In the second segment of this First Things podcast, my wife Leah and I sit down with Julia Yost to discuss the film Logan and what is says about faith, fatherhood, and the evolution of the superhero genre. We talk about the way the Western-influenced film depicts superheroes not a power fantasies but as broken people trying to do good. Hear why we think this was a moving last hurrah for Hugh Jackman and Wolverine. Listen to the segment at 21:27 in the track below: #Podcast #F

"Logan wears its influences on its sleeve: Director James Mangold has his characters watch scenes of Shane on a hotel TV, and Johnny Cash plays over the credits. Here is the superhero as aging gunslinger, a midnight rider who knows God’s gonna cut him down. And it works. The scenes of familial bonding among the odd trio of Logan, Xavier, and Laura are surprisingly touching. The best part is seeing Logan, once a feral berserker, gruffly instruct the lab-raised Laura on the nic

"When I speak to my pro-choice friends, I’m often able to find some common ground. They do not necessarily admit that human life has a God-given dignity, but they certainly assign it value—and even assign some value to life in the womb, though they leave this contingent on a mother’s choice. Some of my friends are sympathetic to the pro-life movement’s ideal of a world where mother and child are both offered love and support, a world less subject to the cultural and economic