There have already been plenty of rumours about a second Wolverine movie or a spin-off featuring one of the other characters in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but now, after a solid opening weekend, these rumours are a lot closer to becoming a reality. Variety reports that Hugh Jackman is indeed signed on star in a sequel, and that Fox is “focusing on the samurai storyline originated in the comic series”. This jives with what Hugh Jackman told MTV in a recent interview, and one of the easter egg endings after the credits.

“There are so many areas of that Japanese story… I love the idea of this kind of anarchic character, the outsider, being in this world — I can see it aesthetically, too — full of honor and tradition and customs and someone who’s really anti-all of that, and trying to negotiate his way. The idea of the samurai, too — and the tradition there. It’s really great. In the comic book he gets his ass kicked by a couple of samurai — not even mutants. He’s shocked by that at first… There’s also a great, very intricate story there with Mariko, and so many cool ways we could go.”

As far as the spin-offs go, there is nothing confirmed, but it seems like Gambit and Deadpool are the two most obvious choices. Producer Lauren Shuler Donner also told io9 that they’d like to try and persuade Bryan Singer to come back to direct one of these.

Do you like the idea of a Wolverine sequel set in Japan? Would you rather see a spin-off featuring one of the other characters, and if so, which one?