Praise be, glory and hallelujah! The long-mooted and long-awaited (at least by us) Wolverine movie finally has a start date for shooting - this November - and a director - Tsotsi's Gavin Hood. With star Hugh Jackman and writer David Benioff already onboard, it looks like ol' Adamantium Claws' spin-off movie is a reality after all.
The story is set to be an origins tale, about How Logan Got Unbreakable Metal Called Adamantium Welded To His Skeleton, drawing on recent Weapon X graphic novels and some of the Frank Miller touches from Wolvie's own spin-off comic as well - although according to rumour, there's a 'Nam flashback but none of the Japanese stuff.
Reading between the lines, characters we might reasonably expect to see returning are Brian Cox' General Stryker (possibly played by a younger actor to allow for the difference in age) and Tyler Mane's Sabertooth. Comic fans may also feel comfortable in guessing that names like Silverfox and John Wraith are also likely to come into play - but we couldn't possibly comment.
The film is set to start in November for a 2008 release, which could mean we see Wolverine as early as this time next year (if they go at an X-Men: The Last Stand shooting and post-production pace, at least). Which is good news for comic fans, good news for vest manufacturers and very good news for makes of superhold hairspray. Roll on next year!