Well, we've been waiting for months to hear who finally landed the gig as a younger version of William Stryker in the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and it appears JoBlo finally coughed up the answer: Danny Huston. Brian Cox first portrayed the character of Stryker in X2, and served as that film's main villain. A few different actors were reportedly circling the role of a young Stryker; more recently, Michael C. Hall (Dexter) and Christian Clark were two names that cropped up. Originally, Liev Schreiber was thought to be playing the role, however it later came out that, instead, Schreiber would be playing Sabretooth.

JoBlo claims to have heard of Huston's casting through a "source close to the production" and say that the actor is already on location in New Zealand prepping for the role. As some of you may recall, Huston recently played the head vampire in 30 Days of Night, and he's also shown up in films like The Kingdom and The Number 23. We're not exactly sure how big the Stryker role will be, but nevertheless this casting sounds pretty good to me. Gavin Hood is directing X-Men Origins: Wolverine off a script by David Benioff, and the recently-released pic of Hugh Jackman in his Wolverine get-up can be viewed here. Those claws will attack theaters on May 1, 2009.

UPDATE: IESB also claims that Lynn Collins has nabbed the part of Silver Fox in the film, after both Maggie Q. and Michelle Monaghan were considered.

What appears to be the first image of Hugh Jackman in full Wolverine gear has arrived online (click on the photo for a larger version), courtesy of reelcollectibles (as pointed out to us by the Unofficial Wolverine Chronicles). The photo shows Jackman dressed in that familiar black outfit with those long ass side-burns. He's standing next to two people who I do not know, though I believe they're fans. At first glance, I thought this was a stunt double because he doesn't look much like Jackman, but after doing a bit more digging and comparing other photos to this one, I'm pretty positive it's him.

And is it me, or does he look a bit younger here? X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which is currently shooting in New Zealand (I believe) apparently tells the origins of the Wolverine character. They're keeping casting for this one under lock and key at the moment, but we do know that Liev Schreiber is involved, most likely playing Victor Creed, aka Sabertooth, and that Aussie actor Christian Clark joined the cast in an unspecified role not long ago. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is due out in theaters on May 1, 2009.

During an interview for the Aussie paper The Advertiser, actor Christian Clark inadvertently announced that he had landed a part in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, though because of a gag order in his contract he couldn't elaborate further. Clark, who stars in the upcoming George Miller-directed horror flick Prey, as well as the thriller Crush, is relatively unknown to us in the states, though he definitely has that 'break-out Aussie star' look to him. Rumors suggest Clark may have landed the role of a young William Stryker, the villain from X2 (as played by Bryan Cox), though Michael C. Hall's name is also being tossed around with regards to that part.

Directed by Gavin Hood, X-Men Origins: Wolverine (which is shooting now) takes place several years before the recent X-Men films and follows Wolvy (Hugh Jackman) while he searches for keys to his past. Liev Schreiber was originally thought to be playing a young Stryker, though it recently came out that he'd be playing the villainous Victor Creed (Sabertooth) instead. Wolverine's girlfriend Kayla Silverfox will also play a role in the film, though an official casting announcement (Maggie Q was rumored) has never been made. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is due out on May 1, 2009.

[via X-Men Films, JoBlo]