Wolverine Confirms a Beloved X-Men Hero Is Permanently Dead, With No Chance of Return

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Wolverine #42! Death in the world of comics is seemingly always nothing more than a temporary setback (unless one is talking about the death of Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben), and X-Men’s Wolverine is the poster child for that particular sentiment. Wolverine and those with powers similar to his – Sabretooth, Deadpool, X-23, Daken, etc. – have been unkillable since even before the Krakoan era. However, that’s no longer the case, as Wolverine confirms a beloved X-Men hero is permanently dead, with no chance of return.

In Wolverine #42 by Benjamin Percy, Victor LaValle, and Cory Smith, the Sabretooth War persists. Victor Creed and his army of Sabretooth variants from across the multiverse have invaded the X-Force HQ at the North Pole, the mutants’ last safe haven on Earth. Sabretooth and his army slaughter countless mutants, but not before they make some preliminary strikes. Before entering the domed fortress, Sabretooth kills Wolverine’s son, Akihiro aka Daken aka Fang, and scatters his body parts out in the snow for Wolverine to find.

When Wolverine meets Sabretooth and his army at the spot where he found the mutilated corpse of his son, he attacks them with extreme ferocity, but to no avail. Sabretooth ties up Wolverine with adamantium bands stolen from an Omega Red variant, and lets him witness the deaths of everyone inside the fortress. While strung up, Wolverine thinks back on those he already lost, especially Akihiro, at which point the comic shows a text box above an image of the two of them sitting together that reads, “There is no coming back”.

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X-Men’s Fang Is Dead In X-Men Canon, & Wolverine Confirms He’s Never Coming Back

Aside from the meta message told directly to readers with the text, “There is no coming back” right above a picture of Fang, there’s also no way for Akihiro to make his return as things currently stand in X-Men canon. The Five are not active ever since the fall of Krakoa following the Hellfire Gala Massacre, meaning the official mutant resurrection protocols are no more. Not only that, but both Beast and Mr. Sinister have effectively been neutralized (or, at the very least, are no friends of mutantkind at the moment), therefore cloning is off the table as well.

No matter what, there’s no way for Fang to come back. Fans know this from the wider narrative surrounding his death, as well as from this physical Wolverine issue itself. However, not too long ago, there was another dramatic death in Marvel Comics connected to Daken, not his own, but someone he killed. That person was able to come back to life in a decidedly unorthodox way, and Marvel now has the chance to do the same thing to Akihiro.

X-Men’s Daken was Responsible for Franken-Castle, & Marvel Can Now Return the Favor

Dark Reign: The List – Punisher #1 by Rick Remender and John Romita Jr.

The most infamous incarnation of the Punisher was undoubtedly Franken-Castle, as that was a form that was somehow even worse than when Punisher was kind of an angel. Frank Castle was brought back to life through a mixture of supernatural elements and science fiction, essentially just like the original Frankenstein’s Monster, and the only reason that was necessary was because Daken killed him in Dark Reign. Now that Akihiro is dead – not only dead, utterly dismembered and ripped to shreds – now’s the perfect time to make him experience how horrifically he wronged the Punisher – and, indeed, Marvel Comics fans themselves.

Barring any Mary Shelley-inspired monstrosities, Akihiro – who has become a beloved X-Men hero, especially during the Krakoan era – is going to remain dead. There’s no one who can bring him back, and there’s no one capable/interested in creating a perfect clone of him. Therefore, just as Wolverine confirmed (both in an in-world and meta-sense), Akihiro is permanently dead in X-Men canon, with no chance of return.

Wolverine #42 by Marvel Comics is available now.