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I am interested to know how exactly Wolverine's body regenerates/heals from wounds.

From what I understand about the 'human' body's healing is that it uses a complex system of metabolism and other processes1; but Wolverine's healing is powered by his healing factor2 or Hyper-regeneration.

How does his healing factor work? i.e. where does his body get the energy to power such regeneration?

The Hulk3 gets his "powers" (strength, mass etc) from an unlimited source via the cosmos4 (not exactly sure how this works, but I do get the concept); Is Wolverine's healing factor the same or a similar concept?

*Canon only answers please

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    Its comic books. It doesnt have to have a reasonable explanation.
    – James Christopher
    May 28, 2014 at 4:11
  • @JamesChristopher I disagree; often it is nice to find the inner workings of often 'magical' concepts.
    – Möoz
    May 28, 2014 at 5:14
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    It can be nice to know the mechanics of how something works, but when you start trying to find the energy source for superpowers you have gone too far. Most superpowers break the law of conservation of energy. Some, like your Hulk example, get an explanation, but most do not. ...
    – numaroth
    May 28, 2014 at 6:34
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    (Cont.)Even when there is an explanation it's mostly useless because it is not likely to affect anything. For instance, I can make up an explanation: "Wolverine gets the energy for his healing factor by being 100 times more efficient than the average human in extracting energy from food" and it will have the same affect on the character and stories as any other explanation; which is to say it will have none.
    – numaroth
    May 28, 2014 at 6:36
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    Wolverine is a problem when you look at his powers too closely. He can: regenerate from any injury without the addition of more mass (he doesn't need to eat to have mass to repair himself). He can: regenerate nerve and brain tissue, normally two things that just don't recover well once damaged. He can: without setting his bones, automatically return to his natural shape after injury, as if his body was nothing more than a piece of memory plastic returning to its defaulted shape. Wolverine's powers defy the description of healing as we know it.
    – Thaddeus Howze
    Aug 19, 2015 at 18:01

4 Answers 4

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Like @James Christopher said, in the comics, the healing factor isn't really described. In some characters could be magic, in others it could be a mutation, or whatever. Wolverine's is mutation. Just like Mystique has the ability (Mutation) to take the physical form of someone else, Logan can heal himself. AFAIK That is all we know

There are numerous characters within the Marvel Universe that possess some form of accelerated healing ability. The source of these "healing factors" ranges from genetic mutation to artificial enhancement to magic.

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There is no canon answer. It's because of the X gene, the source of his powers. The best way to think of it is as accelerated healing. The human body can heal from broken bones, muscle tears, cuts and bruises and some heal quicker than others. This is the same thing to a much higher degree.

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A normal human being has an immune system that provides energy for any damaged/ broken cells so that they can divide (to fill a gap), but not all human cells have the DNA coding to divide and multiple, for example organs and epidermal parts of the body can not divide or grow back atomically perfectly or at all.But wolverines mutation must contain similar cells/stem cells to other regenerative creatures such as the salamander. Plus the X-gene gives this ultimate power to his immune system or mutation. That's just my guess since he can not fully regenerate from a hand or piece of brain or even a single cell or pool of blood, basically in simple terms he can heal like a salamander at an extremely faster rate based on how powerful the X-gene is.

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The mutation is a factor however based on my understanding of the male human body it is the testosterone that is responsible for a man's healing factor. It can repair tissue damage, just not restore cauterized limbs, however with evolution being a factor if your parents had a high testosterone or, estrogen in women, your healing factor could be improved based on your genes.

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