There has been much ado about Wolverine in recent years due to the success of the X-Men movies, and I'd like to talk a little bit about Wolverine's powers and how he got them.
First of all, his name is James Howlett, but everyone refers to him as Logan. He has the great senses of animals, is incredibly strong, and can heal himself by regenerating cells. He can heal from a wound or pretty much any poison in a matter of seconds, depending on how severe the injury is. This regeneration slows down his aging process, so he can live longer – much longer – than a normal human being. And let's not forget about those retracting claws.
Wolverine was born with much of these powers, and according to the most recent movie, so was his brother and father.
But another thing that happened to him in the movie was that he was given more powers and abilities from the obligatory "mad scientist" who wanted to use Wolverine's powers for evil. When it turned out that Wolverine could actually withstand the process that he underwent, he was extremely angry and refused to be a tool for evil. His regeneration was much better and faster, and his retractable claws were MUCH sharper and stronger, turning him into the Logan that we see on the actual X-Men movies.
Wolverine has been one of the most popular "superheroes" in the last couple of decades, with much of the credit going to his personality as a "real" person with dislikes and anger just like the rest of us … as opposed to heroes like Superman who always seem to be nice, charming, and respectful.