Marvel Studios are hard at work on bringing Wolverine into the MCU, but it’s going to be a while before we hear that familiar *snikt* in a film. That doesn’t mean we’re short of claw-related badassery to enjoy though, as YouTuber James Hobson (aka The Hacksmith) has just proved. Now known for his recreations of various pieces of movie hardware, including Batman’s grappling gun, Thor’s Stormbreaker, Star Wars’ lightsabers and Iron Man’s Gauntlet, he got his start recreating Wolverine’s claws from the X-Men movies.
His first set of claws were built in 2009 as part of an internship but since then, his construction skills have vastly improved. So, to mark more than a decade of doing this, why not go back to Wolverine and try again? But there’s a twist, as this time he’s doing the ‘bone claws.’
As any Wolverine fan will know, the Weapon X program bonded unbreakable Adamantium onto his skeleton. This (in addition to his mutant healing factor) makes Wolverine practically indestructible. Early comics about the hero’s origins showed that his claws were also added by Weapon X, though this has since been retconned. His current origin story shows him popping out his bone claws for the first time as a child (as seen in X-Men Origins: Wolverine). We also got a good look at them in X-Men: Days of Future Past, as the 1970s sequences take place prior to the Weapon X treatment.
So, how does Hobson do? Well, after a fascinating breakdown of how they’re designed, he puts them to the test. It turns out he can skewer fruit like an expert, slash open a bag of rice and, most impressively, punch right through a concrete block wall (though these are unfilled blocks). This actually makes these ‘bone’ claws an improvement on the ones Wolverine was born with, as he could only use them for slashing softer things or they’d painfully shatter.
Hobson’s claws and video are great, though he’s got some tough competition in the field. His top rival has to be the UK’s Colin Furze, who in 2014 created a set of Wolverine claws that actually can be popped and retracted (though I doubt they could have punched through a wall).
Videos like these prove that physical claws look awesome for a live-action Wolvie, so let’s hope Marvel Studios learn the lesson of the CGI claws in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and get someone like Hobson (or hell, hire him!) to create something truly badass for the MCU’s Wolverine.