This article contains spoilers for X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #40.
Laura Kinney, formerly X-23, has learned the true cost of being the X-Men's Wolverine. Introduced as the female clone of Wolverine, Laura Kinney was created to be the ultimate assassin. The designation "X-23" is not her codename - rather, it is essentially her "slave name," given to Laura by her creators in an attempt to dehumanize her.
In Marvel Comics, Laura became Wolverine in honor of Logan after he was believed dead. That didn't last, of course, and Marvel initially relegated her to the role of X-23 again - but readers were understandably appalled at this decision, rightly insisting it was a step backwards for the character. The current X-Men relaunch has thankfully rewritten this, with Laura insisting she's just as much a Wolverine as Logan is. There can be multiple Spider-Men, after all, so there's no reason there can't be two Wolverines.
X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #40, by Alex Paknadel and Julian Shaw, sees Laura learn the dark side of being a Wolverine. The current arc has centered upon one of the X-Men's weirdest members, Maggot, whose abilities have gone out of control due to the Resurrection Protocols. Maggot's powers transformed his digestive tract into two sentient techno-organic slugs, but the X-Men didn't realize one of the slugs was still alive when they resurrected Maggot. The psychic backlash left one of the slugs out of control, and to rectify matters Laura was forced to kill its newer incarnation. Finally, she learned the truth about being Wolverine - that, sometimes, the Wolverines are the ones called to do what no other X-Man should have to do to. "You're the best there is at what you do," Emma Frost acknowledges Laura at the end of the issue. "Sure," Wolverine agrees. "But what I do isn't very nice."
This is, of course, Logan's catchphrase as Wolverine - a line of dialogue he was particularly well-known for repeating during Chris Claremont's tenure as X-Men writer. Claremont tended to have his characters repeat key phrases to help readers become immersed in their world; Psylocke constantly referred to her psychic knife as "the focused totality of her psychic powers," for example, while action scenes often included the line "No quarter asked, none given." It feels so very appropriate to see Laura Kinney claim this Claremontism as part of her Wolverine legacy.
This is, after all, what it really means to be Wolverine. Time and again Wolverine has been forced to go to extreme lengths to protect the world. He's even killed the woman he loved; Wolverine killed Jean Grey, an act for which he would never forgive himself. Now his successor has learned the heavy price she must pay to become the X-Men's latest Wolverine.
X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #40 is available now on Marvel Unlimited.