“The Wolverine” Will Not Be A Sequel
Based on the previously leaked concept art, along with the knowledge that shooting would take place in Japan, it was assumed that The Wolverine would be a prequel leading up to the 2000 film, X-Men.
We are now learning that The Wolverine is not a prequel at all. “Where this film sits in the universe of the films is after them all,” Manigold told Empire. ”Jean Grey is gone, most of the X-Men are disbanded or gone, so there’s a tremendous sense of isolation for him.”
“That’s something that for me was very important, that I land in a very specific place in his timeline,” Mangold continued. ”I wanted to be able to tell the story without the burden of handing it off to a film that already exists and having to conform to it. The ideas of immortality reign very heavily in this story and the burden of immortality weighs heavily on Logan. For me that’s such an interesting part of Logan’s character that is nearly impossible to explore if you have a kind of league or team movie.”
The film will include some prequel sequences, such as scenes set in World War II, but will primarily take place in present day, after X-Men:The Last Stand.
Mangold describes the genre of The Wolverine as a “Japanese noir picture with tentpole action in it.”
The Wolverine stars Hugh Jackman, Will Yun Lee, Khodchenkova, Hiroyuki Sanada, Hal Yamanouchi, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima and Brian Tee, and will hit theaters on July 26, 2013.
More in “The Wolverine”:
- Wolverine and Psy Slicing It “Gangnam Style”
- Hugh Jackman is Ripped and Shirtless in New ‘Wolverine’ Photo
- ‘The Wolverine’ Shoot Gets Hairy
