Hunt for Wolverine

The storyline detailed Wolverine's return from the dead following the "Death of Wolverine" storyline and how the X-Men would cope with this discovery. The lead-up included a "Where Is Wolverine?" mini-story at the end of different comic issues.^[1]

According to Marvel, each of the stories was designed to have a specific theme to it: Weapon Lost would have a noir theme, The Adamantium Agenda would be an action-adventure, Claws of a Killer aimed for a horror sensibility, and Mystery in Madripoor for a dark romance motif.^[2] Following the storyline, Marvel would launch the Return of Wolverine miniseries,^[3][4] which was followed by a new Wolverine series.^[5]

Wolverine acquires the Space Infinity Gem after killing the Frost Giant Snarr that was targeting it on Loki's behalf. Meanwhile, the time-displaced Jean Grey discovered the adamantium shell in Wolverine's tomb has been broken open and is empty.^[6] Keeping a low profile, Wolverine unsuccessfully attempts to rekindle his relationship with his old friends. He walks to a bar where Captain America had been playing pool, only to learn he was no longer there,^[7] leaves flowers with a hospitalized Jane Foster after visiting hours but does not reveal his name to the attending nurse,^[8] and arrives at Big Ben hours after Spider-Man's confrontation with Scorpio.^[9] Following his fight with Thing and Human Torch, a desperate Hydro-Man arrives at a campfire and attempts to rob the person sitting at it, who happens to be Wolverine.^[10] Wolverine is seen in Peru where the Avengers have just battled the forces of Grandmaster's Lethal Legion and Challenger's Black Order. He is one of the heroes frozen in stasis walking down a flight of steps in Peru, once the Avengers' Quinjet leaves.^[11]

Wolverine also is attacked by minions of Ultron in the wilds of Canada. Easily dispatching them using the space stone's teleportation abilities, he is met by Loki. After losing an eye in the confrontation with Wolverine, Loki pleads unsuccessfully for the Infinity Stone.^[12]

Later, he passes by Londell's Restaurant in Harlem, where he detects the familiar scent of Storm who had been there earlier.^[13] Wolverine later encounters a mutant-hating mob as a Sentinel is nearby.^[14] Black Widow discovers that he has entrusted her with the Space Infinity Gem which he has hidden in a safe house in Madripoor.^[15]

While in Japan, Wolverine watched a broadcast of Amadeus Cho's Hulk form battling and defeating Phalkan.^[16] At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Wolverine arrives at an unoccupied desk to find a long spreadsheet printout. After reading the information, he states that he will be seeing Tony Stark soon.^[17]

Shortly after the X-Men had retrieved Logan's adamantium sarcophagus from Mister Sinister,^[18] Forge had built a log cabin in Alberta, Canada to serve as a secret shrine to hold Wolverine,^[19] Those attending the quiet ceremony were Jubilee, Colossus, Kitty Pryde, Rogue, Cyclops, Beast, Firestar, Storm, and Doop, having arrived at the secret location via the Blackbird. It was decided that the adamantium shell would be left as a memorial in the shrine.

Some time later, the Reavers locate Wolverine's shrine and discover it empty; the X-Men arrive and defeat the aged cyborgs. Kitty notices his burial shroud entangled in the nearby trees and discovers that Wolverine's body is no longer interred, and rallies the X-Men and his other close associates into finding him. Lady Deathstrike vows to hunt down Wolverine after she is notified via Reavers' intel of the empty state of the adamantium statue. Meanwhile, in an unknown location, Wolverine, clad entirely in black, is being commanded by a figure shrouded in shadows.^[20]

The X-Men have enlisted Daredevil into looking into the disappearance of Wolverine's body. While moving through the rooftops of New York City, Daredevil runs into Nur and persuades him to help. In addition, he was told by Daredevil that they are not looking for the "old one," the "lady," the "blonde kid," or the "android." The next person Daredevil recruits is Misty Knight, who knows an information broker that can help them. The trail leads them to Cypher, who agrees to help them find Wolverine. Upon being handed a smartphone by Nur, Cypher finds that Wolverine has been sighted in many of places in the past sixty days.^[21]

The team investigate the different sightings of Wolverine. At Ranger Outpost Nine at Meadowlake Provincial Park in Saskatchewan, park rangers arrange an airlift for the injured in their possession. At the McCarthy Medical Institute in Manhattan, Misty Knight and Nur arrive ask about the person who delivered flowers to Jane Foster; unsuccessful, they head to the next sighting. In Phoenix, Arizona, Nur hears from a biker gang that Wolverine passed through. Back at Ranger Outpost Nine, the outpost is attacked by a man with claws, and Cypher picks up the distress signal. Arriving in Saskatchewan, Daredevil, Misty Knight, and Nur investigate the area while Cypher remains on the Skycharger. They find a dead men but no sign of a woman. Cypher steps out of the Skycharger to translate the smartphone of a dead man but his throat is slashed.^[22]

Daredevil, Misty Knight, and Nur arrive at the cabin to find Cypher. Nur uses an Inhuman Medical Suite on Cypher while Daredevil and Misty keepwatch. As Misty Knight suspects that it is Wolverine who did it, and Daredevil has theories that he might be mind-controlled, gone insane, or is possessed by someone. As the get Cypher to the Skycharger, they find someone who looks like Wolverine on top of the Skycharger. Daredevil discovers that the Wolverine-like culprit is Albert, a robot double of Wolverine created by the Reavers. Daredevil kicks Albert off the roof, and Misty destroys his cloak but he wounds her. After being tripped by Daredevil, Albert grabs him by the neck and starts to ask what he did with Elsie-Dee. The group shuts him down and leaves a tip on where to find him for the Canadian authorities. While flying back to New York, a recuperating Cypher discovers they need to go back to Chicago. There, a security guard who Misty spoke to is dead and a bomb nearby goes off.^[23]

Misty protects them from the explosion, and the heroes evacuate the burning building. Nur discovers that the security guard worked for a group called Soteira, so they head to one of their offices in Chicago where Daredevil's radar detects the people inside purging their records. A Level Four Killteam arrives to kill the workers as part of their purge. They hold off the Killteam until Cypher gets the information they need. Back in the Skycharger, Cypher deciphers the information - involving Wolverine being interviewed by Soteira. Daredevil calls Kitty to let her know of his findings. While advised by Kitty to come in and meet with the other leaders of the search teams, he tells Kitty about the data on Soteira and states his opinion that "Wolverine should've stayed dead."^[24]

Iron Man assembles Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Spider-Man, who hear that the genetic material of a hero is going on sale at the black market and go undercover to investigate the auction, which takes place in a submarine. They find the subject of the auction is the genetic material of Danielle Cage, much to the surprise and anger of Luke and Jessica.^[25]

The masked attendees had hoped that the DNA would be from an actual hero. As the seller claims that Danielle will one day inherit her parents' powers, a masked Tony Stark wins the auction at $30,000; next, a chunk of the Z1 is next up to auction. Stark meets with the seller in a room for the transaction, which is crashed by Mister Sinister - seeking to reclaim genetic material of Wolverine that was stolen from him. As Iron Man works to keep Mister Sinister from killing the seller, he is assisted by one of the disguised auction attendees who turns out to be Laura Kinney (X-23/Wolverine) as she slices off Sinister's left hand.^[26]

Iron Man orders Spider-Man and Jessica Jones to contain Mister Sinister, until Laura cuts off his right hand. After Mister Sinister escapes, the submarine starts to go down as Iron Man orders Jessica to keep an eye on the seller. As Iron Man raises the submarine to the surface of the ocean, Spider-Man and Laura evacuate the auction attendees who are loaded onto South Korea's National Intelligence Service Helicarrier. When being interrogated, the seller Declan Fay states that Mister Sinister is putting together a database of DNA, though he does not know whose DNA it is and directs them to the Kerguelen Islands. Iron Man provides Jessica, Luke, Spider-Man, and Laura with their own Iron Man armors with stealth tech. Entering the hangar, Iron Man's group fights some armed guards. When they reach the room that the database is in, they find swabs of DNA while looking to see if Wolverine's DNA is among them. They discover that Mister Sinister has collected the genetic make-up of every person on Earth.^[27]

While Iron Man objects to Laura wanting to destroy the genetic make-up, Spider-Man discovers on the database that no mutant DNA is included. Just then, the group is attacked by more armed guards; they find a room filled with dead personnel, Jessica states that Mister Sinister would never kill his own people and that someone else is behind this while Iron Man discovers a digital mutant database. When Spider-Man suggests they destroy the databases, Mister Sinister arrives and admits to Iron Man that a Killteam stole his work. When Laura asks if he has Wolverine's body, Mister Sinister states that he doesn't. Iron Man has no choice but to destroy the database. Later at Luke and Jessica's home, the group meets up with Iron Fist who was babysitting Danielle. Stark informs Laura that he found some information about her on Mister Sinister's database that indicates she contains more of Sarah Kinney's DNA, making her Sarah and Logan's biological daughter, then informs Jessica and Luke that he saw the DNA of an unknown X-Men member who is not a mutant. He states that the X-Men have a genetically-altered sleeper agent among them.^[28]

One week ago in Maybelle, Arizona, Wolverine kills the two men and informs Soteira Killteam Nine that the Maybelle Emitter installation is complete. Wolverine presses a button on a strange device causing the green orb to glow brightly throughout the entire building. Meanwhile, in Chester's Bar in Manhattan, Daken is seen with Sabretooth and Lady Deathstrike. Daken learns from Lady Deathstrike about what the Reavers have informed her as Sabretooth states the rumors that Wolverine may be alive. Four days ago in Maybelle, the Soteira Killteam Nine investigates the dead population. When the threearrive in Maybelle, Daken finds members of Soteira Killteam Nine there but is attacked and bitten by the zombies of the civilians and find that he is not healing fast.^[29]

Soteira Killteam Nine guns down the zombies swarming over Daken and take him into custody. Sabretooth and Lady Deathstrike continue searching Maybelle for Wolverine when they are attacked by a family of zombies. As Daken regains consciousness, he hears Soitera Killteam Nine reporting that they have the son of Wolverine in their clutches. Sabretooth and Deathstrike of them take refuge in a garage, while Daken continues to fight the Killteam, evading their firepower and jumps out the window.^[30]

Daken reunites with Sabretooth and Lady Deathstrike who were taking refuge in the building. He informs them about what he knows about Soteira and suspects that the green glowing device is the cause of the zombie outbreak. While fighting past the zombies and the soldiers, Lady Deathstrike discovers that one of the soldiers is her late father Lord Dark Wind who stabs her in the left shoulder. As Daken defends Lady Deathstrike from Lord Dark Wind, Sabretooth identifies the other soldier as his late son Graydon Creed. Daken is then impaled through the heart by Lord Dark Wind, and Sabretooth carries him away from the attackers. As Sabretooth engages his son, Graydon states that there is 10 minutes left before the clean sweep.^[31]

As Sabretooth fights Graydon, he tries to get answers out of him on how he is back from the dead. Meanwhile, Lady Deathstrike recovers and knocks her father down as she figures out that it was his adamantium signature she was tracking. After Lady Deathstrike stabs her father in the neck as she suspects that the blade on his sword is made of adamantium. Then she stabs Graydon while warning Sabretooth that they have six minutes left before Maybelle is burned to the ground. After being told that Daken is dead, Lady Deathstrike runs with Sabretooth as they arrive at the building where the device is and destroys it. The next day, a Soteira group finds Daken's body and claims it.^[32]

Kitty Pryde gathers Jubilee, Psylocke, Rogue, and Storm as they start to look for Wolverine's body. They suspect that Magneto excavated it, so fly to Madripoor with the aid of Domino. Magneto agrees to speak to them without his helmet to so that Psylocke can verify what he has to say. Unbeknownst to Kitty Pryde's group, they are being watched by Mindblast. At the Princess' Bar, Kitty Pryde quotes "Yashida" causing the bartender to take them to a secret basement room. However, the person they were talking to was not Magneto and was actually Mindblast in disguise who subdues Storm as Viper in the company of the Femme Fatales. Viper unleashes Knockout on Rogue, Bloodlust on Domino, and Snake Whip on Jubilee while Sapphire Styx crashes Psylocke's fight with Mindblast to drain her energy. Kitty Pryde works to evacuate her group, but a defeated Rogue and Storm are taken captive while Sapphire Styx continues to drain Psylocke's energy.^[33]

After phasing herself, Jubilee, and Domino into the sewers of Lowtown, Kitty tends to Domino's injury. In another part of Madripoor, Viper congratulates the Femme Fatales for their work and Mindblast suggests that they put a bounty on the others. The Femme Fatales also have Magneto as their prisoner. Back in the hidden storeroom in the Princess Bar, Kitty Pryde shoots down Jubilee's suggestion to send an S.O.S. to the X-Mansion since Madripoor monitors every transmission enough to pinpoint them. Jubilee then comes up with a plan for them to hide in plain sight. Arriving at the Hightown casino called Wheelers and Dealers, the trio see Bloodlust with a man, who Kitty Pryde abducts. He is a high roller and mathematician named Stenya Ubacowits who was hired to help in the flight trajectory of a satellite which he agrees to take them to. As Sapphire gloats to Psylocke that she died to soon, she is surprised to see what appears to be Wolverine in his Patch alias sitting near Psylocke as he plans to dish out the proper punishment on her.^[34]

Domino, Kitty, and Jubilee reach a secure location with Ubacowits as their captive. As Domino makes sure that Viper's satellite stays grounded, the other two head off to find where their friends are held. Meanwhile, Viper is contacted by a representative of Soteira who was displeased that the launch was delayed. While reluctantly taking the representative's suggestion, Viper and Snake Whip check up on Sapphire Styx, who claims that Wolverine's Patch alias is present even though Sapphire is the only one who can see him. Knockout and Mindblast are ambushed by Kitty and Jubilee. When Domino and Stenya arrive at the launch site, Bloodlust appears and stabs Stenya. Meanwhile, Kitty phases through the equipment on Mindblast's back that enhanced her psychic powers; this enables Magneto to recover. As Snake Whip recovers, she starts to see Patch too as Viper orders the launch. Magneto attacks Mindblast, before working to stop the rocket. As the others catch up with Sapphire, Psylocke's voice says "NO MORE SOULS" as Sapphire's body begins to shatter.^[35]

In Sapphire Styx's body, Psylocke's soul starts to see her life before she merged with Revanche as she realizes that she is in Sapphire's body. While fighting passed the souls of Sapphire's victims, Psylocke finds a soul sliver of Wolverine which leads to her overpowering Sapphire from within. After Sapphire shatters, Psylocke appears before her teammates. As Magneto is still recovering, he is unable to keep the rocket containing Rogue and Storm from launching. While Kitty Pryde phases into the rocket and frees Rogue and Storm, Psylocke joins the battle against the Femme Fatales. After some persuasion from Kitty and Domino, Magneto spares Mindblast's life and leaves her as a gift for helping him to escape. While Magneto denies any knowledge of taking Wolverine's body, he works to destroy the launch site and purge Madripoor of Viper's criminal empire. Back in the Princess Bar's secret room, Kitty states that she got a confession from Snake Whip that Soteira had hired them and Viper to find Wolverine, and that Carol Danvers and her team in the Alpha Flight space program have been tracking the rocket launch. Outside, Psylocke mentioned to Jubilee that she used the soul power left behind by Sapphire to create a new body while mentioning how Dr. Synne, S.T.R.I.K.E., Mojo, and the Hand have used her mind and body for their own purposes. At Viper's penthouse, a revived Revanche appears.^[36]

Tony Stark and Daredevil arrive at the X-Mansion, and compare notes with Kitty, who notes the connection to Soteira. Thanks to Daredevil's senses, Tony and Kitty find out that kinetic weapons are falling to Earth. Iron Man, Firestar and Storm head up to investigate while Daredevil aids in the mansion's evacuation. While Firestar, Storm, and Iron Man use their attacks to stop the three projectiles, the fourth gets by them as Iron Man works to intercept before it reaches the X-Mansion as Kitty works to phase the ground so that it would hit the magma layer of the Earth instead. Just then, a bespectacled bald-headed man appears and states that he needed a distraction so that he can set up 10 corpses on their property; a hologram of a person identifying herself as Persephone thanks the assembled heroes for saving the world many times and states that she has Wolverine who is doing good work while also being behind Soteira. Persephone states that the copy of Mister Sinister's work contains the future's mutants. Before disappearing, she advises them to stop looking or the ten bodies before them are just the beginning. The strange man then collapses, dead. In Persephone's lair, tethered by energy ropes and suspended by his arms and legs before her, Wolverine reacts angrily to her and extracts his claws, which are shown to be glowing red hot. Persephone tells him that he need not worry as this will all be over soon.^[37]