Story

The Wolverine is a 2013 superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Wolverine. It is the sixth installment in the X-Men film series, the second installment in the trilogy of Wolverine films after X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), and a spin-off/sequel to X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). Directed by James Mangold from a screenplay written by Scott Frank and Mark Bomback, based on the 1982 limited series Wolverine by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, it stars Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine, alongside Rila Fukushima, Tao Okamoto, Hiroyuki Sanada, Famke Janssen, and Will Yun Lee. Following the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, Logan travels to Japan, where he engages an old acquaintance in a struggle that has lasting consequences. Stripped of his healing powers, Wolverine must battle deadly samurai while struggling with guilt over Jean Grey's death. The film's development began in 2009 after the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Christopher McQuarrie was hired to write a screenplay for The Wolverine in August 2009. In October 2010, Darren Aronofsky was hired to direct the film. The project was delayed following Aronofsky's departure and the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. In June 2011, Mangold was brought on board to replace Aronofsky. Bomback was then hired to rewrite the screenplay in September 2011. The supporting characters were cast in July 2012 with principal photography beginning at the end of the month around New South Wales before moving to Tokyo in August 2012 and back to New South Wales in October 2012. The film was converted to 3D in post-production. The Wolverine was released by 20th Century Fox in various international markets on July 24, 2013, and in the United States two days later. It received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its action sequences, production design, Jackman's performance, and thematic profundity, though criticism was directed towards the climax. The film earned $414 million worldwide, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film in the series. An unrated extended cut of the film referred to as the "Unleashed Extended Edition" was released on Blu-ray, featuring more blood and violence, extended action scenes, as well as additional footage during moments of character interaction.[11] A third film titled Logan was released on March 3, 2017.

Plot

In August 1945, Logan is held in a Japanese POW camp near Nagasaki. During the city's atomic bombing, Logan saves an officer named Ichirō Yashida by shielding him from the blast. In the present day, Logan lives as a hermit in the Yukon, tormented by hallucinations of Jean Grey, whom he was forced to kill to save the world.[b] He is located by Yukio, a mutant with the ability to foresee people's deaths, on behalf of Ichirō, now the CEO of a technology zaibatsu. Ichirō, who is dying of cancer, wants Logan to accompany Yukio to Japan so that he may repay his life debt. In Tokyo, Logan meets Ichirō's son Shingen and granddaughter Mariko. There, Ichirō offers to transfer Logan's healing abilities into his own body, thus saving Ichirō's life and alleviating Logan of his near-immortality, which Logan views as a curse. Believing he is acting on his friend's best interests however, Logan refuses and prepares to leave the following day. That night, Ichirō's physician Dr. Green introduces something into Logan's body, but Logan dismisses it as a dream. The next morning, Yukio informs Logan that Ichirō has died. At the funeral, Yakuza gangsters attempt to kidnap Mariko, but Logan and Mariko escape together into the urban sprawl of Tokyo. Logan is shot and his wounds do not heal as quickly as they should. After fighting off more Yakuza on a bullet train, Logan and Mariko hide in a local love hotel. Meanwhile, Ichirō's bodyguard Harada meets with Dr. Green who, after demonstrating her mutant powers on him, demands he find Logan and Mariko. Logan and Mariko travel to Ichirō's house in Nagasaki, and the two slowly fall in love. In Tokyo, Yukio has a vision of Logan dying, and goes to warn him. Before Yukio arrives, Mariko is captured by the Yakuza. After interrogating one of the kidnappers, Logan and Yukio confront Mariko's fiancé, corrupt Minister of Justice Noburo Mori. Mori confesses that he conspired with Shingen to have the Yakuza kidnap Mariko because Ichirō left control of the company to Mariko, and not Shingen. Mariko is brought before Shingen at Ichirō's estate when ninjas led by Harada attack and whisk her away. Logan and Yukio arrive later and, using Ichirō's X-ray machine, discover a robotic parasite attached to Logan's heart, suppressing his healing ability. Logan cuts himself open and extracts the device. During the operation, Shingen attacks but Yukio holds him off long enough for Logan to recover and kill him. Logan follows Mariko's trail to the village of Ichirō's birth, where he is captured by Harada's ninjas. Logan is placed in a machine by Dr. Green, who reveals her plans to extract his healing factor and introduces him to the Silver Samurai, an electromechanical suit of Japanese armour with energized katanas made of adamantium. Mariko escapes from Harada, who believes he is acting in Mariko's interests, and manages to free Logan from the machine. Harada sees the error of his ways and is killed by the Silver Samurai while helping Logan escape. Meanwhile, Yukio arrives and kills Dr. Green. As Logan fights the Silver Samurai, the Silver Samurai severs Logan's adamantium claws and begins to extract his healing abilities, revealing himself to be Ichirō, who had faked his death. Ichirō regains his youth, but Mariko intervenes and stabs Ichirō with Logan's severed claws. Logan regenerates his bone claws and kills Ichirō. Logan collapses and has one final hallucination of Jean, in which he decides to finally let her go. Mariko becomes CEO of Yashida Industries and bids farewell to Logan as he prepares to leave Japan. Yukio vows to stay by Logan's side as his bodyguard, and they depart to places unknown. In a mid-credits scene, Logan returns to the United States two years later and is approached at the airport by Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr, who warn him of a weapon humans are creating that would bring the end to the mutant race.