Vibranium may not be the top fictional metal in the Marvel Cinematic Universe much longer.
That’s because Captain America: Brave New World brings adamantium into the fold. The substance shows up in the body of the Celestial that emerged from the Indian Ocean in Eternals. Now, it’s the cause of international conflict, as major world powers try to control the world’s only known adamantium supply.
But adamantium is more than just a MacGuffin for Brave New World. It’s part of the MCU’s groundwork for introducing the X-Men in their upcoming projects — especially one in particular.
What role will adamantium play in the MCU?
Adamantium is the metal that reinforces Wolverine’s skeleton. In the Marvel comics, it’s a man-made substance, while in the MCU, it’s naturally occurring within the Celestial.
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Now that adamantium is in play, the MCU’s own take on one of the most famous X-Men can start to take shape. (And no, for timey-wimey, multiversal reasons, Hugh Jackman’s appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine doesn’t count as the prime MCU universe’s Logan.)
In Brave New World, U.S. President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) highlights adamantium’s potential for technological and medical advancements, so perhaps Wolverine’s origin story is already underway in some secret lab. Elsewhere, adamantium could provide upgrades to MCU characters’ armor, or to iconic props like Captain America’s shield.
The adamantium mention is far from the first time the MCU has teased the X-Men following Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox. WandaVision reintroduced Evan Peters’ Quicksilver (kind of). The Marvels‘ mid-credit scene showcased Kelsey Grammer as X-Men mainstay Hank McCoy/Beast, reprising his role from 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand and 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. And of course, Deadpool & Wolverine was one long celebration of the Fox-era X-Men, complete with crazy cameos and an end-credits crawl paired with behind-the-scenes footage from the original X-Men films. But while that movie felt like a farewell to the X-Men we’ve come to know over the last few decades, Brave New World‘s adamantium mention feels like we’re one step closer to meeting the MCU’s iteration of the X-Men. After several years and quite a few projects’ worth of teasing, I’d say we’re ready.
Captain America: Brave New World is now in theaters.
