Of all of the X-Men, Wolverine has perhaps the most well-known set of powers and abilities. His healing factor and adamantium claws are iconic in and outside of the Marvel Universe, and they're part of the reason that he became one of the faces of the X-Men. This healing factor eventually gave out, however, leading to the clawed Canuck's temporary death. When Marvel finally brought him back, they did so with an interesting twist on his other major superpower.
Wolverine's resurrection saw him briefly wielding "hot" claws, but subsequent stories would completely forget this somewhat ridiculous ability. This wasn't the only time in comics or adaptations of comics where characters have been given new powers to simply fit the story or because it seemed cool, with some abilities sticking better than others. Here's the story of how Wolverine's hot claws cooled off, and the reception to similar additions to superhero mythos'.
Wolverine's Hot Claws
The Return of Wolverine mini-series by Charles Soule, Steve McNiven, and Declan Shalvey brought Wolverine back to the land of the living after his adamantium skeleton had been found to have been removed from his grave. Initially an amnesiac and unsure of where he was, Logan was revealed to have been revived by a woman named Persephone, who hoped to use her resurrecting abilities to build an army loyal to her control.
Wolverine's healing factor allowed him to eventually break through this control with the help of Charles Xavier, but his resurrection had another unexpected side effect. The resurrection overclocked Wolverine's now restored healing factor, with the excess energy and his own rage causing his claws to heat up. These "hot claws" were even deadlier than ever, but they had the drawback of weakening Wolverine's healing. Much ado was made about power, but as soon as it came, it went. Later stories, namely the House of X era of X-Men comics would never bring back the hot claws, and they were largely derided by fans as being kind of a dumb idea.
Secondary Mutations and New Superpowers
This wasn't the first time that X-Men comics added new powers and abilities to the characters. For instance, Beast and Emma Frost both experienced secondary mutations later on in their lives, with the latter gaining the fitting ability to cover herself in icy diamonds. In Beast's case, it changed his animalistic appearance somewhat, turning him from a blue ape-like man into a blue cat-man. These concepts have largely stuck around, with Beast's form later changing again into another mutation.
Wolverine himself has had various retcons and new "abilities," such as the revelation of his bone claws and his brief "savage" devolution. The former has become intrinsic to his character, while the latter, much like hot claws, was seen as a blatant attempt to make an already popular character even "cooler." As can be seen in comics now, however, neither idea stuck around, and for good reason.