X-Men Origins: Wolverine(2009 film)

***X-Men Origins: Wolverine*** is a 2009 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics fictional character Wolverine, distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the fourth installment and the first spinoff in the *X-Men* film series. The film was directed by Gavin Hood, written by David Benioffand Skip Woods, and produced by and starring Hugh Jackman. It co-stars Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Dominic Monaghan and Ryan Reynolds. The film is a prequel/spin-off focusing on the violent past of the mutant Wolverine and his relationship with his half-brother Victor Creed. The plot details Wolverine's childhood as James Howlett (Troye Sivan), his early encounters with Major William Stryker, his time with Team X, and the bonding of Wolverine's skeleton with the indestructible metal adamantiumduring the Weapon X program. The budget of the film was 150 million dollars and the box office was 373.1 million dollars.

PLOT

In 1845, James Howlett, a boy living in Canada, witnesses his father being killed by groundskeeper Thomas Logan. The trauma activates the boy's mutation: bone claws protrude from his knuckles, and he kills Thomas, who reveals that he is James's real father. James flees along with Thomas's son Victor Creed, who is thus James's half-brother. They spend the next century as soldiers, fighting in the American Civil War, both World Wars, and the Vietnam War. In Vietnam, Victor attempts to assault a Vietnamese citizen, and kills a senior officer who tries to stop him. James defends Victor and the two are sentenced to execution by firing squad, which they survive. Major William Stryker approaches them in military custody, and offers them membership in Team X, a group of mutants including Agent Zero, Wade Wilson, John Wraith, Fred Dukes, and Chris Bradley. They join the team for a few years, with James now using the alias Logan, but the group's (especially Victor's) disregard for human life causes James to leave.

Six years later, James (now using the name Logan) is working as a lumberjack in Canada, where he lives with his girlfriend Kayla Silverfox. Stryker and Zero approach Logan at work. Stryker reports that Wade and Bradley have been killed, and he thinks someone is targeting the team's members. Logan refuses to rejoin Stryker, but after finding Kayla's bloodied body in the woods, Logan realizes Victor is responsible. He finds him at a local bar, but Logan loses the subsequent fight. Afterward, Stryker explains that Victor has gone rogue, and offers Logan a way to become strong enough to get his revenge. Logan undergoes a painful operation to reinforce his skeleton with adamantium, a virtually indestructible metal. Once the procedure is complete, Stryker attempts to betray Logan by ordering that his memory be erased, but Logan overhears this and escapes to a nearby farm, where an elderly couple take him in. Zero kills them the following morning and tries to kill Logan. Logan takes down Zero's helicopter, killing him, and swears to kill both Stryker and Victor.

Logan locates John and Fred at a boxing club. Fred explains that Victor is still working for Stryker, hunting down mutants for Stryker to experiment on at his new laboratory, located at a place called "The Island". Fred mentions Remy "Gambit" LeBeau, is the only one who escaped from the island and therefore knows its location. John and Logan find LeBeau in New Orleans, then both fight Victor, who kills John and extracts his DNA. Agreeing to help release mutants that Stryker has captured, Gambit takes Logan to Stryker's facility on Three Mile Island. Logan learns that Kayla is alive, having been coerced by Stryker into keeping tabs on him in exchange for her sister's safety. However, Stryker refuses to release her sister and denies Victor the adamantium bonding promised for his service, claiming that test results revealed Victor would not survive the operation. Stryker activates Wade, now known as Weapon XI, a "mutant killer" with the powers of multiple mutants, who he refers to as the "Deadpool".

While Logan and Victor join forces to fight Weapon XI, Kayla is mortally wounded leading the Island's captive mutants – including a teenager named Scott Summers – to safety. The mutants are subsequently rescued by Professor Charles Xavier. Logan decapitates Weapon XI, destroying one of the cooling towers in the process. Stryker arrives and shoots Logan in the head with adamantium bullets, rendering him unconscious. Before Stryker can shoot Kayla, she grabs him and uses her mutant power to persuade him to turn around and walk away until his feet bleed. Logan regains consciousness but has lost his memory. He sees Kayla's body, but does not recognize her, and leaves the island.

In a mid-credits scene, Stryker is detained for questioning by some MPs in connection with the death of his superior, General Munson, whom Stryker did in fact kill after Munson declared his intention to shut down Stryker's project. In a post-credits scene, Logan tells a Japanese barmaid he's "drinking to remember". In another, Deadpool is shown to still be alive.

CAST

Hugh Jackman as James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine

Troye Sivan as young James Howlett

Liev Schreiber as Victor Creed

Michael James Olsen as young Victor Creed

Danny Huston as Major William Stryker

will.i.am as John Wraith

Lynn Collins as Kayla Silverfox

Kevin Durand as Fred J. Dukes / The Blob

Dominic Monaghan as Chris Bradley

Taylor Kitsch as Remy LeBeau / Gambit

Daniel Henny as Agent Zero

Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson

Scott Adkins as Weapon XI / Deadpool

Additionally, Tim Pocock portrays a young Scott Summers / Cyclops. Max Cullen and Julia Blake portrayed Travis and Heather Hudson, an elderly couple who take care of Wolverine after his adamantium bonding. The Hudsons are heavily adapted from the comics' James MacDonald and Heather Hudson. Tahyna Tozzi portrays Emma, a mutant with the power to turn her skin into diamond, who in the film is Silverfox's sister. The film depiction of Emma was originally assumed to be Emma Frost. However it was noted that she does not exhibit the character's traditional telepathic abilities. It is later revealed by Bryan Singer that is character is actually not Emma Frost, but instead a mutant with similar abilities. Wolverine's parents also appeared in the film; Aaron Jeffery portrayed Thomas Logan while Alice Parkinson portrayed Elizabeth Howlett. Peter O'Brien appeared as John Howlett, James' alleged father. The film includes numerous cameo appearances of younger versions of characters from the previous films, including Jason Stryker (William Stryker's lobotomized telepathic son whom he keeps in cryogenic suspension). There was a cameo for a young Storm, which can be seen in the trailer, but it was removed from the released film.  A digitally rejuvenated Patrick Stewart also makes an uncredited cameo as a younger Charles Xavier who appeared to not yet lose the use of his legs. However, with timeline and story inconsistencies within the film series, Singer developed an idea to tie all the films together and fix the continuity. In *X-Men: First Class* Xavier loses the use of his legs at a much younger age, than he appears in *Origins*. As an explanation, Xavier can be seen walking in *X-Men: Days of Future Past* (which chronologically takes place prior to the events of this film), by creating the illusion that he is standing in various scenes, when in reality the character is only present by telepathic projection. Asher Keddie played Dr. Carol Frost. Poker player Daniel Negreanu has a cameo. Phil Hellmuth wanted to join him but was unable because he committed to an event in Toronto.  *X-Men* co-creator Stan Lee said he would cameo, but Lee ended up not appearing in the film as he could not attend filming in Australia.