Marvel Just Gave Wolverine His Own Infinity Gauntlet

Wolverine gets a major power upgrade with his own special Infinity Gauntlet in new homage cover art from Marvel Comics.

In celebration of Wolverine's 50th anniversary since he first cameoed in "The Incredible Hulk" #180 (by Len Wein, Herb Trimpe, Jack Abel, Christie Scheele, Artie Simek, and Roy Thomas) before making his full first appearance in issue #181, Marvel is releasing 15 new variant covers featuring the fan-favorite hero. The artwork homages the publisher's most iconic covers, including John Buscema's cover for Vision's' first appearance in "Avengers" #57, a "Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars" #8-inspired variant from Dan Jurgens showing Logan in place of Spider-Man, and Wolverine jumping into action with his claws unsheathed in David Baldeon's homage to Todd McFarlane's highly replicated cover for "The Amazing Spider-Man" #300.

One of the best Wolverine variants from the new batch of covers comes from Todd Nauck, whose "Avengers Inc." #5 cover homages George Pérez's "Infinity Gauntlet" #1. Instead of Thanos, Death, Silver Surfer, and Marvel's greatest heroes making up the image, Wolverine replaces everyone with several nods to his past. He's seen escaping the Weapon X program, becoming the Phoenix, and assuming the identity of Patch. In the center, the X-Men bruiser takes one of his most powerful forms, wielding an Infinity Gauntlet with his claws popped out around the Infinity Stones. Logan hasn't used the Infinity Gauntlet in the comics the same way the cover shows, but he does have a history with one of Marvel's most powerful cosmic artifacts.

In the original "Infinity Gauntlet" miniseries (by Jim Starlin, George Perez, Ron Lim, Josef Rubinstein, Tom Christopher, Bruce N. Solotoff, Jack Morelli, Max Scheele, and Ian Laughlin), Wolverine is among the many Marvel heroes trying to stop Thanos after he acquires all six Infinity Stones, then known as Infinity Gems. Logan lunges at the Mad Titan, digging his claws into his chest. However, in a horrifying scene, Thanos barely flinches at the attack and uses the reality-changing artifacts to turn Wolverine's bones into rubber, leaving him helpless within his twisted body.

Wolverine has played vital parts in a few modern stories featuring the Infinity Stones, such as "Marvel Legacy" #1 (by Jason Aaron, Esad Ribic, Steve McNiven, Matthew Wilson, and VC's Cory Petit), where he briefly protects the Space Stone before handing it off to Black Widow. In 2018's "Infinity Wars" (by Gerry Duggan, Mike Deodato Jr., Frank Martin Jr., and Petit), Logan was changed by the Infinity Stones and taken inside Warp World, merging with Emma Frost and becoming Diamond Patch. Wolverine would also fight a living version of the Time Stone in "Wolverine: Infinity Watch" (by Duggan, Andy MacDonald, Jodie Bellaire, and Petit). So, while Wolverine, unlike some of his fellow heroes, never wielded the Infinity Gauntlet as he does in Todd Nauck's variant homage, he certainly has experience facing it.

Marvel Comics / Todd Nauck

Readers can pick up the Wolverine-starring "Infinity Gauntlet" homage when "Avengers Inc." #5 arrives in comic book stores on January 31, 2024.