General X-men spoilers
So although Nightcrawler seems to be the favorite to die, there are people who still think it's not him. Xavier is another one who keeps popping up, as is Magneto. Those two feel too overdone, their deaths will always have a lot of impact, so I don't personally think it's going to be either of them. But if it's one or the other, my money is on Mags.
And honestly, Nighty's never had a good "death" - he's died before but always along with an entire group that was then quickly resurrected. The only other time I can think of was when the X-men thought he was dead on his 21st birthday, but then Dr. Strange was like, "Nope, just a spell." Kitty was the same until Whedon "killed" her in Astonishing, and she's just returned in Uncanny. I don't know exactly how she survived all that time shooting around space in an bullet made of... Idk, unobtainium or something :P But, point is, even Kitty's had a big, drawn-out death scene, and Kurt is the one of the only major, classic X-men left who's never had a crazy dramatic death. He's due, I guess. And it's kind of ominous that Kitty comes back just at the point where he could be kicking the bucket (since fans of either are often fans of both).
We've also been quite spoiled with Nightcrawler over the last several months - we had a road-trip with him and Logan, he had his own Origins issue, he took a leadership role in Legacy, appeared in an issue (of one of Wolverine's titles) alongside Wolvie and Captain America (and even though he wasn't doing anything but flying a plane and joking with Scott, that's notable), appeared in another Wolverine title alongside Psylocke, is currently in Pixie Strikes Back, just recently had several crucial scenes with Cyclops in Uncanny and Second Coming: Prepare, and appeared in another Wolverine title in an issue that ended with "Good-bye, Kurt"/"Good-bye, Logan". As I understand it, Wolvie's just about to fight this guy Romulus, who could evidently KILL HIM!!!(tm) so the good-byes are powerful for that reason. But if Kurt dies in X-factor #26 or another issue within the Second Coming time frame, those good-byes could even be a nod to his death as much as the potential for Logan's.
There are also apparently two major deaths to come, so even thought we've seen a preview image of an autopsy on a body that the consensus seems to be could not be Kurt's, he's not out of the woods due to that. Also, there's a spoiler that one of the two parties killed will be Wolverine's "friend." Since Kurt's his best friend, that would be a natural conclusion. But as one user on Marvel.com pointed out, "Wolverine befriends everybody" (weird for such an antisocial RAWR KILL THEM type :P). There are many people who are important to Logan besides Kurt, not the least Kitty, Jubilee, Ororo, Rogue, any of the X-men really, even Warren whom he doesn't often interact with. Then there are many non-X-men friends, like Dr. Strange, Captain America, even Spider-man. Of course it's highly unlikely that any of those last three are going to die. The spoilers do say that at least one of the two big deaths will be an X-man. (I personally think it's likely that both of them are.) Which makes things a little more grim for 'Crawler - but it's still not set in stone.
On the other hand, at this point fans may actually be disappointed if Kurt doesn't die, after all this build-up XD That sounds horrible, but fandoms are notoriously hard to please.
I don't want Kurt to die, because then the only place of note he'll be showing up is in AU comics like X-men Forever, which everyone knows I can't stand. Who knows how long we'll have to wait before he's resurrected? I'll keep up with comics because of Kitty, but much as I love her, I'm not as drawn to her as I am to Kurt so I dunno how long I'd keep reading.
(This coming from a person who hasn't spent a cent on recent issues in two years... If I buy at all, I tend to wait for TPBs.)
And honestly, Nighty's never had a good "death" - he's died before but always along with an entire group that was then quickly resurrected. The only other time I can think of was when the X-men thought he was dead on his 21st birthday, but then Dr. Strange was like, "Nope, just a spell." Kitty was the same until Whedon "killed" her in Astonishing, and she's just returned in Uncanny. I don't know exactly how she survived all that time shooting around space in an bullet made of... Idk, unobtainium or something :P But, point is, even Kitty's had a big, drawn-out death scene, and Kurt is the one of the only major, classic X-men left who's never had a crazy dramatic death. He's due, I guess. And it's kind of ominous that Kitty comes back just at the point where he could be kicking the bucket (since fans of either are often fans of both).
We've also been quite spoiled with Nightcrawler over the last several months - we had a road-trip with him and Logan, he had his own Origins issue, he took a leadership role in Legacy, appeared in an issue (of one of Wolverine's titles) alongside Wolvie and Captain America (and even though he wasn't doing anything but flying a plane and joking with Scott, that's notable), appeared in another Wolverine title alongside Psylocke, is currently in Pixie Strikes Back, just recently had several crucial scenes with Cyclops in Uncanny and Second Coming: Prepare, and appeared in another Wolverine title in an issue that ended with "Good-bye, Kurt"/"Good-bye, Logan". As I understand it, Wolvie's just about to fight this guy Romulus, who could evidently KILL HIM!!!(tm) so the good-byes are powerful for that reason. But if Kurt dies in X-factor #26 or another issue within the Second Coming time frame, those good-byes could even be a nod to his death as much as the potential for Logan's.
There are also apparently two major deaths to come, so even thought we've seen a preview image of an autopsy on a body that the consensus seems to be could not be Kurt's, he's not out of the woods due to that. Also, there's a spoiler that one of the two parties killed will be Wolverine's "friend." Since Kurt's his best friend, that would be a natural conclusion. But as one user on Marvel.com pointed out, "Wolverine befriends everybody" (weird for such an antisocial RAWR KILL THEM type :P). There are many people who are important to Logan besides Kurt, not the least Kitty, Jubilee, Ororo, Rogue, any of the X-men really, even Warren whom he doesn't often interact with. Then there are many non-X-men friends, like Dr. Strange, Captain America, even Spider-man. Of course it's highly unlikely that any of those last three are going to die. The spoilers do say that at least one of the two big deaths will be an X-man. (I personally think it's likely that both of them are.) Which makes things a little more grim for 'Crawler - but it's still not set in stone.
On the other hand, at this point fans may actually be disappointed if Kurt doesn't die, after all this build-up XD That sounds horrible, but fandoms are notoriously hard to please.
I don't want Kurt to die, because then the only place of note he'll be showing up is in AU comics like X-men Forever, which everyone knows I can't stand. Who knows how long we'll have to wait before he's resurrected? I'll keep up with comics because of Kitty, but much as I love her, I'm not as drawn to her as I am to Kurt so I dunno how long I'd keep reading.
(This coming from a person who hasn't spent a cent on recent issues in two years... If I buy at all, I tend to wait for TPBs.)