He bites, he slashes, he claws his way to his target. But he never misses. Once Wolverine has identified his prey, not even God can save that soul. Wolverine is one of the founding and one of the most long standing members of the X-Men. He is a mutant superhero and a guy no one dares to cross paths with. But how powerful is he really? Presenting – 16 amazing abilities of Wolverine the Animal – Ranked!!!
1. Mental Healing
His body can heal itself. But what about his mind!! Since Wolverine has been battling almost all his life, he has seen tons of violence. Even an average man can be driven insane with the sights of a battlefield. Wolverine has seen several so it is bound to drive him crazy. And yet he looks fine. It is because Wolverine also has a way to heal his psyche. When he faces a trauma, his mind will automatically try to erase that trauma by creating mental scar tissue. This is why Wolverine has recurring problems of amnesia.
2. Immunity from Poisons
Since his healing factor makes him virtually immortal, people think that Wolverine can be killed by other means. To kill Wolverine via poison ingestion has been a tried and failed method since millennia. His physiology coupled with his healing factor makes him virtually impenetrable to all forms of poisons and venoms his enemies can throw at him. This also makes him immune to the effects of any form of drug including coffee.
3. Can Speak Dozens of Languages
Since he is more than a century old, Wolverine is well versed in linguistics and can speak more than two dozen languages with perfect fluency. Wolverine has been to the corners of the Earth. He can speak Cheyenne, Arabian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Russian and even Japanese with the accent and dialect of a local. Since the X-Men’s weapons are always outside the country, his multilingual nature has been a help several times to the team.
4. Telepathic Resistance
Wolverine has perfect immunity to telepathy. His mind cannot be read by anyone, not even by the likes of Jean Grey and Professor Charles Xavier. This ability of his is well established but it has not been confirmed as to how it works. The leading theories are – his healing factor constantly keeps changing his mind, Weapon X augmentations and some claim it is because of the Adamantium laced skull.
5. Superior Intelligence
Do not let his feral look fool you. Wolverine is one of the most learned men of planet Earth. He has years of experience in not only fighting but also teaching. He has learned dozens of languages and concepts that make him a valuable X-Man. He is not the typical bookworm, but he knows enough to make even a Harvard teacher sweat.
6. Stamina
With a skeleton made of one of the heaviest metals on Earth, it was only a matter of time that this name would also be coming up. Logan has a reputation of being quick on his toes. His healing factor also helps him in this regard. Superhuman stamina has always been a part of Logan. His weapon plus augmentations enhanced it even further.
7. Espionage Skills
Wolverine might look like he likes to come in and go out guns blazing. But throughout his lifetime, he has headed several spy missions on behalf of several clandestine organisations. The missions involved expertise in the areas of sabotage, security systems, spy grade arms and infiltration as well as exfiltration skills. Wolverine might not look like it but he is a super spy. He also happens to be an Olympic level gymnast that adds on to his undercover campaigns.
8. Super Sight
Wolverine has extremely well honed senses of smell and vision. While the former is featured extensively in the movies and the comic books, the latter almost always escapes attention. But it is indeed worth mentioning. His regenerative healing factor gives Wolverine the ability to adapt his eyes to see in total darkness. This ability of his comes in handy several times since almost no other X-Man has the power to look in the dark.
9. Super Speed
He is not as fast as the Flash or even Quicksilver for that matter. But his level of speed is well beyond the comprehension of the human eye. Wolverine has a complete metal skeleton and his weight is way above normal. Once Logan found himself chasing Spiderman in the middle of Manhattan, while the latter was web slinging his way out of the berserker, and Wolverine still caught him. This just goes on to show how fast he is.
10. Close Quarter Combat
Wolverine is one of the chosen few X-Men who likes to fight up close, unlike the rest of the X-Men members. When his claws come out, Wolverine dances around his enemies like an angel of death. Taking damage that is instantly healed courtesy of his healing factor and giving back in kind to his enemies. This has made Wolverine one of the finest fighters in Marvel Universe history. And he will continue to be so as long as he keeps dancing.
11. Lie Detection
His senses of smell, sight and hearing couple together to make him a superhuman lie detector! When a person lies – he starts to sweat, and his pupils dilate as well as his heart beat starts to increase at a quickened pace. All of these minute variations are invisible to the naked eye but not to wolverine. He can pick up those minute changes and instantly detect when someone is lying.
12. Adamantium Skeleton
Many don’t see this as ability in the truest sense but trust us, it indeed is. Many of Logan’s other abilities would not be there if his skeleton wasn’t made of the hardest and strongest metal in the history of the Marvel Universe. His admantium skeleton gives him increased strength, stamina and durability in combat. But the origins of Wolverine and the Weapon Plus program, that gave Logan this skeleton, is a dark and painful one. But at least he got to have those cool adamantium claws!!
13. Can Talk to Animals
He is no Animal Man. But Wolverine has shown, on several occasions, to have empathy for the wildlife. His very name says it all. He can control animals to do his bidding as well as understand their emotions sometimes. On some occasions, Wolverine has even gone as far as to control whole packs of wolves as his own personal army. But he is no Tarzan since he likes to hunt other animals as well.
14. Super Strength
Did you think Wolverine did not have this ability? His skeleton is made of a substance that is 14 times denser than steel. The way he moves around like a butterfly on the battlefield is no small feat. Wolverine has managed to fight his way out with a lot of baggage in his bones. He has even managed to hold down a 1 ton with his bare hands. This all requires tremendous levels of strength. Moreover, his excellent healing factor repairs his muscles instantly when he tries to punch above his weight.
15. Berserker Rage
In the Norse Mythology, certain warriors are said to have the ‘berserker’ ability – the power to go into a trance like state where the warrior is only fuelled by rage and bloodlust. In this state, the warrior lacks self-control but is capable of maximum destruction. Wolverine, courtesy of his animalistic rage, is capable of entering into this trance like mode. God help that soul who gets in the way of a Berserker Wolverine.
16. Super Healing
His healing factor had to be at the top of the list. Wolverine is famous for coming out of almost anything the world can throw at him. Cut him, slice him, smash him, crush him, poison him or even smother him, Wolverine will always come back. He once regrew from a single blood droplet after the Phoenix Force destroyed his body. There is just nothing that the universe can throw at this guy that Wolverine cannot heal himself out of.
Wolverine last appeared in live action form in the movie, Logan. The official film synopsis for the movie reads:
In the near future, a weary Logan (Hugh Jackman) cares for an ailing Professor X (Patrick Stewart) at a remote outpost on the Mexican border. His plan to hide from the outside world gets upended when he meets a young mutant (Dafne Keen) who is very much like him. Logan must now protect the girl and battle the dark forces that want to capture her.
