Captain America: Brave New World producer Nate Moore explains how the film’s use of adamantium sets up the eventual arrival of the X-Men in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In an interview with ComicBook.com, Moore was asked if adamantium’s presence in the movie was more about underscoring Brave New World‘s central themes or teasing what’s to come in the future. “It’s more about global power struggles,” the filmmaker said. “I think that’s the story of this movie.” At the same time, he stated Marvel Studios is making a cognizant effort to slowly introduce X-Men elements before the team’s proper introduction to the franchise.
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“One of the things we were very mindful of as we start to head towards a world that introduces the X-Men is sort of seeding the ground so it doesn’t feel like you’re going to drink out of the firehose with a lot of different concepts,” Moore said. “You know, we’ve already said that Namor’s a mutant. We’ve hinted that Ms. Marvel may be as well at the end of her show. We want to start just sort of planting some seeds so that as we’re building towards that idea, it feels like an organic story that’s been happening rather than something that we just drop in the middle of this ongoing saga right now.”
The X-Men film rights moved to Disney following the company’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox, which was finalized in 2019. Since then, X-Men characters have appeared in select MCU projects, most notably Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Deadpool & Wolverine. However, an MCU X-Men movie has not been officially announced yet, as Marvel focuses on other projects, such as The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Avengers: Doomsday.
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In November 2024, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige noted that the X-Men “are an important part” of the MCU’s future, but suggested audiences will have to wait until after Avengers: Secret Wars (which premieres in 2027) before seeing the team in action. In the meantime, Marvel Studios Animation released the critically acclaimed series X-Men ’97 last year.
Slowly laying the breadcrumbs before a big blowout is a sound strategy; that’s what Marvel did with Thanos during the Infinity Saga, giving the villain a handful of brief appearances prior to making him the focus of Avengers: Infinity War. By the time Earth’s Mightiest Heroes fought against him, it felt like a natural continuation of established threads. While the X-Men are well-known to the general moviegoing public thanks to the Fox films, being patient should pay off in the long run. Teases like confirming the existence of mutants and adamantium will excite viewers and build anticipation for the X-Men’s arrival. When the team finally does headline an MCU film, it should be organic like Moore intends.
With the MCU’s first proper X-Men film still years away, it’ll be interesting to see what other teases Marvel includes throughout the remainder of the Multiverse Saga. The trick will be striking the right balance between serving the current story and looking towards the future. Something like adamantium in Captain America: Brave New World fits that bill; everyone knows how the metal ties into X-Men lore, but it also has a place in a story about governments pursuing global power. Any subsequent X-Men teases should follow a similar formula, subtly establishing key elements before the movie hits theaters.
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Image Credit: Marvel Studios
