A new Captain America: Brave New World TV spot just dropped that reveals that the upcoming MCU blockbuster’s plot hinges on a concept cribbed from the X-Men mythos.
In a sign that Marvel Studios is inching ever closer to the X-Men’s full-blown MCU debut, the Brave New World promo sees Harrison Ford’s Thunderbolt Ross name-drop adamantium. “When the Celestial Mass emerged, we squabbled over it,” Ross says. “What was found inside that island was the discovery of a millennium. I present to you: adamantium.”
If you’re X-canon knowledge is a bit rusty, in Marvel Comics lore – as well as associated media – adamantium is the unbreakable metal alloy that coats Wolverine’s claws and skeleton. It also crops up elsewhere in the comics. Notably, Ultron’s “body” is made of adamantium (unlike in the MCU, where the Avengers baddie’s outer shell is fashioned from vibranium).
To date, adamantium has only appeared in the MCU once, in 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine (unless you count a few still images of variant Wolverines in What If…? Season 3’s final episode). And on that occasion, the alloy wasn’t from the MCU proper. Instead, it belonged to characters – including Hugh Jackman’s Logan – from alternate realities modeled on 20th Century Fox’s legacy X-Men movies.
So, Captain America: Brave New World technically counts as adamantium’s “true” introduction to the MCU – and yet another tease for Marvel Studios’ in-development X-Men reboot. But whether Wolverine (or his adamantium-encased bones) will show up in said do-over is up in the air for now. Heck, we don’t even have a release window for the reboot! But hey: Brave New World weaving adamantium into its narrative is a good sign the X-Men’s comeback is still happening, at least!
Captain America: Brave New World arrives in cinemas on Feb. 14, 2025.