Wolverine is one of the most enduring characters in Marvel Comics’ history. We’ve been in awe of the exploits of James Howlett/Logan for over 40 years in print, and he’s one of the most famous characters in superhero movie history. After all, without the Ol’ Canucklehead, Hugh Jackman might not have had as prosperous a career as he’s had.
While Wolverine is known for being able to take and dish out a lot of pain and punishment, he has a lot of abilities. Everyone knows about his trademark claws that emerge from his fists and his healing factor capable of curing the most devastating of injuries. On top of that, there are a couple weaknesses these abilities confer. No great superhero is without weaknesses, and Wolverine is no different. But what fans might not realize is that a lot of these weaknesses (and powers, even) are only evident to those who read the comics. Movie fans get to see these to a certain extent, but there’s definitely stuff that they’ve missed out on over the course of the films.
So, without sitting down and reading decades’ worth of comics, how is a fan supposed to find out these strengths and weaknesses? Well, that’s where we come in! We’ve compiled some of the more unexpected things that fans don’t realize our favorite X-Men character can do. If we’ve missed anything major, let us know. Hopefully, you’ll learn something new along the way!
20 Power: Survive Things No Normal Human Could
You can be sure that whenever The Incredible Hulk and the Rabid Wolverine get together, someone’s not walking away from that encounter. Indeed, there are many battles Wolvie and Hulk have had over the years (Wolverine debuted fighting him, in fact) but one came to a pretty gross climax.
Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk showcased that Wolverine is capable of even surviving being devitalized.
This kind of ability isn’t shared amongst a lot of the superhumans in the Marvel Universe. Sure, a lot of super-folk have healing factors, but being able to survive being ripped? That’s a whole new level.
19 Weakness: Genetically Engineered Viruses
In 2013’s The Wolverine, Logan is plagued with harsh memories of the events of X-Men: The Last Stand (yeah, us too, buddy). Seeking a release from his mortal coil, Logan hears about Ichiro Yashida needing a way to prolong his life.
Logan agrees to allow Yashida to infect him with a parasite that would take away his healing factor, while passing it onto him.
Unfortunately, Ichiro passes away during the early goings of the movie and Wolverine is left with a parasite still attached to his heart. For a large part of the movie, Wolverine suffers nearly fatal blows and the film stands out as being a rare instance of the audience feeling scared for the injuries Wolverine was enduring.
18 Power: Immune To Most Diseases
While it’s well known that Logan has lived a very long time and can survive the grimmest of injuries, he’s also got quite the immune system. This elevated immunity gives him invulnerability to all human diseases.
Cancer? Not a problem. Arthritis? Nah. Even a common cold? No!
Wolverine doesn’t take any sick days; it’s tough work being the baddest X-Men in the mansion. This also means he can’t be poisoned by conventional ways. Since his body cleans itself of toxins, it also means that he can’t enjoy a nice cold one the same way that other people are able to.
17 Weakness: Adamantium Poisoning
The bonding of the adamantium to Wolverine’s skeleton is one of the most iconic moments in comic book origin stories and gives Logan many augmentations to his abilities. It coated his claws and skeleton in indestructible metal that prevented him from being injured or breaking his claws and other bones.
However, this also has its drawbacks, as his healing factor has to work overtime to make sure he doesn’t perish by the metal poisoning his body.
The bonding process ended so many Weapon X experiments before Logan. He’s the first successful patient to survive the procedure. When Magneto removed the metal from his body, it turned him into a much more beast-like creature.
16 Power: Hand-To-Hand Combat Expert
Logan’s signature claws are attached to his fists, so obviously he’s gotta be pretty good at throwing hands, right? Well, he isn’t just a decent brawler; he is also a student of many different fighting styles. Wolverine spent a lot of time in Japan learning from some of the most skilled martial artists in the world.
While Captain America might be regarded as one of the best hand-to-hand combatants in the Marvel Universe, Logan might have him beat.
Logan’s Adamantium skeleton also helps put a ton of power behind his punches. Even if he doesn’t have the claws out, you definitely don’t wanna get in a fight with him.
15 Weakness: Can Be Ended By Muramasa Blade
Usually, it doesn’t matter what you throw at Wolverine. You could shoot him with .50 caliber bullets, try and blow him up with grenades or bombs, or light him up. None of it really works.
However, there are some weapons that can end the Ol’ Canuck. Namely The Muramasa Blade.
The sword was forged by legendary Japanese blacksmith Muramasa and contains a piece of Wolverine’s soul so that it may cut beyond his mortal flesh. So it turns out that the real way to get rid of Wolverine is with what is essentially a cursed sword. Good to know!
14 Power: Growing Certain Things Back After Being Cut Off
This has actually happened a few times enough for it to warrant its own ability. Yes, we know Wolverine’s Healing Factor is impressive, but this is probably one question you had in your mind too: Can he grow back certain parts if they get cut off? Well, actually, yes! We know for certain because it’s happened more than once.
He first had his Seventh Claw shot off by The Punisher, who somehow knew it would grow back.
Why did he know? No one really can say for certain. Given that this happened, though, I want to probably start writing a Punisher/Wolverine Fanfic. Now, if only Marvel would return my calls…
13 Weakness: Super Sensory Overload
While Wolverine’s sense can often be a boon to helping him track down stealthy enemies that might want to avoid a fight, he might have some trouble with loud or smelly opponents.
In The Incredible Hulk #340, Hulk slapped his hands together for his famous thunderclap and it was very effective in overloading Wolvie’s senses.
The clap is devastating when used on normal opponents, but it almost ended Logan in his encounter here. Sometimes too much of a good thing can be bad! Just goes to show that not all powers are good all the time.
12 Power: Survive Digestion, By Hulk
So we might be getting a bit specific with this entry here, but it’s such an incredibly awesome moment.
We’d be remiss if we didn’t have a Wolverine article without mentioning the time when Wolverine was EATEN by the Hulk and survived.
This moment comes from the iconic Old Man Logan arc, and depicted a villainous Hulk family nearly chowing down on the X-Men’s most ravenous member. Luckily for Wolverine and for us, it didn’t last very long. Just shows that Ol’ Wolvy can really get himself out of any situation, huh?
11 Weakness: Water (Specifically, Going Under It)
While there is a whole lot of physical trauma Logan can be put through, he still needs to breathe. If you were to put him out into space or keep him down for a while, he may not be coming back.
The movies even used this trick when they tried to get Wolverine out of the picture.
In the 2014 adaption of X-Men: Days of Future Past, Wolverine was encumbered by rebar and other heavy debris as he sank to the bottom of a lake. Luckily, he was saved by Mystique disguised as Stryker and lived on to become a part of the Weapon X program. The rest is history.
10 Power: Can Withstand An Atomic Bomb
Wolverine comics tend to have three things: Lots of Logan feeling sullen over his past and lost memories, him leaping at something far away to pounce on whoever might be unlucky enough, and some kind of test of his healing factor.
If you’ve seen 2013 film, The Wolverine, you know that Logan is capable of surviving when in the blast radius of an atomic weapon.
Indeed he not only can survive in the radius, but he can survive being within the immediate blast zone as well. In fact, Raven Software wanted to include a section in 2009’s X-Men Origins Wolverine: The Video Game, in which you’d play as Wolverine’s skeleton after an atomic detonation. Unfortunately, though that part was cut in early development.
9 Weakness: Memory Loss
While having that membrane of scar tissue can prevent Wolverine from sustaining additional damage to his brain, there are some drawbacks.
Logan has lived through some stuff. It’s fair to say he has one of the most traumatic lives in all of Marvel’s pantheon of superheroes.
It’s kind of crazy that he’s stayed on the side of good and remained relatively sane all these years. Add this ability on top of the psionic shields that Professor X is able to put onto his X-Men’s minds before missions, and he’s a real headache for psychics.
8 Power: Can See In The Dark
This one plays more into the animalistic nature of Logan’s Wolverine moniker. Logan not only has the healing factor and claws, but heightened senses that make him one heck of a tracker.
Logan can track prey at night while using senses like an acute sense of smell, superhuman hearing, and even Night Vision.
If you’ve ever played either X2: Wolverine’s Revenge or the aforementioned X-Men Origins: Wolverine, you’d remember that you were able to track footprints and see in dimly lit spaces by activating his animal senses. Attention to detail is really something here!
7 Weakness: Carbonadium
Omega Red uses weapons made out of a metal that’s very useful against Wolverine. Carbonadium is the third strongest alloy in the Marvel Universe. Not only that, but it’s highly radioactive and can inhibit mutant powers.
This means Omega can pretty much take out Wolverine’s Healing Factor.
Not only has Omega Red used this metal, but Deadpool also used it in the hilarious off-shoot Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, in which he plunged a sword made of the metal into Logan. It prevented him from healing the wound and he eventually succumbed to the Merc With The Mouth.
6 Power: Fluent In A Ton Of Languages
As mentioned before, Wolverine spent a lot of time seeing the world. Whether he was fighting in a War in some other country or running a skunkworks Black Ops operation for X-Force, Logan’s seen his fair share of this world.
Being as worldly as he is, Logan has had to learn a lot of new languages. He can speak Japanese, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Cheyenne, Arabic, Filipino, Thai, Italian, Persian, Korean, Vietnamese, French, German, Portuguese, and more! It’s kind of jarring how smart Logan is, given his depiction as a merciless brute. It’s also weird considering how much memory Wolverine has lost over his years, yet he can still retain linguistic knowledge.
5 Weakness: Reality Bending Foes
In another entry from Wolverine: Killing Made Simple, Logan says he can be easily beaten by reality-bending villains. This is one that we definitely haven’t seen in the movies.
The book has Wolverine briefly touch on a few scenarios in which he could perish, since he’s lauded for being nigh-immortal.
This novel should definitely be sought out by hardcore Wolverine nuts, since it really drives home that he isn’t as invincible as we think he is. When it comes to dimension-shifting wizards or demons from supernatural realms, Logan might be out of his element.
4 Power: Expert In Swordfighting
It might not seem very necessary for a character like Wolverine to ever wield a weapon. The man has knives coming out of his hands. Why does he need to hold a knife? Well, the claws may not always have the reach Wolvie needs, but he also learned how to fight proficiently with a katana.
While in Japan, Logan studied under the tutelage of The Silver Samurai before becoming his adversary in his later adventures.
The Silver Samurai is one of the toughest members of the Hellfire Club, as well as the Brotherhood of Mutants. His knowledge and personal connection to Logan are also dangerous assets.
3 Weakness: Being Hurled Into The Sun
While most folks might succumb to being hurled into the sun without question, Wolverine’s healing factor does prompt the question of whether or not he would survive something that might end a lesser man easily.
In the Wolverine: Killing Made Simple comic, Logan says that he almost perished when trying to end Jean so she’d resurrect as Phoenix and take them to safety. And it’s a good thing he was able to, since Wolverine could really feel the burning sensation. Not even the strongest metal on Earth could stand up to the full power of the Sun.
2 Power: Resistant To Mind-Altering Powers
While Logan’s physical invulnerability is amazing, he also has the capability to repair his mind after dealing with psychic attacks from mind-based opponents. Logan has endured a lot of crazy villains that have messed with his head before.
Luckily, his healing factor makes up for this by developing a mental scar tissue to prevent damage.
When Wolverine takes on the likes of enemies such as Mastermind, Kid Omega, or Emma Frost; he’ll most likely be covered by this ability. Honestly, living in a world of mutants, it’s a really handy thing for him to have as a power.
1 Weakness: Being Frozen In Adamantium
Wolverine has perished a good amount of times in the comics. Luckily to the resurrecting powers of popularity, he always seems to find his way back in some way. In 2014’s The Death of Wolverine, Logan ended up being encased in rapidly cooling adamantium.
Wolverine looks back on his life before ending the last doctor trying to restart the Weapon X project and watching the sunset before perishing. Without being able to breathe, and his healing factor being gone earlier in the book, Wolvie is left as a gross statue until someone’s able to bring him back with some trademark comic book science.
