Carbonadium

[Derek Raines]

This is what I was talking about on Thursday. This rare Marvel metal has been popping up in random places throughout the universe lately. Thought I'd bring it to your attention.

So it looks like Uru > Adamantium > Vibranium/Carbonadium? I honestly don't know how the last two stack up to one another durability wise. I know Vibranium's property is pretty amazing though. There also seems to be various types of Adamantium. Hmm.

Carbonadium
Carbonadium is a resilient, unstable metal that is vastly stronger than steel but more flexible than adamantium. It is stated in X-Men vol.2 #7 that carbonadium is, in fact, both a more malleable and cheaper version of adamantium. Due to its malleability, carbonadium is less durable than true adamantium, but still nearly indestructible. Omega Red (an adversary of The X-Men) has carbonadium coils through which he can transmit his ability to drain life energies. Carbonadium is highly radioactive and a very small amount, if ingested, has proven capable of dramatically slowing down Wolverine's healing factor. The only device that can produce carbonadium, known as the Carbonadium Synthesizer, was initially believed thrown into a river in Brussels by Wolverine; (really? A river? Good call Logan) 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 parties unknown. If implanted within the body, objects composed of Carbonadium have proven to slow the accelerated healing factors of Wolverine and his son Daken. (Winter soldier shoots the guy in the back of the dome piece with a Carbonadium bullet in Wolverine Origins:Deadpool and knocks him the F out) While slowed considerably, their healing powers aren't completely supressed. It's currently unknown if Carbonadium affects other beings with superhuman healing powers in a similar manner.

[gamedave]

Adamantium
In the MU, there are two types of adamantium: secondary adamantium and "true" adamantium. True adamantium is what Wolverine's bones are laced with and is part of the alloy that makes Cap's shield (along with Wakandan vibranium). True adamantium is virtually indestructible; it can withstand ground zero detonation of a nuclear weapon. Secondary adamantium, while far stronger than any real world metal, is destructible. Individuals with Class 100 strength (the Hulk, Thor, etc.) can, with considerable effort, bend and tear secondary adamantium. Most of the time, when something is said to be made of adamantium in the MU, it is actually secondary adamantium (Constrictor's whips, Stiltman's armor, Diamondback's throwing blades, etc.). Both forms of adamantium are alloys, the formula for which is a highly classified U.S. government secret - although apparently a poorly-kept one, since all sorts of other organizations, and even individual criminals, have produced both types.

Vibranium
In the MU, there are two types of vibranium. The first type, initially referred to as "anti-metal", is found only in the Savage Land. It produces radiation (or "vibrations", hence "vibranium") that melts metals. Lord Plunder and the Melter both use weapons that project focused beams of vibranium radiation. In the Silver Age, it was kind of like Iron Man's kryptonite. It has since become fairly obscure, with its main use being a McGuffin to motivate bad guys to try to strip mine the Savage Land so Ka-Zar has someone to fight, or to give other heroes and excuse to travel to the Savage Land. Modern writers sometimes seem to confuse it with Wakandan vibranium.

The second type of vibranium is found only in a single massive deposit in Wakanda (the Black Panther's kingdom). This type of vibranium absorbs any form of vibration, including sound waves and kinetic energy. The more energy is directed against it, the stronger the molecular bonds in it become, although there is a poorly defined and inconsistent (plot dependent) limit to how much energy it can absorb. Wakandan vibranium has also been recently retconned into a mutagen, so Wakanda now has a bunch of mutated animals and super-powered people, so Black Panther has home-grown villains to fight (the retcon extends to Black Panther - the "secret African herbs" that give him his powers, which were apparently good enough for a Silver Age audience, have been retconned into Vibranium mutated plants which mutate anyone who ingests them).

Cap's shield is composed of an alloy of true adamantium and Wakandan vibranium, which makes it nearly indestructible. This is supposed to explain how Cap can take a hit from the Hulk - the vibranium in the shield absorbs the kinetic energy, so Cap isn't even knocked backwards, while the adamantium provides the strength to the shield to resist the impact without deformation.

The connection between the two types of vibranium has never really been consistent - when anyone bothers with it, Wakandan vibranium is referred to as an "isotope" of Antarctic vibranium, but nowadays, with poor continuity editing, the two types are often conflated. Not to mention, having an isotope would mean vibranium is an element - but no one has ever come up with an explanation of where vibranium fits on the periodic table (maybe it's in the hypothetical transuranic island of stability?).

Carbonadium
From your description, I would conjecture that carbonadium is a radioactive variant of secondary adamantium, presumably with a large carbon component. Of course, that assumes the writers involved are even aware that secondary adamantium exists; I suspect the writer who created it wanted a fictional metal that was almost as strong as adamantium and so created carbonadium, unaware that secondary adamantium already existed in the MU.

Uru
Uru is a mythical metal used by the Norse gods in the MU to forge their most powerful weapons and armor. Magic > Science, so uru is stronger than adamantium. The Greek gods use adamant (which adamantium was named after). Hercules' mace, when the writer remembers he has it, is made of adamant, which is apparently on par with uru (Herc and Thor used to fight on occasion, so for plot considerations Herc had to have a weapon to stand up to Thor's hammer).

Comparative Strengths

Adamant/Uru > Adamantium > Secondary Adamantium/Carbonadium

Vibranium really shouldn't appear on this chart. Antarctic vibranium isn't a particularly strong metal, it just melts other metals. Wakandan vibranium isn't particularly tough in and of itself - it absorbs vibrations, which make it stronger, but conventional explosives have in the past been enough to destroy even massive deposits (although the sound of the explosion was completely muffled). However, due to lazy writers and poor continuity editing, vibranium is often used in roughly the same slot as secondary adamantium and carbonadium.

[Derek Raines]

Nice update Dave! I wasn't aware there were 2 Vibraniums.
Is Adamant a magical metal?

[gamedave]

IRL, in ancient Greece, "adamant" (or "adamantine") was used to refer to especially hard and durable metals, gemstones, or other substances. It is unclear whether the ancient Greeks thought of adamant as being an actual, distinct material, or if it was just shorthand "really tough". In some contexts it was clearly being used to refer to actual, known materials (in which case it might have been being used metaphorically, comparing them to adamant, or it might have been being used as an adjective). It is much like "orichalcum" in that respect.

Although it is now an archaic word in English, it was formerly used as an adjective or descriptive noun, particularly in poetry, and became especially associated with steel and diamonds - "a gem of adamant" or "an adamant(ine) gem" were fairly common synonyms for a diamond.

At some point, Marvel Comics writers decided Hercules needed a weapon so he could go toe-to-toe with Thor, so they decided he had an "adamant" mace - in the MU, apparently, adamant is a magical metal which is just as tough as uru, and is used by the Greek gods in the same manner the Norse gods use uru.

"Adamantium" was named after "adamant" both in continuity and IRL - that is, in continuity, the scientist who invented the alloy named it after the poetic term, and IRL the comic book writer took the poetic term "adamant" and added the Neo-Latin suffix "-ium" to name the "it can't be destroyed" metal.

Adamant also entered D&D way back in AD&D (1st Edition), as adamantite. According to the DMG, weapons of +4 or better value were forged from adamantite. This had absolutely no game effect, but it added some cool background flavor. In 3rd Edition, it became a special material that granted non-magical enhancement bonuses to weapons and armor forged from it (great for fighting in anti-magic fields or opponents who can cast Mordenkainen's Disjunction), while in 3.5 it became a material that granted DR/- when used in armor, and the ability to bypass the DR of objects and constructs when used in weapons. Currently, in 4E, its a random weapon enchantment.