The popular “X-Men” franchise gets a whole new lease on moneymaking with “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” Not only does it introduce a new array of heroes and villains, it opens up endless opportunities for detailing the histories of all the characters in the series.

Wolverine, known in everyday life as Logan, is a good place to begin. He’s the guy with the switchblade knuckles and unruly temper who gains relief from his pent-up demons by howling at the sky. Hugh Jackman gives the role literal and figurative muscle here and in the past.

Before the movie hardly begins, Logan and his brother Victor fight in the Civil War, both world wars and in Vietnam. Victor, played by a snarling Liev Schreiber, is also a mutant known as Sabretooth. Victor has baby-tooth fangs and fingernails that belong on Nosferatu. Both brothers are recruited by Stryker, an unscrupulous military man played by Danny Huston.

Stryker’s putting a team of mutants together in order to obtain a mysterious substance in Africa that will enable mutants to become invincible fighting machines. During the operation, atrocities occur, and Logan leaves the team out of self-disgust.

Part of the dramatic conflict in the continuing Wolverine saga is his effort to distance himself from his animal side in order to embrace his human side. So he leaves the life of a warrior and opts for that of a lumberjack in the Canadian Rockies. There, he lives with his schoolmarm girlfriend played by Lynn Collins. Theirs is a peaceful life of clean air, spectacular vistas and dewey-eyed love. That is until Stryker and Victor make the scene.

Stryker wants Logan to return to the team. By now, Victor has descended into the heart of darkness. Unlike Logan, he embraces his savagery and wants little brother back at his side.

There’s a Cain and Abel dynamic at work now, only both brothers want to kill each other. This sets up some fierce action sequences between the siblings and new mutants, including an uncanny gunslinger, a nimble sword fighter and a super mutant imbued with a whole arsenal of special powers.

Meanwhile, Logan agrees to an experiment that will make him invincible because he wants to foil his outlaw brother. This explains how he gets his metallic claws.

The “X-Men” series provides entertainment consistent with its Marvel Comics origins, and this is no exception. Director Gavin Hood (“Rendition,” “Tsotsi”) and his writers deliver an adequate story, and Hood proves he can add scale to a pulp narrative.

However, this doesn’t have the hipster approach to comic-book fantasy like “The Dark Knight” and “Iron Man.” Despite the dark underpinnings, there’s more of an old-fashioned corniness and romanticism afoot that gives Logan plenty of hero baggage for future adventures.

Still, the CGI effects and stunts are thrilling, and the acting more than meets the requirements of the genre. Jackman is perhaps the most intense guy to ever howl at the sky, and Schreiber matches him with his feline ferocity. Collins brings a sweetness to the proceedings and Huston is appropriately slimy.

This “X-Men” episode might not plow new superhero ground, but it’s a sturdy workhorse that gets the job done.