Wolverine’s return spells the demise of Old Man Logan
By Mark Lynch
What will the return of Wolverine mean for Old Man Logan in Marvel Comics?
In 2009, Mark Millar gave Marvel Comics one of its best arcs in a long time; Old Man Logan. Miller told a story of what would happen if the villains of the Marvel Universe joined forces and organized to fight the heroes together. The results were catastrophic. Almost all of the heroes were defeated or killed. Maybe the smartest was using Mysterio to trick Wolverine into killing the his teammates the X-Men.
After Logan realized what he had done, he vowed to never lift his hands to fight or pop his claws. Logan eventually went back on that word once the Hulk and his inbred kids killed Logan’s family. Logan killed Hulk’s entire family and then went back to being a hero.
After the events of Secret Wars in 2015, Old Man Logan joined the Marvel 616 Universe. Since joining, he’s fought a lot of Wolverine’s old enemies like Lady Deathstrike and Nuke and fought along the X-Men as well as Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike, Warpath, and Domino. Marvel put out a mini-series called Hunt for Wolverine. Looking at the writing on the wall, it seems like Wolverine coming back marks a countdown to when Old Man Logan will finally get to rest in peace.
Healing factor slowing down
Old Man Logan is over 200 years old. He’s managed to stay alive so long due to his accelerated healing abilities. Not only does it heal his injuries and prevent him from getting sick, it also slows down his aging. This is why a man over two decades old looks like he’s in his 60s. But even something that keeps him alive will eventually slow down. Especially with all of the abuse he puts on his body. There’s also the extra metal in his body that’s absorbed the radiation of a nuclear blast.
In recent issues, Logan has been fighting off injuries that he used to rapidly heal from. It seemed to start right after he had a drag out fight with Maestro. It became more noticeable after his recent bout with Bullseye. A fight with Bullseye would normally be Logan taking the abuse and then getting close enough for Logan to beat him down. Now, Logan looks old and slow. It took him entirely too long for him to beat Bullseye when he’s beaten Captain America and Sabretooth. Logan is eventually going to get into a fight that he just can’t win and he will be killed.