# Wolverine hypotheticals **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-books-manga\ **Created:** [September 9, 2024, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023 "2024-09-09T18:03:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/1 "2024-09-09T18:03:55Z")
Can Wolverine be indefinitely immobilized by being frozen solid? Or does that count as an “injury” that his healing factor would try to regenerate with _liquid_ water? For that matter, aren’t there any number of situations where his healing factor would be perpetually countered– stuck in a tank of acid, dropped into the Sun, etc.? Ditto Hulk, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/2 "2024-09-09T18:10:34Z")
Just don’t try slicing him in half: > **[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Split](https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/split)** > > Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Split ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/3 "2024-09-09T18:16:54Z")
Wolverine can’t regenerate damage to his claws or bones, can he? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/4 "2024-09-09T18:22:28Z")
I thought his claws and bones were adamantium and therefore indestructible. I think pre-grafting, he could regenerate both, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/5 "2024-09-09T18:23:45Z")
The answer, of course, is “it depends on the writer.” Getting frozen solid only to be dramatically released by an ally months or years later? Totally on brand. Getting frozen solid only to dramatically burst free on his own? Also on brand. > [@Pleonast](#): > > Wolverine can’t regenerate damage to his claws or bones, can he? You presumably mean the adamantine grafted to it. The answer is “no” but also “the metal is indestructible” but also “it depends, see above.” I think on at least one occasion he survived having the metal ripped right off of them? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/6 "2024-09-09T18:27:29Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > The answer, of course, is “it depends on the writer.” And the current editor, of course. I don’t think there is a single character whose power doesn’t change due the whims of the writer and editor. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/7 "2024-09-09T18:31:12Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I thought his claws and bones were adamantium and therefore indestructible. I think pre-grafting, he could regenerate both, yes. I guess it was never clear to me how his augmentation prevented his natural regeneration. When he gets shot by a bullet, he regenerates the damage and the bullet is eliminated somehow. But fill his bones with metal, and they’re permanently damaged. (I mean, I know the actual answer is “it’s cool to have metal bones and claws”, and that’s good enough for me.) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/8 "2024-09-09T18:34:53Z")
Wolverine used to be unique in that his body didn’t reject adamantium. Now it seems that every sixth characters has it shoved into every orifice you can think of. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/9 "2024-09-09T18:36:45Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Now it seems that every sixth characters has it shoved into every orifice you can think of. Catheter-Man was really taking it too far. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/10 "2024-09-09T18:37:58Z")
There was another woman with adamantium grafted to her bones in one of the X-Men movies. Assuming, for the moment, she also has his healing factor (or else she couldn’t accept the adamantium process?), is she still alive, frozen solid with adamantium and lying at the bottom of that tank? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/11 "2024-09-09T18:41:50Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > I think on at least one occasion he survived having the metal ripped right off of them? [Yes. Magneto ripped the adamantium from his skeleton at the molecular level.](https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/wolverine-adamantium-skeleton-history-explained) **RS** - That would be [Lady Deathstrike.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Deathstrike) ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/12 "2024-09-09T18:52:38Z")
Thanks! So, do you think she’s still alive at the bottom of that tank, dying/regenerating forever? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/13 "2024-09-09T18:53:46Z")
She was in **Deadpool & Wolverine** , so at least a few variants got out. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/14 "2024-09-09T19:00:45Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > I guess it was never clear to me how his augmentation prevented his natural regeneration. When he gets shot by a bullet, he regenerates the damage and the bullet is eliminated somehow. But fill his bones with metal, and they’re permanently damaged. When Wolverine’s shot, the bullet is usually pushed back out the way it came by his healing flesh. The adamantium is coating his bones, so when his bones try to reject it, they’re pushing it away in all directions at the same time. It can’t move because it’s being pushed in opposite directions, and it can’t deform or break apart, because it’s adamantium, which is (mostly) indestructible. It also has the side effect of repressing his healing factor, because it’s constantly trying to both force the adamantium out of his body, and repair the damage caused by adamantium poisoning. When he had the metal torn out of his body by Magneto, his healing factor suddenly got a lot more powerful. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/15 "2024-09-09T19:05:15Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > When he had the metal torn out of his body by Magneto, his healing factor suddenly got a lot more powerful. That’s also when they decided that he’d always had bone claws underneath the adamantium. Those were the days of The Good Drugs. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/16 "2024-09-09T19:09:26Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > That’s also when they decided that he’d always had bone claws My favorite Wolverine bit was when someone asked him if it hurt when the claws came out, and his answer was, “Every time”. Imagine having a super-cool weapon like that, but you **knew** using it would hurt _every single time_. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/17 "2024-09-09T19:18:01Z")
In terms of things that can kill Wolverine, there’s been a few in the comics. The Muramasa blade is a magical katana whose wounds suppress healing factors. carbonadium is a form of artificial adamantium that has a similar, less powerful effect. There have been a couple bio-engineered virus that have shut down Wolverine’s healing factor, one of which led to his eventual death (he got better). Being completely atomized (such as by being thrown into the sun) has also killed him (he also got better). He’s also been killed by having his brain instantly pulverized by a psychic attack, before it could send a “start the healing factor” message to his body (did not get better, but it was a What if…? comic). ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/18 "2024-09-09T19:27:35Z")
I suppose they could put one of those magic necklaces from DP 2 that stop all mutant powers and then just kill him. And, he was killed in the Logan movie somehow, I just don’t remember how. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/19 "2024-09-09T19:30:16Z")
Old age and decades of adamantium poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023/20 "2024-09-09T19:32:08Z")
He was also affected by the zombie virus in the Marvel Zombies timeline, so apparently his healing factor didn’t work against that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wolverine-hypotheticals/1007023.md?page=2)