Meet Logan's Zander Rice, mad scientist and creator of Wolverine clone, X-23

It's not just old age and a mutant-hating mercenary nipping at Hugh Jackman's heels in the upcoming Logan - there's also a mad scientist to contend with. And today, the Logan Instagram account gave us a real good look at him. Say hello to Zander Rice, played by Richard E Grant:

Rice

A photo posted by A photo posted by @wponx on on Dec 8, 2016 at 7:24am PST

So what crazy contraption has this stone-faced man created? Well, if Logan stays true to the Marvel comics, he's largely responsible for Laura, AKA X-23, the young girl we see in the trailer. In the comics, Zander is the son of one of the men who led the Weapon X program, which gave Wolverine his metal skeleton and destroyed his memories.

A sadist who was obsessed with Wolverine, Rice regularly tortured Laura - who is a female clone of Logan - in some seriously nasty ways. He also brainwashed her into killing her friends and mother, so there's that too. Considering the (very) brief glimpse we have of Logan stopping Lara's claws inches from his face in the trailer, I'd wager he's done the same here. So if those eyes look just a bit dead on the inside, it's not your imagination. Rice is a bad dude.

Directed by James Mangold and starring Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, and Boyd Holbrook, Richard E. Grant, and Elizabeth Rodriguez, Logan will be released in cinemas on March 3, 2017.

Images: 20th Century Fox 

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Sam Prell

Sam is a former News Editor here at GamesRadar. His expert words have appeared on many of the web's well-known gaming sites, including Joystiq, Penny Arcade, Destructoid, and G4 Media, among others. Sam has a serious soft spot for MOBAs, MMOs, and emo music. Forever a farm boy, forever a '90s kid.