Exploring Wolverine's New Adamantium Powers and X-Men's Colossus Transformation
Rachel Ellis
Updated on May 17, 2026
By Published Apr 2, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT Robert Wood is a writer and editor based out of Cheshire, England. He is the author of 'The False Elephant: and 99 Other Unreasonably Short Stories' - 100 stories, each told in exactly 100 words.
Rob got into comics via Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man and the UK anthology 'The Mighty World of Marvel,' which was running Frank Miller's Daredevil, Classic Hulk and Contest of Champions II.
Prior to journalism, he worked in copywriting and copyedited for Oxford University Press. He is on X as @PinchTwigs and Instagram as roobwoodjourno. follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap
Marvel's is about to gain a jaw-dropping new power - one which redefines his adamantium claws. However, this isn't some brand new ability - it's one that Logan is stealing from a longtime X-Men ally and friend.
Wolverine's powers have developed a lot over the years. Originally conceived as simply wearing clawed gloves, Logan's iconic claws quickly became part of his biology. Meanwhile, his healing factor went from impressive to near unbeatable.
In more recent years, Wolverine has , superheating his adamantium. Now, that adamantium is leaving his claws entirely and spreading across his body...
Wolverine Steals Colossus' Powers for What If...? Anniversary
This year, Marvel's What If...? title turns fifty. The initiative reimagines key moments in Marvel history, spinning off entire new realities and sometimes new characters - Hulk's son Skaar started out as a What If...? creation.
To mark the occasion, Marvel has solicited some wild new art from its up-and-coming 'Stormbreakers' artists, asking bold new questions about Marvel's heroes. Juan Frigeri's contribution asks "What If... Wolverine controlled his adamantium like Colossus?"
Frigeri's art shows Wolverine busting through a wall, his skin and iconic hair converted into Colossus' onganic metal. Logan's new powers are even more impressive than Colossus', since he's coated in totally unbreakable adamantium, rather than Colossus' osmium-like metal. Other covers show unlikely situations like Daredevil becoming the new Hulk and Thor wielding the Venom symbiote.
While these What If...? pitches are just variant covers for now, Marvel has a recent history of introducing popular variant cover creations into mainstream continuity, including Captain Marvel's latest costume, the character Gwenpool, and the entire roster of the New Champions.
That means if fans support this cover, we may get a whole story... though for those who want to see this power in action, there's already a comic that's tackling it...
Marvel's New Wolverine Has This Power and More
Over in the pages of Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon (from Chip Zdarsky and Luca Maresca), . Torrens is a mutant with a healing factor experimented on by the Primewarrior group to become the 'new Wolverine.'
Primewarrior attempted to bond adamantium to Torrens as Weapon X did to Wolverine, but the effects were unexpected. Torrens' body rejected the adamantium and externalized it, allowing him to shift the unbreakable metal into any shape he can visualize.
As a result, Torrens is capable of summoning unbreakable armor anywhere on his body, and manifesting a huge variety of 'claws' in endless shapes. While Tyler prefers to copy Wolverine's three claws, Leinil Francis Yu's cover art shows the character growing spikes from his arms and shoulder to skewer Wolverine.
Weapons of Armageddon is leading into , meaning that Tyler Torrens may be about to become a hugely important new character.
It's Long Past Time X-Men's Colossus Had This Superpower
As cool as it is to see Wolverine wielding Colossus' powers, what the X-Men really need is the opposite. For decades, Colossus has been the team's metallic muscle, but he's started to fall behind the curve in terms of raw power. While he's strong and durable, he's not off the scale in either sense. Today, Cyclops' X-Men are running with the unstoppable Juggernaut rather than Piotr Rasputin.
The 2010s saw Colossus become the new Juggernaut, making him one of the world's strongest heroes, even as he battled against demonic corruption. Recently, X-Force experimented with giving , but without much fanfair from readers.
It's clear from this experimentation that Marvel knows Colossus needs a power boost, and transforming his living metal into adamantium would be one simple way to go. That move would make Colossus truly unbreakable, and could increase his power level without fundamentally altering the character.
In past stories, Colossus has been depicted as strong, but not so strong that the Hulk or Juggernaut see him as a valid threat - indeed, when he went up against the Hulk, the Jade Giant bent his metal arms, making it impossible for him to return to his human form without suffering a grievous injury.
Giving Colossus adamantium skin would open up new narrative potential for the character, as well as increasing his power level so he doesn't become just another mid-tier strong guy on X-Men's roster. While Wolverine may be the A-list character everyone loves, Juan Frigeri's art hints at a new power that would actually be more of an improvement for Colossus - one the X-Men hero desperately needs.
Wolverine #20 is coming May 13 from Marvel Comics.
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