On a surface level, it seems like Wolverine of the X-Men doesn’t have that many superpowers and the ones he does possess aren’t flashy or cool to look at.
His adamantium claws are awesome, but he has rarely been given a chance to use them, due to the fact that he often appears in productions that are intended for all ages.
This has meant that Wolverine is often forced to use his claws on robotic enemies, as he can’t slice human enemies into bloody piles of goo in cartoons, movies, and video games that kids might play.
Wolverine’s other powers aren’t that impressive; his healing factor suffers from a similar fate as the claws, as you can’t see him getting badly wounded in PG films and TV shows.
His superior senses can be useful, but they also pale in comparison to the fact that the X-Men have several powerful telepaths on their roster, who can do the job of tracking better than he can, save for a few specific examples that were tailor-made to make Wolverine seem more useful than he is.
Wolverine’s powers, as well as the effects of his adamantium implants, have been interpreted in many different ways by various writers over the years. His super durability, hearing, and senses can change in terms of effectiveness, depending on the story being told.
We are here today to look at the unusual properties of Wolverine’s body that have been revealed in the pages of Marvel comics.
From the blood that can be turned into superpowers potions to the retconned animal origin of his body, here are the 15 Crazy Secrets About Wolverine’s Body.
His Blood Can Be Turned Into Substances
Mutants were created in the pages of The X-Men as a means of explaining why someone had a superpower without having to come up with an origin story.
Mutants were just born that way, which is also why they have been used as an analog for various oppressed groups in society.
In the world of Ultimate X-Men, it is possible to briefly gain superpowers of your own, thanks to a substance called Banshee.
This substance can also increase the effectiveness of other superpowers, should you possess them.
Banshee was also incredibly addictive and caused emotional instability in those who took too much of it.
Wolverine discovered that his DNA was one of the main ingredients in Banshee, which had been created by Charles Xavier and Magneto in the past.
It later fell into the hands of the wrong people, whom the X-Men had to deal with.
The Moon-Boy Connection
Moon-Boy started out as a supporting character in Devil Dinosaur, which was a series created by Jack Kirby. Moon-Boy is a caveman, who acted as a sort of hero to other primitive people, alongside his dinosaur ally.
Moon-Boy’s appearance has often been compared to Wolverine, to the point where many fans have speculated that they are distantly related.
The connection between Moon-Boy and Wolverine was made canon in the Earth X reality, where the Terrigan Mists were put into the Earth’s atmosphere, in order to turn everyone into Inhumans.
It was revealed that Moon-Boy and his tribe were one of the only early groups of humanity who avoided been altered by the Celestial embryo within the world and that Wolverine was one of their descendants.
Berserker Rage = Psychic Immunity
Wolverine has a tendency to lose control in battle and enter a berserker rage, where he will willingly kill anyone who he perceives to be a threat.
Wolverine’s berserker rages make him faster and stronger and removes any restraint he has concerning the well-being of his enemies.
These rages also have the unintended bonus of making him immune to all but the most powerful of telepaths.
It has always been hard to use psionic powers on Wolverine, considering that his skull is coated in metal and years of repressed memories have given him several mental blocks.
His berserker rages make it even harder to read his mind, as Mister X learned while fighting him, as he could no longer use his powers to predict Wolverine’s movement in combat.
He Doesn’t Need To Go To AA
Wolverine used to be depicted as a cigar smoker, which he would often do in Xavier’s mansion or after winning a battle.
This is no longer the case, thanks to a smoking ban that was put into effect by Joe Quesada (the then editor-in-chief of Marvel) which prevented heroic characters from smoking.
Quesada put this ban into effect after losing both his father and grandfather to smoking-related illnesses.
Wolverine is one of the few Marvel characters who have nothing to fear from smoking, as his healing factor prevents any long-term damage from substance abuse. This also extends to excessive drinking, as well as drug use.
The smoking ban was put into effect due to Wolverine’s popularity, especially with children and teenagers, regardless of whether it actually harms him or not.
He Is Weak To Water
Wolverine’s skeleton is coated in adamantium, which is an indestructible metal. The adamantium makes Wolverine a lot more durable in combat and makes it impossible to break his bones.
The fact that Wolverine has a metal-coated skeleton also gives him one huge weakness in the form of water.
If Wolverine is dropped into a large body of water, then he would be unable to escape, as his skeleton would prevent him from being able to swim.
His healing factor would prevent him from drowning for a long time, but even that has limits.
The presence of the adamantium on his skeleton also means that Wolverine is a lot stronger than he looks, as he is constantly lugging around way more weight than the average person.
Nuclear Blasts Are A Mere Annoyance
The extent of Wolverine’s healing factor has changed many times over the years. His healing factor became a lot more powerful after Magneto ripped the adamantium from his body, as it was revealed that his healing factor was constantly preventing Wolverine’s body from being poisoned by the metal.
Wolverine has suffered being hit by nukes on several occasions, to the point where almost all of his body was disintegrated by the blast.
What little was left of his body was able to regenerate around the adamantium that had been unharmed by the explosion.
This makes it incredibly difficult to destroy Wolverine, as his adamantium-laced skull will usually protect his brain from damage, which will allow his body to regenerate from scratch.
A similar scene also made its way into The Wolverine, though the wounds that Wolverine suffered weren’t as severe as those he endured in the comics.
The Healing Factor Can Be Countered With Magic Or Technology
Wolverine’s healing factor has made him practically impossible to destroy in the hands of some Marvel writers.
There have been times when he has struggled to recover from a few cuts, while other stories have given him regeneration on the same level as Perfect Cell from Dragon Ball Z.
There are several methods by which Wolverine’s healing factor can be negated, which would make him no more resilient than a regular person.
It is possible to overcome the healing factor with a magical weapon, such as the Muramasa Blade. The magic of this sword allows it to cut at the molecular level, which prevents regeneration. Wolverine later used this sword to take out Sabretooth.
There have also been instances when nanites and devices that can nullify mutant abilities have affected Wolverine and prevented his healing factor from working.
The Survival Power
The version of Wolverine that appeared in the pages of Ultimate X-Men had almost identical powers to his main continuity counterpart… or so we all thought.
Nick Fury performed some experiments on Wolverine in the pages of Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk which involved separating his head from his body.
This was made possible by the fact that adamantium isn’t quite as durable in the Ultimate universe, as Wolverine learned when the Hulk ripped him in half.
It was discovered that Wolverine’s healing factor may actually be a superpower-related to survival, as his head managed to adapt to being decapitated by evolving in order to be able to absorb oxygen through his skin.
The disembodied Wolverine head was also able to survive being put into a vacuum.
Nick Fury’s hypothesis may have been wrong, as Wolverine was later killed by energy blasts performed by Cyclops and Iron Man, even though his hand survived their onslaught.
The Healing Factor Can Create Cures
The X-Men cartoon of the ’90s used the classic Days of Future Past storyline as the basis for several different storylines.
Bishop was used as a replacement for Kitty Pryde, as he was a major character in the comics at that point in time, which meant that he was often sent back to the past in order to prevent his horrible future timeline from coming to pass.
Bishop and Cable were both sent back in time to stop Apocalypse from releasing a devastating virus in the present day, which was intended to wipe out those he believed were unworthy.
It was discovered that Wolverine’s healing factor was so powerful that it could be used to create an antibody that could protect people from the virus, which was how Apocalypse’s plans were thwarted.
The Glove Retcon
Wolverine debuted in the pages of The Incredible Hulk as a villain to the title character. It wasn’t until later that he joined the second generation of X-Men and became a hero.
Wolverine’s backstory had yet to be fleshed out during his introduction, which included the nature of his powers and the origin of his skeleton being coated in adamantium.
Len Wein has admitted that Wolverine’s claws were originally intended to be part of his gloves, rather than an actual extension of his body.
The revelation that Wolverine’s claws were bionic implants came much later.
That revelation was later retconned when it was revealed that Wolverine had bone claws that had been coated by the adamantium, which had been with him since his youth. It was only due to the damage done to Wolverine’s memories that he was unaware of this.
Clothes Just Slow Him Down
Death by exposure is one of the most unpleasant ways to pass away.
This is what it is called when someone passes away from exposure to the environment for prolonged periods of time and can take the form of things like dehydration or hypothermia. These kinds of demises can be long, drawn-out affairs.
Wolverine doesn’t have to worry about that, as his healing factor offers protection from exposure and other environmental hazards.
Wolverine has survived in the wilderness without any clothes on numerous occasions, including times when he lived alone in Canada, Tibet, and on the top of a mountain.
Wolverine’s healing factor will always counteract any kind of hypothermia or exposure to heat and will even allow him to survive for extended periods of time without any food or water.
The Sense Weakness
Wolverine’s senses make him an excellent tracker, due to his uncanny sense of smell. Wolverine can also distinguish shapeshifters from the person they are trying to impersonate, just by being able to read their scent.
The Skrulls had to think of a way to fool the superior senses of people like Wolverine during the Secret Invasion event, which involved creating an entirely new form of metamorphosis.
It is possible to turn Wolverine’s senses against him and exploit them as one of his weaknesses.
This happened in the pages of the 340th issue of The Incredible Hulk, as the Hulk realized that he could turn Wolverine’s amazing hearing ability against him.
He did this by clapping so hard that it sounded like a thunderbolt, which messed Wolverine up in a way that he couldn’t defend against.
He Has Eaten Himself
Wolverine’s healing factor has several regenerative properties, but none of them are comfortable when in action.
Wolverine has talked about how it hurts every time he unsheathes his claws and how he has to pop them out a few times a day in order to prevent them from closing.
There have been times when Wolverine has been trapped in locations that lack any kind of food. His healing factor will keep him alive longer than a regular human, but that doesn’t mean there is no pain or discomfort involved.
Wolverine revealed in the pages of New X-Men that there have been times when he has sliced off his own flesh and eaten it, as his healing factor will just regenerate the piece of body that he cut off.
This tactic would be incredibly painful, but it would allow Wolverine to survive indefinitely without other food sources.
The Need For Endless Anesthetic
Wolverine used to be presented as a heavy smoker until the official ban on his smoking was imposed. This hasn’t extended to alcohol, as Wolverine can still be seen drinking beer in the X-Men comics.
Alcohol and nicotine were Wolverine’s two major vices for a while, as we never saw him ingesting any harder substances.
The reason for Wolverine’s abstinence is linked to his healing factor, as it has the ability to quickly process substances and render them inert.
We know this due to the fact that powerful anesthetics don’t work on Wolverine for long, as his healing factor just burns it off.
It takes a near-constant feed of anesthetic to keep Wolverine unconscious, which the people at S.H.I.E.LD. had to do in order to keep him under control.
The Real Wolverine
Wolverine’s past was a mystery for a long time, due to the fact that his memories were seemingly altered at some point. Wolverine was also repressing a lot of memories, due to the significant emotional trauma that he suffered throughout his life.
It wasn’t until the House of M event that Wolverine regained his memories, where he recalled his childhood and upbringing in a wealthy household.
These revelations concerning Wolverine’s past would not have come to pass, had Dave Cockrum and Chris Claremont had their way.
They had initially planned for Wolverine to be just that, a wolverine; one that had been genetically evolved by the High Evolutionary into a more advanced being.
This was hinted in the #98th issue of Uncanny X-Men when a genetic scan revealed that Wolverine wasn’t a full mutant. This information was later forgotten.
Dave Cockrum has said that Stan Lee himself nixed the idea of Wolverine being a wolverine.
Can you think of any other secrets about Wolverine’s body? Sound off in the comments!
