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Vibranium/Adamantium are two of the most powerful metals in the Marvel universe. Similarly, what is the strongest metal in the DC universe? Answers from the comics, animated and live-action movies/shows are acceptable.

LogicDictates
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shanu
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  • Possible dupe of https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/152422/what-are-the-indestructible-materials-in-dc-universe, although this asks about metals rather than materials. – Valorum Jun 24 '22 at 18:07
  • Fans of the Washington, DC music scene might have misinterpreted this title for a moment ;-) – Todd Wilcox Jun 26 '22 at 01:06

2 Answers2

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Superman (in World's Finest #41) creates a new element by applying heat and pressure to an ore. It's named Supermanium in his honour and is described as 'the hardest substance in existence'.

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This is backed up in Superman #167, where it's described by Brainiac (who's pretty smart) as 'the strongest metal known to science'.

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Interestingly, in Superman #365, Superman himself describes it as the 'densest' metal known, so it's apparently both the densest and strongest.

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Honourable mention #1 goes to Amazonium, also described by Diana (in Wonder Woman #52) as the 'hardest metal known'.

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and by the narrator in similarly glowing terms in Wonder Woman #68.

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Honourable mention #2 goes to Marvelium, created by Captain Marvel in Captain Marvel Adventures #100. Much like Supermanium, it's created by crushing other elements to make the 'heaviest and strongest element of all'.

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Honourable(ish) mention #3 goes to Inertron, a metal created by Brainiac 5 in Adventure Comics #336 that is supposedly "the most indestructible substance in the galaxy". It loses points because it gets destructed repeatedly, by Karate Kid, Superboy, Element Lad, Mon-El and various others over the next few decades.

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Valorum
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There are several metals which have been described as unbreakable, indestructible, or the hardest or strongest in the DCU at one time or another.

As noted in Valorum's answer, you have Supermanium, Amazonium, Marvelium, and Inertron (a metal newly-discovered in the 30th century), all of which existed in the Pre-Crisis era of DC comics.


Additionally, Promethium was introduced late in the Pre-Crisis era, but also exists in the later Post-Crisis continuity, and the current Prime Earth continuity as well.

VERNON QUESTOR: Promethium-coated metal... creating a virtually indestructible car to eliminate accidents.

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New Teen Titans Vol. 1 #9 (July, 1981)

In a DC/Marvel crossover series, Promethium was cited as a DCU counterpart to Adamantium.

ACCESS: Whoa--nice job! Wonderful, even! And that's one tough length of lariat you got there! What is it--Adamantium?

WONDER WOMAN: Enchanted. I've never head of this--Adamantium.

ACCESS: Indestructible metal. Doesn't exist in your universe--but you've got Promethium, so it kind of evens out.

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Unlimited Access #1 (December, 1997)


In the Post-Crisis continuity, the term 'Amazonium' wasn't in use, and Wonder Woman's bracelets were simply said to have been created from the remains of Zeus' Aegis shield, formed from the hide of the Great Goat Amaltheia.

POSEIDON: Those trinkets were once part of Zeus' mighty Aegis itself... the impenetrable shield formed from the hide of the Great Goat Amaltheia, who wet-nursed the infant Zeus and thus provided the energy from which Olympus sprung. Only two beings were ever able to violate the power of the Aegis.

ZEUS: Aye, it was our father, Cronus who splintered the shield as he smote it with his final blow. When I bequeathed the shield to my daughter, Athena, she, unbeknownst to me, had Hephaestus reforge the loose fragments... into a great prize to be awarded to the mightiest and worthiest of all her Amazons. And it was Ares who long ago demolished the Aegis. Your bracelets are all that remain of that.

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Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #21 (October, 1988)


In the current Prime Earth continuity, Kerenthium Steel was purported to be the strongest metal in the universe, but was broken by Superman.

Your chains were forged under the pressure of an inverted black hole. The only way to manipulate Kerenthium Steel -- the strongest metal in the universe. These chains are used to haul stars between galaxies.

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Superman: Up in the Sky #6 (February, 2020)

LogicDictates
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    yeah thats the problem, many metals have been credited as the strongest so theres no defenitive strongest metal – shanu Jun 24 '22 at 18:35
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    Yup. Same thing applies in Marvel, really. Marvel has never officially clarified whether True Adamantium is stronger than enhanted uru, or vice versa, for example. It has been specified that Captain America's shield is stronger than True Adamantium, but is it stronger than the Destroyer armour? I don't believe that's ever been made clear. – LogicDictates Jun 24 '22 at 18:42
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    How does one haul a star with a chain? No matter how durable it is, a star is made of plasma. The chain would just go right through it, right? Maybe they could be hooked in the dense core and the sun could be dragged kind of slowly? – Adamant Jun 24 '22 at 18:43
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    @Adamant - In the wacky world of superhero comics, who knows? There could be other factors that weren't mentioned, like force fields. We have seen planets towed by chains, and while planets are pretty solid from our POV, they might as well be made from toothpaste from the POV of someone strong enough to tow a dozen or more of them at once, as the Silver Age Superboy once did. – LogicDictates Jun 24 '22 at 18:47
  • Inertron has been broken a whole bunch of times. And not even by the likes of Superman or Captain Marvel. – Valorum Jun 24 '22 at 19:23
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    We need a Lordoftheringium - one metal to best them all! – Remy Lebeau Jun 24 '22 at 22:22
  • @Valorum - If the Element Lad example you mentioned is the one I'm thinking of, it's not that bad. He just transmuted Inertron, rather than damaging it with sheer force, and it was suggested that he was able to penetrate it more quickly than Superboy, Ultraboy, and others working in concert. Also, Adamantium can be reshaped by matter-rearrangement technology and Magneto's powers, so it'd likely be just as susceptible to Element Lad's powers. As for Karate Kid, he shattered the Emerald Empress' Emerald Eye with a single blow, which is something Superboy failed to do in the same issue. – LogicDictates Jun 25 '22 at 00:20
  • @Adamant of yourse you build some kind of container first, then connect the container to the chain. – Paŭlo Ebermann Jun 25 '22 at 12:18
  • Promethium is a real metallic element with atomic number 61: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promethium – abligh Jun 25 '22 at 15:29
  • @abligh - Yes, the element is briefly mentioned in one of the comic pages I provided. However, the 'Project: Promethium' discussed in said image is not the element. – LogicDictates Jun 25 '22 at 15:59