Wolverine Kills Major Marvel Villain

Laura Kinney’s time as Wolverine comes to an end today in All-New Wolverine #35, and she added perhaps her biggest kill ever to her list before calling it quits.

Spoilers for All-New Wolverine #35 follow.

The final story arc of All-New Wolverine has been “Old Woman Laura.” The title is a reference to the classic Wolverine story “Old Man Logan,” but inverts the premise. Where “Old Man Logan” took place in a dystopian future where the villains won, “Old Woman Laura” takes place in utopian future where the heroes won.

Well, mostly won. There’s still one villainous holdout in this future, and that’s Doctor Doom. After a staging a final stand against the heroes of the Marvel universe that left most of those heroes dead or presumed so, Doom erected an energy dome over Latveria that cut his nation off from the rest of the world.

Laura held a grudge. She lost her romantic partner, Julian “Hellion” Keller, in that battle and the fact that Doom remains the one blemish on her perfect world has been a thorn in her side. When Laura discovers she’s dying, she decides to finish what she started before her life ends. That means sneaking into Latveria to rescue her captured sister, Bellona, and kill Doctor Doom.

Laura plans on going alone, but her other sister, Gabby, won’t have it. Gabby has taken over the mantle of Wolverine while Laura has been governing the nation of Madripoor and has made some friends in the superhero community. She makes some calls and Hawkeye and Captain Marvel come to aid Laura and Gabby in their quest. Maria Hill also insists on coming along and later reveals that she brought the Wasp with her.

Together, the heroes are able to break into Latveria, though Hill dies in the process. While the rest of the team looks for Bellona, Laura confronts Doom. It turns out that having Laura come to Latveria and making her way to the throne room was all part of one of Doom’s plans. The years have not been kind to the despot. His body is failing and now only functioning through heavy cybernetic modification.

Doom has his Doombots hold Laura back while he connects his mind to her mind. He plans to download himself into her body, but Doom doesn’t realize that Laura is dying. When he begins to feel the pain that she’s feeling, he retreats back to his own body. There’s one problem with that though:

With Doom dead, Laura’s mission is complete. She’s also pleasantly surprised to find that not only did Gabby and the others rescue Bellona, but several other thought-dead heroes as well.

Laura’s body begins to give out and she’s ready to accept that this is the end of her life and her story. Gabby isn’t. Together, hand-in-hand, they walk out into the sunlight that is pouring into Latveria for the first time in years.

All-New Wolverine #35 is now on sale.