Back in early 2013, word got out from the Marvel Creative Summit that Wolverine would be killed off in 2014. Many thought that it would come in the wake of ‘Age of Ultron’, but then it was announced at last year’s C2E2 that the prominent X-Man and Avenger would lose his healing factor in the ‘Killable’ story arc. Now that Weapon X is at his most vulnerable ever, it looks like the House of Ideas is finally pulling the trigger and eliminating the man known as James Howlett this fall.

Nearly forty years after debuting in ‘The Incredible Hulk’ #180, the road to the afterlife for Logan begins this summer with ‘Wolverine: 3 Months to Die’ in issues 8-12 of ‘Wolverine’. That story will culminate in September with ‘The Death of Wolverine’, which is written by ‘She-Hulk’‘Inhuman’, and ‘Thunderbolts’ scribe Charles Soule and drawn by Steve McNiven. The weekly miniseries will show what happens when the Grim Reaper (the actual one, not the recent Horseman of Apocalypse) finally catches up with the renegade warrior after hundreds of years. The book will also see the character reflect on his life and impending death, but in typical Wolverine fashion, there’s sure to be a scuffle or two along the way. At Marvel’s X-Men panel at this year’s C2E2, Soule revealed some details about his upcoming series:

“Wanna know how it ends? Wolverine dies! You know the ending, but that’s not what the book is really about. It’s about Wolverine’s approach to his mortality. Each of the four issues has a different focus, with different time periods and different types of Logan. There have been so many different versions of him, so many different sides, and my goal is to have Logan thinking about those different sides to himself as his life is going away.”

But just how does this death come about? Well, when you’ve lived as long as Wolverine has, you’re bound to make some enemies that will gladly take you out once they hear word that you can be killed. Soule says, “Many of his old enemies decide they want to take a shot at him now.” Naturally, you’re probably thinking about who comes out of the woodwork for this hit. The writer didn’t name names, but he did say that there would be “guest stars, people you recognize from his past, but it’s not just a checklist.” While that’s not much to go on, here’s a gallery of preview art from ‘3 Months to Die’ and ‘Death of Wolverine’:

While it seems like this idea and rumors about it happening have been circulating forever, now that it’s actually happening I don’t really know how to feel (besides disappointment because this is potentially retconning ‘Old Man Logan’, which is one of my favorite Wolverine stories ever told). Wolverine is literally everywhere in the Marvel Universe from comics to video games to movies, but there’s a reason for that. He is arguably the most popular member of the X-Men. Now that they’re taking him out of the equation, it will be very interesting to see how things proceed without him.

What do you think about ‘Death of Wolverine’? Are you sad to see the Canucklehead go? Do you think he’ll stay dead longer than Peter Parker or Captain America? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Source: Entertainment Weekly, Newsarama, Comic Vine