A famous Marvel movie villain first used Wolverine’s Adamantium

Wolverine has quite a mix of superpowers: enhanced senses that are more animal than human in nature, rapid healing that makes him virtually immortal, and a skeleton/claws coated in the unbreakable metal adamantium.

Adamantium is now synonymous with Wolverine, but its origins go back even further to an earlier publication: 1969's “Avengers” #66, published five years before Wolverine's debut in “Incredible Hulk” #180-181. Written by Roy Thomas and drawn by artist Barry Windsor-Smith, the issue opens a three-part story in which adamantium is the weapon of a villain. Which one? Ultron, the android arch-nemesis of the Avengers who would be played many years later by James Spader in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”

Avengers #66 was Ultron's third major appearance, and since then he's generally portrayed as (nearly) indestructible, made of adamantium. After all, if he's going to fight Earth's mightiest heroes, mere steel won't be enough. So how did this come about…