Marvel Confirms Adamantium Leads Straight to Wolverine in Captain America Brave New World

Marvel Studios confirmed that adamantium is tied directly to Wolverine's future in the MCU, with director Julius Onah stating in a recent interview that the metal will "eventually be a part of Project X" and "the story of Wolverine." This comes just days before Captain America Brave New World hit theaters, and it follows a marketing pattern I have seen before.

This is the same playbook Marvel Studios ran before Multiverse of Madness, when they released teaser trailers for the Illuminati members about a week out, and before The Marvels, when they teased the X-Men connection roughly a week before that movie dropped. Now it is adamantium's turn. Days before Brave New World's release, the first trailer mentioned the metal, and now the director is talking outright about its impact and future in the MCU while directly referencing Wolverine.

Julius Onah's Quote Links Adamantium to Weapon X and Project X

Movieweb.com's coverage lays out the buildup: for a long time there were claims that Brave New World would address what became of the dead Celestial that began emerging from the ocean at the end of Eternals in 2021, something several shots of Tiamut in the trailers appeared to confirm. The additional rumor that the dead Celestial would bring adamantium into the MCU was then confirmed by recent trailers, and according to Movieweb, that starts a path leading to the new Wolverine, confirmed by Julius Onah in a recent interview.

Onah's quote about adamantium and Project X is worth including directly: "Adamantium is much more durable, adamantium is not like vibranium which can absorb kinetic energy, adamantium as we know will eventually be a part of Project X, it will eventually be a part of the story of Wolverine." He went on to describe adamantium as a resource that could change the world in a way different from other materials in the MCU, calling it a geopolitical football in the film, and said that because mutants and adamantium had not existed in the MCU before, introducing them offered a fun way to surprise audiences. He added that he feels lucky to get to make movies that introduce Red Hulk, adamantium, and the Serpent Society.

I do want to offer a quick correction to that quote. I get what Onah was trying to say, that for a while Marvel could not talk about mutants because of the Fox rights situation, but we have actually had mutants in the MCU already. Namor was revealed to be a mutant and has been around for quite some time, and Ms. Marvel is a mutant as well. There are mutants in the MCU right now, they simply have not been revealed or explored to the depth that they are about to be.

Why Adamantium Points Toward a Wolverine Recast Down the Line

A lot of us assumed that with Hugh Jackman reportedly sticking around as the MCU's Wolverine for what appears to be quite some time, Marvel would not revisit his origin story as Weapon X with adamantium bonded to his skeleton. We already know the weapons program exists in the MCU, going back to its beginnings in Captain America: The First Avenger, and we know the super soldier program has continued since we are about to see it again in a new form in Thunderbolts with Sentry.

But going through a full Weapon X origin story for a new Wolverine in the MCU means it would not be Hugh Jackman, since that simply would not make sense for his version of Logan or Wolverine. Something has to give. Either it stays Hugh Jackman's Wolverine or it does not. If a recast is in the cards, even somewhere way down the line, Julius Onah acknowledging adamantium's role as part of the beginning of Wolverine's storyline in the MCU makes me think it will eventually be impactful for that recast, possibly a rehash of the origin story somewhere in the future of the MCU.

There is also that well known quote from Kevin Feige talking about an eventual recast, though he framed that as a ways away, and that was before the reports surfaced that Hugh Jackman's Wolverine would be sticking around. Feige acknowledged how iconic Jackman is in the role, and honestly, having seen him again in Deadpool and Wolverine, I do not think he has aged out of it at all. If the mutant saga takes notes on what went wrong with the Multiverse Saga and does not meander as much, maybe shortening its length to five or six years instead of eight or nine before reaching the crossover, there is plenty of time for Jackman to keep playing the role before any recast happens after that.

My Take on Marvel's Pre Release Reveals and the Box Office Outlook

I know it is a little ironic coming from someone who covers leaks and spoilers for MCU movies, but I really wish Marvel would not do this. We already know what is going on anyway, and I do not think these official reveals a week before release actually help sell tickets. If you are excited about adamantium, or the X-Men connection in The Marvels, or the Illuminati members in Multiverse of Madness, that is because you are already a major Marvel fan who watches channels like mine, and if you did not have your tickets by the Friday before release, I doubt talk of adamantium was going to move the needle.

What I will give Marvel credit for is how little footage they revealed in the trailers, rolling out a new TV spot every day while really only rehashing the same cut of about five minutes of footage. That is the approach I want them to stick to, because I think there are plenty of scenes and set pieces in this movie we had no idea about. I am curious how Marvel Studios would juggle as many storylines as Julius Onah implied: Red Hulk, Serpent Society, the Leader (which Onah did not mention but is part of the Red Hulk storyline), the international conflict between the US and Japan over adamantium, what Tiamut becomes, and, by the way, the movie is really about Sam Wilson in his first real role as Captain America.

Nothing Marvel puts in trailers or says between the reveal and release changes sales for people who already have their tickets, but my overall outlook stayed ultra positive. Like the first Captain America: The Winter Soldier, if people go see this and it is good, people go back. Captain America is big enough IP, and Sam Wilson has been an integral part of the Infinity Saga and the Multiverse Saga, with people knowing it leads into Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. If the buzz coming out of opening weekend is good, I think this has the opportunity to sustain rather than suffer the usual hard week one to week two box office fall off, and could put up numbers well above expectations, maybe in the half billion dollar range.

What did you make of Marvel confirming the adamantium and Wolverine connection this early?