After devoting himself to the role of Wolverine in three X-Men films and all of the comic book reading that came with the job, star Hugh Jackman wanted an opportunity to explore more of the character’s history. He did with X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but that’s not the story Jackman wanted to tell in his first solo outing. The Aussie star instead wanted to bring to life the classic ’80s Wolverine miniseries by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller that propelled the character into becoming one of the greatest comic book superheroes of all-time.
With The Wolverine, Jackman finally gets the chance to take Logan on an epic journey to Japan where the character will find love and a new threat he’s never faced before. But what’s the driving force behind the character’s trip overseas this time around?
We say “this time” since Logan (real name James Howlett) has lived well over a century, and over the decades has fought in nearly every major war, including WWII which saw him in Japan. That forgotten segment of his history is part of the plot of The Wolverine and the driving force behind his travels to Japan.
Unlike the prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Wolverine takes place after the X-Men trilogy where Logan is aware of much of his past and his lost loved ones (including Jean Grey). The story therefore deals with the emotional drain of immortality and we find the titular character in a very bad place. Producer Hutch Parker tells Empire a little bit about Wolverine’s journey:
“We pick up Logan in a very isolated state, full of self-loathing. He is sought out by a young Asian woman for reasons he doesn’t fully understand, who is asking him to follow her to Japan where he is meant to reconnect with someone he spent prison-time with in Nagasaki. And the legacy of that experience – effectively Logan saved him – is that this man is on his deathbed, and is looking to give him a gift, to thank him for the life he’s had. But this gift draws Logan into a very complex and very unexpected world within both contemporary Japan, and to some degree the feudal history of Japan. The quality of this story is that it takes Logan on such a challenging personal journey. He’s so in isolation, so out of his element. It’s a much more powerful distillation of his character than you’ve seen before. It’s why people have always love this particular story.”
Is the young Asian woman who seeks Logan Mariko Yoshida (Tao Okamoto) and is that how they fall in love? Or is it Yukio (Rila Fukushima)?
What is the “gift” the old dying man offer to Logan and does it have anything to do with the ‘weakness’ his enemies employ against him?
The following image also appeared in the latest issue of Empire, featuring Wolverine dressed as slick as ever, beard and claws included.
The Wolverine is directed by James Mangold off of Mark Bomback and Christopher McQuarrie’s screenplay. It stars Hugh Jackman, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Will Yun Lee, Brian Tee, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Rila Fukushima.
The Wolverine hits theaters July 26, 2013. X-Men: Days of Future Past hits theaters on July 18th, 2014.
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Follow Rob on Twitter @rob_keyes.
Source: Empire (via CBM)
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Hmmm, I’m not really feeling anything after reading this.
I’m ready for another letdown from Fox, and Jackman as Wolverine just doesn’t work for me.
Still waiting for a reboot. Thank goodness I have phase 2 and 3 of Marvel and the new Spider Man to hold me over!
+1
Hugh Jackman just isn’t Wolverine. As long as he holds onto the property, you can forget about a reboot. Shame really, so much potential in the X-Men franchise.
What? Hugh Jackman has played Wolverine PERFECTLY
Where’s the fn costume. Oh, let me guess, jeans, t-shirt and leather jacket.
I know. If Batman can have a mask, why the hell can’t Wolverine?
All time high of hatred you seriously want him to wear a mask, he will look silly. If you want comic book style I think Wolverine is the closest
Thank You i Don’t the sudden hate On Jackman for, fanboy needs to calm down
THE ALL SINGING, ALL DANCING WOLVERINE!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b20D_ON2Etc
(I’m from Australia)
to tall and skinny. not raw enough
For anyone interested in this movie, I can advise you to watch the Japanese Wolverine Anime (one of the several collaboration of Marvel and Madhouse Japan) before hand, because it dwells very deep about Logan’s presence in Japan. You might have a hint of what to expect in the movie after watching the 12 episode series.
All 4 of the series that they made were good.
im more confident in this Wolverine movie than i ever was about the last one. And the set up seems solid enough. I really need a trailer to get me pumped for this though.
And the best news in the world would be an R rating, but thats never gonna happen.
I hope the movie is good but so far, for me, it sounds boring.
I’m really excited for this one. Can’t say I don’t have issues with some of the decisions they’ve taken (especially letting it take place after X-Men 3), but I still have a feeling that it’ll be the “Batman Begins” of the Wolverine movie adaptions.
As long as they keep the story contained and focused on Wolverine, I think we’re in for a good two hours of entertainment…
Im not excited for this. I wish Fox would just give the rights back to Marvel to do it right.
+1
I wish someone would give me $100 million, but that’s not going to happen so I might as well make the best of what I got.
… metaphors abound
+1
Pass. Prequels, reboots, tired of redoing characters with no continuity.
Its actually neither a prequel nor a reboot. It is set after X3, and follows that continuity.
What continuity?!? Did you watch any of the X movies? Every one of them have HUGE discrepencies.
True, but probably less discrepancies than the comics they’re based on though, if you read them, that is.
one question. how does he pass airport security? or did he walk the earth? you know like Cane in Kung Fu?
Someone asked him that question in the comics. His simple answer: “I´m a pro, bub.”
Also, I never heard anyone ask about how Bruce Wayne made it back from the prison to Gotham in TDKR. You know, without passports, proper clothes or shoes.
Oh, I’ve heard many people rant about that. The common answer?
He’s Batman.
Also, I love how he found the time to shave and soak a bridge in gasoline after traveling hundreds of miles with anger burrowing inside of him to stop Bane from blowing up the city (not exactly sure why you would wait that long to blow up the city to begin with)
Lol…Cinematic license I suppose. And of all places he find the Catwoman under some random bridge to set up the plan. And one more thing, Talia talks long enough while the EMP is put in place by Gordon to keep the bomb from being manually detonated. “The villain always rehashes their plan before being stopped rule” I guess.
Nobody is talking about TDKR, can people not rant about that movie for one day, people complaint about that movie and how he got back to Gotham every single day.
Maybe one of the X-men flew him there or he took a plane himself, or the person requesting him had a private jet, or Gambit flew him in a new private jet he won in a poker game, the possibilities are endless.
Azazel, or Nightcrawler, transported him there.
Or maybe Superman flew him there….
I remember an issue where he got stopped by security and barred from the plane, he had to put in a call to Nick Fury to get clearance, but I don’t see that happening here.
Boats and bikes.
Hugh Jackman has Hi-jacked the wolverine character. Let it go man…
I really believe Fox has made a mistake by not releasing a trailer yet. This is a Marvel movie, and it comes out in less than six months. Come on now. This movie will not be as successful as they want, and it’s their own doing.
Feb. 12th.
In my mind, still too late. It’s smart by attaching it to ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’ but they should have tried to attach one to ‘Hobbit’, ‘Django’, or ‘Zero Dark Thirty’! I feel like four months isn’t enough time to gain a ton of momentum. Especially in the movie industry.
One will probably come out before the SuperBoul.
What is that? Is that the child of SuperBowl? o)
This is a joke, and a very bad one at that. I’m sick of them trying to make a Wolverine with a tall @$$ actor, no costume and out of wack timeline. Not to mention the short feathered hair…. last film he had Vidal Sasoon hair like he was a number of the Bee Gees. Enough!
Isnt this… the exact same plot as “Wolverine” the anime show that ran for 12 Episodes?
It was pretty bulls***.
Curious as to how the ending will lead into first class 2… logain being chased by sentinels only to be time-snatched by cable or a future version of one of the kid xmen, Kitty? ?
I like his hair much better in this picture than in previous releases. More akin to the original style (much ‘smaller’ still though)
Highlander with claws…
(oops. posted too soon.)
Highlander with claws… is what the plot of The Wolverine is kind of sounding like. No Quickening or anything, just the immortal man who watches everyone he loves die while he lives on.
I’m curious about this movie. There hasnt been a single trailer so i dont really know wat to think. And theres not much else news for this movie, unlike days of future past which im pretty sick of hearing about cuz I kno its guna be a mess. I hope this movie will be decent because once days of future past hits, I think the xmen franchise is guna be even more complicated and confusing than it already is. It doesnt make sense and there r plot holes to begin wit, so imagine dealing wit two realities? And fox wants to tie in their new fantastic four movie…like cmon! they shouldve planned ahead years ago, but now theyre in deep water and marvel studios is doing amazing things with their cinematic universe so fox just wants to out do wat the avengers was able to do, which is tie together different interweaving storylines, characters, and make sense of everything. I hope the xmen rights go back to marvel, but only after the wolverine hits theaters cuz I wana see wat they do with it
i’m looking forward to this movie so much, i want the trailer to come out already
i think tom hardy should take over the reign of logan
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! …..are you High ? I want some of that though …lol
Wow, more complaining. This is a great story and yes, I realize Wolverine is short and stocky in the books, but that is not a very big change. I’m sure that Logan (James) will lose his healing power at some point in the book and have to rely on his fighting skill. There are some predictable parts but I think it will be a great movie.
I suggest all the haters just chill out and try to enjoy something every now and then. Comic books are changed in movies all the time. It’s not blasphemy, it is just appealing to the vast markets. So, you can cry yourselves to sleep or just go on living your life. There are plenty of good comics to read if the movie doesn’t work for you.