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In comics which are considered canon, are there any ways that Wolverine has actually been affected by electricity?

I'm having a lot of trouble finding cases where this has happened. The guy has a metal-coated skeleton so he should be pretty affected by electricity, I would think, yet there are no examples of this happening.

Is Wolverine vulnerable to electricity like a normal human, more so due to his metal skeleton or less so due to his healing factor?

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Wolverine gets affected as any other human being by electricity. Of course, having his skeleton covered in a conductive metal won't help to bear it.

However, you must remember that the main power of Wolverine is to regenerate in an overwhelming way from any cellular damage he receives.

Electricity can cause different kinds of damage to human beings:

  • It burns the skin, flesh and even bone if enough voltage is applied.
  • It can shatter also skin, flesh and bone depending on the shock, however this is less frequent
  • It can cause severe damage to the neuronal system, literally burning the nerves and even the brain.

Wolverine can quickly regenerate any type of damage to his skin, flesh, bone or neuronal system, so the answer to your question is:

Yes, it affects him.

Yes, it affects him in a greater way than a normal human.

No, it doesn't have any permanent harmful effect to him greater than other harmful events, like firearm shots, fire or acid.

BONUS: His skeleton makes him extremely vulnerable to magnetism (which is closely related to electricity), as our loved hero/villain Magneto had the opportunity to test on multiple occasions.

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    I don't understand why having a conductive skeleton would be a bad thing, if anything it should provide a path for the electricity to pass that would be much less damaging than travelling at random through his body; like a lightening rod
    – user20310
    Commented Nov 29, 2014 at 14:38
  • Can't you fry him long enough for him to be knocked out though? It takes time for him to regenerate, depending on the damage.
    – Sonny Ordell
    Commented Dec 4, 2014 at 1:16
  • I assume you can completely fry it's brains. This would be able to knock down him for a while, however he'll eventually come back again and probably faster and fiercer than you expect as his primal instincts will presumably reconnect faster when regenerating than the humanity that gets them restrained
    – Bardo
    Commented Dec 4, 2014 at 7:28
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There was an issue in the What If? series of comics (What if Storm of the X-Men had remained a thief?) in which Ororo electrocutes Logan through his claws.

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    And... does it do anything to him? You haven't actually answered the question
    – Izkata
    Commented May 29, 2014 at 3:06
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    To be fair, the What If comics aren't considered canon. What may/may not have happened to him in that issue may not at all match up with everything else.
    – phantom42
    Commented May 29, 2014 at 4:00
  • Indeed. The Punisher killed Logan by electrocution, but not in a canon comic.
    – Sonny Ordell
    Commented May 29, 2014 at 7:10
  • @SonnyOrdell - This one; i.sstatic.net/BDKJM.png
    – Valorum
    Commented May 29, 2014 at 10:39
  • @Izkata 'electrocutes' means fatally shock with electricity, so they have said what it does to him, even if the statement is of debatable correctness.
    – Pete Kirkham
    Commented May 31, 2021 at 8:55
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I would rank Wolverine's vulnerability to electricity as similar to any fancy energy zorch-blast. Depending on the severity it will hurt a lot, and usually, eventually, he heals.

Specifically for electricity, though, here is a page from Agents of Atlas #1 (2010). This is a flashback scene from the Olden Days where the Agents and Logan meet on Cuba during the Cold War. The M-11 robot employs one of its standard electric attacks. The Agents believe Logan to be human and quite dead, but he gets up next page.

enter image description here

Cut to modern times in Agents of Atlas vs the X-Men #1 (2010). Here M-11 and Wolverine meet again. And with similar attacks and results.

enter image description here

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Electricity should have no effect on Wolverine. Assuming adamantium is conductive like all metals, his skeleton would act as a Faraday cage (path of least resistance) allowing the electricity to pass through him protecting his vital organs such as his heart and brain.

He would have a small electrical burn where the electricity enters and in his foot where it exits his body nothing else. Anyone could survive these burns without the need of the healing factor.

Electrocution kills when the current passes your heart.

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  • It clearly does have an affect on him; i.sstatic.net/BDKJM.png - i.sstatic.net/MbULy.png
    – Valorum
    Commented Nov 28, 2014 at 11:08
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    While this isn't a Faraday cage I can't see anything wrong with your physics otherwise
    – user20310
    Commented Nov 29, 2014 at 14:37
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    Actually, the adamantium covering will act as a faraday cage for the bones, as it's a closed and sealed conductor. No electrical charge will ever reach the interior of his bones due to this. However, all the flesh and organs in direct contact with the bone covering will be affected by electricity, and with enough charge being applied all his body (except the actual bones protected by the faraday's cage) will become affected. The only way to avoid it will be to discharge it's skeleton taking ground through the claws.
    – Bardo
    Commented Dec 4, 2014 at 7:35

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