X-Men Origins : Wolverine - 10 things you really should know

1. Wolverine's first comic book cover appearance was in issue #181 of The Incredible Hulk in November 1974, which sees him face off against the green giant and the two knocking each other unconscious.

When first introduced, the character was an agent for the Canadian Defense Ministry who dubbed him "Weapon X", and whose claws were part of his uniform - it was in subsequent issues that his claws were depicted as part of his body.

Later issues would also reveal he was born James Howlett in 1880s Canada, adopting the name Logan after believing he was the product of his mother's affair with a groundskeeper named Thomas Logan.

2. Hugh Jackman is now as synonymous with the role of Wolverine as Clint Eastwood is with Dirty Harry. But it nearly wasn't to be.

Dougray Scott was in line to play the role in the original X-Men in 2000, until he was forced to drop out when filming on Mission Impossible 2 over-ran by two months. It left the door open for Jackman to step into the role that would make him a superstar.

Other actors considered for the part included Jean Claude Van Damme, Russell Crowe and Mel Gibson. X-Men Origins: Wolverine sees Jackman also take on the role of producer for the first time in the X-Men franchise.

3. Jackman underwent a grueling training regime to capture Wolverine's animalistic look.

He woke up each morning at 4 am for a protein shake, followed by 2 hours in his Queenstown gym, upped his food intake to that of a professional athlete, and frequently stayed in character to maximise his workout.

Co-star Liev Schreiber, meanwhile, who plays the equally super-strong mutant Sabretooth, wasn't to be outdone.

Initially given a muscle suit to wear to make him look similar in size to Jackman, Schreiber subsequently asked the producers he be given time to bulk up. After training with Jackman for 3 months, he gained 40 pounds of muscle.

4. Sabretooth first appeared in the original X-Men film as one of the henchmen to villain Magneto, and was played by former wrestler Tyler Mane.

For the latest instalment, Liev Schreiber takes over the role that now pits him and Logan as brothers - in the comics, Sabretooth was initially portrayed as Wolverine's father.

Also returning is Col. William Stryker, introduced to audiences in X2 by actor Brian Cox. Since the new film is set years before the events of X2, Danny Huston is cast as a younger Stryker.

5. For the role of Kayla Silverfox (a schoolteacher with whom Wolverine begins a tragic romance) actress Lynn Collins was cast after Jackman had seen her on stage in The Merchant of Venice opposite Al Pacino.

It's the actress' biggest role to date after appearing in films such as 13 Going on 30 and 50 First Dates. Although it's not the first time she's appeared opposite co-star Schreiber - the two starred together on the New York stage in Hamlet in 1999.

6. Revealing the mysterious past of Wolverine, the film takes as its inspiration the "Weapon X" comic book story from 1991, which recounts the mutant experiment program that grafts the indestructible metal Adamantium onto Wolverine's entire skeleton.

It also references the 1982 comic series (co-written by Sin City creator Frank Miller), in which Wolverine's catchphrase "I'm the best there is at what I do, but what I do isn't very nice," debuted.

7. Ryan Reynolds joins the cast of X-Men Origins: Wolverine as mutant Deadpool, aka Wade Wilson, a wise-cracking mercenary nicknamed the "Merc with the Mouth".

Reynolds had reportedly been attached to play Deadpool in a solo movie since 2003, while in an issue of the comic, Deadpool even likens himself to the actor.

The character's weapon of choice are katana swords, and Reynolds trained extensively to make his swordplay convincing. "I lived, ate and breathed swords," he recalls.

8. The new film introduces audiences to mutants never before seen in the X-Men film franchise. One of the most visually striking is Fred J. Dukes, aka The Blob, a 700 pound mutant with an indestructible layer of fat.

Originally intended to appear in the first X-Men movie before a late re-write, he's played here by actor Kevin Durand, last seen on TV screens as the evil Keamy in Lost, but whom viewers may struggle to recognise beneath a mountain of prosthetics.

Durand donned one of the largest and most elaborate fat suits in motion picture history, inside of which was a state-of-the-art cooling system originally designed for NASA.

9. Wolverine is one of the very few X-Men characters to be included in every media adaptation of the X-Men franchise, including film, television, and video games.

The latest comic book version - an "Old Man Logan" storyline - is set in an alternate timeline 50 years into the future where the world's superhuman heroes are dead, and Wolverine has aged considerably and has become a pacifist.

An animated X-Men TV series that ran between 1992 and 1997 (which featured a Wolverine origin episode entitled Weapon X, Lies and Videotape) was widely considered one of the best television adaptations of a comic series ever.

10. X-Men and X2 director Bryan Singer and X-Men: The Last Stand director Brett Ratner were both reportedly interested in returning to the franchise, while 300 director Zach Snyder was also said to be considered, before Gavin Hood took the helm.

Hood had previously won the Oscar for best foreign language film for his 2005 Tsotsi, which followed a hardened teenage criminal whose life is changed when he becomes emotionally attached to an infant left in the back seat of his car.

Star and producer Hugh Jackman was convinced that Hood was the right man after seeing parallels between Logan and the main character Tsotsi/

"The main character Tsotsi was at war with himself, just like Wolverine," says Jackman. "I got carried away by Tsotsi's journey, and by Gavin's instincts for character and story".