Is Deadpool’s healing factor better than Wolverine’s?

Deadpool and Wolverine are more alike than either character — particularly Wolvie — would probably like to admit.

Their personalities couldn’t be more different, but their blood-soaked backgrounds certainly sport parallels, as does their country of origin — The True North strong and free! — and their healing factors. This makes a lot of sense, considering the origins of Wade’s regenerative abilities, but there’s actually a much bigger gap between how those healing factors work than many people realize.

Which healing factor is better — Deadpool’s or Wolverine’s?

Both Deadpool and Wolverine sport some of the best healing factors in the entire Marvel universe. The pair of regenerating murder machines are capable of bouncing back from nearly anything, from grievous injuries and lost limbs to full decapitation.

While Wolvie can recover from damn near anything — save a nice solid log through the chest, following years of adamantium poisoning — his healing factor isn’t nearly as good as Wade’s. That’s despite the fact that Wade’s healing factor was actually stolen straight from Logan’s DNA, but there’s a catch to how the Merc with a Mouth’s regeneration works.

See, Wade joined Weapon X in hopes of curing his cancer, and the program managed just that — to a degree. It did stop the cancer from killing its host, but it didn’t actually eliminate the cancerous cells. Instead, it tailor-made a healing factor that latched onto those cancerous cells, resulting in a strange regenerative ability that Black Panther ultimately dubbed a “dying factor,” rather than a “healing factor.”

Wade’s body is in a constant battle to replace his dying cells, as the cancer that continues to ravage his body eliminates healthy cells, and as a result his healing factor (or dying factor) is ramped up to the nth degree. He can survive pretty much any injury out there, from starvation and lost limbs to full-blown decapitation, and more minor wounds heal in record time. The nature of Deadpool’s “dying factor” provides him with an ability to bounce back much faster, and more thoroughly, than Wolverine, providing the Merc with a Mouth with at least one thing he can do better than his Canadian comrade.