How strong is Wolverine supposed to be? Peak human, or does he have enhanced strength?
I also have a vague recollection that he got stronger as he got angrier (berserker rage, or something like that), but I may be confused.
It has been a while since I have read comics regularly, and my memory isn’t always very good…
Another question – was he the first comics character to have a “healing factor”?
As always, any info would be appreciated.
If I recall correctly, Wolverine has Excellent Strength but can do Monstrous damage with his claws because they’re made from adamantium.
I haven’t read X-Men comics in years but back in the day Wolverine possessed the strength of a very fit human being. He’s not going to be beating Captain America in an arm wrestling competition. He doesn’t get stronger when he goes berserk he’s just more determined to hurt someone (like a real wolverine).
I don’t know if he was the first superhero with a healing factor though.
Paul Kirk, aka MANHUNTER, had a “healing factor” – and, yes, that’s what they called it – before Wolverine’s first appearance.
(Kirk was originally a big-game hunter who became a masked crimefighter in the '40s; in the '70s, he got reinvented as a youthful-looking blades-and-bullets hero who’d get bloodied but swiftly recuperate due to unorthodox treatment he received after getting mauled by an elephant during a post-WWII safari.)
You’d think that with his healing factor, Wolverine wouldn’t get as tired as quickly as a normal human and can probably push his strength into territory that would hurt or tire other people
He’s extremely strong from what I recall. His skeleton alone weighed something like 200 pounds, so he had to compensate for that.
His endurance is far beyond what a normal human could achieve. He fought Omega Red for 18 hours of active battle before losing.
I believe he’s 5’3" and weighs 300 pounds with the skeleton. It says he weighs 200 without it here.
You’re probably confusing him with the Hulk, whose strength goes up as his rage does.
Wolvie, at least as far as I remember, doesn’t do that - although he will probably push it a lot further than usual, because the only things that will keep him from pushing to the absolute limit (since he doesn’t risk injury because of his adamantium and healing factor) are the pain he feels despite the healing factor, and just not caring enough to go through the effort…both of which fly out the window once the adrenaline is pumping and he’s absolutely pissed off at his target.
During the classic X-Men run, he wasn’t depicted with superhuman strength, but was in excellent shape and had the willpower to accomplish things that were at the absolute limit of his ability. (Plus as mentioned, when he went on a rampage he stopped caring about how hurt he got which limited him even less, but didn’t actually change his lifting ability.) He does have superhuman endurance as a result of his healing factor.
During the '90’s and early Aughts, Marvel got less interested in presenting characters consistently and more willing to let artists draw cool stuff even if it wasn’t in keeping with a character’s established traits, so who knows what he may have done in the interim.
–Cliffy
It’s established in the first Genosha arc (Uncanny #230-something) that he slices his hand open every time he pops a claw. Since he’s often seen doing that when opening brewskis and the like, he obviously doesn’t care much about pain even in the most casual circumstance.
–Cliffy
But that could just be something he is used to.
I have an old Wolverine issue were he tosses a forklift at badguys like it was a sack of potatoes. Also during the time when his adamantiun was gone, he broke his own wrists to escape dungeon shackles while hanging from a wall, so without leverage. Neither are exactly typical - which is par for the course from comics. It’s all over the place. But on any given day, he’s clearly more than peak human. Just because he’s had martial arts training doesn’t explain leg muscles that enable huge leaps up giant opponents like sentinels.
That is when I became disenchanted with comics, by the way…
Yeah, I’m probably just thinking of the adrenaline factor. Thanks!
And the split second pain of a razor-sharp blade cutting through the skin isn’t really that much compared to the pain of your muscles repeatedly tearing and knitting back together, and tearing again.
Given that your muscles grow stronger and bigger due to recovery from micro-injuries caused during exercise, I’d think that Wolverine has the potential to be stronger than any human, peak or not, due to his ablity to heal instantly. He could exercise harder and more often than a normal human, thus allowing more muscle growth than a normal human.
Yeah, that’s what I’d guess – with his healing factor, his muscles are at peak-human-optimum all the time (which would make him comparable to Captain America), and he can keep operating at the outer limits of that envelope because strain injuries heal right away.
Because of the skeleton and healing factor, I’d peg him at ‘low superhuman’ - below Spider-Man, comparable or slightly superior to Captain America. Perhaps able to lift a car with difficulty.
Wasn’t that during his bestial appearance (tossing forklifts), after they tried to forcibly re-bond the adamantiun to him?
No, not that time.