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I am talking about Wolverine with adamantium.

I don't know the weight of Wolverine, but is Wolverine with adamantium bones rather heavier than with calcium bones?

If some one has a canonical reference that would be nice.

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  • 7
    Does dog-paddling count?
    – John C
    May 19, 2012 at 10:37
  • Here's a test for you to understand why it's nearly physically impossible for him to swim. Go to the store, get a 50lb weight, strap it to your back and try to swim. You won't be able to do it. The adamantium adds nearly 100lbs to Logan's body weight, plus the metal is extremely dense. If it's extremely hard to swim with 50 extra pounds, imagine what it's like with double that.
    – Robert
    Jan 16, 2015 at 13:23
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    And, more importantly, can Swimverine Wolf?
    – Paul D. Waite
    Jul 23, 2018 at 8:04
  • Note that Logan may very well have learned to swim at some point prior to having the adamantium added to his body. The question is clearly about his ability to swim given the addition of over 100 lbs. of adamantium. Also note that examples from issues 75-145 of his comic would be after Magneto removed the adamantium, and before it was replaced.
    – RDFozz
    Jul 23, 2018 at 17:47

10 Answers 10

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  1. Wolverine (4th series) #16 - Issue Date: November 2011 - Story Title: Wolverine Forever

    They’re WRONG. Every damn one of ‘em. ‘Cept Namor, I can’t swim worth a damn.

  2. Unknown comic issue:

    "You ever try staying afloat when your bones are laced with Adamantium? It's like swimming with an anvil on your back"
    Damn.
    Put me in water, and I'm vulnerable.
    Put me in water, and I drown just like anybody else

  3. Wolverine: Weapon X #5

    Wolverine: "There's one think that's always made me uneasy. One thing I've never been comfortable around. The water. The deep ocean. The darkness of it. The depths. The mystery. And most of all, the fact that it can kill me."

Here's the full comic pages with #1 and #2 quotes

enter image description here

enter image description here

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    I can't swim worth a damn doesn't have to mean that he can't swim at all. He could just be saying that he sucks at swimming which with that much weight in his bones I imagine he would.
    – Kevin Howell
    May 18, 2012 at 17:07
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    @Kevin - see quote #2/#3
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    May 18, 2012 at 17:10
  • That just proves that he doesn't like and is scared of water or needing to swim, which he should be with that much extra weight. It doesn't mean that he can't swim at all. Just that he's not good at swimming and doesn't like it.
    – Kevin Howell
    May 18, 2012 at 17:15
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    I agree with this, the other answers stating that he could if he was strong enough don't take into account that the added weight has a much higher density than a human body does, so it is going to drag him down a lot more. Life jackets for instance only provide an extra ~22 pounds of buoyancy because humans are so close to the density of water.
    – NominSim
    May 18, 2012 at 17:18
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    @KevinHowell People get most of their buoyancy from the fact that much of our body is made up of water, i.e. the same density. Air in lungs does help, but it is only part of the equation: people who drown in water will of course float even with lungs filled with water. I do make an assumption about the density of adamantium, which is why I didn't make an answer since it's only my opinion. I just think its likely to be the case.
    – NominSim
    May 18, 2012 at 18:22
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An answer I hate to give: It depends on the writer. (See the end of my post)

He should be able to. Or, at least, the adamantium won't keep him from swimming. It will just make it harder.

From the Marvel Wiki entry on Wolverine:

Weight:
195 lbs (89 kg) (without Adamantium skeleton)
300 lbs. (136.1 kg) (with Adamantium skeleton).

An extra 105 lbs is nothing to sneeze at.. but, given his strength level, it's unlikely to be enough to keep him from being able to swim.

Some further checking, and it looks like he CAN, but it's hard for him, it frightens him a bit, and he doesn't do it well.

(I had the image of Wolvie and the helacopter crash here (and actually had it here first :) ) , but since it's in two other posts as well, deleting it to avoid wasting space.)

All that being said, I think this is something that has never been written consistently; we've seen him swim before, in the 'Claws' miniseries he did fine, yet the above image shows it scares him.. And I believe he had an underwater swimming fight with TigerShark, although Rogue pulls him from the water pretty quickly. With Greg Rucka writing for him, I believe he swam the Rio Grande, as well, in Coyote Crossing.

It looks like it really depends on the writer. Any experienced swimmer / SEAL / Lifeguard can tell you that it's quite possible to swim carrying an extra hundred pounds, even if it is tiring. So there's no reason he SHOULDN'T be able to, given his strength, endurance, etc.. But it seems to depend on the needs of the plot / writer.

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  • 11
    "...extra hundred pounds..." of what? Towing 100lbs of something buoyant and a 100lbs anchor are very different things.
    – Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight
    May 18, 2012 at 20:01
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    Well, for Lifeguard training as a Boy Scout, we swam to the bottom of a lake, and fetched weights left on the bottom... So I'm thinking someone with superhuman strength and stamina could carry 100 pounds of weight that was effectively mounted to him. In Coyote Crossing, he does it with no problem, although he does strip down to minimize additional weight.
    – K-H-W
    May 18, 2012 at 22:35
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    @K-H-W, Oh, he strips down. So that saved a couple pounds of clothing weight? That doesn't seem like very good writing.
    – ThePopMachine
    Mar 8, 2017 at 17:05
  • @ThePopMachine - It's not much, but it's some, and sodden clothing weighs you down two ways -- first the weight, and second, unless it's meant for swimming, it tends to give you additional drag. That said - yeah; it's not much, but I think it's meant as 'every little bit helps.'
    – K-H-W
    Mar 8, 2017 at 17:13
  • Is it a matter of strength? What about buoyancy?
    – jpmc26
    Jul 23, 2018 at 23:05
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Yes. Given the range of skills Logan has learned over his long life-span, swimming is something he would have learned how to do and used during his time as a member of covert operations. Under most protocols it would be a requirement.

It's not a mattter of training or ability

Of course, Wolverine can swim. His body weight, while an impressive 325 pounds, should be no match for superhuman levels of strength and stamina. He is capable of easily lifting 800-1200 pounds and running at speeds of up to 35 miles per hour for hours on end. His body produces limited fatigue toxins and those are processed immediately allowing him the ability to swim nearly indefinitely. The operative word is nearly. Eventually, trapped at sea, even he would drown through exhaustion.

His body, even enhanced with its extra 105 pounds of adamantium, would be a perfect enhancement because it is at the core level of his being. He would have to work a bit harder, swim a bit stronger, and his core buoyancy would be affected but he would be using his raw muscular strength to overcome that. We have human SEAL team members who have been trained to swim with 100 pounds of unbalanced and cumbersome equipment. His weight is completely internalized and already balanced.

Wolverine’s problem with water is a psychological one.

Warrior, Berserker, Engine of Destruction

Logan is the living embodiment of combat. His body is filled with a genetic disposition for battle. Bones and tissues regenerate from nearly every injury, as fast as he can be harmed, within reason. A body with bone claws, superior physical senses, combat awareness sharpened by decades of training. Beserk rages allowing his body under duress to be even more powerful, more deadly, so even when he is overwhelmed by enemies he can KEEP FIGHTING!

enter image description here

Swimming, and more importantly drowning, are directly opposed to his natural tendencies. Drowning is the antithesis of combat. You are alone, in the dark, with no one to direct your rage against. Oceans are large and almost impossible to cross under your own power.

Now imagine being a man whose body is designed to fight against any threat and win, surrounded by the only enemy he can never defeat, no matter how undying he might be, this would be an enemy he would be psychologically unhappy to confront, no matter how little or much swimming he would have to do.

Innate fear, magnified by his natural ability to survive

Wolverine hates the water because it can kill him, again and again, until he is rescued or until the trauma of drowning, one of the most traumatic ways to die, drives him insane. Drowning works against his nature, he is a being designed to struggle, and used to struggling effectively against any foe, struggling when drowning only increases the speed of drowning. From the way he talks whenever he talks about swimming, I am lead to believe he has experienced this trauma at least once.

Yes, Wolverine can swim. He does so with trepidation because it is one of the only ways he can be killed, again and again and is completely dependent on someone else to save him. As the perfect warrior, his psyche has trouble processing this and he is, and it makes sense for him to be, water averse.

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As you could see here, adamantium adds 105 pounds to his total weight.

Could he swim with 105 pounds of extra weight? Yes, but he will probably be exhausted really faster, and will then sunk has there is no way he could float.

You could see Wolverine swim on page 6 of X-Men Vol 1 #101, the first issue of the well-known Phoenix Saga. You could see the shuttle shrank and, in the middle panel of the bottom row, Wolverine is part of the swimming group.

[X-Men Vol 1 #101, bottom of page six

The Phoenix Saga was adapted in the X-Men animated series, so those events could be seen in X-Men (1992) - Season 3, Episode 30 :

Wolverine Swimming

The above screen cap was taken around 4:10 of the linked video

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  • He is not swimming.. Is he?
    – Ragnarok
    May 18, 2012 at 17:06
  • @SachinShekhar updated
    – DavRob60
    May 18, 2012 at 17:33
  • Since all of the characters are shown with only their shoulders out of the water, either the taller ones are squatting down while walking on the river (canal?) bottom; or Wolverine is either floating or treading water to avoid drowning.
    – Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight
    May 18, 2012 at 19:59
  • @DanNeely Check the video (2th link in the post), they goes out of a shrinking shuttle and swim several meters to the surface.
    – DavRob60
    May 18, 2012 at 20:24
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    On page 6 of issue 101 (the one DavRob60 mentions) it shows the group all neck deep in water after the shuttle crashes. The next scene shows them walking out of the water onto the shore. This implies some kind of swimming, and yes, confirmed to be in the comic too.
    – Gorchestopher H
    May 19, 2012 at 4:10
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The problem isn't the weight of the Adamantium but the the density.

Normal human body weight is 70% water, which is obviously the same density as water and doesn't drag us down. So it's the 30% of the rest of our weight that drags. Add lungs full of air which is lighter than water and staying afloat is natural to most people, no matter how much they weigh.

Wolverine is 300 pounds, but 105 of it is Adimantium, meaning roughly 30%. So for Wolverine only a little over 50% of his body weight is water and the other half is dragging. And depending on the density of Adimantium it could be dragging him down a lot.

Without knowing the density of Adamantum it's hard to say how hard it'd be for him to stay above the surface, but since it is a metal I assume it would be very exhausting for Logan. He'd have to apply constant thrust and would sink as soon as he tried to rest. Thanks to his super strength and endurance, I reckon he can swim but would be at at great disadvantage since he'd have to constantly use all his arms and legs just to keep from going down like a stone.

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Wolverine would be able to swim if his strength could support him while swimming.

Wolverine cannot float in water like other humans because of his Adamantium, but he could swim if he had the strength.

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YES, he can swim. It is shown in the movie X-Men Origins Wolverine. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men_Origins:_Wolverine)

After jumping from a plane he had to swim appreciable distance to reach the island where the antagonist Stryker resided.

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  • Do we see him swimming?
    – Valorum
    Jul 22, 2018 at 19:31
  • @Valorum: unless he teleported, which is not within his abilities, or did other tricks he swimmed that far.
    – theGarz
    Jul 23, 2018 at 15:14
  • @theGarz - or strolled along the bottom, Highlander style?
    – Valorum
    Jul 23, 2018 at 15:14
  • @Valorum: it's not "pirate of the caribbeans" and, beside the fact that's clear that he doesn't like water and then walk on the sea floor doesn't seem appealing to him, Sabretooth tried to kill Wolvie by drowning (scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/72693/…) and even if he won't definitely die he would be inconscious (scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/135304/can-deadpool-drown/…).
    – theGarz
    Jul 23, 2018 at 15:27
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    @theGarz - Neither of those seems like proof-positive that he didn't do this in the film.
    – Valorum
    Jul 23, 2018 at 15:30
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Wolverine can survive in water with some effort, but he does not deal well with the idea that he is more vulnerable in water and could easily drown.

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  • Can you offer any evidence to back this up?
    – Valorum
    Jul 22, 2018 at 19:28
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Alot of the answers here say that he would find it alot more difficult and tiring to swim compared to anyone else because of the extra 105 pounds weight. I don't see that being a problem as someone who weighs 200 pounds can swim just as well as someone who only weighs 95 pounds.

Bearing in mind that Wolverine weighs 300 pounds at all times, not just in water, and can run, jump, climb etc. just as well as most other heroes, he obviously has the muscles to carry that weight around with no great problem, and this would be true in water, on land or anywhere else.

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  • This doesn't address the question, nor does it offer any evidence
    – Valorum
    Jul 22, 2018 at 19:29
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It's not so much about how strong he is, it's if he can deploy enough of that strength. He obviously can swim, but it has to be laborious for him. His proportion are still that of a 200lbs person, even though he weighs 50% more. Which means that he can only deploy the amount of strength that a person of much lower strength can in the water. The power he can use is based on how much resistance (push/pull) he can create to move. And much like a normal human that resistance is limited by the size and shape of his hands/feet/legs moving through the water. And for normal humans as it is our strength already exceeds the amount of resistance we create in the water. At the end of the day, maximizing his form would be the real key to his swimming ability.

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  • You say it's obvious that he can swim but offer no evidence to support it
    – Valorum
    Jul 22, 2018 at 19:29

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