What Is Adamantium Poisoning? Wolverine's Biggest Weakness, Explained

Wolverine is one of the strongest heroes in the Marvel Universe, whose adamantium-coated bones and healing factor make him a near-unkillable force of nature. However, Wolverine's adamantium, despite being of his greatest strengths, can actually be a major weakness thanks to adamantium poisoning.

Wolverine famously got his bones coated in adamantium after being experimented on by the Weapon X Program. While the powerful metal literally weighs Wolverine down, it makes him even more indestructible — even if against mutants like Magneto, who has magnetic-based powers, his bones can cause him some serious problems. There's another issue at play as well: As we see in "Uncanny X-Men" #380, Logan first experiences what it's like to get poisoning. In the story, the High Evolutionary and Mister Sinister depower the X-Men, leading to the heroes losing their mutant powers. The impact leads Wolverine to begin dying — since he is unable to heal quickly, adamantium poisoning reaches advanced stages. Thankfully, before he succumbs to his illness, the effects are reversed with the defeat of Sinister. 

Adamantium poisoning is also featured in the live-action "Logan" film directed by James Mangold, where Wolverine's (Hugh Jackman) healing factor starts to fail as he gets older, to the point where simply retracting his claws causes him considerable pain. 

Wolverine isn't the only character to have adamantium infused into his bones, but some of the others with the metal inside their body have very different reactions without — or with failing — healing factors.

In "Daredevil" #198, upon getting his spine shattered in a fight against Daredevil, Bullseye's bones are rebuilt with adamantium — and despite not being able to self-heal, he's yet to experience any deadly side-effects. Although, a key difference between Wolverine and Bullseye is that the mutant's body is bonded with adamantium throughout, while the sharpshooter's bones are completely replaced, so the science is somewhat different. With Bullseye (William Bethel) returning in "Daredevil: Born Again" in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after having his spine snapped in the Season 3 finale of "Daredevil," it will be fascinating to see whether adamantium is introduced in live-action as the tool that gets him back on his feet.

More recently, in "X-Men" #10, Lady Deathstrike feels the effects of the adamantium destroying her from within. In the issue, Orchis captures and experiments on the cybernetic villain, and when she's freed by Laura Kinney's Wolverine, Lady Deathstrike admits the metal inside of her is killing her. In a response showing that even Wolverine understands adamantium's danger, she says, "I've seen it before. It'll be the end of us all." It's quite a bold statement, but considering Wolverine knows about the devastating effects of adamantium without a working healing factor, she's likely correct in her assertion. The metal is just as dangerous as it is helpful if there's no proper power balance.