Wolverine is the best there is at what he does, and he does a lot more than most people know. Logan has grown from a grizzled loner into one of the greatest heroes in the Marvel universe. He's been a member of every major team, led the X-Men and X-Force, and has triumphed over some drastic threats.
Wolverine's powers aren't the flashiest abilities, but they definitely get the job done. However, he has plenty of other talents that he rarely uses, and some that can make a huge difference on the battlefield when occasionally he dusts them off.
Updated on February 9th, 2023 by Scoot Allan: Wolverine's healing factor continues to be his most powerful weapon, alongside his adamantium claws. His ability to heal his body kept him alive for decades, although it's been less needed during the X-Men's Krakoan Age and their resurrection protocols. While he'll still always use his healing factor and adamantium claws, it's possible they could join a few other powers that Wolverine rarely uses if the X-Men can maintain their new society.
10 Wolverine's Sense Of Touch Is Incredibly Enhanced
Wolverine's enhanced animal senses are one of his greatest abilities, but he tends to focus on his increased sense of smell. However, his sense of touch is so sensitive that he can feel each thread on a piece of clothing he wears. Like Daredevil, Wolverine can feel the indentations in printed papers and feel microscopic dents and impurities in objects.
Wolverine often has to investigate things during his adventures, so it's odd he doesn't make better use of his enhanced sense of touch. It's an ability that could come in handy, but for some reason, he doesn't do much with it these days.
9 Wolverine Has The Unique Ability To Understand Doopspeak
Wolverine is a skilled linguist who has learned quite a few different languages over his many years. It's a skill he often uses in his globe-trotting adventures. However, there's an aspect to this ability he doesn't use much since his time running the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning.
Doop is a mysterious alien mutant being who worked at the school. He first appeared as X-Statix's videographer before joining Wolverine's roster of X-Men, but he mysteriously spoke a coded language. Wolverine was one of the few people with the ability to understand Doopspeak, but he hasn't had much need to use it in the Krakoan era.
8 Wolverine Can Communicate With Animals
Wolverine's adamantium skeleton completely changed the nature of his mutation. Unchecked, his mutation would have turned him into a human-animal hybrid, but the adamantium locked his skeletal structure and occupied his healing power. Most of his current powers are offshoots of this mutation, including his barely used ability to communicate with animals.
Wolverine spent long stretches of time living in the wilderness, often shacking up with wolves or similar pack animals. He could understand and communicate with them, which would have come in handy if his mutation had run its course and he'd lost the ability to speak. Wolverine doesn't use this power nearly as often as he used to, but it's always on hand if he needs it again.
7 Wolverine's Hot Claws Power Just Sort Of Disappeared
Many X-Men have gone through interesting mutations over the years, including Wolverine. After Wolverine's death and resurrection, he gained the ability to superheat his claws. It fed off his healing factor to give him extra offensive power but hindered his ability to mend his wounds. The "hot claws" power made little sense, considering his claws could already cut through anything.
Wolverine's hot claws disappeared shortly after they debuted, probably due to poor fan reaction. It's possible he lost the power because of frequent Krakoan resurrections or he simply stopped using it because of the toll it took on his healing factor. Still, the ability to enhance his offensive capabilities even further is a useful trick to keep up his sleeve.
6 Wolverine's Sense Of Sight Would Make Him An Incredible Marksman
Another of Wolverine's enhanced senses he doesn't use often is his sense of sight, which allows him to see across vast distances. Wolverine can see perfectly even in complete darkness, which augments his aim even further. Wolverine can focus on small targets much further away than a regular person can unaided, and this enhanced sight has allowed him to see things that most people miss.
For whatever reason, Wolverine's superhuman sight is one of his least-used senses. It might be that he's so used to seeing that way that he doesn't really bring it up, but there are plenty of opportunities to use his super sight on missions that would help him and his team.
5 Wolverine Is An Ideal Poison-Detector
One of Wolverine's least-used abilities is his sense of taste. A regular human who smoked as much as he does or drank the rotgut whiskey he prefers would've completely destroyed their taste buds. However, because of his healing factor and superpowers, Wolverine's taste buds are highly refined. He can eat or drink something and isolate each different flavor as he digests it.
This ability, when coupled with Wolverine's healing factor, opens up an interesting possibility. Wolverine is the ultimate poison detector, which would come in handy when dealing with some comic villains' poison-based attacks. Wolverine could also taste any poison in food while his healing factor protects him from its effects. It's strange that Wolverine doesn't use this ability to detect poison more often.
4 Wolverine's Superior Hearing Is Often Treated As A Weakness
Wolverine is extremely hard to sneak up on for a lot of reasons, including his super-hearing. Yet foes like Sabretooth and Daken have both managed to sneak up on him and bypass his enhanced hearing because he doesn't rely on it as much. Wolverine's hearing is as superhuman as his sense of smell. It's just the one he forgets to use the most.
Wolverine's super hearing should be his second most useful super sense, but it's usually just played as a weakness. Hulk's patented thunderclaps hurt Wolverine more because of his super hearing. Other than that, it's rarely used as an advantage and has become more of a detriment.
3 Wolverine Has A Helpful Supernatural Enemy
Wolverine's healing factor has brought him back from the brink of death and rebuilt his broken body on numerous occasions. He's fought off diseases and infections over the years, but he's had some supernatural assistance as well. Wolverine has been locked in an ongoing battle for his soul with the Angel of Death, Lazaer.
Wolverine's connection to Lazaer has made it even harder for opponents to kill the stubborn mutant, and it's not easy to take him over supernaturally either. Wolverine has been bitten and transformed by some of the scariest comic book vampires and werewolves. While his healing factor has fought back against the infecting bite, he's also battled the supernatural side effects due to his strengthened immunity.
2 Wolverine Has Limited Immunity To Telepathy
One of the more interesting aspects of Wolverine's animal mutation is his resistance to telepathy, which has ebbed and flowed over the years. At first, his berserker rages clouded any telepath's attempts to enter his mind. When Wolverine lost his adamantium and became more feral, his mind was completely impenetrable to even the strongest omega-level mutant telepaths.
Since Wolverine's gotten his adamantium back, this power has ebbed again. This could be because of his conscious effort to use his intellect, or due to the better control he has over his animal side. Whatever the reason, Wolverine rarely demonstrates this immunity anymore.
1 Wolverine Has Largely Gained Control Of His Berserker Rages
Wolverine has always been one of the most dangerous mutants on the planet, partially due to his berserker rages. Wolverine went into uncontrollable rages and destroyed everything in his way, including his friends. While it could be a huge advantage in combat, it was also something Wolverine struggled to control.
Over the years, Wolverine's gotten better at controlling his berserker rages, and they rarely, if ever, happen anymore. While uncontrollable rage wasn't good for Wolverine's mental health, it still had its uses. The enhanced strength, speed, and pain resistance he gained during a berserker rage allowed him to deal with some of Wolverine's strongest villains.