Wolverinehit a number of milestones this year, and acquired a deadly new villain–but who is the Adamantine? 2025 is Wolverine’s 50th anniversary, and Marvel is pulling out all the stops to celebrate. Various miniseries and one-shots are planned throughout the year, as well as celebratory books,such asWolverine#400.This oversize issuesees the debut of Adamantine, a lore-busting villain and one of Wolverine’s biggest threats to date.
Saladin Ahmed has also writtenDaredevilfor Marvel.
Marvelreleased more information onWolverine#400 on its website, including a first look at the interior and cover art, shared below. The issue will be written by Saldain Ahmed and drawn by Martin Coccolo, along with a backup story by Daniel Warren Johnson. TheAdamantine is a mysterious entity who seeks the super-metal adamantium for unknown reasons.Wolverine, with his adamantium-laced skeleton, is the ideal target for Adamantine, setting the two on a collision course. Marvel did not release any preview pages of Ahmed and Coccolo’s story, leaving Adamantine’s appearance and motivations even more of a mystery.
Wolverine Has One of Comics' Richest Backstories
Wolverine’s Adamantium Skeleton Makes Him Distinct
From his inauspicious beginning as a one-off villain in 1975’sIncredible Hulk#180, Wolverine has grown to become one of the richest, most layered characters in all comics. Wolverine’s past remained secretive for many years, with tantalizing glimpses, such as Barry Windsor-Smith’sWeapon X,along the way. Adding to the mystery of Wolverine’s past were the many mental blocks placed on him that muddled or outright erased his memories. Wolverine knew he had seen and experienced far more than he could remember, and this struggle helped make him immensely popular with the fans.
Fans learned that Wolverine’s claws were actually bone in 1993’sWolverine#75.
Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton, another of his defining features, was shrouded in mystery for many years too. The aforementionedWeapon Xstory filled in those gaps, showing the horrific experiments that turned Wolverine into an adamantium-enhanced killing machine. Wolverine has lost his adamantium skeleton once before, in 1993’sX-Men#25, but he gained it back soon after. Wolverine is far from the only character in the Marvel Universe who uses adamantium in some capacity, but he remains the best known, and the most obvious choice for Adamantine’s primary victim.
Why Does the Adamantine Seek the Precious Metal?
A Supernatural Entity Feeding on Adamantium Is A Unique Type of Foe for Wolverine
Adamantium has been central to Wolverine’s story from the beginning, but a creature that consumes adamantium is new, and one of the biggest additions to Wolverine’s mythos in years. Adamantium has been at the heart of some of Wolverine’s biggest stories, and the metal is a precious commodity in the Marvel Universe. It graces the bodies of othercharacters such as Sabretooth, Bullseye and Lady Deathstrike. If Adamantine seeks to consume adamantium, then it has come to the right place. Why it seeks the metal remains a mystery for the time being.
Characters laced with adamantium tend to be quite strong and resilient, and it is a testament to the Adamantine’s power that it will be able to overrun some of these powerhouses.
Regardless of why the Adamantine seeks to consume adamantium, a showdown with Wolverine is on the horizon. Characters laced with adamantium tend to be quite strong and resilient, and it is a testament to the Adamantine’s power that it will be able to overrun some of these powerhouses. In Wolverine, the Adamantine will find a foe like no other: villains have tried to take his adamantium before, but they had earthly reasons for doing so. The Adamantine’s motivations are beyond mortals. This type of supernatural/cosmic villain is new toWolverine, and the perfect foe for his golden anniversary.
