Adamantium Marvels Indestructible Metal Explained

The Big Picture

• Wolverine celebrates his 50th anniversary in style with appearances in Deadpool & Wolverine and X-Men '97 .
• Adamantium, a key part of Wolverine's abilities, has led to the creation of deadly foes like Omega Red.
• Other Marvel heroes and villains, like Captain America, Lady Deathstrike, and Bullseye have been empowered by Adamantium.

2024 marks Wolverine's 50th anniversary, and the clawed Canadian is celebrating it in style. He'll be part of Deadpool & Wolverine, with Hugh Jackman reprising his role as "the best there is." He'll also be a major part of X-Men '97, the highly anticipated continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series. Part of what makes Wolverine such an endearing character is his desire to be a better person than he is. The rest comes from his mutant abilities, which make him a formidable fighter — in addition to superhuman senses and a healing factor that makes him nigh invulnerable. His entire skeleton is coated with a metal called Adamantium, including razor-sharp claws housed in his forearms. Adamantium has a long history within the Marvel Universe, and no doubt will play a role in Marvel Studios' future projects.

Deadpool & Wolverine

Wolverine joins the "merc with a mouth" in the third installment of the Deadpool film franchise.

Wolverine Gained His Adamantium Skeleton as Part of Weapon X

Though readers would meet Wolverine in the pages of The Incredible Hulk #181, it wasn't until years later that the secrets behind his Adamantium skeleton would be revealed. Those secrets came courtesy of Barry Windsor-Smith, who concocted the "Weapon X" saga in Marvel Comics Presents #72-84. The "Weapon X" storyline revealed that Wolverine was forcibly subjected to a process that bonded Adamantium to his bones, with his memories being wiped afterward. His healing factor allowed him to survive, but the constant mind wipes, combined with mental conditioning, left him in a near-feral state. Eventually, Wolverine managed to escape Weapon X, joining up with the Canadian super team Alpha Flight and later the X-Men.

Wolverine would later learn about the full roots of the Weapon X program in Grant Morrison's New X-Men run. In "Assault on Weapon Plus" by Morrison and Chris Bachalo, Wolverine, Cyclops and the mutant thief Fantomex discover that Weapon X is part of a larger organization called Weapon Plus that was dedicated to destroying mutants. Each "Weapon" in the program is given a Roman numeral, meaning that Wolverine is in fact "Weapon 10." Other Marvel heroes would be connected to Weapon Plus: Weapon I was none other than Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, as Project: Rebirth — the experiment that made him a supersoldier — was an offshoot of Weapon Plus, as was Weapon VII, the experiment that gave Luke Cage his bulletproof skin.

Adamantium Led to the Creation of One of Wolverine’s Deadliest Foes

Adamantium is a very rare and sought-after metal, because once it cools it becomes virtually indestructible. To create its indestructible state, the materials for the alloy have to be combined and forged within eight minutes. In addition to his claws, the Adamantium surrounding Wolverine's bones makes them unbreakable, greatly enhancing his strength and durability to the point where he's survived a nuclear explosion. The only person on the planet who can manipulate Adamantium in its indestructible state is Magneto — the Master of Magnetism even infamously ripped the Adamantium from Wolverine's bones during one of their fights. Multiple attempts to replicate Adamantium led to the creation of Carbonadium, which is far more malleable. It also led to the creation of one of Wolverine's deadliest enemies: Omega Red.

Omega Red is the alias of serial killer Arkady Gregorivich Rossovich, who was experimented on by the Soviet government. He had Carbonadium tentacles implanted into his body, which served as the conduit for his mutant "death factor": airborne spores that allow him to drain the life force from living beings. Omega Red fought Wolverine on multiple occasions, especially since the clawed X-Man held the secrets to the Carbonadium Synthesizer — a device that would keep his death factor from turning on his own body. While Carbonadium isn't as durable as Adamantium, it's still tough enough to make Omega Red a formidable force.

Deadpool 2’s Mid-Credits Sequence Weirdly Foreshadows ‘Deadpool & Wolverine'

How has he known all this time!?

Adamantium Has Empowered Other Heroes and Villains in the Marvel Universe

Throughout the years, other heroes and villains have used Adamantium-forged weapons or bodily enhancements throughout the Marvel Universe. Captain America's shield is made up of a mixture of Adamantium and Vibranium, giving the Sentinel of Liberty a virtually indestructible weapon. In fact, the creator of his shield would invent Adamantium in his experiments to make the shield. The homicidal artificial intelligence Ultron has made bodies out of Adamantium in his battles with the Avengers. Daredevil's archnemesis Bullseye had his own skeleton reinforced with Adamantium after the Man without Fear threw him through a window.

Other mutants have taken a page from Weapon X's book and enhanced their bodies with Adamantium. Chief among them is Yuriko Oyama, better known as Lady Deathstrike. Oyama bonded Adamantium to her own skeleton in addition to various cybernetic enhancements, seeking revenge against Wolverine for "perverting" her father Kenji Oyama's Adamantium bonding process. Wolverine's longtime foe Sabretooth also had Adamantium briefly bonded to his bones, though the mutant warlord Apocalypse removed it.

The history of Adamantium in 20th Century Fox's X-Men films can be traced back to X-Men: Origins - Wolverine, where it took the form of a meteor that fell from the sky. William Stryker (Danny Huston) then bonds the metal to Wolverine's bones, turning him into "Weapon X." Stryker repeated the same process on Yuriko Oyama (played by Kelly Hu), who serves as his bodyguard in X2: X-Men United. It's even hinted that Adamantium might be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; in the third season of Daredevil, Bullseye is shown to be alive and receiving surgery from a "Dr. Oyama." With the assassin's presence confirmed in Daredevil: Born Again, it may be hinted that he's received his Adamantium skeleton, which would make him a deadly threat for Daredevil. While details have been scarce on the X-Men's introduction into the MCU, it stands to reason that if Wolverine shows up, Adamantium won't be far behind.

Deadpool and Wolverine claws its way into theaters on July 26, 2024. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.

Watch on Disney+

ncG1vNJzZmibn6G5qrDEq2Wcp51kxKmt02agrGWRma6urc2toK6lXw%3D%3D