How Victor Creed’s Claws Destroy His Hands

[00:00:00]Why do Victor Creed's hands look so diseased and inflamed? Why are his claws specifically to blame? How does the anatomy of his hands actually work? And how is it radically different from Logan's anatomy? The answers are in this video. Don't forget to subscribe to the channel and support the video with your engagement. It is very important to me.

[00:00:17]So my friends, in this short video we are going to talk about the strange anatomy of the claws of Victor Creed, a highly charismatic antagonist who was unfairly underdeveloped in the X-Men film universe. More specifically, we will be discussing his version from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, where he is Logan's paternal half-brother and for the most part is arguably more of an anti-hero than an antagonist. And by the way, throughout the entire film he is never once called Sabretooth. So we can assume that this character has nothing to do with the Sabretooth from the earlier films. Although to be fair, the name Victor Creed did appear as a reference in the second film of the franchise, but that is beside the point.

[00:00:52]The point is that I have always noticed how unnaturally diseased Victor's hands look, and the more I tried to understand how the anatomy of his hands and claws works, the more I began to understand why. So let's figure it out together from the very beginning. The first and most obvious thing worth noting is that, unlike the claws of his brother Logan, Victor's claws are always exposed. At the same time, he is capable of extending them even farther. By the very nature of his mutation, Victor is a beast even more so than Logan. So would it be appropriate to compare the anatomy of his claws to that of a feline? For example, to the same saber-tooth tiger he was most likely named after. In felines, the claw is a strong keratin sheath that surrounds the curved end of the final phalanx and functions as its extension. When the flexor tendon contracts, the final phalanx moves forward and backward, bringing the claw out with it. In a relaxed state, elastic ligaments pull the phalanx back, hiding the claw above the toe pad. So once again, in simple terms, feline claws are extensions of the final phalanges, and the claws are extended and retracted through the movement of the phalanges themselves. Could this anatomy apply to to Creed's hands? You know, when we look closely at certain shots of Victor's claws, we really can notice that they appear to be extensions of the final phalanges of his fingers, or more accurately, the distal phalanges. This is especially true in scenes where his claws are shown from a distance. But when his hands are shown in close-up, as they are here, we can clearly see that his claws are positioned above the distal phalanges, much like human fingernails. In other words, his claws are definitely not part of the phalanges the way feline claws are. But of course, we cannot really describe his claws as nail-like structures either, because an ordinary human fingernail grows fixed in place from the nail bed and cannot extend and retract. Here, using a few different tools, I tried to illustrate what the internal anatomy of Victor's hands might look like, so please do not judge it too harshly. Let us assume that Victor's claws are positioned above the distal phalanges and are extended and retracted by separate specialized muscle groups created by his mutation. As a reminder, according to a Marvel art book, Logan's forearms contain separate muscle groups responsible for moving his claws. Victor's anatomy could be arranged in a similar way, with a small additional muscle group inside each finger that moves the claw. But there is a certain anatomical inconsistency in all of this. When Victor fully extends his claws, we can see that they have a distinctly curved shape. This means that when the claws retract back into his fingers, their path should carry them into the part of the skeleton between the middle and distal phalanges. In other words, directly into the joint, or somewhere very close to it. And that is far from the most anatomically convenient place for the claws to be stored while retracted. Yes, Logan's mutation did not provide a comfortable mechanism for his claws either. As they emerge, they tear through every layer of soft tissue in their path and cause tremendous pain. But at least when retracted, Logan's claws remain inside his forearms and do not interfere with normal movement. And while examining the details of the film, I did not notice Victor experiencing any difficulty with the movement of his hands. So, according to anatomical logic, Victor's claws should also remain positioned above the phalanges when retracted. And given their length, they would also have to occupy the space above the middle phalanges, which once again should interfere with normal joint movement in any case. But later, I will offer a theory about how Victor's mutation may have avoided this problem. As a brief aside, I should mention that some viewers may assume that Victor's claws do not actually extend from and retract back into his hands the way Logan's claws do. Some might say that Victor is actually able to control their cellular structure, and in a sense grow them in real time, similar to the way human fingernails grow, only extremely quickly. But I have at least two arguments in favor of the idea that Victor's claws really do extend and retract back inside his fingers as permanent bony structures. First, the extension of his claws is always accompanied by a corresponding sound, as it is here.

[00:04:35]Just like with Logan, it is the sound of the claws passing through flesh. Second, we can see scars on Victor's fingers that serve as natural channels created by his mutation to make it easier for the claws to emerge from his body. In other words, unlike Logan's, the anatomy of Victor's hands is not built around the constant injury and rapid healing of tissue. His mutation created a mechanism that allows the claws to extend without causing pain, or to be more precise, with relatively little pain. I will explore that point further in a moment.

[00:05:02]So, how can Victor's curved claws remain positioned directly above his phalanges while retracted without interfering with the normal movement of his joints? The only more or less plausible explanation is that the base of each claw, and specifically the base, remains flexible and is not fully keratinized. As the claw retracts, its base straightens and settles into a narrow channel above the distal and middle phalanges without entering the joints themselves. Once the claw extends, the base curves again and becomes more rigid, locking the claw into its functional position. There is no exact equivalent of such claws in nature, but the basic principle of changing tissue stiffness does exist in echinoderms. Under the control of their nervous systems, their collagenous tissues can shift from a soft state to a much more rigid one. In Victor's case, a similar tissue could form the flexible base of the claw, while the exposed cutting portion remains hard and durable. It is also possible that because the base of the claw is flexible, his claws occupy only the area above the distal phalanges.

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[00:06:00]>> Now, let us move on to the first thing I always noticed when looking at Victor's hands, their diseased appearance. Pay attention to the soft tissue surrounding the claws themselves. It looks like a collection of inflamed wounds that never fully heal, especially in certain shots where we can see the area beneath the claws from below. Yes, I said earlier that the claw extension mechanism created by Victor's mutation is relatively painless. At least that appears to have been its original purpose, but something clearly went wrong. After all, when we see Victor's hands during childhood, they look much healthier. The main reason for this is already presented directly in the film, and we have discussed it many times on this channel. Logan is the most resilient of the mutants. His healing abilities can cope with any damage his claws cause when they extend. They are so powerful that his mutation did not even need to create biological channels for the claws. Victor is stronger than Logan, but he cannot match him in terms of sheer survivability. And when Stryker told Victor that he would not survive the adamantium bonding procedure, he was not bluffing. In Victor's case, we see a radically different approach to mutation. His mutation provided his claws with a painless way to function, but even so, his healing abilities are not capable of fully preventing the consequences of their presence. That is simply beyond them. These are fairly large, mobile structures passing through areas where human anatomy normally accommodates nothing more than a thin nail plate. Even with specialized channels, every extension stretches the surrounding tissue, and the claws themselves are constantly pressing against the tissue from within. When the fingers bend, the hidden portion of each claw also shifts relative to the phalanges and joints. The healing factor reverses some of the damage, but the claws immediately inflict it again and again. And there is one more extremely important factor that must make the situation even worse, something that even Old Man Logan's abilities could no longer fully cope with in the 2017 film.

[00:07:45]After every battle, foreign blood, fragments of tissue, dirt, and bacteria remain on the surfaces of the claws.

[00:07:51]When Victor retracts them, all of this is literally dragged into the constantly traumatized channels inside his fingers, directly toward exposed tissue and blood vessels. As a result, his body is repeatedly exposed to the risk of localized suppuration and infection. His healing factor probably prevents the infection from spreading any farther, but it is forced to constantly eliminate those infections and maintain the damaged tissue, which is why the area around the claws may remain chronically inflamed. And there is another irony here. It was specifically the condition of Victor's hands that allowed Striker to conclude that Victor's healing abilities were noticeably inferior to Logan's. Of course, none of this means that Victor is doomed to an early death from infection or anything else. His abilities may be capable of maintaining this condition for a very long time without any further deterioration. And something as simple as wearing specialized gloves, or even just using his claws less frequently, might eliminate these harmful effects altogether. We are simply drawing a comparison with Logan and saying that Victor's hands are direct evidence that he is not as resilient as his brother. I hope you learned a little more about Sabretooth today. If you enjoyed the video, subscribe to the channel and support it with your engagement. It is very important to me. See you next time.

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