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From what I've been reading, all that Wolverine needs in order to regenerate is a single cell. No matter how badly he's been damaged, blown-up or incinerated, he's survived because, supposedly, a single cell survived and that was enough for him to regenerate. With that in mind, can he be reproduced at will simply by slicing a piece off and regenerating that into a whole new second, third, fourth, etc., Wolverine? His healing factor can obviously be stolen and transferred to another. Why not an engineered body?

Mithical
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Morgan
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  • http://scifi.stackexchange.com/q/14417/3267 – Kevin Apr 07 '14 at 18:36
  • Also: How much of Wolverine has to be left to heal? – phantom42 Apr 07 '14 at 18:37
  • Both those answers seem to have more to do with how much of Wolverine needs to be left, and which part of him becomes "The" Wolverine, where this diverges specifically on asking if two separate Wolverine parts can make two whole new Wolverines. – Zibbobz Apr 07 '14 at 18:41
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    @Zibbobz But so long as the other answers say that only one piece would regenerate fully, then there is no possibility of a clone. – phantom42 Apr 07 '14 at 18:45
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    If the needs of the plot demand it so, then it is so. And when they're cranking out one comic book per month, eventually they will need such a plot... – John O Apr 07 '14 at 19:00
  • I'm asking if he can deliberately be cloned, not just by accident. Obviously his healing factor can be stolen and transferred to another. – Morgan Apr 07 '14 at 19:00
  • Whether having a chunk sliced off is deliberate or not, I see no difference. To my knowledge, his healing factor has never been stolen and transferred to another in the comics, aside from via power absorption abilities like Rogue's. – phantom42 Apr 07 '14 at 19:40
  • Your edit about the engineered body is confusing me a bit. Are you asking about his powers being transferred into an engineered body, or somehow implanting an organic chunk into one and it somehow overtaking it, or what? – phantom42 Apr 07 '14 at 19:42
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    @phantom42 Deadpool (Wade Wilson) became a test subject in Department K’s branch of the joint U.S./Canadian superhuman enhancement project, the Weapon X Program; his cancer was temporarily arrested via the implantation of a healing factor derived from another Department K agent, the mutant adventurer Wolverine. I didn't mean that Wolverine's regenerative powers were stolen FROM him, just that they can be transferred to another. Are the cells that are removed from him (and that do not multiply to become 'Wolverine') dead or are they still live cells that can be cloned? – Morgan Apr 07 '14 at 20:03

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Given sufficient non-damaged genetic material, it should be possible to create a genetic clone of Wolverine.

This was tested and partially successful in the creation of X-23.

Seeking to take the project in a new direction, the project's director, Doctor Martin Sutter, recruited renowned mutant geneticist Doctor Sarah Kinney and tasked her with creating a clone. Using the only available genetic sample from Weapon X, which was damaged, they were unable to salvage the Y chromosome after 22 attempts. Kinney then proposed they create a female clone, and though her request was initially denied, she still went ahead and produced a viable female subject, prompting Sutter to reconsider. Despite resistance from his protégé Doctor Zander Rice, whom he had raised after Rice's father was killed by a bestial Wolverine at the original Weapon X Project, Sutter allowed Kinney to proceed. As revenge for her insubordination, Rice forced Kinney to act as the surrogate mother for the clone, and she gave birth to "X-23."

X-23 was a genetic clone with the same powers and general temperament, but was not an exact opposite-sex duplicate. As she was only a genetic clone, she had none of the training or memories of Wolverine.

X-23

phantom42
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  • Are those...toe-claws? Dear god that's horrifying. – Zibbobz Apr 07 '14 at 20:36
  • @phantom42 Now you're talking. Even though that genetic material was second hand/second generation and damaged, Doctor Kinney was still able to create X-23 from it. That indicates it may indeed be possible for a first-hand, first-generation sample to be cloned unless there is something in Wolverine's direct DNA that would preclude this. – Morgan Apr 07 '14 at 21:19