Brian Truitt

USA TODAY

After a long, hard life of torture, experiments and extreme violence, it looks like Wolverine will finally be resting in peace.

The ultimate fate of Marvel Comics' most popular antihero comes to pass in Death of Wolverine, the four-issue weekly series by writer Charles Soule and artist Steve McNiven that kicks off today and brings life to a close for the clawed member of the X-Men.

"What better time to kill someone than their 40th birthday," Marvel editor in chief Axel Alonso says of the character, who first appeared in a 1974 issue of The Incredible Hulk (though he was born in the 1880s).

The last adventure of the man also known as Logan is a globetrotting one, taking him from the wilds of his native Canada to the dangerous island of Madripoor. Usually getting in major scrapes wouldn't be a problem for a guy with a fantastic mutant healing factor that makes him near-invulnerable, but now that's gone, and every one of his enemies is gunning to claim his head.

Yet even with a failing body that's eating away at itself, he can't turn off the animalistic and warrior traits of his character.

"Logan's the cause of many of his own problems, and I'm sure he would acknowledge that. Part of him might want to stop fighting, but it's just not in his nature," says Soule, the She-Hulk and Inhuman scribe who recently signed an exclusive contract with Marvel.

He admits that Wolverine will definitely perish in the book, but "it's really the manner of his death that matters."

His life flashes before his (and readers') eyes — Death of Wolverine revisits classic Wolverine stories that touch upon every era of his long life plus features a host of surprise guest stars, "any or all of whom could be Wolverine's murderer," says Alonso.

As the ronin of the Marvel Universe, he adds, Wolverine is "a masterless samurai" whose existence has been filled with tragedy but has also seemed to have tragedy just waiting for him, too.

"His life is dotted with moments of incredible altruism and also moments he can't reconcile or justify," Alonso says. "He's Gary Cooper in High Noon knowing he's going down, only he doesn't know if he's going to go to heaven or hell when it's over."

Wolverine has been a staple in Marvel comics for 40 years, and partly due to Hugh Jackman's portrayal of him on the big screen, he's become a superhero that's transcended the genre. So not only will taking him off the board affect comic stories — he stars monthly in solo and team titles for Marvel — but also the characters closest to him.

The Logan Legacy, with a couple of issues by Soule, will explore the effect of Wolverine's death on his female clone X-23, his son Daken, and longtime foes Sabretooth, Mystique and Lady Deathstrike. And Soule's The Weapon X Project continues the story of Death of Wolverine and adds to the X-Men mythology.

The writer has heard from skeptics who wonder when Wolverine will be back, since the high-profile comic "deaths" of Captain America, the Human Torch and Spider-Man didn't last very long. Soule will argue, however, that Death of Wolverine "is an event that's designed to stick."

Some feel it's part of Marvel's long-term plan to phase out the X-Men — "one of the most preposterous things I've ever heard," Alonso says — but for him, the real reason to do it is because there's a great story to be told.

"We have a plan, obviously, as to what we can do to replace him — either physically or spiritually — in the Marvel Universe," Alonso says. "But it'll be fans who decide what works or not. Time will tell. We're about to find out."