If there's one truth about Wolverine that everyone seems to acknowledge, it's that the guy loves to get into fights. That being said, if Wolverine really doesn't love getting into fights, he needs to make some huge lifestyle changes. Drinking, smoking, and fighting seem to make up about 80% of his life.
The problem for Wolverine is that he never backs down from a fight, meaning that he's perpetually biting off more than he can chew. Despite Logan's healing factor, adamantium claws, and ferocity, there are several heroes and villains who take Wolverine down every time they duke it out.
Updated On November 4th, 2023 by David Harth: Wolverine's debut in 1974 was a game-changer for Marvel. While the character wouldn't immediately become iconic, as Wolverine's popularity rose, he started to appear everywhere. This led to Wolverine battling many heroes and villains. Wolverine is known for picking fights he can't win, and there are lots of characters he's never beat in a fight, despite his fearsome reputation and constantly talking about how he's the best there is at what he does.
15 616 Wolverine Has Never Defeated Galactus
Wolverine (Vol. 2) #133-138 is a cosmic odyssey for the ol'Canucklehead, and it ends with a battle that no one thought Wolverine would ever fight. After being brought to space by an alien who needs his help, Wolverine finds himself face to face with a foe he has no hope against: Galactus. Galactus is an interesting enemy because he's rarely been beaten by anyone less than a god. The best most can hope for is that Galactus decides the fight isn't worth the expenditure of energy and moves on.
So, while Wolverine definitely survived this battle, he certainly didn't win it. However, when it comes to Wolverine beating Galactus, an important distinction must be made. The Wolverine of the 616 Universe has never defeated Galactus. That said, a Wolverine has helped kill the World Devourer. The Marvel Zombies Wolverine was able to defeat Galactus with the help of the other Marvel Zombies, but this was only after devouring Silver Surfer, getting the Power Cosmic, and working as a team.
14 Juggernaut Is Too Unstoppable For Wolverine
Juggernaut is a physical powerhouse, and Wolverine has found himself battling the villain, usually alongside the X-Men, many times. Juggernaut is empowered by the dark god Cyttorak with amazing Hulk-level strength and is unstoppable. Once he starts running at someone, nothing can stop his forward momentum. Juggernaut and the X-Men have had some fierce battles, and while Wolverine has played a key role in beating the Juggernaut — usually using his claws to remove Juggernaut's helmet for the X-Men's telepaths can take him down — he has never defeated Juggernaut on his own.
Wolverine has faced off against a lot of enemies who are much stronger than him, like the Hulk, and he's even won some of those fights. However, for some reason, Wolverine has never been able to defeat Juggernaut on his own. That doesn't mean he wouldn't try. Wolverine even tried to fight Juggernaut when all he had was bone claws. However, Wolverine has never been able to beat this unstoppable foe.
13 Orchis's Nimrod Unit Has Killed Wolverine Multiple Times
The X-Men have fought many Nimrods over the years. Nimrod units are the most powerful Sentinels and usually time travel from the future. However, the Orchis Initiative has created one in the present and it's been a powerful enemy. It's defeated Magneto and Xavier, killed the latest team of X-Men at the Orchis attack on the Hellfire Gala, and has been slapping around Juggernaut like he was nothing. However, before all of that, Nimrod killed Wolverine multiple times.
Wolverine and X-Force attacked the Orchis Forge on a bunch of occasions and every time, Nimrod killed the entire team, including Wolverine. This Nimrod unit took advantage of its ability to use multiple bodies at once, so that Wolverine would think he destroyed it, but its other body would attack and kill him. Wolverine's inability to defeat Nimrod allowed Orchis to grow more and more powerful, leading to their eventual attack on Krakoa.
12 Wolverine Has Hurt Thanos But Never Beat Him
Thanos has fought everyone at one time or another, with the most memorable occasion being when he had the Infinity Gauntlet. Thanos snapped away half the universe pretty soon after getting the Gauntlet, before the heroes even knew he had it, ravaging the universe. Adam Warlock, with the help of Doctor Strange and Silver Surfer, brought together a group of surviving heroes to fight the Mad Titan as a diversion. Wolverine was one of these heroes.
Wolverine ran in with his usual ferocity and got the drop on Thanos, hitting him with all six claws in the chest. Without the Gauntlet, this may have hurt Thanos. With it, it was a meaningless attack. Thanos transformed Wolverine's bones to spongy rubber, ending their short scuffle. Since then, Thanos and Wolverine haven't really fought much, but it's obvious that Thanos would beat him even without the Gauntlet.
11 Ultron Would Destroy Wolverine
Wolverine's time on the Avengers was surprisingly Ultron-free, although the evil android did show up. After returning to Earth in a different body, Ultron was retrieved by the Intelligencia, who ended up capturing Spider-Woman as well. The Avengers came to free her, but during the battle, Ultron turned back on and held off the Avengers long enough to escape. Ultron bided his time and created an army of drones, then attacked the world, destroying most of humanity and many of their heroic defenders.
Wolverine would fight in that long defeat, but ended up going back in time to kill Hank Pym, preventing Ultron from being made. However, this created a terrible alternate future, forcing Wolverine to go back in time one more time, stopping himself from killing Pym. Instead, Wolverine gave past Hank Pym the idea for a back door code into Ultron, one that would shut him down when he fought the Avengers at the Intelligencia base. So, technically, this can be looked at as a victory for Wolverine, although he didn't create the backdoor code and also didn't plant it. In a one-on-one fight, Wolverine wouldn't be able to beat Ultron.
10 Dark Phoenix Has A Huge Advantage
Putting anyone up against Jean Grey when she's gone full Dark Phoenix isn't fair in the least. Galactus would be in for a hard fight in this case. Wolverine would barely be kindling on the bonfire she created.
Wolverine managed to kill the Dark Phoenix in the movie X-Men: The Last Stand, but this never happened in the comics. Anytime Wolverine has tried to battle the Dark Phoenix in the comics, the situations ends poorly for him and anyone else within a five-mile radius of the scene.
9 Venom Is Too Much For Wolverine
Wolverine has a lot of notorious abilities, including his advanced healing factor, enhanced senses, unbreakable Adamantium bones, and matching claws that can cut through virtually anything. He can handle pretty much any threat on Earth.
Unfortunately for Logan, the Venom symbiote is not from Earth and it isn't impressed by any of his abilities. He actually might not even be able to cut through the symbiote. Venom has more juice than Wolverine can deal with, though they would probably make good friends, all things considered.
8 The Punisher Is A Creative Fighter
Frank Castle brings out a lot of strong emotions in his peers. Most of them hate the Punisher, probably because he's constantly shooting people in the face and is more of a mass murderer than a hero. The vast majority of Marvel's heroes would love to see Castle in jail.
Keeping in mind that Punisher has no powers to speak of, Wolverine should easily beat him. But few people are as creative in battle as Frank Castle. The Punisher once took Wolverine down by leaving him pinned under a steamroller, and always seems to get the upper hand with Logan.
7 The Invisible Woman Punked Wolverine Out
For years, people have underestimated the Invisible Woman since she's surrounded by some impressive heroes in her own family. In truth, Susan may be the most powerful of them, not to mention the most vicious by far. Invisible Woman is unbelievably formidable, and she can beat most enemies that she finds herself up against.
When Wolverine was brainwashed by Hydra and the Hand, he attacked the Fantastic Four at their home. Of all the members of the team, it was the Invisible Woman who had him dead to rights. She turned his optic nerves invisible so he couldn't see and put force fields in his lungs so he couldn't breathe.
6 Apocalypse Has Too Much Power
For centuries upon centuries, Apocalypse has walked the Earth, using his formidable powers to inflict his will on anyone and everyone. He has long been a proponent of the concept of survival of the fittest, though he takes it a lot more literally than some.
Apocalypse and Wolverine have had personal issues on more than one occasion, due in no small part to him forcibly making Wolverine into one of his Horsemen. But a full-powered Apocalypse has proven to be too much for Wolverine in the comics.
5 Wolverine Seems To Hold Back Against Captain America
Logan and Steve Rogers fought together in World War II. Additionally, the Super Soldier Serum powered Captain America up enough that he and Wolverine are relatively equal. It also turns out that a Vibranium/Adamantium alloy shield is a good counter to Adamantium claws.
No matter how hard Wolverine tries, Captain America consistently comes out on top of their various confrontations over the years. This is likely due to the fact Wolverine deeply respects Cap and subconsciously holds back when they fight.
4 Cyclops Has His Number
Wolverine's most strained friendship is easily with Cyclops. The two of them long had a bitter rivalry over the heart of Jean Grey, one that Cyclops kept coming out ahead. While they eventually became friends, that old animosity has always lingered. Cyclops has proven to be an amazing hero, though, and his leadership skills have allowed Wolverine to overlook their grudge many times because, although Logan doesn't always like Cyclops, he trusts him.
Wolverine and Cyclops have faced off more than a few times over the years, but Cyclops keeps winning. That's probably for the best since Wolverine emerging victorious would probably lead to Cyclops' being mortally wounded.
3 Proteus Is Just Too Powerful
The son of X-Men ally-turned-enemy Dr. Moira MacTaggert, Proteus has proven to be one of the most powerful and dangerous evil mutants on Earth. His telepathy, telekinesis, and ability to warp reality are both potent and deadly. Proteus has challenged the X-Men many times over the years, although he's recently become an ally of the mutants he used to fight, working with the Five on Krakoa while the mutant country was still extant, helping resurrect dead mutants.
However, Proteus needs human hosts to survive. Wolverine might be able to kill off the hosts, but outright defeating Proteus has proven to be well outside his skill set. If anything, Wolverine would end up being the best possible host, given his healing factor.
2 Wolverine Has Nothing For Thor
The God of Thunder versus the best there is at what he does. In their current forms, Thor has the obvious advantage over Wolverine. Frankly, it would be interesting to see what would happen to Wolverine's Adamantium skeleton if Thor bashed it into oblivion with his Uru hammer.
Interestingly, a potential, distant future paints a much different picture. Thor is the king of what's left of Asgard and has its full power and Wolverine has the Phoenix Force. That would be a brutal fight, to say the least, though Thor still might have the edge.
1 Squirrel Girl Is The Champion
Squirrel Girl shouldn't hold victories over the likes of Doctor Doom and Wolverine, but that hasn't stopped her from making that a reality. Not only did she defeat them, she utterly trounced them and gave them both beatings they won't soon forget.
Some people think that all Squirrel Girl does is control squirrels. She does do that, but she also has enhanced strength, speed, and agility. On top of that, she also has a prehensile tail and retractable knuckle spikes. They don't call Doreen Green the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl for nothing, a truth Wolverine has learned the hard way.