Warning: contains cover art for X Deaths of Wolverine #1-4!
In two interlocking series coming in January 2022, Wolverine will experience a cross-time adventure that will reveal forgotten moments from his past and change the very course of his future, all while ushering in a new age for the X-Men. X Lives of Wolverine and X Deaths of Wolverine will explore key moments from Logan's history as he travels through time, attempting to save a major mutant figure, all while his family try to bring him home.
Ever since the X-Men founded the mutant nation of Krakoa, Wolverine has discovered new purpose in protecting the dream of a place where mutantkind can finally exist in peace and harmony. To that end, he's taken to running black-ops missions with X-Force (while also combating Dracula's vampire army over in his own title), but hasn't really been a major figure in the political intrigue playing out on the island. With the ongoing Inferno series set to end Jonathan Hickman's tenure as the overseer of Marvel's X-books, a new era is coming, and Logan is finally taking the spotlight with twin adventures that will kick it off in style. Both series will be written by Benjamin Percy, with interior art by Joshua Cassara (X Lives of Wolverine) and Federico Vicentini (X Deaths of Wolverine.)
But while most of Wolverine's new mission is shrouded in secrecy, it appears that at some point, he'll get an awesome new look. A variety of covers have been shared for X Deaths of Wolverine, and they show Wolverine with what seems to be a techno-organic makeover familiar from storylines involving the Transmode virus. The virus is a weapon of the Technarchy - an alien race of living machines - and is used to convert biological beings. Krakoa's founding was all about giving mutants a chance to emerge as the dominant species on the planet rather than AI, so it's likely that Wolverine's new look involves a trip to the future, where it's possible he'll be infected but be able to remain in control thanks to his healing factor. Below, enjoy the cover to X Deaths of Wolverine #1 from Adam Kubert, a variant to the same issue from Dan Jurgens, and a cover for X Deaths of Wolverine #2 from Kubert, as shared by CBR.
In the past, the Transmode virus has transformed characters into an entirely yellow form along with the familiar circuit markings depicted on Wolverine in these covers. It's for this reason that Logan's transformation doesn't appear to be complete, and it seems from the length of time he'll have the new form (throughout X Deaths of Wolverine) that it might even convey some advantage - perhaps being what allows Wolverine to travel through time, or even representing a surprising alliance between mutants and AI. Below, enjoy the covers for X Deaths of Wolverine #3 and #4, both also from Kubert, shared by Marvel.com
With the events of Inferno promising to disrupt all the best laid plans of mutantkind - from their Resurrection Protocols which would give Wolverine an easy way to shed the Transmode virus, to Xavier and Magneto's secret genocide of potentially threatening AI life - it remains to be seen what resources and allies Logan will have when X Lives of Wolverine and X Deaths of Wolverine begin in January 2022. What is certain is that Wolverine's new mission will have huge implications for the X-Men going forward, as well as leading to an awesome techno-organic look that's easily the coolest redesign Logan has had in quite some time.
Sources: CBR, Marvel.com