| Adamantium | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Avengers #66 (July 1969) |
| Created by | Roy Thomas Barry Windsor-Smith Stan Lee |
| In story information | |
| Type | Metal |
| Element of stories featuring | Wolverine, Bullseye, Lady Deathstrike, X-23 |
Adamantium is a fictional, indestructible metal alloy. In the Marvel Comics Universe, it is best known for being the substance bonded to the character Wolverine's skeleton and bone claws.[1]
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The first use of the term adamantium in Marvel Comics was in Avengers #66 (July 1969) as part of Ultron's outer shell. The word is a pseudo-Latin neologism (real Latin: adamans, adamantem [accusative]) based on the English noun and adjective adamant (and the derived adverb adamantly). The adjective has long been used to refer to the embodiment of impregnable, diamondlike hardness, or to describe a very firm/resolute position (e.g. He adamantly refused to leave). The noun adamant has long been used to designate any impenetrably or unyieldingly hard substance and, formerly, a legendary stone/rock or mineral of impenetrable hardness and with many other properties, often identified with diamond or lodestone.[2][3] Adamant and the literary form adamantine occur in works such as the Aeneid, The Faerie Queene, Paradise Lost, Gulliver's Travels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Lord of the Rings, and the film Forbidden Planet, all of which predate the use of adamantium in Marvel's comics. Adamantine is also the metal used by Hephaestus to construct chains to hold Prometheus in the ancient greek play Prometheus Bound.
In the Marvel Universe, adamantium is a group of man-made metal alloys that possess varying durability, but are all nearly indestructible. Adamantium was (inadvertently) invented by the American metallurgist Dr. Myron MacLain[4] in an attempt to recreate his prior discovery, a unique alloy of steel and vibranium (which required an unknown catalyst for its manufacture), that was used to create Captain America's shield.
Prior to molding it, the components of the alloy are kept in separate batches, typically in blocks of resin; when the Adamantium is prepared, the blocks are melted, together, mixing the components while the resin evaporates. The alloy must then be cast within an eight-minute time period. Adamantium's extremely stable molecular structure prevents it from being further molded after its eight-minute initial time period, even if the temperature is high enough to keep it in its liquified form. In its solid form, it is colorless, shiny, and resembles high-grade steel or titanium.[5] It is almost impossible to destroy or fracture in this state and when crafted to a razor edge it can penetrate most lesser materials with minimal application of strength.[6] It is partially magnetic, as Magneto has manipulated it on multiple occasions.[7]
Despite its utility in the creation of armament and/or armature, adamantium is rarely used due to extreme cost and inability to be reshaped. Due to this and the secrecy around the formula, few attempts are made to synthesize it.
Walter Simonson planned for Apocalypse to be the mastermind behind the Weapon X project that gave Wolverine his adamantium skeleton. Wolverine once discovered an adamantium-laced skull in Apocalypse's laboratory and commented how it seemed to have been there for eons.[8]
As true adamantium is extremely difficult and expensive to create or manipulate, some parties found a way to duplicate it on a larger and more cost-effective scale at the expense of quality and durability. For most practical purposes, this secondary adamantium is also largely indestructible. Conventional weapons, such as ballistic missiles, have no effect on it and it is far stronger than even the most durable of titanium or steel compounds. However, extraordinary blunt force, such as a punch from a being with superhuman strength, can warp or break it. Unconventional forms of energy discharges have also been known to warp or damage secondary adamantium, such as Thor's lightning attacks using Mjolnir.[9]
Adamantium beta is a new metal created as a side-effect of the process of bonding true adamantium to Wolverine's bones. His healing factor not only allowed him to survive the process, but also induced a molecular change in the metal. Adamantium beta functions identically to true adamantium, but it does not inhibit the biological processes of bone.[10]
Carbonadium is a resilient, unstable metal that is vastly stronger than steel, but more malleable and cheaper than adamantium.[11] Due to its malleability, carbonadium is less durable than true adamantium, but still nearly indestructible. Omega Red has carbonadium coils through which he can transmit his ability to drain life energies. Carbonadium is highly radioactive and objects composed of it have proven to slow the accelerated healing factors of Wolverine[12] and his son, Daken,[13] if implanted within the body. While slowed considerably, their healing powers are not completely suppressed. It is currently unknown if carbonadium affects other beings with superhuman healing powers in a similar manner. The only device that can produce carbonadium, known as the Carbonadium Synthesizer, was initially believed thrown into a river in Brussels by Wolverine. It has since been revealed that the Carbonadium Synthesizer had been hidden on the deceased body of a double-agent who died escaping Omega Red along with Wolverine, Sabretooth, and Maverick. The synthesizer was retrieved and handed back to Maverick, whose mission was to retrieve the item for unknown parties.
In X-Men #191, when confronting Wolverine, one of the Children of the Vault named Serafina claims that adamantium has thirteen allotropes, all of which are "unstable, and short-lived, but virulently poisonous." She throws a small device that clamps onto Wolverine's claws and makes them glow green, claiming that it is adamantium nine. This apparently raises adamantium's toxicity dramatically, overloading Wolverine's healing factor. However, Adamantium being an alloy (chemically, a compound) and not an element, this presumably means she changed one or more of the composite elements.
Adamantium is used as the key component in several instances in the Marvel Universe, including:
Within the Earth-1610 reality, otherwise known as the Ultimate Marvel Universe,[14] adamantium also exists, but little is known about its history. Among the most notable information yet to be revealed is when adamantium was first created, the person or persons responsible for first creating it, and any of the properties and processes used in creating it. Only one form of adamantium has been seen in the Ultimate Universe thus far. It is currently unknown whether or not any other versions of adamantium exist, as they do in the Earth-616 reality.
Adamantium in the Ultimate Universe is highly durable and is able to effectively protect a person's mind from telepathic probing or attacks, a property that the Earth-616 version lacks completely. It has been shown as a component of the claws and skeleton of the Ultimate Wolverine and Ultimate Lady Deathstrike characters. The shield of Ultimate Captain America is composed entirely of adamantium. Though the Ultimate Marvel version of the Hulk was able to rip Wolverine in half, this was only damage to connective tissue. There was no evidence of damage to any of Wolverine's bones or the adamantium. Although, Wolverine himself remarked, "unbreakable... so much for that" after being ripped in half.
There is other evidence in the Ultimate Universe that brings into question the status of adamantium as "unbreakable" or "indestructible" in comparison with the Earth-616 version. Cyclops managed to break through adamantium with his optic blasts in the Age of Apocalypse series. There is an instance of the Hulk breaking a needle made of adamantium.[15] During the initial appearances of the Ultimate Marvel version of Sabretooth, it is revealed that he has four retractable adamantium claws implanted within each of his forearms. Through circumstances that have yet to be explained, one of the claws implanted within Sabretooth's left forearm is broken.[16] There is also at least one known incident of adamantium within the Earth-1610 reality being damaged by conventional weaponry. In a memory flashback, the Ultimate Marvel version of Nick Fury recalls an adamantium cage containing Wolverine being bombed and destroyed during Operation: Desert Storm. However, it is only said that the cage itself is made of adamantium, and not the internal locking structure, so it is entirely possible that the heat and concussive force presented by the explosion would affect the lesser metals in the lock, allowing for the door to open in that manner. [17]
Because adamantium is not a trademarked property, the name has been used by many other writers, game designers, and publishing companies to describe similar substances. The degree of resilience and the creation of adamantium can sometimes vary between different media forms.