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Why X-Men legend Chris Claremont made Wolverine’s claws a “natural” ability – and how it relates to Stan Lee
In an old interview with Jim Lee, Claremont recalled “taking Wolverine through moderate degrees of hell along the way, making him a more totally natural character just because this is one of the things that always bugged everybody”
NewsbyGrant DeArmitt, Staff Writer
Published on Fri Jul 10 2026
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The most popular student of Charles Xavier is, appropriate for a Mutant of his stature, always evolving. Where Wolverine might’ve started his comic book life as an Incredible Hulk villain, he’s now what Deadpool called ‘the X-Man,’ and things like his backstory and alternate timelines have combined to form the many-faceted vision of him. One of the biggest evolutions to his character, though, came in the 1980s, when X-Men legend Chris Claremont made a simple but earth-shattering change to his character:
That is, by making his claws a natural part of his body
We came across Claremont explaining the reason for this change to, of all people, Jim Lee, in an interview that the artist did with the writer in Wizard Magazine #51. The topic came up when Lee asked Claremont, who wrote the first Wolverine solo comic along with then up-and-comer Frank Miller, if he had any goals he wanted to achieve before he left Marvel in 1991
“My overarching goal,” the writer answered, “was heading towards Uncanny #300 and taking the world up to the brink of the war between humans and mutants with the Shadow King at the heart of it. And taking Wolverine through moderate degrees of hell along the way, making him a more totally natural character just because this is one of the things that always bugged everybody. Myself included.”
Just to clarify – when Claremont says “more natural” here, he’s talking about Logan’s innate mutant abilities, things like his healing factor, which are coded into his biology. Claremont is not saying Wolverine needed to be “more natural” in a way of fitting in with other Mutants, and as I probably don’t have to tell you, he is certainly not commenting on Logan needing more body hair
As he mentioned, Claremont was just one X-Men fan who felt that Wolverine’s Mutant abilities needed some finesse, but the writer said that there was more to his decision to make Logan’s claws natural than just the reader outcry. Part of it, actually, came back to Stan Lee’s advice on superhero storytelling
“Going back to an old lament that Stan Lee had,” Claremont explained, “Daredevil was always a hair more popular than Iron Man and Stan’s analysis was because when you came right down to it, with Iron Man, anybody could wear the suit. It could be Tony Stark. It could be his assistant, James Rhodes. The suit is the suit, whereas Daredevil was a guy and the powers were unique to him.”
“So from Stan’s perspective,” the writer concluded, “He always felt more comfortable with characters whose powers were theirs as opposed to the technology that they tapped into it. That was sort of the way I was looking at Wolverine. If he was going to have claws and all these abilities, why not make them natural if for no other reason than it would save us a ton of explanation every three or four issues.”
Work smarter, not harder, Chris. I guess that’s what makes you the best there is at what you do.
Chris Claremont’s Wolverine is available to read wherever you get your comics
To me, my X-Men fans. Want more about Marvel’s mutants? You don’t need Cerebro to find what you should read next… we made a list!
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Grant DeArmitt: Grant DeArmitt (he/him) likes horror, comics, and the unholy union of the two. In the past, and despite their better judgment, he has written for Nightmare on Film Street and Newsarama. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, Kingsley, and corgi, Legs
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