Comic book characters in general are notorious for dying and coming back to life, but Wolverine is a special case. With his healing factor, it’s essentially impossible for Logan to actually die - even when his entire skeleton is torn out of him - which made people skeptical of his supposed demise in the Death of Wolverine series. But believe it or not, that was one instance where Wolverine did, in fact, die.
In Death of Wolverine, a four-part series published in 2014, Logan’s healing factor suddenly stops working after he is exposed to a virus from the microverse. Since Wolverine’s entire physiology is based on the fact that he can heal himself, this was a pretty big problem. Even using his claws was now dangerous, since his hands could no longer heal right away after retracting them. Despite this, Logan refuses to try to find a cure.
Soon after, a bounty is put on Wolverine's head, and he decides to track down whoever is after him. It turns out to be Doctor Abraham Cornelius, the founder of the Weapon X program that gave Wolverine his adamantium-covered skeleton. Cornelius has been trying to recreate the experiment performed on Wolverine all those years ago, but it can’t be done without Logan’s healing factor, which he hopes to replicate. Wolverine proceeds to cut his hand and show Cornelius that his healing factor is gone. Enraged, Cornelius forces Wolverine to fight one of his test subjects. Logan wins, but in the process covers himself in liquid adamantium, which proceeds to harden around his body and suffocate him.
Fortunately, the antium cocoon would not be Logan’s final resting place. The one-shot Hunt for Wolverine in 2018 revealed that Logan had somehow escaped his seemingly unbreakable tomb, but exactly how was not explained until the Return of Wolverine miniseries later that year.
As it turns out, this was not a case of Wolverine’s healing factor simply keeping alive for all that time. Logan was actually dead, and his return was only possible through a mutant called Persephone, who has the power to resurrect people. Usually, those she resurrects come back as her mindless, zombie-like servants, but Wolverine managed to who he was over time, perhaps due to his healing factor returning as a result of his resurrection. He tells Persephone, “I’m back and I’m Wolverine and that’s the way it's gonna be.” Classic Logan.
The plot for Death of Wolverine has quite a few similarities to James Mangold’s two Wolverine movies, Hugh Jackman’s final outing as the character, who he played for almost twenty years. While Jackman has insisted he’s hung up the claws for good, the Return of Wolverine could serve as a template for his comeback if he has a change of heart.
