Wolverine Can Get Tattoos, but They Aren’t as Permanent as Yours Are

Full disclosure: we’re about to go down a massive nerd rabbit hole here. If you just want to scroll down to see a bunch of rad tattoos without enduring the fanboy navel-gazing. You’ve been warned… 

As a tattoo enthusiast/comic book aficionado, I’ve often wondered if Wolverine would be able to get a tattoo. Given his mutant healing power, would the ink even be able to settle within his dermis layer? The human body’s immune system is constantly fighting to get rid of tattoo ink, this is why tattoos fade over time. The carbon contained within black ink gives it a little more staying power, that’s why you want black lines to hold color, but that only buys you a little more time before the ink eventually disappears. 

We’ve all seen how quickly Logan can recover from a gunshot wound, would his body just be shooting the ink right back out at the tattooer? Would his skin heal so quickly that it would end up trapping the needles within the skin? Some may argue that a tattoo is much different than a stab or cut, there is no real need for his body to “heal” and get rid of the ink sitting in the dermis layer. Although that’s not how the immune system works, it doesn’t use logic to determine whether or not it should attack a foreign element within the body. It just goes to work. Logan’s healing factor doesn’t simply work solely when his life is in danger, it also kicks into gear against minor ailments like a cold. 

It’s admittedly a very silly argument to have, but also a fun one. Finally, a definitive answer to this age-old question has been revealed in the pages of “Ultimate X-Men #48.” Wolverine can get tattoos… they just don’t last. 

There’s a lot about the life of the mutant that mere humans will never be able to fully relate to, but getting a tattoo to impress a girl? Yeah, we’ve been there before. Now that the world knows the answer to the Wolverine/Tattoo quandary we can focus on more important things. Like figuring out how Mystique is able to shapeshift into someone else’s body and their clothes. 

It doesn’t matter if Logan is being inked by a kitchen magician or the most technically proficient tattooer in the world, tattoo ink just doesn’t stand a chance against that mutant healing factor. Instead of enjoying tattoos on Wolverine, enjoy these tattoos of the X-Man on boring old humans.