Wolverine is the best there is at what he does, and what he does isn't very nice. For nearly two centuries, James Logan Howlett, the man known as Wolverine, has faced death countless times and each time has cheated it through his healing factor, adamantium fused skeleton, and his nearly unbreakable will to protect those he has grown to know as family. He has survived some of the most violent and grueling periods in known human history, the American Civil War, two World Wars, and Vietnam and suffered unimaginable tragedy. Betrayal by those he once saw as allies, the death of those closest to him, and physical and mental torment caused by Weapon X, a rogue military science division responsible for the creation of the original super soldier program as well as the adamantium bonding process that gave Wolverine his nearly indestructible skeleton.

Despite suffering from tragedy, Wolverine has found solace with his new family, the X-Men, and has sworn to protect them from those who would seek to bring them harm like the mutant extremist Magneto, the cyborg anti-mutant bounty hunters known as the Reavers, His estranged son Daken, Worldbreaker Hulk, KGB super weapon Omega Red, the newly formed Weapon XX program, Colonel William Stryker and his pro-human terrorist group known as the Purifiers, and his friend turned enemy Sabretooth.

After two centuries of defying death, Logan seemed invincible, surviving one near-death experience after another, each time coming back stronger than ever. It appeared nothing could kill Wolverine. That is until a year ago. After receiving a tip given by a contact in Madripoor, Logan accompanied by Gambit, Rogue, a vampiric Jubilee, and X-23, his genetic twin and surrogate daughter, traveled to Paris France in order to stop an arms sale of a modified version of the Trigger Scent, a pheromone created by The Facility to control X-23. The chemical compound was designed to send X-23 into a feral state and kill any targets marked by it without hesitation. The modified variant could now turn decent human beings into crazed psychopaths hellbent on killing anything in their path. The sale was arranged by Weapon XX and Sabretooth in an attempt to lure X-23 away from the protection of the Charles Xavier Institute, home of the X-Men and other young mutants. Following a lead given to them by one of Wolverine's associates in Mandipoor, Wolverine and the others ventured into the abandoned subway in Paris where they successfully stopped the sale of the compound. Unbeknownst to the team however, it was all an elaborate trap. Sabretooth appeared, luring X-23 away from Logan and the others, into a crowded Subway Station. He then sprayed the crowd with the original Trigger Scent, driving X-23 into a murderous rampage. To ensure everything went according to plan, Sabretooth trapped the civilians and X-23 by destroying the exits with well placed C4 charges. Realizing what was happening, Wolverine and the others eventually tracked down X-23 but failed to stop her from killing all the civilians.

As X-23 spotted her allies, she lunged towards them, still controlled by her killer instinct, and unleashed a furious assault. Logan took the brunt of it as he tried to break through to her. He eventually succeeded. As she broke free of her programming, X-23 realized what she had done, horrified by her actions after succumbing to the scent. While Logan and the others tried comforting her, Sabretooth found his moment to strike and infected Logan with an artificial virus, designed to halt Logan's healing factor, making the nearly immortal Wolverine vulnerable for the first time in his life. Before a battle could ensue between the X-Men and Creed, Sabretooth escaped, reveling in his victory as he finally got the better of his old nemesis. Later, Logan asked a favor of the current Director S.H.I.E.L.D and the new Captain America, Bucky Barnes, to cover up the incident as a gas main explosion to protect X-23 from the authorities. It was thought that the worst was finally over but Wolverine knew it was just the beginning.

Over the course of an entire year, all of Wolverine's old foes heard that he had been stripped of his healing factor. Knowing his flesh was weak now, all but Sabretooth tried to finally slay the Wolverine but one by one, all of them failed with Logan barely surviving each encounter. Logan knew it would never end as long as Sabretooth was out there, waiting for his moment to strike. Despite death finally knocking at his door, Wolverine accepted the fact his fate was sealed, even his allies have come to terms with his impending death, all but X-23 who felt personally responsible for what had happened to Wolverine. She felt guilty about being the reason for the death of another loved one, like her mother and sensei. She grew more isolated from the others and began inflicting self-harm to herself again, contemplating suicide. Logan knew he had to do something while he still had time. He needed to help X-23 find her will to live again and help her accept that he wouldn't be there for her despite promising her he would. He arranged a trip to Japan with X-23 and Jubilee, the place where the Wolverine was truly born, and help X-23 make peace with herself before his time finally runs out.