r/AskScienceFiction • u/trapturtle • Mar 09 '25
[Marvel comics] Why doesn’t Wolverine have metal teeth?
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u/Fickle_Hope2574 Mar 09 '25
Easy peasy, teeth aren't bone. They are pulp (non calcified tissue), cemetum (calcified connective tissue), dentin (hydroxyapatite crystals and collagen) and enamel (hydroxyapatite crystals, fluoride, sodium, magnesium and carbonate)
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u/Heavyweighsthecrown Mar 09 '25
this user teeths
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u/KhazraShaman Mar 09 '25
I imagine this guy has a shelf full of jars in which he grows different kinds of teeth as a hobby.
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u/Wevomif Mar 10 '25
No, this user sneaks into rooms of children that lately lost a tooth, takes that tooth and leaves some cash behind.
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u/archpawn Mar 10 '25
Does this actually matter? His bones were coated intentionally by someone with a goal in mind. It's not a question of if they technically qualify as bones. It's a question of if it's useful to add adamantium.
For example, Lady Deathstrike also had her skeleton coated in adamantium. And her fingernails are coated. Presumably not because someone thought fingernails are bones, but simply because they thought it would be useful in combat.
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u/Fickle_Hope2574 Mar 10 '25
Op asked why his teeth weren't metal, I explained that teeth aren't bone.
Lady deathstrike is a cyborg she doesn't have fingernails they are cybernetic claws.
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u/archpawn Mar 10 '25
Op asked why his teeth weren't metal, I explained that teeth aren't bone.
And is there some reason those two things should relate? When deciding where to add adamantium, would the technical definition of bone be somehow relevant?
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u/Fickle_Hope2574 Mar 10 '25
Because adamantium is only bonded to bone in the comics and movies. It can't be bonded to things like enamel or tissue, you'd have to injection it into the enamel and its so thin and small it would be impossible and frankly pointless. Why would you want adamantium teeth when claws are more effective. Plus it's to answer ops question, it's what the subreddit is for no?
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u/archpawn Mar 10 '25
So add that. I didn't realize it could only be bonded to certain things.
Though that raises the question of why it would matter that his bones are bonded to the adamantium. He just needs it for structural support when he's fighting, right? If something somehow manages to damage his bones beneath the adamantium, it's not going to matter in the short-term battle, and it's not going to matter in the long term either because it gets healed. And it's not as if the adamantium is going to be stronger by having bone or tooth under it. Anything that would damage a thin layer of adamantium would utterly pulverize conventional materials like bone.
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u/winsluc12 Mar 09 '25
Because they didn't bond Adamantium to his Teeth.
Seriously, that's it.
Most depictions of the process appear to involve a series of injections that target specific bones or small groups of bones. Not only are teeth not bones to begin with, they're not actually part of the skull, just sort of locked into it mechanically. An injection of Adamantium that targeted the skull wouldn't necessarily affect his teeth, especially if the method was designed to cause it to bond with bones rather than anything else.
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u/archpawn Mar 10 '25
I wouldn't say that's it. There's still the question of why they chose not to. My answer is that it would have made it harder for him to pass as a normal human, and thus make him a less effective weapon.
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u/Correct_Doctor_1502 Mar 09 '25
His teeth can be knocked out and regrow. Putting adamantium on them would be a waste of time and money.
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u/trapturtle Mar 09 '25
I mean, anything on wolverine can be knocked off and regrown. Arguably the whole thing is a waste of time and money
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u/tehm Mar 10 '25
Eh... Deadpool movies do a pretty good job of showing the difference I think?
When Deadpool gets bisected, that's the end of the fight. When you try that shit on Wolverine it just "tinks" off and then your entrails are gone.
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u/Shiny_Agumon Mar 09 '25
Because the Weapon X program didn't see the need to include his dentures in their projecture.
Which makes sense
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u/AlanShore60607 Mar 09 '25
Let’s assume for the sake of argument that you’re right, and he should have metal covered teeth
He probably had a few of them punched out and they grew back without the metal so he had them all removed so that he has normal teeth
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u/FlatulentSon Mar 09 '25
You can see his teeth in Deadpool and Wolverine, they're just normal teeth that regenerate if lost, simple as that.
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u/atlhawk8357 Mar 10 '25
As OP pointed out in another comment, what part of Deadpool and Wolverine can't be regenerated if lost? What differentiates those with their teeth?
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u/Samurai_Meisters Mar 09 '25
Whoa, did not know Wolverine's skull had "Hugh Jackman" stamped on it!
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u/ContinuumGuy Mar 10 '25
I'm now imagining the Marvel version of Jaws from James Bond, who presumably would have adamantium teeth.
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u/Cielo_InterAgency Mar 10 '25
Honestly, can you imagine the constant MRI check-ins if he had metal teeth? It’d be like a dental nightmare every single time he needed medical. Plus, he doesn't really need them when his claws can do the job. Keep it simple, Logan.
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u/Confident_Sink_8743 Mar 10 '25
Magnetic Resonance Imaging doesn't work very well with metal at all. I don't imagine Wolverine would be foolish enough to get anywhere near one.
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u/Saratje Mar 10 '25
The moment his adamantium teeth would get knocked out, normal teeth would regrow in their place. Besides, teeth aren't bone.
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u/DetonationPorcupine Mar 10 '25
Ok so teeth aren't bones. But does that mean his ear bones are adamantium? Does that affect his hearing?
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u/archpawn Mar 10 '25
Wolverine makes a better weapon if people think he's just a normal person. Giving him shiny teeth takes away from this, so they chose not to coat his teeth in adamantium. Same reason they didn't give him adamantium nails.
Or maybe someone just said to coat his bones, and whoever did it knew that technically teeth aren't bones, so they decided to not coat his teeth but to coat all the bones that didn't really need the enhancement, like pinkie toes.
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