Wolverine is well seen as one of the Marvel Comics‘more durable and dangerous heroes. With an incredible healing factor and an unbreakable Adamantium skeleton, Logan is one of the toughest customers and is notoriously difficult to kill. But no invulnerableas long as you know your weaknesses.
Wolverine’s impressive abilities don’t make him entirely immune to damage, and despite his largely “invincible” reputation, there are More than a few superpowers that can kill Wolverinewhich means that sooner or later, any one of them could spell doom for the fan-favorite X-Men icon.
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Reality Manipulation
Like most of Marvel Comics’ other iconic heroes, Wolverine is not immune to the whims of the House of Ideas’ reality warpers. On more than one occasion, this Happy Mutant has found himself at the mercy of beings that can alter the very fabric of being, and he has had his fair share of trials especially against the likes of powerful worldbenders like Proteus.
Wolverine: Killing made simple by Christopher Yost, Koi Turnbull, and Sal Regla highlights this weakness, as Logan himself notes that a reality warper could turn him inside out or erase him from existence altogether. But seeing how this is not a specific weakness of Wolverineit doesn’t rank very high compared to other, more targeted threats that Logan might face more or less regularly.
9
Magic
As with reality warping, magic users like Doctor Strange or Selene are another general threat to Wolverine that isn’t exclusive to his specific power set. That said, that doesn’t make the occult any less dangerous for ol’ Caknucklehead, and he’s had more than a few issues with sorceress skill sets to know how much of a threat they pose to him and his fellow X-Men.
A surefire way to finish off Wolverine using magic, however, is the vaunted Muramasa Blade. A magical sword created by Logan’s mentor of the same name, this is one of the few weapons that completely negates Wolverine’s healing factor – meaning any death involving the Blade is a death from which Wolverine will not return – and has even been used on other characters, such as a clone of Sabretooth with healing abilities comparable to Logan’s.
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Sensory Interference/Manipulation
Wolverine’s healing factor may be his most famous ability, but it’s far from the only power he brings to the table thanks to his incredibly keen sense. Unfortunately, these senses can be both a disadvantage and a blessing, considering how sensitive they are and how severely they can be manipulated.
Just like Daredevil, Logan’s enhanced sensory abilities give him a heightened perception of the world around him and anyone or anything that might distort that perception, such as hypersonic weapons and even ordinary mace or tear gas – as shown in Wolverine4 by Greg Rucka and Darick Robertson – could seriously harm Wolverine’s perceptions and combat capabilities. Logan’s involvement with the environment depends largely on your animalistic sensesand if that is out of the question he will be at a serious disadvantage.
7
Super strength
Considering his first appearance featured a battle with the Incredible Hulk – and the iconic rivalry that followed – it’s somewhat surprising that superhuman strength could pose such a threat to Wolverine, especially considering his supposedly unbreakable Adamantium skeleton. But unfortunately, it’s this same skeleton that actually makes super strength a threat to Logan.
World War Hulk: X-Men #2 by Christos Gage, Andrea Di Vito and Laura Villari reminds mutants that the Jade Giant is the strongest there is, while also delivering one of the Hulk’s most brutal fights against Wolverine to date. Using his unparalleled strength to repeatedly punch Logan in the face, Hulk turns his opponent’s Adamantium skull to a disadvantage as Logan’s brain is repeatedly smashed against the environment – taking a battered Wolverine out of the fight for good.
6
Heat Generation
Although Wolverine’s mutant healing factor works incredibly quickly, it still needs something to work with. Against a sufficient blast of intense heat/energy, such as from mutant hunter Nimrod or another Sentinel or sufficiently advanced enemy, Logan’s hopes of victory are incinerated as quickly as his flesh.
Fans have seen Logan burned to death on more than one occasion. From the classic X-Men: Days of Future Past plot by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, for Wolverine: Killing made simple by Yost, Turnbull and Regla, and even more recently in Hell #1 by Jonathan Hickman, Valerio Schiti, and David Curiel, total incineration is one of the most effective ways to take down Wolverine for good and has worked more times than most of the other entries on this list.
5
Nanny’s aging/de-aging powers
The armored vixen named Nanny may be one of the X-Men’s most obscure adversaries, but she presents one of the most urgent – and most disturbing – threats Wolverine could face. Obsessed with “protecting” mutant children, Nanny has a habit of reducing the aging of her adversaries to an infantile state, as she did with X-Men as Storm on more than one occasion.
Wolverine: Killing made simple by Yost, Turnbull, and Regla explains how such a power would affect Wolverine, and it’s absolutely horrifying. One of the most gruesome ways he could die, Wolverine’s Adamantium skeleton would once again present a major disadvantage, as his flesh and internal organs would age while his skeleton remained unchanged. And even if he survived the trauma, his flesh would be forced to heal incorrectly, maiming him beyond recognition.
4
Phases
One of Wolverine’s closest allies and former apprentice, Kitty Pryde herself, presents one of the biggest threats Wolverine could be forced to face. Endowed with the ability to pass through solid objects, including unbreakable Adamantium skeletonsthere’s nothing stopping Kitty from killing Logan if she suddenly wanted to.
And if…? Wolverine: Enemy of the State #1 by Jimmie Robinson, Carmine Di Giandomenico and Robert Campanella shows fans what would happen if the two were forced to face each other as a beleaguered Shadowcat faced off against her mind-controlled mentor in a fight for survival. Placing her hand on Logan’s skull before it solidifies, Kitty sacrifices the appendage to keep it lodged in Wolverine’s brain – preventing his healing factor from bringing him back when nothing else could.
3
Magnetism
Considering all the times the X-Men have faced their most famous foe, Magneto, and all the times they Logan was humiliated by the Master of MagnetismIt’s no surprise that Erik’s power set is one of Logan’s biggest vulnerabilities. At the mercy of someone like Magnus or even his daughter, Polaris, Wolverine is little more than a puppet with Adamantium, as their powers give them complete control over his entire skeletal structure.
Not only does this mean they can bend and break Logan in any direction they wish, but they can even rip the Adamantium itself out of his body, just as Magneto demonstrated in X-Men #25 by Fabian Nicieza, Andy Kubert, Matt Ryan and Joe Rosas – a traumatic event that almost killed Logan at that moment.
2
Hydrokinesis
Wolverine’s body is capable of healing itself from many things, but one of Logan’s biggest weaknesses is his vulnerability to drowning. Thanks to the weight of his Adamantium skeleton, swimming is no easy feat for the Beclawed Berserker, and Logan still needs to breathe as much as anyone else, and drowning has been shown to kill mutants with similar healing functions, such as Wolverine. ‘own son, Akihiro.
Wolverine’s healing factor can restore his organs to working condition after virtually any attack, and this includes his brain, but if he remains underwater for an extended period, Logan’s brain won’t have a chance to recover from hypoxemia – and even if that happens, he will be trapped in a hellish cycle while underwater. This makes water-using opponents like Hydro-Man incredibly dangerous to the likes of Wolverine.
1
Energy theft
Wolverine’s healing factor is his greatest strength and is a major part of why he is so dangerous in combat. This healing factor has single-handedly saved him from death more times than anyone cares to count, but without it he is incredibly vulnerable. Against power thieves like Rogue or Morlock, Leech, Logan is just as vulnerable as anyone else, if not more so.
After all, fans have seen what happens to a depowered Wolverine, as his Adamantium skeleton would do, and poisoned him to death without a healing factor to counteract it in more than one story. Wolverine is the best there is at what he doesbut he needs his healing factor to do this. And if any opponent has the ability to permanently steal Logan’s powers, then Wolverine won’t be coming back.