So what does Wolverine do when he chips a tooth?

[Orrex]

I mean, it must happen all the time, since he appears in every Marvel comic every month, and he takes a lot of hits to the head and jaw.

So when he cracks a molar, what happens? What happens if he breaks it off at the gumline?


For that matter, if he got busy with a woman using only a chemical contraceptive barrier, would his little guys bust right through it?

[LaurenG]

1. You misunterstand the Wolverine

He has adamantium in his bones not his teeth or body fluids. He has to go to the dentist just like you do. I have loved Wolverine since we first met back in the 90's I should know these things.

[dr.strangelove]

2. but his healing factor would maybe repair a chipped tooth

I admit to not reading a comic book since the late 80s, but if I recall, Logan had a healing factor that let him heal immediately from minor injuries. I bet his teeth would repair themselves quickly if chipped.

As for the sperm, I bet their would be thousands of little Logans running around if the OP were true. He has been around for a long time, and I always assumed he had some success with the females of the species.

[LaurenG]

3. Good answer self healing that applies to teeth. nt

[Motown_Johnny]

4. The mutant's offspring did not have the same mutant abilities

Nightcrawler is the best example of this. He couldn't shape shift but he could teleport instead.

There is no reason to assume Logan's sperm would have abilities similar to himself.



I'll agree with the healing of the chipped tooth idea although teeth and bones are so similar it is easy to argue that he might have antomantium (sp?) teeth.

[Orrex]

8. Until Marvel sez otherwise, we must assume that his sperm would have the same power

There have been numerous examples of Logan healing back to full power from even minimal samples of his organic matter. Marvel is free to declare that his sperm, having just half of his DNA, lacks his healong factor, but until then we have to base our assessments on published evidence. Dammit!

[Motown_Johnny]

9. Then why wouldn't every drop of blood become a new Logan?

The idea that those single cell sperm would have the abilities as the one who created them is not evident to me.

Would Gambit's sperm be able to make stuff blow up?

[Orrex]

11. First of all, Gambit is totally lame

And we're not talking about Gambit's half-assed power; we're discussing Logan's phenomenal healing ability. Gambit's so-called power has nothing to do with raw, physiological survival. Logan, in contrast, has the ability to grow back from a drop of blood or less. Personally, I think that when they made that choice they seriously weakened Wolverine as a character, but that's the character as written.

Further, we can cite Niven's essay on Superman as a guide. Niven postulated that Kal-el's invulnerability and superhuman speed would extend even to his genitive output. If we accept this, then we might as readily accept it about Logan.

For that matter, a blood cell is not intended for survival outside of the body, whereas that's exactly what sperm is designed for!

[Motown_Johnny]

12. All Kryptonians would have Kal-el's powers

These abilities were not unique to the individual. His cousin and General Zog, among others, had the same abilities. Extending this to Logan, or any mutant, is seriously flawed. Each mutant is unique in his/her abilities.


A sperm is intended to survive outside of the body for a time. It has no way to replenish energy the way Logan does. He can have a nice meal or a beer, or both. The sperm cell will exhaust it's energy and die. Nothing could possibly be done to extend that life even if regenerative abilities were present.

[Orrex]

13. Au contraire!

Seminal fluid is packed with nutrients intended to maximize the lifespan of sperm, so Wolvie's little homunculi would have plenty of energy to get the job done.

And my point in mentioning the Kryptonian angle was that Niven has already opened the doors to extending a superhuman character's abilities down to the microscopic level, based solely on evidence on the page.

Since Wolverine has been shown to regenerate from a drop of blood (X-Men Annual #11 Lost in the Funhouse) or less (Wolverine Volume 3 #43 Vendetta Part 2), we must deduce that his regenerative powers do indeed apply at the cellular level. Therefore it is no leap at all to suppose that his sperm would carry the same ability. In fact, if were to assume otherwise, we would need to explain why this one product of his body is excluded from his power.

[Motown_Johnny]

18. Possibly because the chemical would actively be trying to destroy the cell

but at this point I can't support my argument any longer.

I was unaware of those comic books and only know X-Men through the cartoons and movies.

I will deffer to your better judgement on this issue. The unfortunate outcome of this conclusion is that Logan may be a dead beat dad. There was never any mention of him caring for his offspring so he either abandoned all of them or he never had unprotected heterosexual sex with a woman able to conceive.

I would rather believe he didn't have kids.

[Orrex]

19. You know, your final point is interesting and disheartening!

I was simply riffing on the power itself without really considering the implications beyond the geeky "what if" nature of it.

Could be any number of neglected Logan Jr's running around out there.

[Motown_Johnny]

20. So we agree X-23 doesn't count?

She wasn't his fault.

[Orrex]

21. She's a little after my time. Wasn't she a clone?

If so, then he's probably in the clear.

[Motown_Johnny]

22. yep clone

[Orrex]

23. Ugh. Too many clones in the Marvel universe

Spidey, Wolvie and all the rest. No thanks!

[Orrex]

5. That was kind of my point, actually

I'm not sure that I'm down with the "healing teeth" thing, but even if he goes to the dentist he's screwed. The anesthetic won't work on him, and if they have to implant a post in his jaw, his body would presumably heal and push it right back out.

Unless his teeth do actuall heal themselves--which I don't actually accept--then he'd have a mouthful of brokens!


Also, what I meant about his precious bodily fluids was that they would presumably be immune to spermacides just like his body is immune to conventional poisons, not that they were themselves adamantium and/or would work like little wiggly bullets.

[LaurenG]

6. You've given me much to think about

Lets start with his tooth problem . He has amazing pain tolerance so whatever they do to his tooth he should be fine. There is always adamantium fillings and if nothing else caps after a root canal. The swimmers hooking up with an egg would have to be prevented by the female, she would have to take precautions such as birth control pills. Of course if the republicans get in office there could be a problem with that but in the interm I think these scenarios could be easily dealt with. What else ya got?

[Orrex]

7. But you're forgetting that the fleshy inner part of the tooth would regenerate!

So if the dentist drills out the pulp and jams an adamantium post in there, Wolvie's either going to have to deal with the pain and pressure of that constrained regrowth, or else he'd have to deal with his body pushing out the post and dislodging the cap. Either way, it's going to make the agony of Chris Clairmont's awful dialogue seem like heaven by comparison.

And I never did get a good answer for the earlier question of how does Wolvie breathe?

[Yavin4]

14. "He has to go to the dentist just like you do." X-Men Have a Health Plan?

What other benefits come with the job? Vacation? 401K?

[Orrex]

15. They have one hell of a gym on site

The one at my office is pretty nice, but sure as heck doesn't incorporate Shi'ar holographic technology.

[LaurenG]

17. Yes I would guess they can negotiate any plan they want

think of all the talented people who are extraordinary and are all friends with each other. Someone has to have an Uncle/aunt/sister etc who is a dentist. As far as 401-k who needs that? Wolverine can have all the money he wants, he's been hanging around long enough to collect a bunch of "retirement" or just be the beneficiary of all of his dead relatives fortunes. I dare anyone to try and stop them from taking any vacation they'd like.

[Swede]

10. "Oh god,I'm still stuck with the nerds in grade 8"

As Leonard always says