When it comes to adamantium in Marvel Comics, most fans associate it with Wolverine and his skeleton. However, the truth is that adamantium goes back a lot further than Wolverine and actually was originally invented back in World War II. Throughout the years, a number of major heroes and villains used adamantium, from Wolverine and Captain America to Ultron and Bullseye, and in each case, it turned out that the rare fictional metal was slightly different depending on which character was using it. There has also been a lot of confusion about the actual strength of adamantium since some comics have shown it break while others see it withstanding the greatest pressure possible.
Adamantium was originally introduced into comics back in 1969 by the Marvel Comics creative team of Roy Thomas, Barry Windsor-Smith and Syd Shores. When they introduced it in the pages of Avengers #66, it was what Ultron's outer shell was made of -- making him nearly indestructible. Since that time, it was added back in time to reveal that it was what was used to create Captain America's shield and then, eventually, was used to show yet another of the mutant Wolverine's impressive powers. Through the years, it has changed but remains one of the most powerful metal alloys in Marvel Comics history. Here is a look at 20 secrets about adamantium only real Marvel fans know.
20 IT WAS A CLASSIFIED SECRET
During World War II, the United States government was working on a top-secret mission to develop super-strong alloys. They were allowed small samples of Vibranium to use and Dr. Myron MacLain was trying to mix different compounds to find the perfect match. However, he ended up falling asleep at his bench and when he woke up, he saw the metals he was experimenting with bonded together.
It created the perfect circular indestructible form. Sadly, he was never able to perfectly duplicate what occurred while he was sleeping and he went on to create a form of it without Vibranium that was not as strong but still almost indestructible. As a U.S. military experiment, the entire composition was deemed as classified and was a highly guarded secret for the United States government.
19 IT WAS BASED ON HERCULES
Interestingly, the entire theory concerning adamantium stretches back eons to a legendary Greek demigod that would --one day -- become a member of the Avengers. Hercules had his own weapon that was similar to the battle hammer of Thor. It was a golden mace that was created for him by Hephaestus after he passed on for the first time and became a demigod.
That mace was made out of adamantium, which made it easily a legitimate weapon when faced with something like Mjolnir. The Greek legend used the term "adamant" which was part of the basis for Marvel Comics naming the metal adamantium, but since Hercules is part of the Marvel Universe, they were able to use it as a fictional inspiration for Dr. MacLain to use to create Cap's shield.
18 PROTO-ADAMANTIUM
While Dr. MacLain was working on trying to create adamantium, another top United States government scientist was working on creating the Super Soldier Serum. Those two breakthroughs happened at nearly the same time. When Dr. Abraham Erskine created the Super Soldier Serum, they tested it out on a young soldier named Steve Rogers, who then became Captain America.
However, after Rogers was transformed, Erskine's life was taken and the serum was never exactly duplicated again as the formula went with him. It is very similar to MacLain, who was never able to duplicate the exact compound for the adamantium that made Cap's shield -- meaning the shield and Captain America were destined to be one-of-a-kind. This is known as Proto-Adamantium and is the strongest form of the metal alloy.
17 CAP'S SHIELD WAS DAMAGED BEFORE
In theory, nothing can destroy Captain America's shield. However, what is said in theory only means something when there are experiments that prove the theory is fact. When it comes to the facts in Marvel Comics, there have been times where Captain America's shield has been damaged and even destroyed -- disproving the theory that it is completely indestructible.
One of those moments was when Doctor Doom used the power he stole from the Beyonder to shatter it in Secret Wars, although Cap was able to reform it thanks to the Beyonder. Other moments that damaged the shield came when Thanos used the powers of the Infinity Gauntlet, Molecule Man used his control over matter and Thor used the Odin-Force, meaning that it takes extraordinary godlike powers to damage Proto-Adamantium.
16 IT CAN SURVIVE NUCLEAR BLASTS
When the United States government was working on creating adamantium, it was during World War II. They also worked on the Super Soldier Serum and were trying to find a way to bring down the Nazi party of Hitler and the evil Red Skull. With all the other weapons being developed at the time, they sought to find a way to make a metal alloy indestructible to everything -- and that included the new invention of atomic warfare.
Through time, adamantium has proven to be indestructible to just that -- and not just a single nuclear blast but multiple nuclear blasts. This was first stated in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. While Wolverine was able to survive a nuclear blast in The Wolverine, he did not have his adamantium skeleton at that time but it appears it would survive a blast if he took one head on.
15 TRUE ADAMANTIUM
Because Dr. MacLain could not duplicate the compound that made the Proto-Adamantium that created Captain America's shield, it took years to figure out a formula that was at least close to that level of strength. By the time he developed this new version, albeit, without the use of Vibranium in the process, he created what is known today as True Adamantium.
Unlike Proto-Adamantium, the True Adamantium is not completely indestructible but it is about as close as the metal alloy can get. This is the adamantium that is used in Wolverine's skeleton. The good news is that Dr. MacLain was able to perfect this version, allowing the U.S. government and other organizations who gained access to the formula to reproduce it.
14 THOR AND IRON MAN CAN'T DESTROY IT
When Dr. MacLain was finally able to create True Adamantium, the U.S. government wanted proof that it was as indestructible as promised. The best way to do this was to have two of the world's most powerful heroes use all their might to test it -- and the metal alloy proved to be everything it was cracked up to be by never cracking at all when faced with the immense power of Iron Man and Thor.
As referenced in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, Dr. MacLain reluctantly released his only supply of adamantium to the government and the Avengers then had Iron Man and Thor test it out to great success. It withstood Iron Man's repulsor blasts and Thor's godly powers of lightning.
13 LORD DARK WIND CREATED BONDING PROCESS
While Dr. MacLain was the scientist who perfected True Adamantium, it was a very different person that perfected how to bond it to the skeleton of a body like what happened with Wolverine. The man who perfected this process was named Lord Dark Wind and the story was told in the pages of Daredevil#197. A former Japanese soldier named Kenji Oyama used his wealth to develop a way to bond adamantium to a person's bones.
Known by this time as Lord Dark Wind, his notes were stolen and his process was used to bond the adamantium into the skeleton of Wolverine, as shown in Wolverine: Weapon X Files #1. While his contributions to this were unknown to most the world, Lord Dark Wind later recreated the process and bonded an adamantium skeleton to Bullseye.
12 WOLVERINE'S SKELETON
Wolverine's skeleton was not Proto-Adamantium but was instead True Adamantium that the Weapon X program bonded to his bones using the process stolen from Lord Dark Wind. This adamantium covers Wolverine's entire skeleton -- including his bone claws -- which makes breaking any of his bones almost completely impossible.
His adamantium claws can pierce almost anything except Captain America's shield -- which is Proto-Adamantium and therefore stronger. The adamantium bones also make his basic strikes more powerful in hand-to-hand combat. As Wolverine developed over the years, Marvel showed that the adamantium soon became a very different metal allow called Beta Adamantium. This was necessary due to the medical concerns and questions surrounding it being bonded to bones. This form of adamantium can process oxygen -- which bones need to survive.
11 MOLECULAR REARRANGEMENT
True Adamantium became Beta Adamantium thanks to the molecular rearrangement of the metal alloy when formed. The way that the metal was added to Wolverine's skeleton involved precisely forming it. When creating adamantium, the chemical resins are mixed together and then maintained at a temperature of 1,500 degrees.
While it is in this form, the adamantium can be formed into any shape imaginable and then it sits for eight minutes in a flux period. After this time, the form becomes permanent and the entire molecular structure is completely stable. This form has to be created through an exact molecular arrangement after which there are very few forces that can then alter its structure again. This explains how the adamantium was able to form onto Wolverine's bones in a very short time.
10 MANIPULATING ADAMANTIUM
There are very few people or beings in existence that can manipulate adamantium once it has formed. The most obvious example was Magneto, who was able to rip all the adamantium off of Wolverine's bones and out of his body. The Molecule Man was also able to damage Captain America's shield through his complete control of matter in Avengers #215.
When it comes to True Adamantium, along with Magneto, Rune King Thor was able to manipulate the adamantium. Other villains have found ways to "harvest" existing adamantium, such as when Apocalypse took it off Sabretooth's skeleton in Wolverine Vol. 2 #145 and Genesis took it from Cyber by destroying everything but the adamantium-laced skin in Wolverine Vol. 2 #96.
9 IT IS POISONOUS
There is one very big downfall to having an adamantium skeleton. The metal alloy itself causes cancer. The good news for Wolverine in the comic books is that he had the mutant healing factor that fought off the poisons and kept him alive and fighting. However, at the time that he lost his healing factor in the comics, that adamantium poisoning became very dangerous. Beast had to create a synthesized drug that counteracted the poisons.
In the movie Logan, they also approached this idea. Wolverine had been alive for a very long time by the time this movie's timeline took place and he said in the film that he was not going to live much longer. The adamantium poison was taking its toll on his body.
8 IT IS STRONGER THAN VIBRANIUM
It should be obvious when you think about it, but adamantium is stronger than Vibranium. The reason this is obvious is that Vibranium was just one of the items used when Dr. MacLain created the Proto-Adamantium as he was looking to make something indestructible and Vibranium was just part of the solution. Adamantium was, in fact, a steel/Vibranium alloy when it merged to create Captain America's shield.
When Marvel Comics refers to the metal alloys in its canon, the company clearly states that adamantium is the strongest metal in the entire Marvel Universe. However, there are cases where Vibranium has been shown to have an effect on adamantium, but in those cases, it is not Proto-Adamantium -- or even True Adamantium -- but is something known as Secondary Adamantium -- a third type of the metal alloy.
7 SECONDARY ADAMANTIUM
What is Secondary Adamantium? Well, it just might be a way for Marvel Comics to explain how adamantium has been broken in the pages of its comics over the years. While that is the true reason that it was created, there is also the storyline reason that the comics introduced to explain this weaker version of the metal alloy. True Adamantium is not only a top-secret formula but it is also something that is very expensive to make.
As a result, Secondary Adamantium was created when people wanted to make their own but couldn't afford to make it or have the exact formula that the government possessed. When it comes to Secondary Adamantium, someone like Thor with superhuman strength has the ability to break or warp it.
6 ANTARCTIC VIBRANIUM
There is a lot of confusion in Marvel Comics because, for many years, writers would use similar terms for different things. That was especially the case with Stan Lee, as he would use a name and then figure it was a throw-away name and use the same one again later for something different. This happened with Vibraniam, which was introduced twice early on as two very different things.
Of course, everyone knows about Vibraniam from Wakanda, and it was a key ingredient in creating Proto-Adamantium. However, there is another Vibraniam that can destroy adamantium. To ease confusion over time, the dangerous one was renamed Antartic Vibraniam and later Anti-Metal. This is found mostly in the Savage Land and causes all metal to destroy itself -- including True Adamantium.
5 IT IS 'ASTRONOMICALLY' EXPENSIVE TO MAKE
If anyone wonders why there is not adamantium all over the world used for just about everything, it is because it is astronomically expensive to make. Plus, only a few people know the formula to create it. The United States government had no problem throwing money around if they thought it could help them create more weapons, so they were the largest supplier of adamantium -- both for their use and for their allies.
However, there have been others who have made it, including the corporation Adametco. There have also been villains who were able to gain access to adamantium, such as Doctor Octopus for his arms, Bullseye for his skeleton and even heroes like Hawkeye for arrow tips. Add in Hank Pym using it on Ultron, and it seems there is enough to go around despite the restraint of the high cost.
4 EFFECTS PEOPLE PHASING THROUGH IT
For years, Wolverine had adamantium-laced to his skeleton and the only thing that kept him alive was that he had a healing factor. Adamantium is poisonous and would have ended his life quickly if not for that healing factor -- which is why so many test subjects fell before Weapon X latched onto Logan to succeed in their testing. With that said, it isn't just damaging to the person with the adamantium skeleton.
In Uncanny X-Men #165, Shadowcat phased through adamantium and it ended up making her sick. If she just phased through, without physically touching it, and fell ill to it, that makes it seem like the toxins from the metal alloy are even more dangerous than originally believed. One has to wonder if getting cut with one of Wolverine's claws could eventually cause a person to develop a terminal disease.
3 HULK COULD ONLY DENT IT
The Incredible Hulk has had a few run-ins with adamantium over his adventures. The main idea of the metal alloy is that it is indestructible. There are the cases with godlike figures such as Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet or Thor with the Odin-force, but there has also been at least one or two cases where someone else has damaged it surprisingly.
When it comes to The Hulk, there is no real limit to his power. The angrier Hulk gets, the stronger he gets. In World War Hulk, Wolverine admitted that when Hulk was at his angriest, his adamantium claws couldn't even penetrate the Green Goliath's hyde. In Secret Wars, Hulk was so angry that he punched Ultron hard enough to actually dent his adamantium shell.
2 ULTIMATE MARVEL ADAMANTIUM
In the world of Ultimate Comics, there was one surprising moment where Hulk and Wolverine were fighting and Hulk actually did the unthinkable. He grabbed Wolverine and then ripped him completely in half. This should have technically been impossible since Wolverine had the adamantium skeleton and mainstream Hulk had only shown he could dent the metal.
The reason that he was able to rip the adamantium in half is that the Ultimate Universe version is not indestructible. It is still highly durable but Hulk has broken an adamantium needle. Sabretooth had adamantium claws that broke. Captain America's adamantium shield was even destroyed in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. How it was created in this world was never revealed but it is not the same as the regular Marvel version.
1 13 DIFFERENT ALLOTROPES
When it comes to the dangers of adamantium, it all comes down to what it called allotropes. There are 13 different allotropes in adamantium. This was revealed by the villain Serafina in X-Men Vol. 2 #191. Serafina was part of the group known as the Children of the Vault -- the next evolution of mutants.
When the X-Men battled the Children of the Vault, Serafina revealed the existence of 13 allotropes in adamantium and then said that they are all unstable and possibly poisonous. She then gave a perfect example when she used a device that triggered one of the allotropes, turning Wolverine's claws green and knocking him completely out. That was the "ninth" allotropes, according to Serafina. There is no telling what the other 12 cause adamantium to do.