Daken (Akihiro) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Akihiro was created by writer Daniel Way and artist Steve Dillon and first appeared in Wolverine: Origins #5 (August 2006).

Akihiro is the mutant son of Wolverine and his deceased wife Itsu, possessing superhuman abilities similar to his father (e.g., healing factor, retractable claws) as well as pheromone manipulating powers. Raised by Romulus as a ruthless killer, Akihiro was conditioned to hate Wolverine, blaming his father for his supposed abandonment, his mother's death and traumatic childhood and took his childhood slur Daken as his codename. Akihiro was a member of the Dark Avengers under his father's moniker Wolverine, the Brotherhood of Mutants and at one point was a Horseman of Death. Originally depicted as a supervillain and antihero, Akihiro later reforms himself as a superhero after relocating to Krakoa, making peace with his father and becoming a member of X-Factor and the Marauders, eventually earning the title of Fang for his heroism. After becoming bonded to the demon Bagra-ghul, Akihiro becomes the newest Hellverine.

Akihiro was ranked sixth in Comics Alliance's 2013 list of "50 Sexiest Male Characters in Comics" (well ahead of his 41st-place father) and is often recognized for his sex appeal.

Akihiro first appeared in Wolverine: Origins #10 (March 2007), created by writer Daniel Way and artist Steve Dillon. Regarding Akihiro's role in Wolverine: Origins and his relationship with his father, Way stated that whereas Logan is attempting to "take control of his destiny", Akihiro is heading down the opposite direction, "hacking, slashing and going nuts". He also stated that what Akihiro needs in his life is guidance, something that Logan is struggling to offer him. But in order to achieve that they first must kill Romulus. Additionally, Way revealed that Akihiro's role would increase in 2009 and that by the end of Wolverine: Origins, his past would intentionally remain open to provide a "fertile ground for years ... worth of stories". In addition to appearing in Origins, and the fourth volume of the definitive Wolverine title, Akihiro was also given a solo series, Daken: Dark Wolverine. The series ran for 23 issues.

Following the conclusion of his story arc in Wolverine: Origins and the events of Dark Reign, Akihiro became a member of Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers and took up the mantle Wolverine in Dark Avengers #1 (March 2009). Regarding his use of Akihiro on the team and the character's motivation for joining the Dark Avengers, Brian Michael Bendis said:

Akihiro is one of the best things to come out of Origins, and what better way to piss off his father? He's an iconic and legacy character attached to a number of cool things in the Marvel Universe, but he really hasn't had a lot of face time with it. So we can really roll up our sleeves and see what we've got there and help create a character. I'm not taking anything away from Daniel Way, his creator, but I am saying once a character gets rolling it's interesting to see him interacting with different types of characters. You take him out of the Wolverine book to see what he's made of. It's much like with Wolverine, when you took him out of 'Hulk' [where he first appeared], he became something else.

During the Utopia crossover-event that lasted from June to September 2009, Osborn also assigned Akihiro as a member of the Dark X-Men. Matt Fraction, who wrote Akihiro in Dark Avengers / Uncanny X-Men: Utopia described Akihiro as erudite, cultured and flamboyant and as "the metrosexual Wolverine". Similarly to Bendis, Fraction stated that Akihiro's reasons for joining the Dark X-Men is both because he loves the attention and because it makes "his dad's blood boil". Akihiro remained a member of Osborn's team until Dark Avengers #16 (July 2010), where he managed to avoid capture.

In conjunction to his role on Dark Avengers, Akihiro also took over the starring role in the fourth volume of Wolverine starting with issue 75 (Aug. 2009), where it was retitled to Dark Wolverine. The series was co-written by Way and Marjorie Liu. Liu, who hadn't written Akihiro before, decided to work on the series after being asked by Way due to Akihiro being "slightly psychotic, highly intelligent, very manipulative and ha[ving] daddy issues", traits which she found interesting to work with as a writer. Way stated that while the Dark Avengers appear as supporting characters in the series, Dark Wolverine is about what Akihiro does while away from the team. He further described Dark Avengers as Akihiro's grand entry into the Marvel Universe and that while his joining the Avengers was not part of his original plan for the character, he feels that it fits with his initial plans of having Akihiro "get out into the world" and encounter other characters. Regarding the character's personal reasons for joining the team, Way stated that it allows Akihiro to pervert and destroy the legacy built by his father.