The Wolverine film informatics Part 08: Ichiro Yashida

Ichiro Yashida was an elderly Japanese man whose life was saved by Wolverine during the atomic bomb explosion over Nagasaki many years ago towards the end of WWII. After being saved, he went on to be the head of his own company, the Yashida Corporation. He is the main antagonist of "The Wolverine" film.


During the final days of World War II, Wolverine saved Yashida from the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, an act for which he was forever indebted to Wolverine. His first encounter with mutants made him obsessed with unravelling their secrets, and led to him developing a company revolving around genetic ventures and technology.

Yashida started a family in the years that followed, and while he did not connect well with his son, he bonded very well with his granddaughter Mariko. He would often tell her stories of the man who had once saved him, and laced these with mythology to the point where the Wolverine had been made out to be a protective spirit. In those early years he also chanced upon another mutant, Yukio, whom he brought home and raised alongside Mariko as another granddaughter.


When Yashida realized that his life was nearing its end, he instructed Yukio to scour the globe searching for the Wolverine, a task which took over one year to accomplish. Once Yukio brought Logan to Japan to meet Yashida, he thanked Logan for saving his life all those years ago, and promised to return the favor by offering to strip him of his immortality and take the ability himself, thus enabling Logan to live a normal life. Logan refused, stating that his healing abilities were more of a curse than a blessing. Yashida later died that night, and a traditional Japanese funeral was held by his family and esteemed guests the following day. Logan attended Master Yashida's funeral alongside Yukio, Shingen Yashida, and Mariko. Yashida instructed Logan to take care of his granddaughter, whom he entrusted with control of the family in his will.


However, as Mariko was kidnapped by the Yakuza and brought to the Yashida corporation's main research facility, it was revealed that Yashida did not die on that night, and was instead sustained by a robotic suit made out of adamantium. Yashida then revealed his intention to forcefully extract Wolverine's healing ability and be reborn to live forever, and had been stockpiling as much adamntium as he could from all over the world, to the point that he brought the Yashida Corporation on the edge of brankruptcy. In the process of fighting Wolverine in his adamantium suit, he used his super-heated adamantium swords to kill Kenuichio Harada, break Wolverine's claws and extract his healing abilities from his body, with the use of mini pneumatic drills from the armor's wrists. However, Mariko intervened and stabbed her grandfather with one of Wolverine's shattered adamantium claws, whilst Wolverine used the distraction to finish him off with his regrown bone claws, sending him plummeting down to his death by the mountainside.

The Wolverine film informatics Part 07: Shingen Yashida

Shingen Yashida was a Japanese Yakuza crime boss who disgraced his family name by attempting to kill his own daughter, Mariko for his father's business empire.


Shingen Yashida is the son of Ichiro Yashida and father of Mariko. He is first seen training his martial art students in a dojo at the Yashida family home. Shingen wanted to take over his father's business to prevent it from going bankrupt, and arranged a marriage between Mariko and Noburo Mori so that he could gain political access. However, these plans were foiled when he found out Yashida had arranged for Mariko to inherit his company, since it would prevent him from gaining control of the company as well as enabling Mariko to avoid marrying Noburo. Offering the corrupt Noburo money in exchange for helping him, Shingen sent the Yakuza after Mariko to kill her.


The Yakuza clan brought Mariko to Shingen, who attempted to kill her before Viper and the Black Clan intervened. Viper stabbed Shingen in the neck with a poison knife, but he survived by jumping into a pond, and then putting on a samurai armor. Later on when Wolverine is about to remove the parasite that was preventing his healing factor from his body, Shingen prepares to attack him, but Yukio fights back and defends Wolverine just long enough to remove the parasite and recover. Shingen was unable to inflict any lasting injury on Logan, who decided to spare him and let him live with the fact that he tried to kill his daughter. Shingen attacked Logan and stabbed him a final time, and at the same time Logan stabbed Shingen with his claws, surviving his injury with his healing factor. Before dying, Shingen asked Logan what kind of monster he was, to which Logan said he was the Wolverine.

The Wolverine film informatics Part 06: Viper

Viper (real name Ophelia Sarkissian) was a mutant with the ability to generate toxins and regenerate her skin.

Viper was a cold and calculating mutant, who cares little for anyone but herself. She was shown to be completely ruthless in getting what she wants and was willing to kill for it, having no problem with poisoning a stranger who insulted her. She is a brilliant scientist who specializes in biochemistry and genetics.


Viper was seen tending to Ichiro Yashida before Logan proceeds to converse with him. While examining the medical room, Logan notices a glass container full of nanobot-like machines. Later, Viper infects Logan with one of the machines; the bot latches onto Logan's heart, shutting down his healing factor. When Viper goes to hunt Logan and Mariko, she encounters Harada scowling him and telling him that he had utterly failed to fulfill Yashida's dying wish.


As Shingen Yashida prepares to kill Mariko, Viper and Harada intercept the two, capturing Mariko as Viper poisons Shingen. Later, Viper restrains Logan who reveals to him her plans to extract his healing factor and introducing him to the Silver Samurai, a powered exoskeleton constructed out of adamantium. Harada shoots Viper with an arrow, who instead regenerates her skin and proceeds to engage Yukio. After a vicious fight, Yukio manages to strangle Viper with a wire and suspends her before kicking down the elevator switch, causing the counterweight to collide with Viper's head, killing her instantly.


Powers and abilities
Toxin immunity: As stated by herself, Viper was immune to all worldly poisons and toxins, which includes (as Viper puts it) the toxin of man.

Venom: Viper can spit out a lethal venom that can cause extreme pain and death. She can either breath the toxin, pass it on by kissing, or by using her tongue to secrete it on her claws. If the toxin is blown then it will only take effect if it enters an open wound.

Claws: Much like Victor Creed, Viper can elongate her fingernails and use them to slash at her enemies. She can also secrete them with her toxin from her tongue to poison her foes.

Regeneration: Viper can heal her injuries by shedding her wounded skin, as evidence when Harada shot her with an arrow. When she shed her skin, her hair also goes with the old skin.

Agility: Viper had natural snake-like agility that allowed her to dodge Yukio's sword strikes with ease.

The Wolverine film informatics Part 05: Kenuichio Harada

Kenuichio Harada was Mariko's former love interest and head of the Black Ninja Clan, sworn to protect the Yashida family. He has an exceptional talent in ranged weapons, most notably archery.

Harada was working for Viper, an associate of Master Yashida. The archer first discovered Logan during Master Yashida's "funeral," in which he covertly assisted Wolverine and Yukio in attempting to prevent the kidnapping of Mariko Yashida.


He searched for Logan and Mariko throughout Nagasaki, directly reporting to Viper in the process. Both he and the Black Clan (a personal squad of ninja at his direct command) stood as an obstacle preventing Logan from entering the abandoned research facility in which Mariko was held captive. He and the Clan pelted Logan with anti-Adamantium arrows (the poison being provided by Viper), ending with Wolverine incapacitated and captured.


While Logan was held captive, Harada attempted to dissuade Mariko from assisting him, revealing an attraction to her. However, she spurned him, stabbing him with his own knife, running after Logan. Harada displayed a change of heart after seeing the error of his ways, going on to serve as an ally to Logan during their final battle with the Silver Samurai, only to be mortally wounded by the armor's heated sword after taking a hit for Logan, with Mariko holding his hand just before he perished from the battle wounds.

The Wolverine film informatics Part 04: Yukio

Yukio is a female ninja of Japanese origin and a mutant with the ability to see the future, and a skilled swordswoman. She was sent to take Wolverine to Yashida, but then develops a strong admiration for him.

When Yukio was 5 years old, Yukio's mutant ability of precognition manifested when she predicted her own parents' death, and they soon died in a car accident, which her as the sole survivor. She was orphaned until she was discovered by Master Yashida who was opening a factory. She was raised by the Yashida family as Mariko's childhood friend-cum-sister, and trained as her protector.

In the year 2013, Yukio is sent to bring Wolverine to Japan to meet her master, whom Logan saved back when the atomic bomb exploded on Nagasaki in 1945. After the death of Yashida, she fights with Wolverine and Kenuichio Harada fighting the Yakuza ninjas who kidnapped Mariko.


Yukio then has a vision of Logan dying with blood everywhere, and holding his heart in his hand. She goes to warn him, but is too late as Mariko is captured by the Yakuza who is revealed to be hired by Mariko's fiance and the corrupt Chief of Justice Norubo Mori who reveals that Shingen has hired the kidnapping.

Logan and Yukio arrive at Yashida Corporation where Wolverine finds the parasite on his heart, similar to the one of Yashida's. He then starts to extract it where Shingen enters with Yukio defending Logan. Logan flatlines soon after but his healing factor is restored and he heals from his wounds, fighting against Shingen and killing him. Yukio and Logan then follow Harada and Viper to the research center to find Mariko where Logan is incapacitated by Harada and the ninja clan.

After Logan is put in a machine made by Viper, Yukio comes to defend Logan and fights Viper as he fights Yashida. Yukio kills Viper by wrapping a wire around her neck and dragging her above an elevator shaft, then witnesses Wolverine killing Ichiro Yashida in his Silver Samuari armor.


Wolverine later gets on the plane with Yukio, who reminds him that she is his bodyguard and they depart to places unknown. It is not known what happened to Yukio afterwards, but it can be assumed that she has gone back to Japan and reunited with Mariko.


Powers and abilities
Death Perception - Yukio is a mutant with a limited precognitive ability to discern the nature of a person's death. Such visions, when they occur at all, have a high degree of accuracy, yet in rare cases the symbolism within them can cause her to misinterpret the vision and provide an inaccurate forecast.

Expert martial artist - Yukio is a very skilled hand-to-hand combatant, both unarmed or with a weapon, such as a staff or her sword. She is shown to be very agile.

The Wolverine film informatics Part 03: Mariko Yashida

Mariko Yashida is the granddaughter of Ichiro Yashida and daughter of Shingen Yashida, who forms some sort of relationship with Wolverine.

As a child, Mariko led a very sheltered existence. She had been born into one of the wealthiest families in Japan, and as such she would grow to learn of the dangers such a life entailed. Her relationship with her father was a strained one, yet her doting grandfather cared deeply for her, and provided a far stronger parental bond than her father had. The old man went so far as to bring home a playmate for her, Yukio, whom he raised as a foster child after he found her scavenging for food. Mariko's other childhood companion came in the form of Kenuichio Harada, a boy with whom she shared a martial rivalry: Mariko with knives, and Harada with a bow.

In her adult years, Mariko tried to offer comfort to her ailing grandfather as his body slowly failed him, although it was she who also needed the comfort as his death was to be a loss keenly felt. One night Yukio returned from abroad with a "caveman" in tow, the man Logan her grandfather had been seeking for some time. Mariko disapproved of the stranger at first, but could only look on from a distance as he was taken to see her grandfather. Later that night the old man passed away, and Mariko attempted to throw herself from a parapet in despair, until Logan intervened and prevented her from committing suicide.


In the coming days Mariko found out that it was she, not her father, who had been named as sole inheritor in her grandfather's will. This put her childhood friends on alert, and so on the day of the funeral Yukio stayed close by while Harada watched silently from nearby rooftops with his bow close at hand. Their fears were answered when Yakuza thugs who were disguised as Japanese priests attempted to kidnap Mariko, only to be blocked by the combined efforts of Harada, Yukio, and Logan. She found herself being led away from the scene by the Canadian who fended off multiple attacks as they made their escape.

In the following days the pair fled south, with Logan acting as protector while Mariko was the guide. They made their way to a remote house owned by her family where they finally stopped to rest. The pair were bonding and happy to be in each other's company. Logan and Mariko then hide in Yashida's house down south and as they start to fall for each other, Logan reveals moments from his past such as the war and Jean. However, the happiness was short-lived; Yakuza thugs eventually tracked down their whereabouts and kidnapped Mariko while Logan was sleeping. Awakened by the sound of her screams, Logan tried to stop them, but could only grab one as their car sped away.

Mariko was taken before her father, who explained to her that the inheritance that had skipped a generation was an unforeseen problem. She tried to leave, but his men blocked her escape. Her life was now in the balance and there was nowhere left to run. Harada however, had learned of her presence and staged a rescue mission along with his ninja clan.

Mariko was taken to a Yashida complex where her grandfather had made some significant steps in fomenting his empire. She soon found that she had again become a captive in a tangled web of intrigue, with Logan, who had tracked her there and was now captured himself, Viper her grandfather's former nurse, and Harada apparently doing the bidding of Viper. Viper acknowledged that Logan's presence was required for his power to be extracted, and the engine of this extraction was a construct of adamantium with the appearance of a samurai warrior.

A fight erupted when the behemoth moved to begin its task, and Mariko leapt to defend him, thus causing the warrior to destroy Logan's restraints. Harada also turned on Viper and the Silver Samurai, and died trying to fight it off. Yukio, who had followed Logan, also joined the battle. After a lengthy confrontation Logan severed the head of the adamantium warrior, and much to Mariko's horror revealed her grandfather still alive within. She was distraught in the knowledge that the loving man she once knew had become the monster she saw before her, preserved by the suit's life support system and intent on killing her love. Mariko stabs her grandfather's head with Logan's broken claws, giving Logan the opportunity to finish him off. Logan, Mariko and Yukio then watch as Yashida and the armor tumbled over the side of the building to their final destruction below.


The next morning, Mariko is appointed the new CEO and began putting the Yashida business empire back together. She now had a new destiny before her, and she knew that Logan had his own. They said their goodbyes and parted company, Mariko providing a private jet to take him anywhere he needed to go, and with Yukio as his bodyguard.

The Wolverine film informatics Part 02: Wolverine in Japan

Logan returns to the Canadian wilderness a few years after the events of "X-Men: The Last Stand". Haunted and guilt-ridden by Jean Grey's death, Logan again seeks the quiet life, attempting to renounce his life of violence. One night, he notices a mortally wounded grizzly bear. When Logan encounters the bear, he discovers that a poison arrow has been shot into its back, and Logan is forced to kill it to put it out of its misery. Logan later encounters one of the hunters responsible for killing the bear in a bar, and stabs him in the hand with the same arrow, only to be attacked by the hunter and other men in a bar. As he is about to attack them, he is stopped by Yukio, a young Japanese woman with the ability to see into the future. Yukio reveals that she was tracking his whereabouts and takes him to Japan to see the man he saved from the Nagasaki bombing in 1945, Ichiro Yashida, now the head of the Yashida Corporation.
Wolverine meets Yashida, who wants to return the favor and take his immortality away from him and give it to himself, who is dying of cancer. After Wolverine refuses, he meets his son Shingen Yashida and his granddaughter Mariko Yashida - whom he saves from a suicide attempt. That night, while Wolverine dreams of Jean, Viper injects a robotic parasite into his body, affecting his healing ability. When he woke up, he learns that Yashida had passed away. The next morning, Wolverine attends the funeral of Yashida, where he saves Mariko from Yakuza assassins with the help of Kenuichio Harada. Wolverine gets shot multiple times and finds he is not healing as quickly as before.
After getting Mariko to safety, Wolverine follows her onto a bullet train, where he encounters more Yakuza assassins and kills them before they hide in a local motel. He stands guard in the rain while Mariko sleeps, and soon passes out from his injuries after having another hallucination of Jean. He awakens to find Mariko getting the motel owner's grandson, a veterinarian, to stitch him up.
Wolverine and Mariko then hide in Yashida's house in southern Japan, and as they start to fall for each other, Logan reveals moments from his past such as the war and Jean. Yukio then has a vision of Logan dying with blood everywhere and his heart in his hand, not beating. She attempts to warn him but is too late, as Mariko is captured by the Yakuza who, after intimidating him, revealed to be hired by Mariko's fiance - the corrupt Chief of Justice Norubo Mori. After going to his hotel with Yukio, he reveals that Shingen had hired the kidnapping before being thrown off by Wolverine, landing in a pool.
Wolverine and Yukio arrive at Yashida Corporation, where he finds the parasite on his heart. He starts to extract it when Shingen enters, with Yukio defending Wolverine. Wolverine dies in the process, but has his healing ability restored and revives, killing Shingen. Yukio and Wolverine then follow Harada and Viper to the research center to find Mariko, where Wolverine is attacked by Harada and the Yashida family's ninja clan.
He is then placed in a machine created by Viper, where she reveals the plans of extracting his immortality and introduces her associate, the Silver Samurai, who . Mariko escapes from Harada and manages to direct the machine Logan is in into the Silver Samurai's sword strike, breaking it and freeing him. The Silver Samurai, who revealed as Yashida, cuts through Wolverine's claws and drills through his adamantium claws and begins to extract his immortality. Mariko then stabs him as Wolverine's bone claws start to grow back. Yashida takes a final stab from Wolverine and falls to his death. After passing out, Wolverine had one more hallucination of Jean and moves on from her death.
Logan says goodbye to Mariko, now head of the Yashida Corporation, and boards a plane with Yukio, who reminds him that she is still his bodyguard and they depart.
Two years later, Wolverine is at an airport in the USA and is approached by Magneto and Charles Xavier about a new threat to wipe out all mutants.

The Wolverine film informatics Part 01: Introduction to the film

The Wolverine is a 2013 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Wolverine. The film, distributed by 20th Century Fox, is the sixth installment in the X-Men film series. Hugh Jackman reprises his role from previous films as the title character, with James Mangold directing a screenplay written by Scott Frank and Mark Bomback, with uncredited parts by Christopher McQuarrie, based on the 1982 limited series Wolverine by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller.
In the film, which follows the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, Logan travels to Japan, where he engages an old acquaintance in a struggle that has lasting consequences. Stripped of his immortality, Wolverine must battle deadly samurai as well as his inner demons.

Cast
Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine
Tao Okamoto as Mariko Yashida
Rila Fukushima as Yukio
Svetlana Khodchenkova as Ophelia Sarkissian/Viper
Will Yun Lee as Kenuichio Harada
Hiroyuki Sanada as Shingen Yashida
Hal Yamanouchi as Ichiro Yashida/Silver Samurai
Ken Yamamura as young Ichiro Yashida
Brian Tee as Norubo Mori
Famke Janssen as Jean Grey
Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier/Professor X
Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto