Line #73 Headscratchers/TheWolverine


1	* I have so many questions as to why Logan was in Nagasaki when the atomic bomb was dropped. We saw him and Victor at D-Day during the opening montage of Film/XMenOriginsWolverine. D-Day was June 6th, 1944 and the A-bomb was dropped on August 9th, 1945. So in the course of a year Logan went from the European theater to the Pacific theater without Victor and was somehow captured?
2	** There's a chance that the makers of this movie, like so many fans already have, pretended ''Origins'' [[FanonDiscontinuity never happened]].
3	** I believe it was stated somewhere that Logan and Victor were never regular soldiers, but always mercenaries. It's entirely possible that at some point they decided to pull out of the european theatre, or otherwise that Logan went off on his own, get some time away from Victor; if I recall correctly, D-Day was about when Logan started recognizing that Victor was a little off his rocker, so might be he wanted some space.
4	** How did Logan even know what an atomic bomb was? Sure, Nagasaki was the site of the second bombing, but it's not as if a prisoner would have been told about Hiroshima being mysteriously destroyed by a single bomb a couple of days ago. Nor is there any plausible way Logan would've had prior knowledge of the Manhattan Project. Certainly a single B-29 flying overhead instead of a formation of them is unusual, but there's no way he should've known how devastating the impending attack would be.
5	** He doesn't have to be told -- he just has to have heard and listened to rumors, which would've spread like wildfire about the American superweapon. Also remember that part of the reasons the US was so intent on the A-Bomb is because the Germans were working on it too. So if Logan knew about that, and heard about an American superweapon that took Hiroshima off the map, it's a logical conclusion. Particularly since the US did go out of its way to warn Japan about the bombs and what they could do before dropping them.
6	** Logan clearly knew what they were in for, given what he told Ichiro. "That's a B-29, bub. There's no outrunning what's coming." Him knowing that the bomb was going to hit Nagasaki on that particular day (if he was even aware what day it was) is a different story. Given the unknown time of his capture and the confinement he was in (likely a reaction to his being a "kuzuri" since few people knew what mutants were back then,) he would likely have lost at least a couple of days in there.
7	** He may have assumed it was firebombing, you aren't outrunning napalm either.
8	* Given that Logan's HealingFactor is negated for much of the film, shouldn't his hands be bleeding pretty much constantly from his claws punching through his skin?
9	** His HealingFactor isn't completely gone- if it were, he would have bled to death from those bullet wounds that he waited several hours to get treated. Not to mention his healing factor is what keeping his body alive, as the adamantium skeleton has virtually depleted his bone marrow So, he still retains enough of his powers to stop bleeding, heal from bruises and light injuries, but not enough to spontaneously regenerate the wounds.
10	*** This also explains how he didn't die from adamantium poisoning.
11	*** Why would he be poisoned? Adamantium is completely inert and industructible, its not radioactive. Its kinda like how people have metal fillings in their teeth or replacement in hips.
12	*** There ''ARE'' poisonous metals in real life, y'know. And adamantium has been stated to be poisonous many times in Marvel canon. Why do you think they picked a guy with a healing factor to bond the stuff to?
13	*** The idea of adamantium being poisonous is a misunderstanding/oversimplification of a larger problem; because the adamantium is bonded to Logan's bones on the molecular level, it should interfere if not outright stop his bone's biological functions, which would be lethal. The explaination is that with his healing factor constantly fighting the adamantium, he has just enough actual bone matter left to maintain those functions; without it, the adamantium in his bones would kill him. This is also the reason his healing factor is supposed to be faster without the adamantium; his body recognizes the adamantium as a foreign substance and tries to expel it, so a portion of his healing factor is constantly devoted to fighting it.
14	** If memory serves, he took most of those bullets to the upper chest; being that his rib cage is still adamantium, they wouldn't have penetrated very far below the skin.
15	* How does one stockpile adamantium? I thought it could only exist for a few minutes as a liquid and then became solid forever, so did Yashida just have each piece of the robot made and then shipped there?
16	** It is a few years later. Maybe they figured out how.
17	*** My personal belief is that Adamantium in this universe is only indestructible while it is in its solid form. But like all other metals become liquid when heated hot enough. Odds are Yashida just took some Adamantium blocks and melted them again to make his armor. Granted the original adamantium can only be destroyed by Cosmic-level forces but the movies tend to take a more "believable/realistic" approach to superhero stuff (e.g Thor is not a real god just a super-tough alien, the Phoenix force is not a superpowerful cosmic force but the dark personality of Jean grey). It also explains how he cut off Wolverine's claws, he didn't cut them, he MELTED them off.
18	*** That's more or less confirmed by William Stryker back in [[{{Film/X2XMenUnited}} X2]]. "The tricky thing about Adamantium is that, if you ever manage to process its raw liquid form, you gotta keep it that way... keep it hot, because once the metal cools, it's indestructible." It's most likely that, given his vast resources, Ichiro Yashida simply did his homework. If he had been keeping tabs on Logan for so long, no doubt he would have learned of the Weapon X program, the bonding procedure, and even the power transfer attempt with Weapon XI. For a tech genius at the head of a massive zaibatsu, that would be all he needed to get the ball rolling on the Silver Samurai project until Logan was within his grasp.
19	* Given that having retractable claws is an inherent trait for Logan, it would make sense for his hands and forearms to be biologically adapted to extend and retract them without causing damage in the process.
20	* The Silver Samurai sword when heated up is demonstrated to cut through adamantium. How come when [[spoiler:Yashida stabs Harada in the chest and lifts his sword, it also lifts him up as well instead of cutting him in half?]]
21	** Part of it is that it's only cutting through Adamantium after getting in a good swing, which is going to be a lot of force considering the size of both the sword and the mech using it. Another part is that, if it was designed like a proper Japanese blade, then it would only be one sided, which means [[spoiler:Harada might have been lifted up by the blunt side of the blade while the sharp end was facing down]]. But the most important part is that it made for a good dramatic visual.
22	** Even the sharpest edge in the world generally has to slide ''across'' the material it's cutting.
23	* So, Ichiro had machines that can remove Logan's healing power, and make him a common mortal man, capable to live a common life, grow old and die like everybody else. Of course, there were bad guys all around... but, once they have been all defeated and Mariko is safe, why doesn't Wolverine return to the lab to use those machines and become mortal? In fact, if the corporation is bordering bankruptcy, he should do it '''now''': if he returns to the Americas to have adventures with the X-Men, and go back to Japan to get rid of his immortality in some years, surely the repo will have long taken and dismantled it.
24	** He doesn't want to. Remember his dialogue earlier with Mariko, she asks him if he's bound to be a immortal man whose life has no meaning, he answers yes, and she says "Still?". The implication here is that Logan learned to accept his immortal life because Mariko is now there for him. And that, as Yukio aplty noted, he's a soldier. [[SequelHook And his war hasn't been won yet, considering the Stinger.]].
25	* Something of a plot hole, but [[spoiler:how did Magneto did his thing to Logan if all of Logan's adamantium suck out of his bone marrow? Or did Ichirō only suck out from the bone marrow from the adamantium laced claws?]]
26	** [[spoiler: He was extracting Logan's bone marrow which had become exposed by cutting off his claws (the only exposed part of his skeleton). He didn't extract any of his adamantium which is not responsible for his healing, and is in fact revealed in the comics to hinder it. Note that Logan does not have adamantium in his bone marrrow, which would make it quite impossible for him to generate blood cells or have an immune system. The metal just coats the surface of his bones, which is also why his bone claws regrew lacking adamantium. That his bones are still adamantium coated is further confirmed by the fact that he requested a pat down in the airport rather than going through a metal detector.]]
27	** [[spoiler: He only sucked the adamantium out of his claws before Mariko intervened.]]
28	*** He didn't [[spoiler: suck the adamantium out of his claws, he cut the adamantium claws off. Logan's healing factor allowed him to grow the claws back, but he can't grow the adamantium with them.]]
29	** [[spoiler: Given that Ichiro was piloting a mech suit made out of adamantium at the time, I highly doubt he was after Logan for the metal in his claws, or anywhere on his person for that matter. It's far more likely that he was going after the bone marrow inside, which is where the blood is formed and likely where the main juice behind his healing ability lies. He just targeted the claws because it was the easiest part to get to as they handily protrude from his skin on a regular basis.]]
30	* When Wolverine was fighting on the train, he repeatedly claws through the roof to steady himself. How does nobody notice?
31	** Who said nobody noticed?
32	** Also, judging from the look we get at the skylight, the roof of the train is thick enough that his claws (and the Yakuza thugs' knives) simply don't get all the way through to pierce the ceiling of the passenger compartment.
33	* When the Big Bad makes a go at stealing Logan's healing ability, we see him get younger and Logan starts to get all wrinkly and old looking. But as soon as the suction stops, Wolverine reverts to his usual Hugh Jackman self... while the Big Bad is still as youthful as when he did the draining. At least one of them should still look like an old man at that point. Unless this mean that the healing ability just defaults you to 30 as soon as it's in your blood, but that still seems like something of a leap.
34	** It actually isn't. The human body achieves maturity and perfect working order when it reaches 20s/30s, before that point the cells are still evolving, and from that point onwards the cells slowly decay and proggressively stop functioning properly as the years go by, so techinically speaking, yes, his healing factor should default him to his 30s (or 20s), the prime age for a normal human body. The BigBad used the strategy of transfering his age and health (also notice how his White blind eyes transfer to Logan in that scene) to Logan while he gets his age and health, he managed to go far enough so his age would start reversing, but Mariko stops him before he can finish the process and make it permanent (and before he managed to acquire Logan's healing factor), so Logan's HealingFactor isn't depleted and just regenerates him back to his 30s. Seconds later, Logan tears off his armor, and you can see him starting to age back to his old man appearance again, indicating that the process wasn't finished.
35	* In the stinger, [[spoiler:why did Magneto have to make such an entrance by demonstrating his magnetic powers? For that matter, why did he of all people have to approach Logan? Seeing Xavier first may have been a shock, but at least it wouldn't have elicited a violent response. This is assuming that one of the X-men like Storm or Rogue couldn't be sent to make contact.]]
36	** [[spoiler: He made such an entrance because he's Magneto. That's just his thing. And he approached Logan because he has the power to stop Logan from killing him on the spot. As for why he approached first? Rule of Drama, probably.]]
37	** [[spoiler: As far as Logan knows, Xavier is dead. When a dead person approaches you, the first thing you think is that it's a hallucination or an illusion. Magneto coming out first and physically demonstrating his powers on Logan shows that it is real and he's not dreaming/hallucinating. And come on, he's freaking Magneto against Wolverine. There is no scenario where Magneto can use his powers that Wolverine can lay a finger on him alone.]]
38	** [[spoiler:Yes, there is one. If Wolverine had lost all his adantium while fighting the Silver Samurai, and not just the adamantium of a hand, then Magneto wouldn't be able to stop him this way. But, being who they are, surely Xavier and Magneto were already aware of the details of Wolverine's adventures.]]
39	*** [[spoiler:Wolverine was NOT in danger of losing his adamantium. He was in danger of losing his healing powers. Yashida only severed his claws to have access to his bone marrow (where his healing power is stored). At no point was he sucking Wolverine's adamantium out.]]
40	*** [[spoiler: And they don't call Magneto the master of magnetism for nothing. If he could sense that the abusive guard in X2 had extra iron in his blood, he could surely sense that most of Logan's skeleton was still covered in adamantium.]]
41	* In the stinger, [[spoiler:why is Xavier still wheelchair-bound? Since he [[Film/XMenTheLastStand survived his apparent death]] by {{Body Surf}}ing into his brain-dead twin, he should have an undamaged spine and be able to walk normally]].
42	** He apparently had the bad luck of [[spoiler: having a brain dead twin who was also paralyzed from the waist down.]]
43	** Xavier did not have a brain dead twin. He body surfed into a man who was brain dead already. The reasoning behind why his body is still intact will likely be explained in the next movie.
44	*** Verified by [[WordofGod Word of God]]; the brain dead patient was [[spoiler: P. Xavier, Charles' brain dead twin who lost higher brain function as a result of Charles having such high end mental powers.]]
45	*** For example, Xavier still has a twin but this twin is actually an Astral double of sorts. A copy on the spiritual plane that in most people either fades away or takes over their life. For Xavier, this being used his enhance mental abilities to hijack his mothers womb and make it create another body for it. Unfortunately it was rejected by him but having a mutant body it managed to survive and grow into a (female) evil counterpart to Xavier which in the future plotted to take him out.
46	*** In X3, we see the guy and there was no mention of him being a twin. I think they even gave a name.
47	** The new body's legs probably don't work because of atrophy. Has anyone seen any other body part working for that matter?
48	* Mariko politely admonishes Logan for placing his chopsticks vertically in his bowl of rice, setting them down on the table beside the bowl as they begin to discuss Mariko's engagement to her scumbag fiancee. At the end of their conversation, the chopsticks are back in the bowl and Mariko sets them aside once more. Is this a goof, or the movie's way of furthering the conversation's moral [[note]]Logan's inability to understand/appreciate the situation because he isn't Japanese[[/note]] ?
49	*** I'm pretty sure while it was zoomed on Mariko during her explanation, he picked up, them up, ate some rice, and stuck the chopsticks back in the bowl. He either forgot about what she said, or, more likely (it is Wolverine, after all) he didn't really care. He's not that big on manners.
50	*** It's also possible he perfectly understood her meaning and did it on purpose. She says chopsticks up are associated with death. Wolverine's a DeathSeeker.
51	** Conversational context. This occurs immediately after she tells him that he wouldn't understand why she has to honor her father and marry a man she doesn't like because he's not Japanese. This is preceded by her correcting him on the proper placement of his chopsticks in Japanese culture. Putting his chopsticks right back in the same damn spot is Logan rejecting the notion of what is culturally appropriate, a subtle way of saying that marrying some asshole because daddy said so is bullshit.
52	* Wolverine remembers Nagasaki in detail... How? Didn't he lose his memories well after that? I don't recall him regaining them anywhere in the films.
53	** Simple, Logan didn't remember anything about it. But he does know that he is older than he looks and had a long past when he could have been anything. So when an old guy said he saved his life, he believes it because he knows he 'could' have done it, however he still has some doubts about it (After all Logan is not stupid enough to take anyone's words as face value). It's when he reaches the scene where he saved his life that he remembers some pieces of the incident and that he finally believes it.
54	** ^ That's not right. The first scene of movie is the Nagasaki scene then it cuts to Jean and Logan in bed. Jean asks Logan where he was and Logan says Nagasaki and Jean says "Hmm...that far back." So Logan remembers Nagasaki. I believe he got his memories back towards the end of X-2.
55	*** He doesn't remember it, he dreams about it. Conscious and subconscious memory are very different animals. Logan probably has a lot of dreams about things he can't remember.
56	* When Yashida first offers Logan the chance to be mortal, Logan responds with "What they did to me, can't be undone" or something like that. To whom was he referring? The way he said it, it sounded like he meant Stryker and the scientists who grafted the Adamantium to his skeleton but this doesn't make any sense as Logan's healing factor (and therefore his apparent immortality) is a part of his original mutation and has nothing to do with what Stryker did to him. I suppose he could have meant his parents but it didn't really sound like that was who he meant.
57	** The Adamantium bones, however, do make it significantly harder for him to die. For instance, a big enough explosion could destroy a non-adamantium-having Logan by just wiping out his body from the face of the Earth, but since he has adamantium, his skeleton would survive said explosion, and from the skeleton he'd be back on his feet again.
58	** The Adamantium bones actually do the opposite. His HealingFactor is the only thing that keeps the Adamantium from killing him. If he loses that factor without undoing what Stryker's team did to him, his death will be quicker than what Yashida supposedly predicted.
59	* In the prologue, when Logan's flesh re-heals after the explosion, why does his hair grow back to the exact length it was before?
60	** Wolverine's hair always goes back to the way it looks in the comics. It can grow longer, but he can't change his hairstyle/sideburns to anything shorter for more than a few seconds. Which also explains why he keeps such a ridiculous style that even he has acknowledged (in comic) is "funny lookin'."
61	* Before Yukio drove Logan to Tokyo from Nagasaki, she had something to tell him, but Logan just said "Drive!" and the conversation ended. Why did she wait until they arrived at the Minister's place to tell him, and not at any time during the 700+ mile road trip from Nagasaki to Tokyo (approx. 14 hours by car according to Google maps)?
62	** She waited for Logan to calm down first. It happened to take entire day.
63	* How big is Wolverine supposed to be? This is very subjective, but in the movie, I felt that Hugh Jackman was playing a very big, physically imposing character. I'm guessing this is a combination of casting, acting, costume, cinematography and Jackman's very impressive physique. I'm not a big fan of the comics, but I always had the impression that Wolverine was a super-tough but smaller guy, especially compared with some of the steroidally huge 90s comics characters. Again this is subjective, but in the other movies, I felt that Wolverine was roughly the same size as the other heroes. Here, he seemed huge. Thoughts?
64	** In the comics, Logan is 5'3", and is often called "runt" by Sabertooth and various other rivals he's had. Originally he was 5'5" because Len Wein, the character creator, intended Wolverine to be revealed to be a teenager, but then that got changed by other writers and artists. Hugh Jackman is 6'2, almost a foot taller than the comics Logan, hence why his Wolverine is played off as more imposing physically, and a different origin of his codename came about.
65	* I wouldn't mind the fact that Logan didn't wear his yellow costume as much if we actually got to see the full thing instead of just a mask, the gloves, but the rest is indistinguishable. What's up with that?
66	** It's because MovieSuperheroesWearBlack
67	*** No, I'm asking why [[http://www.thegeekgeneration.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Wolverine-unused-movie-costume.jpg this]] is all hey've shown us. I mean, c'mon, can't we at least see some concept art!?
68	* After [[spoiler: Yashida stabs Harada with the heated blade, Harada is seen bleeding. Wouldn't the blade be hot enough to close the wound.]]
69	** Maybe it was only closed partially.
70	* Why did [[spoiler: the villain fake his own death? It set off a lot of chaos regarding his granddaughter, and restored Wolverine's will to live, but I don't see what he hoped to gain from it.]]
71	** [[spoiler: The Yashida company was in the edges of bankrupcy due Ichiro's obsession with immortality (adamantium armors and fancy healing-destroying tech are very expensive things), by faking his death, Ichiro essentially set up his granddaughter to take the fall for the company's ruin and he would escape free to enjoy his immortality.]]
72	** [[spoiler: People probably wouldn't react to well, if suddenly a man in his 20s appeared and claimed to be "the old man that owns this company". Much less hassle to let his granddaughter officially take over business and control her from the shadows.]]
73	* How was Mariko's father [[spoiler: able to survive Viper's poison, and yet still be strong enough to fight Wolverine]]?
74	** [[TheDeterminator Sheer willpower]], I assume. There's a reason his character page has VillainousValor listed on it. It's also possible the contact with the rain diluted some of the poison.
75	** Even if the venom didn't kill him, wouldn't the pen have punctured an artery, leading to him bleeding to death?
76	** We don't see a lot of blood coming out of his neck after she uses the pen, so it probably didn't hit an artery.
77	* Warning: ''Days of Future Past'' spoilers follow! So...[[spoiler: did the CosmicRetcon erase this movie as well?]]
78	** Certain parts (mainly those pertaining to "Last Stand") are definitely erased from the franchise canon. There is still the chance that the rest of the movie played out the same though (there would still be an old Japanese man that Logan saved in Nagasaki that wants his healing factor for example).
79	* Yukio describes Yashida's sword as "...hundreds of years old." Is it possible for a sword that old to look that pristine, especially if it spends that time being used in battle? Even if the blade was kept well oiled to protect it from rusting, how much of it would be left after being blunted, chipped, and resharpened in battle after battle for centuries?
80	** Perhaps the blade has been replaced over the ages.
81	* This is more for the series in general, but this movie does involve Wolverine's love for Jean Grey, so I might as well bring it up here. In the comics, Logan and Jean were teammates and friends for years, so it makes sense for Logan to have some strong feelings for her. In the movies, Logan met Jean in the first X-Men movie, which took place over the span of about a week. At the end of the first movie, he takes Cyke's motorcycle and drives away, not returning until the second movie. The second movie also takes place over the span of about a week (and there is a day or two in which Wolverine and Jean are in two different areas) and then Jean dies. In this movie, we see that he still dreams about her years later and is deeply in love. Why? If you take all the time he spent with Jean, you'd end up with about half a month. Most of that time was spent dealing with fighting super villains so they never got to know each other that much. There's little reason why Wolverine would regard her as anyone other than an attractive woman he went on a couple of missions with.
82	** They kissed at one point in the movie, but he had as a bigger goal to recover his memories, somehow. Its undertandable that he mourned her death, but be deeply in love is something harder.
83	* How can you ingest a metal spider, and then have it rip through your body and latch itself to your heart, all without noticing or feeling it?
84	* If Viper drugged Logan enough to have him ingest the metal spider, what was stopping her from stabbing him with the paralysing poison, putting the manacles on him there and then, and proceeding with extraction?
85	* Couldn't they have just '''asked''' him for a blood sample or something?
86	** And letting someone else to be also inmmortal? That does not look so good.

Context Headscratchers / TheWolverine