As long speculated, the Silver Samurai will square off against The Wolverine in the X-Men Origins: Wolverine follow-up, the sequel to the prequel spin-off of the X-franchise that Knight & Day and 3:10 to Yuma helmer James Mangold will direct. Production begins in the fall (October we’ve heard) for a proposed 2012 release date.

Jackman was speaking at the San Diego Comic Con at his Reel Steel truck event about the film where he confirmed what we already knew – that the story will take place (and be filmed) wholly in Japan with an otherwise full Asian cast and will be based on much-lauded script written by Chris McQuarrie (who has previously penned The Usual Suspects, Valkyrie, The Way of the Gun, Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, as well as work on the first two Bryan Singer X-movies).

Of course most of us already expected Silver Samurai would play the villain as the movie is based on Chris Claremont and Frank Miller’s 1982 bloody limited series which involves the character.

Wiki says about Silver Samurai;

Keniuchio Harada is the mutant son of the former Japanese crimelord Shingen Harada. As a youth, Harada mastered the attendant disciplines of the medieval samurai and sought employment as a warrior for hire. Following his father’s death, Harada sought the leadership of Shingen’s Clan Yashida from his half-sister Mariko Yashida, but was opposed by the ronin Yukio and Mariko’s lover, the mutant adventurer Wolverine.

The Wolverine has faced several delays in production but the two gut punches to the film were the tragic earthquakes that caused disastrous events that destroyed much of Japan’s coastal regions and then the probably related departure of the previously attached director Darren Aronofsky who bailed on his commitment.

Expect casting soon!

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