As the release of The Wolverine looms ever closer, the latest trailer has arrived online, offering up some extended footage and more of the story that sets the film in motion.
We’re introduced to Logan (Hugh Jackman) around the time of the bombing Hiroshima, when he saves young soldier Yashida. The grateful trooper tries to offer Wolvie his sword, but our hero tells him to keep it safe and says he’ll come to collect it.
Cut to the present day, as a withdrawn Logan broods after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand. Haunted by those he has lost and bitter about his immortality, he accepts an offer extended by an elderly Yashida via the tough Yukio (Rila Fukushima) to visit Japan, where Yashida has become rich through medical technology.
Yashida offers to take on Logan’s healing powers and let him be mortal, but there’s more to it, especially with Svetlana Khodchenkova’s Viper involved. Soon, Wolverine is falling for Yashida’s granddaughter Mariko and falling afoul of some very powerful people, including Will Yun Lee’s Kenuchio Harada.
There is a lot here to delight ardent Wolverine fans – not least two uses of the word “Bub” – and the movie still looks promising. We’ll find out whether it can undo the damage of X-Men Origins: Wolverine on July 25. For more on the movie and plenty of other cool things, check out the latest issue of **Empire in shops and on the iPad now.