Wolverine developed heat claws from excess healing energy when he was resurrected, but the silly power hasn’t been used in Dawn of X.
Wolverine’s most signature feature is his adamantium-covered bone claws, which jut from his hands. These have always symbolized his status as the violent bad boy of the X-Men and have also been central in his mysterious origins.
Despite his equally infamous healing factor, however, Wolverine eventually gave up the ghost in 2014. In 2018, he was resurrected with an unprecedented new ability for his claws. The addition of heat claws marked the biggest change for Logan since it was revealed that his bone claws are innate — but in the two years since the heat claws made their debut, they’ve mostly fallen into obscurity. Here’s how Wolverine got heat claws and where the power has gone.
How Wolverine Got Hot Claws
When Wolverine came back to life in “The Hunt for Wolverine,” he did so with a new look and an even more surprising new superpower. Whenever he got angry, his claws would go red-hot. This resurrection was brought about by a corporation called Soteira, but the nature of this new power was initially extremely mysterious.
Early speculation led some to believe that these fire powers were connected to a future version of Wolverine who possessed the Phoenix Force, but this idea was shot down by writer Charles Soule. Others surmised that hot claws might suggest Wolverine spends the Afterlife in Hell, but the actual explanation was even more unforeseen.
It was eventually revealed that the new power was a detriment to Logan’s healing factor. Though his claws didn’t necessarily hurt Logan when they were activated, they would keep any damage he received while they were ignited from being immediately healed.
In the conclusion of “The Return of Wolverine,” the mind behind Wolverine’s return is a woman named Persephone. Just like the hot claws themselves, her resurrection of Wolverine was tied to his healing factor. Since it had long been dormant, Persephone overclocked Wolverine’s body’s powers to bring him back to life. The overload of excess energy manifested itself in burning hot claws. The explanation is still a bit hokey, and is in the end more philosophical than realistic.