SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Marvel Legacy #1 by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic, on sale Wednesday, September 27.

We’re still a few days out from the release of Marvel Legacy #1 which will yet again change the Marvel Universe forever with the return of a classic character. But as is traditional these days, the publisher decided to get ahead of any potential leaks by revealing the surprise early.

And while it’s true that a major character does, in fact, return in the pages of Marvel Legacy #1, it’s perhaps not quite the groundbreaking, Internet-smashing blockbuster surprise many fans were hoping for since, in many ways, the character in question never really left in the first place.

The big news of the week is, of course, that Logan, the true Prime Universe incarnation, returns in the pages of Marvel Legacy #1, and he possess one of the Infinity Stones to boot. Marvel Comics released the information earlier today, with Axel Alonso stating, “After three years of a Logan-free Marvel Universe, Logan is back, claws popped and ready for action. How he came back, why he came back, and just how he came into possession of that Infinity Stone are part of a fascinating story that's going to unveil soon, and in some unusual places.”

Wolverine-Marvel-Legacy

However, we haven’t exactly been hurting for Wolverines over the course of those three years. In fact, we haven’t even been hurting for Logans, either. Wolverine’s return to the Marvel Universe is certainly exciting — especially with the added layer of mystery due to the Infinity Stone — but it’s more than a little inaccurate to say that we’ve had “three years of a Logan-free Marvel Universe”.

Ain’t No Grave

This incarnation of Logan has been dead since 2014’s Death of Wolverine miniseries where he sacrificed himself to stop a revived Weapon X project by being smothered in molten liquid adamantium (the Marvel Universe's near-indestructible metal) in the process. However, following the events of Secret Wars in 2016, Marvel got itself a new Logan in the form of Old Man Logan, a character who survived the event's multiversal shift and woke up in modern day Manhattan with all of his memories from his previous life, believing himself to be in the past, rather than an alternate reality.

Old-Man-Logan

Since the arrival of Old Man Logan, he’s been everywhere in the Marvel Universe — as is tradition when it comes to Wolverine. He stars in his own ongoing series which has been going for a number of years. He’s been a member of the X-Men — both Extraordinary and Gold — as well as allying with fellow Weapon X “graduates” to stop a newly formed incarnation of the project. He’s guest starred in Amazing Spider-Man, Star-Lord and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, among other books.

Old Man Logan has also been front and center of the Marvel Universe in promotional materials, marketing and crossover events. He took part in Civil War II, Monsters Unleashed, Inhumans vs X-Men and Secret Empire, often fulfilling the same role in the story that regular age Logan would have played had he been around. It hardly feels like we’ve had a Logan-free Marvel Universe for so many years when you can literally go out every month and buy a book with the word “Logan” in the title and every event comic places him right in the heart of the action.

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Generations

Of course, with regular age Logan dearly departed and Old Man Logan refusing to take the mantle, someone had to step up and become the Wolverine. There was only ever one true successor to that legacy, and Laura Kinney, formerly X-23, lived up to the name of Wolverine in every possible aspect.

RELATED: Generations: All-New Wolverine & Wolverine #1

Becoming the Wolverine allowed Laura to grow as a character, into the hero she had the potential to become rather than the killer she was created to be. It also gave her the chance to interact with the larger Marvel Universe, whether that be Squirrel Girl, Spider-Gwen or the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Laura Kinney wearing her black and white Wolverine outfit in Marvel Comics

However, if you look at Marvel’s big promotional materials and event marketing over the past few years, it’s always featured Old Man Logan and rarely featured Laura Kinney. Considering she is Wolverine, it’s always felt that when it came to how the publisher presented its universe and its roster of characters, that Old Man Logan was the character they wanted people to see as Wolverine. That probably had something to do with the feature film Logan which was loosely based on the original Old Man Logan comic, but it betrayed the promise of Laura as Wolverine. Compared to legacy characters such as Sam Wilson as Captain America, Jane Foster as Thor and Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel, in many ways, Laura got the short end of the stick.

Marvel also recently introduced a new, younger, male Wolverine in the pages of X-Men Blue, as it was revealed that Jimmy Hudson, the son of Ultimate Logan, survived the multiversal chaos of Secret Wars and ended up in the Prime Marvel Universe along with several other Ultimate X-Men characters. Together with Daken, Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike and countless other short-tempered individuals with claws, the return of regular age Logan doesn’t exactly fill a hole in the Marvel Universe, since it was one that is already overflowing with replacements.

The addition and involvement of the Infinity Stone will likely make all the difference, here. It’s certainly curious that Logan and adult Jean Grey are returning at roughly the same time, especially with there being no adult incarnation of Cyclops around. However, just like when Marvel promised to change the comics industry forever with the announcement of homage covers for Marvel Legacy, the news feels like a bit of a letdown. Logan’s return is a big deal, no doubt about it, but the big question will be whether or not it can bring in the readers Marvel is attempting to win back with Marvel Legacy.