGN. "And so it was quite literal, who was dead."

In later drafts, however, the scenes were changed because Mangold felt the opening "redefined the movie" in a way he didn't want it to.

"It made the movie about the X-Men, instead of being about Logan and Charles," he said. "And irrevocably, when you read the script opening that way, it became about this other tragedy, as opposed to that tragedy being something hovering like a shadow in the background for these characters."

There were other benefits to the change, too. Killing members of the X-Men on-camera would have made it clear which of the mutants died. By having it happen off-camera, Mangold didn't have to "nail ... down" exactly what happened. Since there are bound to be more films in the franchise, the creative leeway could prove helpful.

And let's be honest: We couldn't have dealt with much more emotional upheaval. Mangold's goal may not have been to go easier on us, but we're glad he did.

[via: IGN]