Jessica Biel goes to war with mutants as Viper in 'The Wolverine'

Could her second Marvel movie be the one that puts her over the top?

By Drew McWeenyFriday, Jul 13, 2012 4:05 PM

<p>If Jessica Biel shows up dressed like this in 'The Wolverine' when she plays Madame Hydra, someone may need to throw a glass of water on me because I'll faint.</p>

If Jessica Biel shows up dressed like this in 'The Wolverine' when she plays Madame Hydra, someone may need to throw a glass of water on me because I'll faint.

Credit: Marvel Comics

Jessica Biel was, frankly, made to play a comic book character. She transformed her physique when she signed on for "Blade: Trinity," and she gave a dedicated performance in what was unfortunately a weaker movie, but that performance wasn't enough to make it work. It seems like a given that some smart producer would find the right comic book role for her, and now it appears she's once again dipping into the Marvel Universe with a role in James Mangold's upcoming "The Wolverine."

Her character, Viper, is also known as Madame Hydra at times, and she's had a long history in the various comics published by Marvel. She's been a Captain America bad guy, and at once point she even stole the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. One of her most famous storylines involved characters who we already know are part of "The Wolverine," so it makes sense she would also show up.

In the comics, she was in love with the Silver Samurai, and the two of them found themselves locked in a dangerous rivalry with Wolverine over his fondness for Mariko Yashida. More and more, it sounds like they're really drawing on the work that Chris Claremont and John Byrne did on the series in the late '70s and the early '80s, and if nothing else, it sounds like it won't feel like any other superhero movie.

That's not an easy thing to pull off, and anyone who tries to break the mold of what a superhero movie "should" be needs to be commended these days. There are unlimited numbers of stories that can be told using the trappings of the genre, and instead, most of these films revolve around people trying to stop some techno doodad on a roof. Here, it sounds like Mangold is going to tackle the Japanese years for Wolverine and the amazing cast of characters who he interacted with in one particular story. It's ambitious, and he's putting an interesting cast together so far.

"The Wolverine" is set for release July 26, 2013.

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Drew McWeeny
Film Editor

A respected critic and commentator for fifteen years, Drew McWeeny helped create the online film community as "Moriarty" at Ain't It Cool News, and now proudly leads two budding Film Nerds in their ongoing movie education.

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Bill

Are the various X-men films meant to take place within the same universe? I ask because there are a lot of inconsistencies between them. Xavier's paralysis, the Emma Frost character, and a number of other things are presented very differently across the films. So is an effort being made to build a large, unified, Avengers-style universe, or are the films merely separate takes on some of the same characters.
July 13, 2012 at 5:36PM EST Reply to Comment
- badblokebob They're meant to be the same universe, but clearly with a loose and evolving concept of continuity (I believe Matthew Vaughn said they ignored The Last Stand and XMO Wolverine when they were working on First Class).
  
  To be honest, I'd rather they ignored a point of continuity established in a weak film if they've since had a better idea, than slavishly stick to "we already did that, so now we can't do that good idea".
  July 13, 2012 at 7:12PM EST