Respect Wolverine (Marvel, 616)

"I'm the best there is at what I do, but what I do isn't very nice."

     - James "Logan" Howlett, The Wolverine

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Table of Contents

I. Introduction

II. Strength

III. Speed

IV. Damage Resistance and Healing

V. Adamantium

VI. Senses

VII. Fighting ability

VIII. Skills and experience

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I. Introduction

A. Note on Organization

I'm playing around with the RT organization to try and give readers a big picture view of Wolverine's feats instead of just his best stuff. so I have organized each section into:

 

• Standard showings: These feats represent two things. First, they represent Wolverine's typical level of feats. Second, for attributes that vary widely from comic to comic (such as Healing), these feats represent my best guess of an average.

• High showings: These feats represent the best of Wolverine's feats. Because of Logan's long comic history, he has generated a fair amount of high-end feats, but these are things you might see once every 20 comic issue or thereabouts.

• Low showings and limits: These feats represent two things. First, they represent some of Logan's lower but still fairly frequent showings. Second, they represent limits. Limits are not necessarily low showings, but instead show when Logan's attributes cap out. For example, a scan of Logan losing an arm wrestle to Spider-man is not a low showing, but it does show a limit to his strength.

 

I use a fair amount of albums without describing the individual scans. If you have questions about context, or sources, hit me up. This got too long for me to try and mess around with citations, but I have read about 95% of of the feats in the comics.

Finally, I'd appreciate any feedback on your thoughts on this organization. Too long? Misjudged Wolverine's abilities? Let me know what you think.

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II. Strength

In general, Wolverine has low levels of superhuman strength, comparable to comic book characters like Captain America and Batman (give or take).

 

A. Standard Showings

• Lifts two men on the ends of a broken pool cue

• Pulls a man from a bus window and throws him with one arm

• Busts through a jet window to grab a terrorist and throw him clear of the plane

• Throws a male lion

• Picks up and throws a large cylinder of ice (Note: probably around 1,000 lbs if you consider the volume of the cylinder and believe the cylinder's radius to be more than a foot and its height to be around 4 feet)

• Fights through, pushes, and carries lots of ninja

• Breaks regular chains

• Breaks handcuffs after he goes berserk

• Easily breaks a man's arm

• Cracks a thick tombstone with ninja's head

• Takes Human Torch out of the fight with one punch

• Elbow stuns Dark Beast; Wolverine is worried about killing him

• Stuns Kaine (Note: Kaine had surrendered at this point, and didn't seem to be defending himself. However, Wolverine's punches still seem to do damage)

• Holds his own against Warpath (Note: Warpath has vague but multiple ton strength.)

• Catches Sabretooth's punch; in another comic picks up ST who has adamantium

 

B. High Showings

• Easily snaps overlapped links of chains

• While severely injured, shatters high tech restraints

• Swings two ninja on the ends of chains

• Easily throws a man and snaps another's neck with one hand/arm

• Throws several men into the air

• Throws a moderately sized shark onto a boat with little leverage

• Uses a large pillar as a club against a mutant monster

• Picks up six men and then throws them through a wall

• Holds an elevator full of people

• Kicks a large rock hard and fast enough to KO two people

• While underwater, punches a man so hard his head creates a hole in the pool wall

• Hauls a grand piano through a forest, a river, and then up a mountain; continues the journey for three days, surviving without supplies

• Fights fairly evenly with Roughhouse and even KO's him a few different times (Note: Roughhouse is listed as a 50 tonner; although I have never seen feats at that level, I would say he is at least a 10 tonner, capable of destroying buildings and cars casually.)

• Swings Dragon Man into wall by his tail (Note: Dragon Man is listed as weighing 6,000 lbs.)

• [Album]--Wolverine takes down Caliban who has moderate super strength

 

C. Low Showings and Limits

• [Album]--Wolverine often has no noticeable strength advantage in his fight against other peak human characters and various enemies

• Gets overpowered by characters with moderate super strength, for example: Omega Red, or Spider-Woman, and many more.

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II. Speed

Wolverine's speed can be inconsistent. He has lots of the typical speed feats of other "street tier" characters, but he also gets hit a lot.

A possible in-universe explanation for the discrepancy is that Wolverine exerts himself in bursts, momentarily increasing his speed for sudden attacks. This seems to fit his consistently FTE striking and attack speed, but inconsistent dodging and agility.

Another, in-universe explanation is that as a berserker, Wolverine doesn't care about getting hit, and instead goes for fight-ending shots with no regard for defense, or that he doesn't give a shit. He may even like getting hit.

 

A. Standard Showings

• Sprints 10 miles in under 40 minutes while carrying a roughly 200 pound person

• Beats a lizard man to a weapon that is across the room

• Catches swimmers while underwater.

• Blocks a skilled ninja's (Yukio) attacks at the last second

• Blocks Riptide's shuriken (Note: Riptide can thrown his shuriken fast enough to pierce Colossus at close distances)

• Senses a hidden gun aimed at him, and avoids the gunfire

• Manages to dodge close range fire before getting tagged by a second shooter (Note: this is House of M Wolverine.)

• Dodges Scalphunter's explosive rounds (Note: Scalphunter is an expert marksman.)

• [Album]--A typical Wolverine fight; he dodges and attacks quickly, but takes some hits

• Avoids gunfire and kills shooters

• Avoids Havok's blast and rushes him

• Kills several Savage Land warriors before they know what's happening

• Leaps, avoiding a flame thrower, and clips it, causing an explosion after Wolverine is clear

• [Album]--Wolverine's dodging is not great, but he can strike very fast. One of Wolverine's signature moves is to strike before his opponents quite realize what's going on.

  • Similarly, Wolverine thinks and strikes at the same time, which is too fast for most telepaths who predict moves, such as Psylocke and a Brood-assimilated Xavier

 

B. High Showings

• Pulls a Batman on Nick Fury

• Moves across the city in a blur

• Detects spying ninja while walking under scaffolding with Herc and is able to appear behind them by the time Herc emerges

• [Album]--Wolverine goes slasher movie on multiple D-list villains

• Attacks enemies from a lower floor and then immediately appears on the same floor

• Catches an airplane that is taking off despite beginning his run after a long fall

• [Album]--Wolverine dodges automatic fire from a large group of guards, and dismantles them

• Catches an arrow and throws it back with enough force to pierce the shooter. (Note: Wolverine heard the hunter and knew he was about to shoot. Also doubles as a strength feat)

• Blocks a volley of arrows

• Dodges Omega Red's tendrils and attacks (Note: Omega Red's tendrils are fast enough to block bullets)

• Dodges automatic fire and ghosts around the forest; dodges some more close range fire

• Casually dodges Cyclop's optic blasts, and earlier, he blocks one

• Dodges Spider-man and later and lands a kick

• Dodges point blank fire with a back flip

• Leaps to save couple from gunfire

• Leaps to shield girl from gunfire

• Intercepts a guasse-gun rocket launcher (comics, gotta love 'em)

• Rushes and takes down two helicopters while avoiding gunfire and missiles

• After being shot at with Beast, Wolverine is able to flank and attack while Beast is still in the air

• [Album]--At high levels, Wolverine can blitz or rush at, or near, FTE speeds

  • Faces a skilled and fast ninja and before she can register what is happening, Wolverine kills her

  • Trained security team has Wolverine in their sights but Wolverine moves FTE to appear behind them after slashing their weapons to pieces

  • Shot at from behind but still manages to dodge and then strikes FTE before a second shot

 

C. Low Showings and Limits

• [Album]--As noted, Wolverine gets hit all the time by things and people who aren't that fast. For many more instances of Wolverine getting shot or hit, check out section on Damage Resistance and Healing.

• Spider-man (or SpOck in this instance) is clearly faster

• [Album]-- Wolverine often lacks a noticeable speed advantage over street level characters.

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IV. Damage Resistance and Healing

In most cases, Wolverine can continue to function with serious and sometimes fatal injuries. It can be a little inconsistent however. His healing factor, or lack thereof, is often an explicit part of the story. Even when it's not, writers often seem to portray his healing in a way that serves the plot of the story.

As some general notes, Wolverine's healing seems to get a boost during his berserker rages and moments of high adrenaline. Conversely, he seems to get KO'd and stunned easier when he is calm, or surprised. Also, blows to the head seem to incapacitate him much more effectively than similar or greater damage he experiences to other parts of his body. Finally, his healing factor can become maxed out, at which point he heals less effectively, or not at all. So, after a long fight, Wolverine may be more susceptible to being KO'd or incapacitated.

 

A. Standard Showings

• [Album]--Small calibre and conventional guns don't do much

• [Album]--Large calibre, automatic, and advanced guns can briefly incapacitate Wolverine

• Wolverine gets punched by a Brood-controlled Rogue, seems mostly okay

• Cyclops hits Wolverine with minor blast and Logan seems fine

• [Album]--After getting stabbed, Wolverine gets punched hard enough to damage his internal organs and keeps fighting

• Wolverine crushed by car but manages to free himself

• An ancient vampire/demon flash fries Logan, but he shakes it off.

• Wolverine dive-bombs Human Torch; their fall carries them into a building that explodes, and Wolverine, who is mistakenly treated as a burn victim, is well enough to escape shortly after

• [Album]-- Powerful android impales, chops, and shoots Wolverine with a huge calibre weapon. He is out of the fight for some time but manages to stay effective

• Drugs/disease/parasites:

  • Injects himself with a strong poison and overcomes it moments later

  • Gets infected with alien virus and overcomes it a seemingly short-while later

  • Resists Omega Red's deathspores which immediately KO other members of the X-Men

• Psychic/possession: Wolverine's psychic resistance is all over the board. He has often been susceptible to brainwashing. Still, he has some natural resistance from his feral nature, sheer amount of fucked up shit in his head, and strong will. Lots of times he gets controlled initially (or for the span of several comics) but eventually overcomes it.

  • [Album]--Resists Psylocke's (controlled by the Hand) attempt to brainwash him

  • Taken out by Dr. Rot's brain machine, but he resists it. Later Psylocke remarks how powerful the machine is

  • Quentin Quire forces Wolverine's conscious mind into a psychic environment he created, but Wolverine's body goes feral and tries to hunt Quentin down

 

B. High Showings:

• [Album]--Wolverine withstands heavy gun fire without any noticeably adverse effects.

• Wolverine is shot in the brain through his eye, and then has his healing factor turned off, but he heals in time to get back in the fight after he gets saved

• Blade stabs and then shoots Wolverine, but he doesn't seem to mind much

• Blasted a long ways by a Sentinel, but he swims to Utopia, and pops out of the water looking fine.

• Spider-man doesn't hold back and pummels Wolverine. Wolverine seems no worse for the wear.

• Takes hits from the Wrecker but keeps fighting without any problems. (Note: the Wrecker was able to KO Luke Cage in this fight

• [Album]--Wolverine takes heavy damage from Silver Samurai II, and heals almost instantaneously.

• [Album]--Gets beatdown by Namor, but still remains conscious and reacting.

• Logan is tagged with an alien gun, that is capable of completely disintegrating people, but heals quickly. Later he takes a direct shot and still heals in a relatively short period

• Survives an airplane crash with extreme injuries, but is okay to fight in a few panels after being saved from an attack

• Jumps from a plane to dive-bomb a Hydra base, and when he lands, he immediately starts dodging bullets and kicking ass

• [Album]--Wolverine tanks Bastion's energy blasts and eventually forces Bastion to leave. (Note: Bastion is an advanced sentinel)

• [Album]--The famous Nitro explosion. (Note: I sort of hate this feat for how ridiculous it is. The in-story explanation is random, and involved Wolverine fighting the Angel of Death for his life every time he sustained life-threatening injuries. The consequences of the story didn't seem to last long.)

• Drugs/disease/parasites:

  • Resists assimilation by Spore, a living disease, who was strong enough to overpower Eternals. (Note: Wolverine had the help of another healer.)

  • Held for several days and tortured with various viruses and diseases (Note: Contagion has the power to manufacture whatever disease he envisions, and he is a pretty fucked up dude)

  • Overcomes mystical afflictions like vampirism

• Psychic/possession: Wolverine has received training to help defend his mind.

  • Resists Quentin Quire's telepathic attack

  • Rachel Grey helps him form barriers that she has troubles overcoming

  • States that Charles Xavier installed psi-shielding (Note: this psi-shielding is often conspicuously absent in Logan's adventures)

  • Emma Frost mentally commands Logan to stop, but he resists, which surprises her (Note: this hasn't stopped her on several other occasions)

  • Telepathic SWORD agent attempts to get into Wolverine's mind, and bad things happen

 

C. Low Showings and Limits:

• KO'd by gunfire through a car door. (Note: in a later recon of these events, the child and double agent Natasha Rominov shoots Wolverine point-blank inside the car as well.)

• Eviscerated by Ord and taken out for the rest of the fight.

• [Album]--Wolverine gets zapped by a laser trap and is out for the rest of the comic, and well into the next issue

• [Album]--Wolverine takes a few shots from Kitty, who is possessed by the ninja demon spirit Ogun, and has to run and hide to heal from the damage

• KO'd by drugged tea

• Psychically affected by lots of people, like Sauron, Shadow King, and Emma Frost

• Headshots: Blows to the head seem to stun Wolverine more than other damage

  • [Album]--Wolverine can get staggered by small calibre head shots, while larger calibre head shots can stun or KO him

  • SpOck slams Wolverine's head into the ground and briefly KO's him (Note: Wolverine had taken several blows prior to this; he also recovers in a short span of time)

• Cumulative: Wolverine's HF can "max out," and he can go down after serious cumulative damage

  • [Album]--Wolverine in rough shape after fighting Omega Red for over 17 hours

  • KO'd by Cap. America after crashing a plane, fighting the X-Men, after a few days of non-stop fighting

  • [Album]--In an attempt to overload Logan's HF, the X-Men shoot him with cancer and plague causing bullets. Cyclops may have actually been able to kill Logan at that point. This also doubles as a HF feat. Logan was possessed by demons, which may have increased his durability, but he seems to suffer no ill effects from the diseases and damage once he expels the demons

• Weaknesses:

  • Carbonadium slows down Wolverine's healing factor significantly, but doesn't quite stop it, and upon removal, his healing factor begins to function normally.

  • The Muramasa Blade prevents healing and can injure and kill Wolverine.

  • Wolverine can presumably drown and die and he killed his son, who had a healing factor, by drowning him.

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V. Adamantium

Wolverine's adamantium is consistently incredibly strong and sharp. In 616, I have never seen it broken or bent by means other than molecular manipulation or reality warping.

 

A. Standard Showings:

• X-ray view of adamantium bonded to his bones

• [Album, NSFW]--Wolverine easily dismembers and eviscerates people

• Claws pop out at 130 mph

• Slices an opening through a door of foot think omnium before people finish speaking

• Slices clean through sentinels

• Slices through Magneto's custom formed armor

• Punching Wolverine hurts normal people

• Bones can't be cut

 

B. High Showings:

• [Album]--Wolverine can pierce people with very high durability, including the Hulk, the Thing, Colossus, Iron Man (his forcefield was disabled), Gladiator and others

• Cuts Thor

• Punching Wolverine can hurt minor super-strength characters

• Takes repeated blows to the head from WWH, and skeleton remains intact

• Silver Samurai's energy can't cut it. (Note: Silver Samurai's powers allow him to cut through most materials)

• [Album]--Wolverine kicked so hard by Gorgon that he lands in the country of Georgia, but he seems fine

• Punched into orbit with no skeletal damage

 

C. Low Showings and Limits:

• In his early appearances, Wolverine sometimes had trouble cutting durable characters like the the Hulk, or other randoms

• He can't cut other super hard metals like Cap's shield

• Can't cut through force fields

• Can't cut through some mystical swords, like Black Knight's

• Can't cut through Mr. Fantastic because of his stretching powers

• Wolverine's skeleton has only been bent or broken by matter and reality manipulation, such as Magneto, or a matter transmutation ray

• Can Wolverine be dismembered or torn apart? This question comes up a lot, but I don't have a definitive answer. Logically, it should be possible; if the adamantium covered Wolverines joints, he wouldn't be able to move. On the other hand, comics.

  • Arguments against

    • Hulk can't tear Wolverine apart

    • Ba'al can't tear Wolverine apart. (Note: Ba'al is listed to have super strength to lift between 75 and 100 tons, but he doesn't have a lot of strength feats)

    • In a danger room training scenario, Cyclops has Magneto remove Wolverine's adamantium before Namor tears him apart. (Note: It doesn't seem like it would make sense remove the adamantium if Wolverine could just be torn apart by super-strength individuals)

    • Wolverine has [experienced] all sorts of [massive damage], and yet his [skeleton, and limbs], have always remained [intact]

  • Arguments for

    • After a fight with super gorillas, Wolverine has tendon damage

    • Age of Apocalypse Wolverine had his hand blown off by Cyclops. Note: AoA alternate timeline adamantium might be same as 616, as it was the same timeline until Prof. X died

    • In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, adamantium is breakable, or at least Wolverine's tendons are

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VI. Senses

Wolverine has superhuman senses, but he sometimes seems like he has to actively focus on using them. For example, his sense of smell is most effective if he already has the scent. Similarly, Wolverine gets surprised fairly frequently. Because of this, I would not put his senses on nearly the same level as Daredevil.

 

A. Standard Showings:

• Can pick up day-old scents

• Recognizes where he is after teleporting to an unknown location

• Can hear a whispered conversation from a little ways away

• Can smell emotions

• Can detect when someone lies

• Even without vision, Wolverine can use his senses to fight fairly effectively

• Using his senses together, Wolverine has pretty good situational awareness, and can detect tails, surprises, invisible opponents, and shape shifters (Note: this was a Skrull)

• With his senses and feral nature, Wolverine can communicate with animals to a degree

 

B. High Showings:

• From high above New York, Wolverine is able to detect Predator X monsters in the sewers

• Detected the scentless Fantomex from his lack of scent in a sewer

• Can hear an in-ear radio conversation from across the street on a different building

• While in a prison somewhere in a huge flying castle, Wolverine can hear an approaching flying car

• At a distance, hears man pulling an arrow aware and know his intentions

• Detects people watching him from a good ways away

• Detects attackers three minutes before the motion tracker does

• Detects possession

• While assisting Dr. Strange, Wolverine is able to detect an astral spy

• Can talk to elephants

 

B. Low Showings and Limits:

• [Album]--Wolverine gets surprised fairly frequently

• Interference from other smells and noises can affect his senses

• His senses aren't infallible

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VII. Fighting Ability and Berserker Rage

Wolverine regularly trained or fought for most of his 130 year life. However, Wolverine's fighting ability is often a point of dispute because of his tendency to get hit. In his universe, he is recognized as highly skilled, or at least deadly, but he doesn't his skills very often and prefers to fight on instinct. IMO, he is not as skilled as guys like Captain America, but he is close. A more appropriate description for Logan's fighting might be effective. His instinctive fighting, substantial training, and heightened physicals (especially his healing), allow Wolverine to beat a lot of people who seem more skilled technically.

 

A. Standard Showings:

• [Album]--Wolverine might take some hits, but he tends to dominate the cannon fodder troops

• Narrator compares Wolverine's and Psylocke's fighting styles

• Fights fairly equally with Captain America on multiple occasions. [Album 1]; [Album 2]; [Album 3]. Captain America admits Logan has good moves

• Disarms and quickly KO's Bucky

• Shatterstar mistakenly attacks and Wolverine beats him pretty easily

• Dodges and blocks X-23's strikes(Note: he loses this fight)

• Gets impaled by Razorfist, but quickly disarms him and takes him down

• [Album]--Has good accuracy with thrown weapons (and other things!)

• Thinks on his feet in a fight and makes an improv flamethrower

• Takes down Age of Apocalypse Sabretooth and Wildchild

• [Album]--Wins a fighting tournament in Madripoor, in which he beat Speed Demon, Puma, Toad, and Mr. X.

• Times a strike on Speed Demon (Note: this might double as a speed feat)

• Wolverine has trained many skilled fighters, including Black Widow and is the X-Men's combat instructor

 

B. High Showings:

• Beats Iron Fist in a sparring match

• [Album]--Wolverine trains in Kung Fu, and stomps crooks who had nearly killed him

• Wolverine targets nerves and other weak points on the body

• While unarmed, takes on eight martial artists with weapons and beats them fairly easily

• Beats several swordsmen while blindfolded

• Easily puts Crusher Reel in a hold while they were both depowered and states that he could Creel in many ways

• Refreshes his sword fighting skills with Silver Samurai, a notable Marvel swordsmen. Within 5 days Wolverine is beating Silver Samurai in multiple ways. Later he uses his skills to beat Daken

• Wins a mental sword fight

• Forge remarks on Wolverine's ability to retain his sophisticated combat skills even while berserking

• Tends to dominate Sabretooth in his high end feats. [Album 1] (Note: there is a high chance of PIS here, as the plot called for Wolverine to get his adamantium back), [Album 2], [Album 3] (Note: Wolverine did not have his healing factor here)

 

C. Low Showings:

• Wolverine occasionally gets his ass handed to him by other named and sometimes generic characters. For example,

• Shingen (Note: Wolverine was recovering from a powerful poison designed to kill him);

• Batroc (Note: Wolverine didn't have his healing factor and still forced Batroc to retreat by stabbing him)

• Wolverine's first encounter with Iron Fist was pretty one-sided, even if Wolverine was not really injured

• Black Panther remarks on how Wolverine's style requires him to be able to take hits (Note: No healing factor)

• Wolverine says he's not that good, and relies on his berserker nature to win fights (Note: this comic highly emphasized Wolverine's berserker nature)

 

D. Berserker Rages

Wolverine is a berserker. Depending on his state of anger, or pain, Wolverine can lose (most of his) conscious control, and begin massacring his enemies without a second thought. As you might imagine, it seems like Wolverine's physicals(his speed, strength, and healing) are heightened during his berserker rages.

• [Album]--Fights and ultimately beats Gorgon, a telepathic, super strong, super fast, ninja mutant with a petrifying gaze

• [Album]--Goes "maximum damage" on lots of Limbo demons

• [Album]--Goes berserk, kills a hill's worth of people, and nearly kills Xavier

• [Alblum]--Initially loses a fight to a large demon, then goes berserk in round 2 and wins

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VIII. Skills and experience

Wolverine is highly skilled in wetworks. He has lots of experience with tracking, stealth, infiltration, espionage, technical skills, and more.

 

A. Standard Showings:

• Disappears from Night Crawler's vision and then surprises him

• Sneaks past the X-Mansion's defense sensors (simulated in the Danger Room) and with the help of Psylocke's mental powers, wins the Danger Room challenge

• Wolverine is very stealthy in a forest environment

• Often infiltrates enemy strongholds

• Comes up with a simple plan so his enemies expose themselves and then he strikes

• Plants a bomb before his attack as a distraction for later (Note: Wolverine was mind-controlled by the Hand and Hydra)

• Learned espionage with Black Widow's father

• Knows how to disarm a bomb

 

B. High Showings:

• States he can find the shape-shifting Mystique anywhere in the world in 9 hours and he does it in 8.5

• FantomX, a skilled thief attempts to break into a heavily guarded vault, only to find Wolverine had beaten him there without setting off any alarm.

• Sneaks on a sleeping Daredevil and surprises him (Note: Wolverine was mind controlled by Hydra and did have an unknown amount of new equipment such as a teleportation device, and electronic scramblers. Still, the teleported seemed very bright and possibly noisy, so it seems unlikely that Wolverine used it.)

• Infiltrates the Hand ninja and proceeds to eliminate the entire Tokyo sect

• Picks off highly trained Weapon X soldiers with sneak attacks, traps, and cunning. These soldiers were designed with similar powers, including their senses

• Hears that Hope is kidnapped and with seemingly no prior info, tracks her to a secret base, and then sneaks in to rescue her

• Plans and perfectly times a strike on the Japanese Prime Minister's motorcade

• Makes an elaborate plan to capture his son (Note: Wolverine does a lot of scheming in Wolverine: Origins as a plays a cat and mouse game with Romulus)

 

C. Low Showings:

• Gets drunk and then captured by basic thugs who force him to fight with a restraining collar

• Doesn't always think ahead

• Gets outmaneuvered occasionally