Photo courtesy of McClatchy Tribune

Dressed in a leather black jacket, white t-shirt, denim jeans, styling long thick side burns and Wolverine styled hair, Kyle Greilich looked like he had walked straight out of an X-Men movie.

The 20-year-old Willow International student, a longtime Wolverine fan, had to see the midnight showing of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”

“I wanted to see it and couldn’t wait any longer,” Greilich said.

The highly anticipated movie, a spin-off prequel film to the X-Men series of films (“X-men,” “X-Men 2: X-Men United,” and “X-Men: The Last Stand”) focuses on the origin of one of the Marvel Comic’s most popular characters, Wolverine.

The midnight showing of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” played on five screens at Edwards Stadium Cinemas 22 in River Park last Thursday.

Lines formed inside the theatre about an hour before the movie was shown with eager fans waiting to finally see their favorite superhero in his own movie.

Greilich knows that there are a lot of movies that come out and do not meet expectations and hopes “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” doesn’t fall into that category.

The big draw for Greilich was to see how the X-Men started. Greilich was interested to see the characters before they became part of the X-Men team.

Actor Hugh Jackman reprises his role as Wolverine, the loner mutant from the X-Men films, with a healing factor and adamantium claws that extrude from his hands at will.

Greilich said that Jackman has brought consistency to the X-Men movies and that he was born for the role of Wolverine. Many other X-Men fans would also agree.

“He has the perfect physique,” Amanda Chengrian, 18, a kinesiology major at Fresno State, said while waiting in her seat before the movie began.

Other minor, but popular characters from the X-Men Universe made appearances in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” including two fan favorites: Deadpool and Gambit.

Deadpool, a wisecracking, sword-wielding mercenary for hire played by actor, Ryan Reynolds, is part of a secret military team that includes Wolverine and other mutants.

And Gambit is a gambling mutant who assists Wolverine in his battle against the mutant-capturing Stryker and his half-brother Sabertooth.

“Gambit is pretty cool. He’s one of those characters you would like to see blowing stuff up,” Greilich said.

Much like Gambit, Wolverine is a popular character due to his mutant powers and abilities. “People like someone who is actually indestructible,” Greilich said.

“He’s pretty brash and hot-headed,” Greilich said of Wolverine’s character. “He makes the hard decisions and sticks with them.”

The midnight showings of movies like “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” became a spectacle, an event or social gathering for friends, full of fan discussions and heated debates before the movie.

“We had to be the first to see it,” Chengrian said.

Before even seeing the movie Chengrian thought that movie would deliver.

“Its already lived up to the hype,” Chengrian said.