Wolverine 2 Has A New Name: The Wolverine

Darren Aronofsky has been doing the rounds for his upcoming Black Swan, but once one commits to directing the next installment in a major superhero franchise, it’s hard to escape.

Which is why we now know a few new and interesting things about the next Wolverine movie.

The new film, directed by Aronofsky, will be set in Japan and feature characters like Viper and Silver Samurai, making much homage to the ’80’s Frank Miller and Chris Claremont interpretation of the character.

And yes, it won’t be Wolverine 2, or X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2, thank goodness.  It’s just going to be called The Wolverine.  Aronofsky also confirmed that the movie will be a “one-off,” a completely contained story.

Screen Rant has some very appealing theories as to what this means about the new direction that 20th Century Fox is going with their few remaining Marvel properties.

Aside from simple title changes, new locations and different stories being told with The Wolverine and X-Men: First Class, both films have new writers and new directors – big name talent, no less – to offer a fresh start to what can easily become two long-term and viable spin-off franchises…

Perhaps more importantly to Fox, opening the door to standalone movies about their poster boy character allows for a James Bond style of franchise for Wolverine which is the appropriate fit for a character who can live through the ages and can work off of one-off films and separated trilogies, etc.

On the one hand, there are certainly some downsides to turning Wolverine into a long running franchise character like James Bond.  After all, it’s not like every Bond movie has been a keeper.  On the other hand, it would still be awesome.