TORONTO - The Canuck superhero Wolverine has survived everything from gunshots and stab wounds to nuclear bombs and killer robots, but next month, it’ll be a New York lawyer who finally kills him.

Comic book writer and attorney-at-law Charles Soule has been tasked with killing off the nearly unkillable X-Man in a four-issue miniseries due out next month, titled "The Death of Wolverine."

Soule and “Death of Wolverine” artist Steve McNiven are in Toronto this weekend for Fan Expo, a pop culture convention which runs Thursday to Sunday. The first issue of “The Death of Wolverine” debuts Sept. 3.

The series will mark the end of the road for one of Marvel Comics' most popular characters on screen and in print.

"This is not supposed to be an event that he bounces back from in a week," Soule told CTVNews.ca by phone from New York. "The idea is to have a Marvel universe that does not have Wolverine in it for a long time."

Wolverine (a.k.a. Logan) has cheated death countless times, thanks to mutant healing powers that allow him to recover from even the most horrific of injuries. In the comics he's portrayed as having lived for hundreds of years, but in the real world, he'll mark his 40th publication anniversary in October -- just in time for his death.

"It's a character that a lot of people who aren't even regular comics readers know very well," Soule says.

Soule says he wanted to tell a final Logan story that someone who's never read a comic book could still enjoy, without knowing 40 years of comics history. "Everything you need is right there in issue one," he said.

The story features Wolverine looking back on his life, even as he draws closer to his death.

Ready to die

Soule says Marvel has been thinking about killing off Wolverine for a while now. Wolverine was stripped of his healing powers in the comics last year, setting the stage for his eventual death.

But Soule says Logan has always been close to dying. "I think Wolverine has had death sort of hovering over him throughout his entire life," he says.

Soule sees "The Death of Wolverine" as a chance to look back on 40 years of history and pay tribute to the character's many globe-trotting adventures. "It's a chance to look at the kind of character Wolverine has been, as he goes gently into that good night," he says.

Lawyer, writer, superhero-killer

Soule is a relative newcomer to the mainstream comics industry, but he's already become one of the most prolific writers in the business. The New York-born, Columbia Law School-educated Soule has been juggling a law practice and six ongoing comic-writing gigs for the last year-and-a-half, ever since he burst onto the scene as the writer for "Swamp Thing" at DC Comics.

Today, he's the regular writer for "Red Lanterns," "Superman/Wonder Woman" and "Swamp Thing" at DC Comics. He also writes "She-Hulk" and "Inhumans" for Marvel, and pens "Letter 44" for Oni Press.

After "The Death of Wolverine," Soule will be in charge of a limited series dealing with the fallout of that death, which will run from October to December.

Canadian artist

Marvel Comics artist and Halifax, N.S., native Steve McNiven will provide the artwork for "The Death of Wolverine."

Soule describes McNiven as the perfect man to draw Wolverine's death. "He elevates my scripts every time," Soule says. "I think he was 100 per cent the right guy for the project, in part because he's been associated with Wolverine's stories for so many years. It's very fitting that he help to send him off, and I'm very glad to be working with him."

Long-term death

Public backlash against news of Wolverine's death has been mild, Soule says. Most critics predict the death won't last, since comics have a long history of killing of characters and resurrecting them soon after.

Marvel last killed one of its iconic characters at the end of 2012, when Spider-Man/Peter Parker died in a brain-switching scheme cooked up by the villainous Doctor Octopus. Peter Parker returned from the dead in April 2014.

But that won't happen any time soon with Wolverine, Soule says. "We have not started speaking at all about how to bring him back."

Archie Comics made headlines most recently by having the titular character die saving his gay friend in "Life with Archie."

Origin

Wolverine made his debut as a Canadian secret agent with claws in an issue of "The Incredible Hulk" in 1974. Since then, he's appeared in comics, cartoons and live-action films, starring in solo adventures and working alongside heroes like the Avengers and the X-Men.

Hugh Jackman has portrayed the character in five X-Men movies and two solo films. He last appeared as the on-screen Wolverine in "X-Men: Days of Future Past."