These days, superhero movies are all about connectivity and a larger, shared universe. Marvel Studios has successfully created theirs, DC/WB is struggling a bit with theirs, and Fox is hoping ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ will clean up with their X-Men Universe. But before that massive monstrosity of a movie comes out, one member of the team is branching out on a solo adventure before catching up with everyone else. In James Mangold’s ‘The Wolverine’, Logan finds himself in the Land of the Rising Sun for one of his most popular journeys to ever grace the pages of a comic book. So the question remains: Where does this solo Wolverine picture fit in with the other X-Men movies?

According to Mangold, it really doesn’t. The director spoke about how the two upcoming X-films relate to each other and whether or not they tie in together, but it appears that this isn’t the case at all:

“Bryan [Singer] and I have talked and he’s seen what we’ve done. Clearly the reality is that we are all trying to work together and make things groove together. But the trick is we were making our movie before Bryan came on and before I knew what they were up to in that film. Our agenda was always our agenda and our movie stands alone, so the journey we take Logan on in ‘The Wolverine’, we bring to a close.”

So while they may take place in the same universe with a couple of the same characters, ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ and ‘The Wolverine’ just aren’t as connected as one would assume that they are. For all we know, Singer’s time-traveling mutant tale could actually take place years after Mangold’s samurai story. We’ll just have to wait and see until we lay eyes on both movies.

‘The Wolverine’ starring Hugh Jackman, Will Yun Lee, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Hiroyuki Sanada, Hal Yamanouchi, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, and Brian Tee will be in theaters on July 26, 2013.

‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ starring Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Michael Fassbender, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Peter Dinklage, Omar Sy, Halle Berry, Daniel Cudmore, Fan Bingbing, Booboo Stewart, and Even Peters hits theaters on July 18, 2014.

Source: SFX