Marvel Studios Confirms Major Change To Wolverine Ahead Of His 2026 Return

A couple of years ago, Wolverine made his long-awaited debut in the MCU in the most unexpected way possible. Rather than recasting the role and starting fresh, Marvel brought Hugh Jackman’s Logan through the space-time continuum to team up with Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth. Deadpool & Wolverine quickly became one of the MCU’s biggest ever hits at the box office, proving that Wolvie is still one of the most popular superheroes in the world (almost on par with Spider-Man and Batman, but not quite).

Marvel fans have got their fingers crossed, hoping that Jackman will reprise his role as that particular Wolverine variant in Avengers: Doomsday. But even if Jackman is nowhere to be seen in the next Avengers movie, we’ll still get plenty of Wolverine action out of Marvel Studios in 2026.

Unsurprisingly, Wolverine is set to return with a major role in X-Men ’97 season 2. Set to premiere on July 1, the second season of X-Men ’97 promises to be even bigger and crazier than the first (and that’s saying a lot). Season 1 may have featured the Genosha genocide, but season 2 will chart the age of Apocalypse. The trailer teases that we’ll follow Apocalypse from his ancient origins to a futuristic dystopia — stopping off in the 1990s along the way, of course. Apocalypse will surely prove to be the gravest threat that the X-Men have ever faced, but he is bringing one huge advantage for Wolverine.

After Wolverine lost his adamantium skeleton in X-Men ’97 season 1, mirroring a similar event in the comics, he’ll get his adamantium skeleton back in season 2, mirroring another event from the comics. Don’t expect Wolverine to stay depowered for too long in X-Men ’97‘s new season; before you know it, Apocalypse will come along to restore it.

Wolverine’s Adamantium Skeleton Is Back In X-Men ’97 Season 2

One of the most shocking twists in X-Men ’97’s debut season (and there were a lot of them) was the loss of Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton. That metallic skeleton is, of course, the source of all of Wolverine’s power. His signature claws are an extension of that skeleton, and his healing abilities come from the indestructible metal supplementing his bones. But in X-Men ’97 season 1, in a scene ripped straight from the iconic comic book storyline “Fatal Attractions,” Magneto removed Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton.

In a later comic book issue, Apocalypse restored Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton by taking some of the metal out of Sabertooth and fusing it with Logan’s bones. It was a pretty convoluted, roundabout way to explain how Wolvie got his powers back, but I’ll take any excuse to get those claws back in his knuckles. The trailer for X-Men ’97 season 2 promises that Wolverine will get his adamantium back. Since Apocalypse is being set up as the big bad for the new season, I’m 99% sure the series will adapt this storyline and have Apocalypse restore Logan’s skeleton.

Of course, X-Men ’97 could be doing something totally different with this story setup. Neither the previous season nor the original series were especially reverent of the comic books; they borrowed a lot from the comics, but they also made a lot of changes and did their own thing. So, maybe Wolverine will get his adamantium back a different way.

Whether Apocalypse restores Wolverine’s skeleton like he did in the comics or Wolvie gets his groove back through some other convoluted means, it’s very exciting that Wolverine will really be Wolverine again when X-Men ’97 returns. This is the best show Marvel Studios has produced by far, but it still has to avoid the sophomore slump in its second season.