Jessica Biel Leaves Viper Talks for ‘The Wolverine’

Talks between Jessica Biel and 20th Century Fox have broken down for the actress to appear as Viper a.k.a. Madame Hydra in The Wolverine. Biel sat down to work out a deal with the studio on Friday, but Collider breaks the news that the Total Recall star has officially backed out.

Biel's casting appeared to cap off a major casting bonanza for James Mangold's film, which picked up actors Will Yun Lee, Tao Okamoto, Hiroyuki Senada, Hal Yamanouchi and Rila Fukushima a little more than a week ago. The film will be based on Frank Miller and Chris Claremont's Wolverine arc, which takes that character to Japan and sees him involved with the Yakuza.


Fox will have to continue its search for a Viper, and based on Biel's profile (as well as the comic's depiction), they appear to be after a curvy femme fatale type. Viper has a complicated comic history that starts in the Captain American universe and eventually involves the X-Men, specifically Wolverine. At one point she blackmails Logan into marrying her so she can take over the nation of Madripoor.

The Wolverine is slated for July 26, 2013.