Forget the Red Hulk – Captain America: Brave New World‘s real “big debut” is adamantium. After all, adamantium’s introduction in the upcoming blockbuster is surely a signal that the MCU’s new Wolverine – and by extension, the franchise’s long-awaited X-Men reboot – is edging closer to the big screen.
Think about it: adamantium is central to Wolverine’s “unbeatable beserker” schtick and mysterious backstory. The indestructible metal alloy covers Logan’s claws and skeleton, making the already durable mutant even harder to kill. It’s also a constant reminder of Wolverine’s troubled history since he underwent the adamantium bonding procedure while part of the Canadian Government’s shady Weapon X program. So, Marvel Studios using adamantium so prominently in Brave New World has gotta be a sign that Wolvie’s on the way, right?
Probably. However, things are a bit more complicated than they seem at first blush. Indeed, based on what we know about how Captain America: Brave New World depicts adamantium, Wolverine’s MCU future (and past) may go down much differently than fans expect.
What We Know About Adamantium in the MCU So Far
So, what has Marvel shared about adamantium’s portrayal in Captain America: Brave New World so far? To date, just a small snippet from a scene in which Harrison Ford unveils the alloy during a White House presentation. “When the Celestial Mass emerged, we squabbled over it,” Ross says, referencing the gigantic marble corpse of Celestial Tiamut from the end of 2021’s Eternals. “What was found inside that island was the discovery of a millennium. I present to you: adamantium.”
So, based off Ross’s comments, we know that adamantium is a recent discovery in the MCU. What’s more, given its Celestial origins, it either comes from off-world or needs alien involvement to produce. So, unless the Celestials left a separate deposit of adamantium on Earth at some earlier point in the planet’s history, in theory, nobody – secretly or otherwise – has had access to it. And that’s potentially a problem if Marvel Studios plans on including Wolverine in its X-Men reboot.
The MCU’s Wolverine May Not Have Adamantium Claws Yet
Now, when I say “including Wolverine,” I don’t mean Hugh Jackman’s version of the fan-favorite X-Man. Yes, that incarnation of the character – a legacy transplant from 20th Century Fox’s pre-MCU, legacy X-Men franchise – is now officially part of the wider MCU multiverse thanks to Deadpool & Wolverine. And yes, there are no question marks over that Wolverine’s adamantium; in his universe, the alloy is old news and has coated his claws and skeleton for decades. But let’s be real: long-term, Marvel Studios is going to replace the 56-year-old Jackman with a younger actor as the MCU’s mainstream, Earth-616 Wolverine – and that guy’s adamantium situation is much less certain.
Again, assuming that adamantium is only a few years old in the MCU, this reality’s as-yet-unseen Wolverine is presumably getting around alloy-free. Yet an Easter egg news headline in the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (set after Eternals) references a man with “metal claws” causing a ruckus in a bar. If that’s Wolverine, he’s somehow scored his adamantium upgrade earlier than Ross’s Brave New World speech suggests is possible. If it’s not, then the MCU’s Wolverine is still rocking bone claws and an unreinforced skeleton. This in turn removes Weapon X from his overall arc, and Wolverine without his tortured, amnesiac backstory isn’t really Wolverine at all!
How Could Marvel Address Wolverine’s Adamantium Issue in the X-Men Reboot?
So, how will Marvel Studios address this without breaking its new Wolverine or its existing timeline? Well, there’s a multi-year gap between adamantium emerging on Tiamut and the US Government going public with their discovery. So, there’s room in the existing chronology for the Canadians to sneak into Tiamut’s remains, squirrel away some adamantium, inject it into Wolverine, and have him make the online news cycle. For all we know, Brave New World‘s mid or post-credits scene will establish exactly this! True, positioning these events as relatively recent arguably makes the MCU Wolverine much younger than he’s conventionally portrayed, or pushes the Weapon X phase of his career much later. But still: it’s a canon-friendly way of getting a broadly comics-accurate Wolvie into the X-Men reboot.
Alternatively, as suggested earlier, the adamantium in Brave New World could be one of several hidden stockpiles dotted around the globe. Otherworldly materials have a history of landing on the MCU’s Earth (just ask the Wakandans), so it’s not impossible that some adamantium turned up decades ago in-universe – and those who found it kept their mouths shut. This would allow Wolverine to get his adamantium treatments much earlier on the MCU timeline than Brave New World, without contradicting Ross. Or maybe Marvel Studios will play things entirely differently? We’ll just have to wait until Captain America: Brave New World premieres to find out!
Captain America: Brave New World arrives in cinemas on Feb. 14, 2025.