Word Balloons: Work starts on second film for ‘Wolverine’
ComicsFranchise stays busy with animated DVD series featuring X-Men

MATTHEW PRICE, Features Editor Comments 0
Published: August 14, 2009

Wolverine’s not going to be out of the limelight anytime soon.

Hugh Jackman announced at the Teen Choice Awards on Sunday that work has begun on a second "Wolverine” film, to be set in Japan.

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Meanwhile, Wolverine is also very busy in animation. The second DVD of the animated series "Wolverine and the X-Men” arrived in stores last month, and selected episodes are available to watch online at Marvel.com or to download from iTunes. The series airs on Nicktoons.

An anime version of Wolverine is in development to air in Japan and the U.S. Also on the way is "Super Hero Squad,” which will co-star Wolverine, scheduled to air on the Cartoon Network.

"The great thing about Wolverine is that he can be in ‘Super Hero Squad’ and be for young kids, and he can be in ‘Wolverine and the X-Men’ and be like in the middle range, and then he can be in (the direct-to-DVD PG-13 animated film) ‘Hulk Vs. Wolverine,’” said Chris Yost, a writer for "Wolverine and the X-Men.”

"You immediately think, ‘This guy’s got knives on his hands; he’s really inappropriate for children.’ But you know, children respond to it. Children love Wolverine, and there’s a good reason for that. He’s a hero. There’s more to him than just violence.”

In "Wolverine and the X-Men,” Wolverine must take charge of the X-Men after an attack on the X-Mansion scatters the team. "With ‘Wolverine and the X-Men,’ we had an opportunity to show you the X-Men’s world as we know it,” Yost said. "We know the mansion, we know the Danger Room. ... And then immediately the show’s turned on its head by the events of the first episode.”

The attack on the mansion in the first episode is what resets the world from the X-Men we know into a world that shares similarities with the "Days of Future Past” story line from the comic books.

"Everything blows up, and everything is different,” Yost said. "Wolverine’s now in charge, and Scott’s all brooding, and Jean (Grey) and Xavier are gone. It was a very conscious decision to show normal, and then get into what the show is going to be.”

"Wolverine and the X-Men” follows a long, epic journey in Wolverine’s attempts to reunite the team as they deal with mutant prejudice and the threat of Magneto.

"I believe there are things you can do in animation, like with ‘Wolverine and the X-Men,’ the scope and the epic scale of that story, you’re never going to see that in a movie, ever,” he said.

Yost also co-wrote the "Hulk Vs. Wolverine” script with Craig Kyle, and writes the character in the monthly "X-Force” comic book, also with Kyle. Yost said he considers himself lucky to have been able to chronicle Wolverine’s adventures in various media.

"With the DVDs, with the comics, it’s being able to show different sides of this character,” Yost said. "At the end of the day, he’s always a hero.”