Wolverine was already a powerful mutant with his healing factor, enhanced senses and bone claws, but when his skeleton and claws were laced with adamantium, he became almost indestructible. In both the X-Men movie universe and the comics universe, adamantium is the strongest metal in existence, and in case watching Wolverine's experiences haven't clued you in on that, a new video to promote the upcoming release of Logan shows off its full strength.
The YouTube account Hydraulic Press Channel teamed up with Logan to show what "happens" when you put adamantium objects underneath a hydraulic press. The first object is a simple sphere, but even with 150 pounds of bars (a measurement of pressure), the press didn't even budge it. When the amount was increased to 300 bars, the ball sunk into the steel base. But how would Wolverine's claws fare in this experiment? Fortunately, the ferocious mutant was around to lend a hand, and just like before, the press sunk the adamantium into the base. Only this time, Wolverine quickly got his claws free, cutting the base into four pieces. Not to worry, though, the video doesn't end without something being squashed. At the very end, the press' operator puts a clay sabertooth tiger front and center, and it's instantly flattened. I can't help but think that was a dig at someone nefarious from Wolverine's past.
The X-Men movies have demonstrated on multiple occasions how strong adamantium is, mainly from Wolverine cutting through anything in his path. The metal even has the power to give regenerative mutants selective amnesia! In its hardened state, the only thing that can cut or break through adamantium is another piece of adamantium that's been heated. That was shown in The Wolverine when Silver Samurai cut Wolverine's claws off with his heated adamantium blade. Wolverine's claws grew back, but they were the natural bone ones. Fortunately by X-Men: Days of Future Past, he was back to having adamantium-covered claws, though we never did learn how that was accomplished. I'll just assume Magneto had something to do with it. William Stryker also mentioned in X2: X-Men United that adamantium only became indestructible once it cooled, but as seen with Deathstrike, you still don't want to get any drops of that on you...or injected into your blood.
When Logan begins, the eponymous protagonist still has his adamantium-laced skeleton and claws, but in his advanced age (he's pushing close to 200), his healing factor is starting to break down. Since no normal human or mutant without enhanced healing could have survived the adamantium bonding process, one wonders if Wolverine will deal with negative side effects from the metal in his third spinoff movie due to the decreased quality of his special power.
Logan claws its way into theaters on March 3.
