Wolverine is one of Marvel’s most popular characters, so his death is always a big event – including his perfect death in 2014. Logan has died several times in continuity, but Marvel has never been able to get over a death that happened over ten years ago, and it happened entirely off-screen, which is why it’s so surprising that it was such an important moment for him.
When Marvel celebrated its 100th anniversary in 100th Anniversary Special: Avengers #1 by James Stokoe, readers were treated to a surprising revelation about Wolverine’s fate. In this story, Wolverine is dead and has gone to the distant future, but his legacy lives on in Rogue, which permanently absorbed your powers and abilities.
Rogue’s involvement may come as a surprise to longtime fans, as Wolverine didn’t get along very well with Rogue when they first met.
Wolverine’s 2014 death is perfect, and it’s all thanks to Rogue
The X-Men’s best enemies to friends
Rogue wasn’t always the heroic mutant she is today. Originally, she was a member of Mystique’s Evil Mutants group. Mystique pressured Rogue to use her mutation to absorb the powers of Carol Danvers, one of the most powerful heroines of the time. Unfortunately Rogue was still controlling her powers and permanently stole Carol’s powers. making her a great enemy of Wolverinewho was a good friend of Carol.
Wolverine has died several times throughout the history of Marvel Comics.
Wolverine has died several times throughout the history of Marvel Comics. Although there are numerous alternative universes, such as Marvel Zombies or Old Loganhe also died in canonical stories. In the famous Enemy of the State plot by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr, Wolverine is killed simply for being less qualified. Despite Wolverine’s incredible abilities, he simply doesn’t have what it takes to take on the fearsome Gorgon, who ends up murdering Wolverine, only to be later revived as a brutal agent of the Hand, who nearly kills the president.
One of the most famous examples of Wolverine’s death is in the aptly named Death of Wolverine by Charles Soule and Steve McNiven. In this story, Wolverine completely loses his healing factor at the worst possible time, as Dr. Cornelius, who was involved in the Weapon X program, recently returned to try and steal Logan’s healing factor. Enraged that he can’t, since Logan no longer has it, Cornelius decides to kill Wolverine by pouring hot molten Adamantium on him. While this doesn’t stop Wolverine from killing the evil doctor, manages to end Wolverine’s life and is one of the most iconic images of Wolverine’s death.
Despite Wolverine’s many deaths, he still manages to live on in Marvel history
Wolverine is too popular to stay dead
While all of these Wolverine deaths were fantastic moments in Marvel history, they were also undone. Being murdered and brainwashed or being covered in molten Adamantium – nothing keeps Wolverine down for long. One way or another, he simply comes back to life, and it’s as if his previous death didn’t matter at all. It’s understandable that Marvel continues to repeat this pattern, since Wolverine is an absurdly popular characterand while killing him is always a big deal, bringing him back is even bigger. But his death on the 100th anniversary works so well precisely because it finally brings closure to the character.
Wolverine and Rogue didn’t get along when they first met, but they eventually came to trust each other. When Rogue was seriously injured protecting Wolverine, Wolverine kissed her and shared his regeneration powers with her, helping her survive. It seems that in this universe, he finally decided that Rogue should be his legacy. Although readers don’t understand the context of why he shared his powers with her, it is stated that it happened during a wedding. It’s possible that Wolverine remarried and decided he wanted to grow old with his wife, passing his powers permanently to Rogue.
Despite its rocky start, Rogue is Wolverine’s definitive legacy
An iconic Marvel friendship
Wolverine’s healing factor has always been a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it’s great to be practically immortal and able to return from any injury. On the other hand, it is really terrible to outlive everyone else. Wolverine has loved dozens of women over his two-hundred-year life, and virtually all of them have died for one reason or another – and that’s not even mentioning his friends. That’s why Wolverine’s death, which doesn’t even happen on the page, is so powerful. Wolverine finally found a reason to grow old and die, and he was able to gift someone close to him with his powers to make this possible.
100th Anniversary Special: Avengers #1 is now available from Marvel Comics!