Are Wolverine’s claws made of bone or metal in Marvel Comics?

Wolverine’s claws are easily one of the most iconic images in comics, but fans are often confused as to whether he has bone or metal claws. 

When you think of Wolverine, even from his very first appearance, you imagine his gleaming metal claws. However, for a good portion of the ‘90s, Wolverine didn’t have them. 

If you picked up any comic, you saw Wolverine with claws that appeared to be made of bones, while X-Men: The Animated Series gave him metal claws. You may have assumed this was just an inconsistency unless you went and played Marvel vs. Capcom 2, which featured a Wolverine with metal AND bone claws. 

It can be kind of difficult to understand just what is going on with Wolverine’s claws. The answer, as always, involves nearly a decade of comic storytelling and multiple twists designed to keep fans guessing. 

Does Wolverine have bone claws or metal claws?

Wolverine’s claws are made of bone, but they’re coated in metal. The metal is an unbreakable adamantium alloy, which can cut through anything and remains razor-sharp. They were intended to be retractable blades stored in his gloves in his first appearance, but this was changed to be a mutation. 

Wolverine’s claws are naturally made of bone, but they’re coated in an unbreakable adamantium metal alloy.

For decades, it was assumed that Wolverine’s claws were pure metal and were something he received as part of the Weapon X program’s experimentation. That all changed in X-Men #25 when Magneto ripped the adamantium off Wolverine’s skeleton, and he found he had claws made of bone. 

Wolverine’s claws were revealed to be a natural mutation, in addition to his enhanced senses and healing factor. His bone claws aren’t as durable as his metal ones and can still break, but the bone will eventually regrow. 

How Wolverine got his adamantium claws

Wolverine got his original adamantium claws and skeleton from the Weapon X program. He was part of an experiment to make living weapons and was one of the few capable of surviving the adamantium bonding process. 

Having lost his adamantium skeleton, Wolverine had bone claws for much of the ’90s.

He just had bone claws for several years after Magneto ripped the adamantium from his skeleton, with multiple stories teasing and never following through with giving him back the metal skeleton. He eventually got the adamantium back from Apocalypse, who restored it so Wolverine could better serve him as the Horseman of Death. 

It should be noted that while Wolverine can be resurrected in the Krakoa Era, the adamantium skeleton is not a natural mutation and does not revive with him. It was revealed that Beast was able to acquire an adamantium supply and the means to bond it to skeletons, a process which has been done several times for both Wolverine and Laura Kinney. 

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