The Wolverine, the follow-up to 20th Century Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, is due for release on 26 July 2013, just a fortnight ahead of MGM’s Robocop remake – two projects which, had the stars aligned slightly differently, might both have been directed by Darren Aronofsky. Work is underway on Fox’s latest X-movie ahead of that debut in a year-and-a-bit’s time, and as if to prove that point, hey, presto! A first teaser poster has just surfaced.

This poster was, the story has it, photographed in the office of James Mangold (Cop Land, Knight and Day), the director who stepped in to fill the Aronofsky-shaped breach on The Wolverine. The picture was then uploaded to Instagram, which is where it was spotted and duly circulated amongst online film outlets – all so you happy reader-types can cast your discerning peepers over it.

So why don’t you do that right now, eh?

Now, the purpose of the poster is already being debated online (was it ever intended for public consumption or is it just something knocked up by the production team for Mangold?), as indeed is its veracity (could it actually be fan-made, and the whole ‘Mangold’s office’ story is just a red herring? Well, yes it could).

But whatever the truth of the matter, both the ‘Rising Soon’ tagline and design serve to offer a passable tease for The Wolverine, the plot of which is expected to mirror the Japan-set Marvel Comics Wolverine mini-series by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller.

The Wolverine sees Hugh Jackman returning as the eponymous six-clawed critter, in what is going to be his fifth big screen outing as the same superhero character (sixth if you count his cameo in X-Men: First Class), thereby breaking the record set by Superman star Christopher Reeve.

Are you excited to see the Jack back in the role that first made his name? Or is it less a case of The Wolverine than it is The Dull-verine (brilliant, even if I do say so myself…)? Let. Us. Know.

Source: Screen Rant