All-New Wolverine Presents A Utopic Vision For The Future

CBR

All-New Wolverine's Vision of the Future is Not the Comic Book Norm

By Kieran Shiach

Published Apr 7, 2018

As Wolverine begins to settle her accounts, we're introduced to a future unlike any we've seen in the Marvel Universe before.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for All-New Wolverine #33 by Tom Taylor, Ramon Rosanas, Nolan Woodard and Cory Petit, on sale now.

The world of Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s “Old Man Logan” was a grim look at the future of the Marvel Universe. All of the heroes were slaughtered, the villains had won, the Red Skull was the President of the United States and the man known as Wolverine was a broken person attempting to live in peace until the harshness of his world drove him back to violence.

Now, Tom Taylor and Ramon Rosanas have introduced a very different future for the Marvel Universe, the future of “Old Woman Laura” which is everything Millar and McNiven’s vision wasn’t. Things aren’t perfect by any means, but Wolverine’s role as a superhero and symbol for what mutants can accomplish has helped usher in one of the most positive and optimistic possible futures in comics, though it might not be that way for too long.

Queen of Madripoor

When we catch up to Laura and her little sister Gabby, roughly twenty or so years in the future, things are looking pretty great for them, all things considering. Laura has been crowned Queen of Madripoor, which has been transformed from a wretched hive of scum and villainy into a thriving country under her leadership. Gabby is now Wolverine and is married to someone named Taylor, with two kids named Logan and Wade. Everything is pretty great -- except that Laura is dying.

Afflicted with a breakdown in her genetic code, Laura has months to live and has two thing she needs to do before she passes; one person to save and one person to kill. The person she wants to save is Bellona, one of the many clones created by Alchemax along with Gabby and the deceased Zelda. She worked against Laura with her deadliest enemy Kimura and was eventually taken into custody by S.H.I.E.L.D., but this week we learn that Bellona went missing years ago during a war caused by the person Laura plans to kill; Doctor Doom.

Doom World War

Just like in “Old Man Logan,” at some pint in the future, the villains of the Marvel Universe banded together in a way they never had before. Under the leadership of Doctor Doom, they launched a war against the hero community. There were many losses — it’s suggested that Laura had reunited with her ex-boyfriend Hellion before he was killed during the Doom World War — but ultimately the heroes were triumphant and led the world into a new age of prosperity and peace.

But Doom is still out there.

At some point during the war, Doom stole an entire Helicarrier, one housing S.H.I.E.L.D.’s most dangerous prisoners, including Bellona -- and no one has any idea what happened to it. Traveling to Latveria with Gabby and Maria Hill, Laura plans on infiltrating the walled off country to rescue her sister and put an end to Doom once and for all. The issue ends with Gabby having seemingly betrayed Laura as someone seemingly flies to intercept them, but it’s more than likely that Gabby has called for back-up — possibly from Laura’s ex-boyfriend Angel — in order to give them a bit of extra muscle for their mission.

KEEP READING: All-New Wolverine’s Gabby Is Perfect, Leave Her Alone