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Are there any canon references to adamantium conducting electricity?

(I started thinking about this after reading How vulnerable is Wolverine to electricity?)

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Dreamwalker
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2 Answers2

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According to Einstein's theory of special relativity, Yes.

Yes, I just invoked Einstein and relativity in response to a question about a comic book character. Here's why:

From multiple interactions between the Wolverine and our good friend Magneto, we know that the adamantium laced throughout Wolverine's skeleton is ferromagnetic. (How do we know it's not paramagnetism or diamagnetism instead? Because both of those forces are too weak to be felt, let alone to allow Magneto to manipulate someone as strong as Wolverine; that leaves only the one option (well, also ferrimagnetism, but the two are so closely related we can pretend it's a subset of the former).1)

According to Einstein's special relativity, magnetism cannot exist without electricity, and electricity cannot exist without magnetism. This is a function of length contraction and time dilation, and the fact that magnetism is a function of velocity.2 Thus, any material that generates or is affected by magnetic forces must have free electrons flowing through in order for that effect to exist.

If that last sentence sounds like a description of electricity, there's a good reason for that: It is! You can think of Magneto as generating an electric field and then manipulating that in order to generate a related electric field in Wolverine's metal-laced bones and manipulate them.

At the end of the day, though, it quite simply boils down to this: Magnetism is a function of electricity (and vice versa), and therefore any material that has or is affected by magnetism must therefore be able to conduct electricity (albeit with various levels of resistance).

Of course, the whole question is moot. If you want to electrocute someone, you don't have to first ensure they have a metal skeleton in order to do it! The human body, while no superconductor, is plenty capable of conducting more than enough electricity to be fatal. Case in point: Hundreds of people are killed by electrocution every year in the US. It may not kill the almighty Wolverine, but his metal skeleton might actually reduce his risk, because it offers the electricity a low-resistance path to ground that does not involve either his heart nor his brain.

1However, the distinction between ferro/ferrimagnetic forces and para/diamagnetic forces aren't actually relevant.

2A. Einstein: "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", June 30, 1905.

Kromey
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    I realize this doesn't have any canon references, but it does directly answer the question "Does adamantium conduct electricity" based on other facts established in canon. – Kromey May 29 '14 at 15:13
  • I had determined this as well my self but didn't want to answer my own question. And you detailed it very well :). – Dreamwalker May 30 '14 at 07:18
  • Some times an answer is there is not a direct answer but can be deduced from other actual references. – Dreamwalker May 30 '14 at 07:18
  • You might want to reconsider. " therefore any material that has or is affected by magnetism must therefore be able to conduct electricity " does not follow. A material which has ferromagnetic material with individual atoms aligned in a non-conductive matrix will be a non-conducting permanent magnet, and ferrites are a prime example (or at least an approximation). In this case the electron motion required is restricted to their atomic orbits. – WhatRoughBeast Jun 03 '14 at 02:22
  • The assertion that adamantium must be ferromagnetic is not necessarily true since we don't know just how strong Magneto's fields are. All atoms have magnetic moments and in a sufficiently strong enough field will experience torque in it. You can levitate a frog within a superconductor via diamagnetic levitation which interacts with the water in the frog. – Phyneas Aug 29 '15 at 16:53
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No it doesnt, because it cannot. You see, magneto controls people because of the IRON in their BLOOD. Now, in X-men 1 movie(the first x-men movie), he could control wolverine because of the iron in his blood, not because of the 'incredible metal'. Now in Marvel's Avengers: earth's mightiest heroes episode "Behold.. The Vision", Panther says to Thor "stop thunderer, lightning and vibranium do not mix", when thor was about to jolt vision, and we know vision is made from vibranium. Now vibranium has a similar formula as adamantium. Which means it doesnt conduct electricity. Also, whenever wolverine strikes electricity sources(even small ones like light poles and metal detectors) he doesnt get a shock. Because adamantium doesnt conduct electricity. Plus, whenever Thor strikes captain america's shield, if vibranium were to conduct electricity captain would get a devastating shock, and if i can recollect, no such shocks have ever happened. So to conclude, adamantium and vibranium DO NOT conduct electricity. And hence, wolverine is immune to electricity. (this got me thinking, we would have to make a silver

CorvetteAB
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    There are a lot of unfounded statements in this answer. Please be advised that we want to see well-founded answers based on hard evidence (sources, quotes, scenes) rather than head-canon/guesswork statements without anything to back them up. – Valorum Aug 29 '15 at 15:52
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    "lightning and vibranium do not mix" != vibranium does not conduct electricity. Water (H20) and Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) have similar formulas and I wouldn't recommend drinking the latter. – kylieCatt Aug 29 '15 at 16:54
  • @Richard I mentioned the episode "Behold.. The Vision" of the show Marvel's Avengers: earth's mightiest heroes. That is where Black Panther tells this to Thor when he is striking Vision, who was made from vibranium- "stop thunderer, lightning and vibranium do not mix". It is not the exact wordings, but i clearly remember this is exactly what he said. – CorvetteAB Oct 04 '15 at 14:44
  • @IanAuld Please elaborate on how this topic is related to H2O and H2O2, and drinking the latter. – CorvetteAB Oct 04 '15 at 14:45
  • In X-men 2 Magneto cannot affect blood iron, that's why Mystique gives the security guard the enema. – Gaius Oct 04 '15 at 18:23
  • Even if adamantium does not conduct electricity, that would not make Wolverine immune to shocks. There are plenty of other things in the human body that conduct electricity; we don't get shocks just because our skeletons conduct electricity, either. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Oct 04 '15 at 21:28
  • @CorvetteAB IanAuld meant that "vibranium has a similar formula as adamantium. Which means it doesnt conduct electricity" is an argument from analogy, which is a fallacy. – Oriol Oct 04 '15 at 22:50
  • @Gaius Irrespective though, even in comics, Magneto can control people by iron in the blood. By control, i mean like lifting people and throwing them away. http://www.comicvine.com/magneto/4005-1441/forums/can-magneto-control-the-iron-in-blood-1490003/ ^^That could help, although raw. – CorvetteAB Oct 06 '15 at 14:21
  • Ok, everybody, i just confirmed today, adamantium is indeed magnetic, which is why magneto was ale to control wolverine. My bad, sorry for the wrong info. – CorvetteAB Oct 10 '15 at 18:25