Dr. Myron MacLain

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caption=Dr. Myron MacLain.
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Dr. Myron MacLain
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="Captain America" #303
creators=
full_name=Dr. Myron MacLain
status=
supports=Captain America|

Dr. Myron MacLain is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. He is generally credited as the creator of the Vibranium-iron alloy that was used to create Captain America's Shield and the creation of Adamantium in an effort to re-create it.

Fictional character history

Sometime during the 1930s, Dr. Myron MacLain learned metallurgy and his skills in the field soon became useful when he became under the employ of the U.S. Government during World War II. While under their employ he was commissioned to create an indestructible armor to aid in the war effort, in particular the armor was to be used in the construction of tanks. While experimenting on iron alloys to help him in his efforts, he was given a small sample of Wakandan Vibranium and though he attempted to combine Vibranium with various iron alloys none of his experiments were successful. However, after laboring for months, one night he dozed off due to exhaustion and some unknown factor entered the process and as a result the Vibranium fused with the iron alloy. While he may have created the indestructible metal the U.S. sought, due to not knowing the mysterious x-factor that allowed for the fusion of the materials as well as not knowing the exact ingredients or their proportions made it impossible for MacLain to duplicate the process. However, the metal he did manage to create he poured into disc form to serve as a tank hatch. However, unable to reproduce more of the metal caused the disc to be redesigned to serve as the shield for Captain America and with it he became an effective weapon for the U.S. during the war.

While working for the Department of Agriculture in Washington, MacLain was visited by an amnesiac mutant named Logan who had been granted an unbreakable skeleton and claws. Although warned not to speak with Logan, MacLain agreed to speak with and examine him. After his examination, MacLain could not account for where the metal had come from but suggested that Lord Dark Wind, a Japanese scientist who was said to have created an unbreakable metal during World War II may have been the source of its creation. But before he could say more, Logan was taken away by Victor Creed.

After many years and funding by the government agency Control he still could not replicate the ultra-resilient Vibranium-iron alloy he made to produce Captain America's Shield. However, once he began working for S.H.I.E.L.D. while attempting to re-create the metal without Vibranium or the x-factor, he was able to create a metal nearly as strong. He dubbed the new metal Adamantium. After its creation the Avengers came to S.H.I.E.L.D. and Thor, Iron Man & Goliath all attempted to break it, with no avail. That was when MacLain revealed only a molecular re-arranger could reshape Adamantium but while he was proud of his new creation he feared what might happen if it should ever fall into the wrong hands. His fears proved correct when Ultron forced the Vision to steal a cylinder of Adamantium to use in the reconstruction of his body, Ultron-6. Later he was defeated and sometime after he retired from S.H.I.E.L.D. and became hidden away from the world however he later was captured by Mr. Arons of Stane International and was forced by him to recreate the metal of Captain America's Shield. He intended the metal to be constructed into a suit of armor to be used by Obadiah Stane and to aid him in this he obtained Captain America's Shield with the help of the Batroc's Brigade. To keep him in line, the lives of his family were threatened however he was never able to reproduce the metal though this did not stop him from constructing the suit of armor which resulted in the defeat of Aron while he donned the armor to battle Captain America, who soon smashed it to pieces with his shield. After he was safe, in time he discovered a way of producing Adamantium even faster and requested the Avengers to protect him however they were to late and he was captured by Ultron and replaced with a duplicate to take care of the Avengers. Ultron did not stop there and kidnapped Henry Pym and Mockingbird to assist MacLain in his construction of a new robot bride. While MacLain providing the Adamantium for her body, Pym actually designed the robotics for her body while Mockingbird provided her brain patterns for the mind of his bride later to be named, Alkhema. Once created, Ultron and Alkhema set out to steal a nuclear missile and MacLain assisted Pym in creating an electromagnet for the warhead so that when they attempted to claim it, they be magnetically fixed to it. When arriving to steal it they were magnetically fixed to it and when the missile blew up, they were presumably destroyed.

Abilities

While not having any powers unlike many he is associated with, he is a gifted metallurgist whose inventions, namely Adamantium have served many superheroes and supervillains alike in the Marvel Universe. He has also proven adept at robotics and constructing suits of armor as shown by his captivity by Ultron and Mr. Arons previously.

Inventions

Being a brilliant metallurgist he has created two of the most durable metals in the Marvel Universe which are:

Vibranium-Iron Alloy

The experimental metal used to construct Captain America's Shield, it is one of the most impervious metals in Marvel Universe. While he may have created it by accident and with some luck with the mysterious x-factor helping him, he is most known because of its creation. It's Vibranium composition allows it to absorb vibratory energy as well as kinetic energy directed towards it. Neither he nor anyone else has ever been able to reproduce it no matter the amount of years, funding and skills appropriated to re-create it. main|Captain America's shield

Adamantium

While not nearly as strong as his first invention, it is nearly as durable and most known for being the metal bonded to Wolverines skeleton. The type of Adamantium he invented was "True Adamantium" and that his creation of it also led to his creation of Alkhema's body. Plus while Adamantium has no Vibranium in it, it looks identical to it. main|Adamantium (comics)

Adamantium's True Inventor?

Due to MacLain's appearance in Wolverine II #-1, there exist a long standing continuity glitch. How could he have invented Adamantium when he met Wolverine with his Adamantium bonded skeleton years before supposedly inventing it himself? It also put forth the question of how did the Weapon X Program get ahold of the Adamantium before it was technically invented. His own comments in the issue seem to suggest that Lord Dark Wind, a Japanese scientist created the unbreakable metal and if so then either MacLain managed to duplicate it or he received information from Dark Wind to make it though the second theory is the least likely of the two. Either way Lady Deathstrike, Dark Wind's daughter has made a claim to owning the rights to the Adamantium.

References

* Captain America I #303
* Wolverine II #
* Conspiracy #2
* Avengers I #66
* Avengers I #68
* Captain America I #304
* Captain America I #303
* Avengers West Coast #89
* Avengers West Coast #90

ee also

* Captain America's Shield
* Vibranium
* Adamantium
* Lord Dark Wind

External links

* http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix2/maclainmyron.htm