While it never seems to be as high-profile as the "Iron Man" or "Spider-Man" franchises, the "X-Men" series is actually the longest-running Marvel Comics series on the big screen, and it's the one that opened the gates to Marvel's current dominance. For my money, "X-Men" remains the most interesting, with a fistful of well-etched characters, rather sympathetic villains and mutant powers that allow for a wild variety of special effects. (Personal fave: Toad.)
While there's already been one spin-off film for the most popular "X-Men" character — 2008's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" — the new installment, titled simply "The Wolverine," picks up where 2006's "X-Men: The Last Stand" left off; it draws heavily on the 1982 comics by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, which saw Wolverine land in Japan to battle yakuza, fall for an ebony-tressed beauty and teach English. Oh wait, sorry — that was "Charisma Man."
"The Wolverine" finds the ornery Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) simmering even more than usual. He's haunted by the death of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) at his own hands, worn down by years of immortality and has retreated into a hermit's life. He is tracked down, however, by Yukio (Rila Fukushima) — a ninja who apparently shops in Harajuku — who convinces him to visit Tokyo to say goodbye to his old friend Yashida, whose life Logan saved in the war.