Just a week after it was announced that Jessica Biel was in talks to play Viper in James Mangold‘s The Wolverine, it was announced that she was no longer in talks to play as the venomous character. That left another empty spot on the casting list, and with Mangold ready to start production, the search for a replacement began.

But the search is now over again, because Svetlana Khodchenkova is in talks to play as Viper. According to sources, even though negotiations are being held it’s expected that the deal will be completed very soon.

Usually when an actor enters into negotiations, it’s reported as if said actor has already landed the role. The reason for this is that, on most occasions, the negotiations between the two parties are merely a formality. This is not one of those cases.

It was recently reported that Jessica Biel had entered into negotiations to star alongside Hugh Jackman in his X-Men Origins: Wolverine sequel, The Wolverine. But now comes word that talks between Biel and 20th Century Fox have broken down, and the actress will not be appearing in the movie after all.

Actress Jessica Biel has entered into negotiations to join Hugh Jackman on the cast of The Wolverine, the sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Biel would be playing Victoria in the movie, a secretary for Japan’s corrupt minister of justice, as well as Viper (also sometimes known as Madame Hydra in the Marvel universe), a former friend of Wolverine and current lover of Silver Samurai who works for a man trying to take over control of the ninja society the Hand.

A possible teaser poster for next summer’s The Wolverine has leaked today. You can check it out here below.

The image was supposedly taken from the office of director James Mangold. If it proves to be authentic the poster will confirm that the next movie is taking Marvel’s ageless, adamantium-clawed mutant to Japan for a storyline adapted from the early 1980’s comic miniseries by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller that will pit Logan against ninjas, samurai, and a lost love. It’s a stark and powerful teaser with Wolverine’s trademark claws slashing through the image of the flag and the tagline “Rising Soon” playing on the nation’s identity as the Land of the Rising Sun.

Twentieth Century Fox has set an official release date for their long-in-development sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which was once titled The Wolverine but is now simply being called Wolverine 2 until a more official title is selected.

The studio has reserved July 23, 2013 for the return of Hugh Jackman as the beloved Marvel anti-hero, which will see him heading overseas to Japan for the Samurai storyline this time around.