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Wolverine 2, according to X-Men series producer Lauren Shuler Donner, is "the furthest along of all the X-Men projects on the boil."

In an interview with Empire Online, Shuler Donner confirmed that the sequel will take place in Japan, a storyline that she said had been intended to be used for X-Men Origins: Wolverine until the 20th Century Fox brass decided to make it an origin story instead.

Screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie will base his script on the classic Chris Claremont & Frank Miller storyline from the comics that chronicled Logan's spell in Japan and his relationship with Mariko Yashida, whose father was a Yakuza boss.

"What's cool about this part of the saga is that Wolverine will be fighting in a different style to what we've seen before. Mariko's father has this stick-like weapon, so Wolverine will have to fight against that," Shuler Donner explained. "There'll be samurai, ninja, katana blades, different forms of martial arts - mano-a-mano, extreme fighting. We're going to come up with a new style of fighting. It's going to be awesome."