When a young Wolverine — then Jimmy Howlett — first developed his mutations, he had no idea what a life he was going to lead. The boy ended up taking on the name Logan, and, eventually, Wolverine, and gained the abilities to wield bone claws — and, functionally, live forever. One of Wolverine’s mutations was a regenerative healing power beyond what any living human has.
Not only does he have super senses, but he can pretty much instantly heal from any injury or wound. This helped him live in relative vitality for over a century; however, it was not for a lack of trying that Wolverine lived as long as he did. There were countless times he could have died in the X-Men movies and, somehow, he managed to survive.
10 As A Boy When His Father Was Killed
Before a young Wolverine’s powers even manifested, he witnessed something truly horrible. The man who had raised Wolverine as his son, John Howlett, was killed by a man named Thomas Logan. Even worse, when Wolverine’s powers manifested as a result of his rage, and he killed Thomas Logan in revenge, the man revealed that he was Wolverine’s biological father.
Thomas Logan shot John and could have easily shot and killed Wolverine, too, before he even developed his powers. Even worse, Wolverine was isolated by this incident, and could have died in the wild from exposure or starvation had his brother, Victor Creed, not stuck by his side.
9 In Any Of The Wars He And Sabretooth Fought In
For over a century, Victor Creed and Wolverine fought side by side in a number of battles and wars. They signed up for pretty much every war the United States fought in, from the Civil War, through World Wars I and II, and into the Vietnam War. Wolverine was even held captive as a POW during World War II.
However, whereas Wolverine fought because he had to and because he was good at it, Sabretooth fought because he enjoyed the violence. As he started enjoying it more and more, he actually got himself and Wolverine arrested and sentenced to death by firing squad. Though Wolverine could have died that day, his healing factor actually kept him alive.
8 As A Victim Of Stryker At Any Number Of Points
Unfortunately for Wolverine, though he survived his execution at the hands of a firing squad, his mutation alerted William Stryker as to his existence, and the two of them would be at odds for the rest of their lives. Stryker uses Wolverine as a weapon for many years before Wolverine forcibly removes himself from that life.
Later, Stryker experiments on Wolverine and bonds adamantium to his skeleton. Wolverine nearly died during that process alone. Over the ensuing years, Stryker would attempt to kill Wolverine a number of times, including shooting him in the head with adamantium bullets and pursuing him in X2 with the intent of recapturing him — or killing him.
7 At The Hands — And Claws — Of His Brother, Sabretooth
While Wolverine’s brother — and brother-in-arms — Sabretooth is a huge part of the reason Wolverine survived to adulthood, their two paths diverged the older they became. Sabretooth became more and more violent and malicious, and Wolverine simply couldn’t stomach it anymore.
The two of them fought multiple times, with Wolverine almost killing Sabretooth before he decided to spare him. This, of course, turned out to be the wrong choice for Wolverine’s self-preservation, as Sabretooth tried to kill Wolverine several more times over the years, including when the X-Men were forced to save him for the very first time.
6 When Rogue Drained Him Of His Healing Factor And Life Force
After the X-Men — specifically Cyclops and Storm — save Wolverine and Rogue from Sabretooth, they bring the two mutants back to the X-Mansion: Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Wolverine reluctantly agreed to stay at the school for a time, but he found it difficult to live and work alongside other people again.
When Rogue tried to wake him up from a nightmare one night, simply because she wanted to help him, Wolverine was so startled he accidentally impaled her on his claws. Instinctively, Rogue used her own powers to drain Wolverine’s healing abilities from him, but she accidentally drained too much of his life force in the process and nearly killed him. In fact, Professor X even tells Wolverine later that, if Rogue had held onto him any longer, he would be dead.
5 Nearly Got Imploded With Adamantium
Though it seemed, in X2, that Wolverine had finally gotten away from Stryker and being used as a weapon, Stryker was able to pull him back in. However, Wolverine was able to defeat Stryker’s fighters in battle, even when they wanted to recapture him and continue experimenting on him.
Rather than allowing the villain Lady Deathstrike to attack and kill him, Wolverine turns Stryker’s adamantium needles on her. She fills up and overflows with adamantium, causing her to die. This could have been what killed Wolverine, but he narrowly survived. He nearly died at the end of the film, too, but Jean Grey ended up sacrificing herself so the X-Men could escape and survive without her — Wolverine included.
4 As A Victim Of The Dark Phoenix
Part of the torment of living as long as Logan did is the fact that so many of his loved ones died. After he lost Jean in X2, he was struggling to move on and was only too happy to welcome her back after she returned in X-Men: The Last Stand. Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that the Phoenix had become the Dark Phoenix, and somebody needed to stop her.
In Wolverine and the Dark Phoenix’s final confrontation, she almost killed Wolverine. He even said he was willing to die for her — which was exactly what Jean needed to hear in order to gain clarity for a brief moment and insist that Wolverine kill her, instead.
3 When His Healing Factor Was Compromised
Wolverine spent so many years as an invulnerable mutant that, when his powers started to fade, he had no idea what to do. The film The Wolverine saw Wolverine getting shot and not instantly healing from his injuries.
As somebody who spent decades, if not centuries, learning how to fight as somebody who was invulnerable, Wolverine has to spend The Wolverine being a lot more careful than normal. Because he became so much more vulnerable than normal, he could have died at truly any point throughout this film.
2 As A Casualty Of The Dark Timeline
The end of the original X-Men timeline was a dark, dystopian future. In an attempt to stop this heinous end from ever coming, the X-Men chose to send one of their own back in time. They chose Wolverine; however, if he failed, he would not have a future to come back to and would have died. Ultimately, he succeeded, but he still ended up nearly dead.
When Wolverine went back in time and confronted Magneto, the supervillain impaled Wolverine and attempted to drown him. Of course, Wolverine is nearly impossible to kill, so it did not work — but, even trying to prevent his own death, the man nearly got killed, more than once.
1 In The Westchester Incident Where Professor X Killed Other X-Men
Fixing the timeline in X-Men: Days of Future Past meant that Wolverine could live the life that he wanted to live. Unfortunately, the world did not become exactly what Wolverine wanted it to be. In the movie Logan, the audience found Logan towards the end of his life, working alongside another mutant named Caliban to care for an elderly Professor X.
It was similarly revealed that, in the year 2028, Charles Xavier experienced a telepathic seizure that injured hundreds of people and killed several, including a few members of the X-Men. Wolverine survived, but he easily could have died at the Professor’s hands, if he died from anything.