Though we’ve already seen quite a few photos from the set of director James Mangold’s (3:10 to Yuma) The Wolverine, the first official image of Hugh Jackman as the titular badass has now landed online.  Unsurprisingly, Jackman is ridiculously ripped and you can see nearly every single vein in his arm as he flexes his claws.  It’s almost hard to look at this image and think, “Yeah, that’s the same guy that was singing in that Les Miserables trailer last week,” but alas, Wolverine and Jean Valjean are one and the same.  The image isn’t necessarily revealing, but I’m really eager to see where Jackman and Mangold take the character in this Japan-centric follow-up to X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Hit the jump to check out the image.  The film also stars Will Yun Lee, Hiroyuki Sanada, Hal Yamanouchi, Tao Okamoto, and Rila Fukushima.  The Wolverine opens on July 26th, 2013.

Here’s the synopsis for The Wolverine:

Based on the celebrated comic book arc, THE WOLVERINE finds Logan, the eternal warrior and outsider, in Japan. There, samurai steel will clash with adamantium claw as Logan confronts a mysterious figure from his past in an epic battle that will leave him forever changed.

The image was released via Ryan Penagos’ Twitter.  Click to embiggen.