Awesome Wolverine Concept Art Should Be The First Poster

If you stayed through the end credits of ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine,’ you know that Hugh Jackman teased the direction of the inevitable sequel, and that the mutant antihero finally would be heading to Japan.  A new image has popped up online that could be a teaser poster for 'The Wolverine' and hints at the film's new location.

Fans geeked out (and rightfully so), but we held back from full-on berserker mode because we’ve been teased by this storyline before, only to see plans crumble and our hopes dashed. But now, with director James Mangold on board and pre-production underway, ‘The Wolverine’ appears locked in for a 2013 release date, and a piece of concept art discovered by Screen Rant confirms the infamous Japanese storyline. Check this amazing image out:

Before you go nuts about this being the first official tease for Mangold’s planned sequel, Screen Rant quickly followed up with a Tweet claiming, “That Wolverine poster is legit, but ... it's concept art & probably won't be used in marketing the film.”

Hey Fox. It’s not too late. Change your minds. Make that the first official teaser poster, because it’s incredible. You’ll have plenty of opportunities down the line to sell Joe and Jane Public on the fact that Jackman’s back in the familiar role of Wolverine. But true fans will adore this shot of Wolvie’s claws slicing through the Japanese symbol. It’s exactly what you need to convince fanatics that you are serious about telling this story properly.

What’s so special about Wolverine’s Japanese adventure? Well, it’s based on one of the most beloved storylines from the character’s long history. Penned by Chris Claremont and inked by Frank Miller, the series follows Logan (Jackman) on a sojourn to the island nation where we dive deep into his psychology and understand the hero beyond his violent rage as he seamlessly plugs into the samurai honor code. If handled properly, this could be the Wolverine story fans have been waiting for … and that concept art is a step in the right direction.