Hugh-Jackman-actor-portrait-for-The-WolverineJames Mangold’s The Wolverine is one of this year’s summer blockbusters I’m most looking forward to.

Hugh Jackman of course returns to the fold as the eponymous Logan / Wolverine, and we’re expecting the first trailer to drop this month, pretty much any day now. So far, all we’ve seen are a handful of images, along with a brilliant teaser poster and motion poster.

And now Mangold has taken to Twitter to share a few actor portraits, giving us three black and white images of Hugh Jackman, Rila Fukushima, and Tao Okamoto, taken on the last day of The Wolverine’s production.

Based on the celebrated comic book arc, The Wolverine finds Logan, the eternal warrior and outsider, in Japan. There, samurai steel will clash with adamantium claw as Logan confronts a mysterious figure from his past in an epic battle that will leave him forever changed.

Jackman, Fukushima, and Okamoto are joined by a brilliant cast, led by the great Hiroyuki Sanada, Will Yun Lee, Hal Yamanouchi, Brian Tee, and Svetlana Khodchenkova.

Mangold is directing from a script penned by Christopher McQuarrie and Mark Bomback, with Jackman producing alongside Hutch Parker, John Palermo (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Drive), and Lauren Shuler Donner (X-Men, Constantine).

Along with the images, Mangold added the words:

“Three B&Ws I took last day of production. Three people I adore. @Rila_Fukushima… @RealHughJackman,.. and Tao Okamoto…  Or Yukio, Logan and Mariko as they are known in the film.”

I can’t wait to see what they’re all like on the big screen. I have a lot of love for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but can’t help but feel that this is going to take Wolverine’s character to a whole new level of immensity.

The Wolverine will be released in 3D on 25th July in the UK, with its US release date following a day later on 26th July. This is going to be awesome.