This is the debut of a new feature where I spotlight comic book retcons that I think should be introduced.

We begin with the implementation of Chris Claremont's original (well, by "original," I mean "at one point it was his plan to do this") plan for Apocalypse to be behind Weapon X and Wolverine gaining his adamantium...

As I established in an old Comic Book Legends Revealed, Barry Windsor-Smith had worked with Chris Claremont closely on a number of X-Men projects during the 1980s, so when Windsor-Smith was given the chance to write an origin story for Wolverine in the pages of Marvel Comics Presents, he did not want to irk his friend and colleague by messing with anything Claremont had planned. He then talked to Claremont and later relayed that conversation to Wizard for their 1996 Wolverine Tribute issue:

I had a conversation with Chris Claremont in which he told me that he had always intended for Apocalypse to be the villain behind the adamantium experiment. For no reason other than courtesy to Chris, I devised the situation where the professor in the story was taking his orders from a higher-up. Despite this hindrance to my plot, I felt it best to give Chris the chance to eventually fulfill his wish to have Apocalypse be the real villain behind the adamantium experiment. Chris never got the chance to do his ultimate origin for Wolverine, but know that whenever the professor is being belittled by the guy at the other end of the phone in Weapon X, it's Apocalypse."

Here is one of the aforementioned phone calls in Weapon X...

However, like many X-Men subplots before it, Apocalypse being behind Weapon X never actually became a reality. I think it SHOULD be revealed as the case, though.

During the Inferno crossover, when Wolverine encountered Archangel (who had been given metal wings by Apocalypse) it sure seemed like there was some kind of connection there...

And in a 1990 Graphic Novel, The Jungle Adventure, by Walter Simonson and Mike Mignola...

Later on, when Wolverine was made Apocalypse's Horsemen of Death, Apocalypse sure was quick to be able to put the adamantium back into Wolverine's skeleton in Wolverine #145 (by Erik Larsen, Leinil Francis Yu and Dexter Vines), wasn't he?

I think it just makes sense.

A. Apocalypse already has been shown to put metal into people, like he did with Archangel.

B. Apocalypse GAVE Wolverine adamantium once already!

C. Apocalypse is obsessed with making mutants stronger, so it would make sense that he would make Wolverine darn near unbreakable, right?

D. It's just interesting to tie one of the major X-Men villains in with one of the major X-Men heroes.

There wouldn't even need to be much of a retcon, as there are so many competing origins of the Weapon X program out there that you could easily say that Apocalypse was just manipulating the truth and that he was the guy behind it all (plus, there's always the classic "Yes, that guy was behind it...but I was behind HIM").

So there you go, that's my first pick for a retcon that should be introduced. I'm SURE that you all have plenty of suggestions for this column, so be sure to e-mail them to me instead of suggesting them in the comments section. You can e-mail me at either brianc@cbr.com or bcronin@comicbookresources.com.