WOLVERINE Director James Mangold Open To Making A Sequel, Could We See Omega Red?

James Mangold's Wolverine is easily the best take we've seen on Logan and it's not surprising he's interested in making another one. He tells Yahoo! about what would be needed to be put into place for that to happen. A new colorful location similar to Japan might be reason for James to return. Here's hoping Fox does the right thing, putting this sequel together before both Mangold and Jackman walk from the franchise.

"If it presented me with the opportunity as this one did then yes. What I mean is the location and the world in Japan really presented me with a unique set of freedoms. Certainly any project with Hugh is enticing, but if someone came to me, or I came up with a strategy that stays as inventive and as exciting, I wouldn’t hesitate to do another one. " 

I have to imagine a location not really explored in depth within the X-Men universe is a modern Russia. Yes, we saw a Cold War era Russia in First Class and even some mutants. Mangold took a lot of influence from Japanese cinema and even previous films set there. There are plenty of Russian influence cinema that could help move the film forward such as Eastern Promises, Enemy At The Gates and Doctor Zhivago to name a few. Maybe not just Russia, having Wolverine travel throughout Europe and Eastern Europe could be visually different than previous X-Men films as well.

One of Logan's biggest and well known villains is also Russian. Arkady Rossovich better known as Omega Red has yet to grace the X-Men Cinematic Universe. The serial killer was chosen as a human test subject for the KGB's own failed super soldier program. He eventually becomes a cyborg vampire and a massive problem that needs to be dealt with. He has ties to both Hydra and the Russian mob so it wouldn't be hard to adapt him for the film or even change his origin.

Viper (a Hungarian member of Hydra with the name of Ophelia Sarkissian) could easily have connections to Rossovich. A few hints were given in The Wolverine. Mainly, being a blond rather than having her iconic dark hair. I assume this change was to connect her to the blond villain (her brother or father?). The robotics used in the film and Viper's genetics background could also be a precursor to Arkady becoming Omega Red. It's possible Viper was trying to get a hold of Logan's healing factor for Arkady too, who possesses a similar power. Fox could have also made the drastic changes due to the rights issues surrounding Madame Hydra/Ophelia Sarkissian (best known as a Captain America villain). They might have only had use to the costume and the codename Viper.

Omega Red has actually been hinted to previously in X2 when a file with the same name was shown on one of computers at Stryker's compound.

An actor who I'd love to see take the role is Daniel Craig. We really haven't seen him within the superhero genre, not counting his role as the iconic James Bond. Daniel is actually quite the solid villain and proved this in The Road To Perdition. He has also played a Russian before in the WWII action drama Defiance alongside Liev Schreiber who played Sabertooth (the best aspect of Origins) previously. Daniel even has a few lines in Russian which were convincing enough and could make him a huge draw for audiences. Craig also has connections to First Class director Matthew Vaughn (currently producing Fantastic Four for Fox), who gave Craig his big shot in Layer Cake (where he even pretended to be Bond in a funny scene). That role led to Daniel landing the Bond gig and a majority of his success. Not to mention that Hugh Jackman and Daniel are friends also working together on the play A Steady Rain.