Marvel Comics’ most recent relaunch of the X-Men line of comic books, titled X-Men: From the Ashes, follows the end of the Krakoan Age storyline and introduces many new elements to the X-Men franchise. Among the ongoing series of comics is also Wolverine, a relaunch that follows the adventures of the eponymous and perpetually enraged mutant we all know and love. The comic’s first issue, Wolverine #1, introduced a powerful new metal that’s not only stronger than Adamantium in Wolverine’s bones but also threatens to change the Wolverine lore forever.
For a long time in the history of Marvel Comics, adamantium was regarded as an indestructible steel alloy named after the legendary adamantine, a metal found both in Greek mythology and classical literature. First introduced in The Avengers #66, published in July 1966, Adamantium draws its origins from the work of Dr. Myron MacLain, an American metallurgist contracted by the US government during WWII for military research and development.
This indestructible metal in Marvel lore was fused with Wolverine’s bones and claws by the nefarious Weapon X program through mutant experimentation. The process was incredibly painful, as it involved fusing molten metal with one’s skeleton, and the only reason Logan survived is because of his primary mutant power — his regenerative healing factor — which allows him to heal and regenerate his injuries and damaged tissue with incredible speed and efficiency.
Now, the recently introduced gold adamantium (not its official name) challenges the position of regular Adamantium as Marvel Comics’ strongest metal. The events of Wolverine #1 follow the battle between Wolverine and Cyber in the Canadian wilderness. While the skin on Cyber’s arms is bonded with Adamantium, Wolverine’s Adamantium claws and his innate ferocity allow him to overpower and brutalize Cyber. However, amidst the clash of their fight, a mysterious golden metal awakens deep underground.
Cyber, now injured and fleeing from Wolverine, stumbles across this golden metal that possesses him and begins infecting his own Adamantium, providing the metal with its own golden sheen. But what makes the whole thing interesting is that the fans are given insight into gold adamantium’s “thoughts” through narration, where it calls adamantium “false metal,” along with its plans to eradicate it from the world. However, the metal didn’t just possess Cyber’s adamantium; it also purified Cyber’s will and made him “worthy” of wielding this new form.
Now, it’s important to note that Adamantium can be considered false metal, as it’s not found in the natural world. Instead it’s an alloy; a combination of base metal and metallic and non-metallic elements that improve its specific properties, and its rarity can be attributed to the fact that the exact recipe for making adamantium in Marvel Comics is only known to the US government. As a synthetic alloy, adamantium is totally unbreakable. For the longest time, its only known weakness was Antarctic vibranium, which disrupts its molecular stability and causes it to melt.
So, the gold adamantium isn’t wrong to call the regular adamantium false metal. However, the fact that the former possesses its wielders and “makes them worthy” of wielding it suggests godly origins. It just so happens that the Olympian gods, based on the Greek pantheon, are part of Marvel Comics and are reimagined as powerful beings residing in the dimension of Olympus. Hercules, in particular, has been a recurring Marvel character since he was first introduced in 1945’s Young Allies #16 and then reintroduced in 1965’s Journey Into Mystery Annual #1.
In the latter of the two comic books, Hercules appears wielding a Golden Mace, which is made out of adamantine, making it as strong and durable as Thor’s Mjolnir. Considering that Mjolnir has been shown to resist and even break through or shatter Adamantium-based weapons, we can clearly deduce that adamantine —which has a gold-like appearance — is stronger than adamantium.
Fans now speculate, and all evidence points toward the fact that the newly introduced gold adamantium might actually be adamantine and that the metal possesses anyone with Adamantium in their system. Thanks to the nefarious Weapon X, a lot of Wolverine’s enemies also wield some form of adamantium, and Cyber was the first one to succumb to its influence. Constrictor, a mutant who wields adamantium cables instead of claws, is also seen wielding golden cables in Wolverine #4, suggesting that he, too, fell under the new metal’s influence.
To make things worse, the new metal seems to be unifying some of the deadliest mutants in comics, and it won’t stop until Wolverine himself is stripped of his adamantium or turned into yet another mindless pawn in its army. Sadly, there’s still no explanation on whether the gold adamantium is actually adamantine on a mission to destroy its synthetic and obviously inferior imitator and what actually drives it to do so. It’s entirely possible that Wolverine and Cyber’s clash awakened some ancient adamantine deposit and that it’s not too happy about the state of things.
Also, some comic book storylines and series, like Astonishing X-Men, feature a Wolverine variant that wields claws fused with adamantine instead of adamantium, granting him extra powers, such as psychic immunity, energy disruption, and energy absorption. Now, assuming that the gold adamantium is actually adamantine, it would seem that the mainstream Wolverine from the new comic book series is about to develop a completely different, antagonistic relationship with the divine metal from the comics.