Hot Hugh is to get even hotter

In an official promotional still from upcoming blockbuster movie The Wolverine, Hugh Jackman is in fine form with his ripped muscles taking centre stage.

With his veins pushed to the surface of his skin and his claws fully extended, the heartthrob actor looked a million miles away from his Golden Globe winning musical character.

Hugh, 44, has been steadily building his fitness levels up in order to prepare for the role and even headed to the gym for a work out on Christmas Eve.

Hugh Jackman is looking ripped as Wolverine

The shirtless actor reprises his role as the short tempered Wolverine, who is one of Marvel’s most loved heroes, for the action sequel and will be hoping it is better received than its predecessor.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a success at the box office but received mixed reviews for its content despite featuring an all star cast including Ryan Reynolds, Liev Schreiber and Danny Huston.

The new picture shows that Jackman, in a stage of rage, is much bigger than he has been in previous incarnations of the character and he looks ready to rumble.

Hugh, who has played the same role six times previously and will also appear in X-Men: Days of Future Past, sought professional help to bulk up.

He asked professional wrestler Dwayne The Rock Johnson for advice and was told to eat six meals a day and gain a pound a week for six months.

To do this he had to eat 6,000 calories a day which consisted mainly of chicken, steak and brown rice.

The Wolverine sees superhero mutant Logan travel to Japan, where he engages a mysterious figure from his past in a fight that has lasting consequences.

As well as training with a samurai warrior, Logan will fight against the Yakuza, a corrupt minister of justice, and he will watch his fiance fall into the arms of his enemy.

With a reported budget of $100million, director James Mangold decided to start the film where X-Men: The Last Stand ended.

Hugh said: ‘Where this film sits in the universe of the films is after them all.

‘Jean Grey is gone, most of the X-Men are disbanded or gone, so there’s a tremendous sense of isolation for him.’

by Helena Bryanlith

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