Marvel Reveals New Details of Wolverine’s Healing Factor

Marvel’s X-Men Reboot enters its second phase of books this week with the relaunch of Wovlerine #1. The X-Men reboot has made frequent use of Wolverine in both the House of X event series and other Dawn of X books like X-Force, and his new solo series pulls those various threads together to give us more focused perspective on Wovlerine’s place in a changing world. As with so many elements of X-Men lore revisited by HoX / DoX, Wolverine #1 takes a tried and true piece of the character (namely his Healing Factor) and provides some deeper understanding of it.

Warning! Wolverine #1 SPOILERS Follow!

One of the main staples of these House of X / Dawn of X series has been the inclusion of Jonathan Hickman’s signature brand of data charts in each book. The charts provide not only larger contextual setting and info, but also can establish and/or explain entire key points of X-Men mythos in new ways. Such is the case for the chart we get in Wolverine #1, which breaks down the nature of Wolverine’s blood, and its Healing Factor properties. Here’s what we learn:

• Wolverine’s Healing Factor blood totally throws the standard four groupings of blood (A, B, AB, O) and 36 systems of antigens off, as it is unique unto itself and no other being on Earth.
• Wolverine’s blood not only is resistant to infection – it’s totally impervious to it, malignancy, or autoimmune disorders. It’s also adaptable to any other blood it comes in contact with, providing “brief curative effect when transfused.”
• However, when Wolverine’s blood leaves his body, it’s universal compatibility and Healing Factor powers quickly fade away.
• Wolverine’s blood is given a new classification name, “E,” for “the endless.”
• It is noted that Wolverine’s blood is in the same grouping as a vampire’s, though of a different type (not as viral, or vulnerable to sunlight).

Marvel fans know all too well that Wolverine’s Healing Factor capabilities have been examined and explained to some pretty ridiculous degrees (see: his death / resurrection battles with Azrael). While this “Bloodwork” chart doesn’t reveal anything too new, per se, it does what HoX / DoX have done so well with X-Men lore, by re-aligning or understanding and perception of said lore, with the understated purpose of setting up something new.

What this chart effectively does is set up Wolverine’s very blood as a potential miracle cure for anything from a virus to a dying character in desperate need of healing. If replicated somehow, that same blood could also become a powerful weapon in enemy hands – which is why the appearance of Dracula and his growing Vampire Nation has very ominous implications for what Wolverine’s blood can do.

Wolverine #1 is now on sale.