Marvel has been teasing the imminent death of Wolverine for a while now. Following Killable we saw Wolverine infected with a virus that caused him to lose his healing ability, and June’s issue #8 sees the beginning of the end with Paul Cornell’s 3 Months To Die arc. Come September, it will conclude with a miniseries titled Death of Wolverine.

Available from 3 September, Death of Wolverine is written by Charles Soule, with art by Steve McNiven, and will run for four weekly issues. The cover image of the first issue is a homage to Wolverine’s first appearance in The Incredible Hulk #180 back in 1974.

“He’s reflecting on his own life as he’s reflecting on his own death,” said Soule on what readers can expect. He also mentioned that Wolverine is advised not to get into any fights – because of his condition he’d be unlikely to survive them, but “Wolverine being Wolverine, violence tends to find him.” As to how Soule expects fans will react upon reading it, he said, “I hope that when people finish it, they’ll feel like he died in a way that was true to him.”

“For a long time, no matter who Wolverine was battling, he’s been the eternal victor,” said Michael Marts, executive editor at Marvel. “Now he finally comes up against an adversary that he cannot win against, he cannot fight. What does that mean for this character who’s been around for hundred years?”

Marts also mentioned the impact this will have: “You’re gonna be entering into a world without Wolverine. That affects not only his teammates, but also the Marvel Universe at large.” At this point we can only question the ramifications this will have, but Marts appears to have certain scenarios already planned out after he hinted, “We’ve got a lot of things in the works already.”

As for Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, a third Wolverine film is in the works, with Hugh Jackman reprising the role. It’s too early to tell, but the possibility is there for Jackman to say farewell to the character by having the film incorporate the Death of Wolverine story arc.

Marvel is expected to reveal more about Death of Wolverine at Chicago’s C2E2 event this weekend.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

Originally published on MCM Buzz on 26 April 2014.