The MCU Wolverine Is About to Be Permanently Connected to Eternals

“You were an X-Man. You were the X-Man.” This line from Deadpool & Wolverine will likely become a classic among geek circles since it describes the importance of Hugh Jackman’s Logan, both to the Fox era of X-Men and to the brand as a whole. With that said, Deadpool & Wolverine was about the legacy of one specific Wolverine—or two, at any rate. And neither seems likely to be the Wolverine of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Which makes an eye-popping easter egg that was sneaked into Saturday night’s San Diego Comic-Con Hall H panel all the more shocking: Marvel is finding an in-canon reason to explain adamantium in “the sacred timeline,” and it has to do with one of the most controversial Marvel Studios films to date: 2021’s Eternals.

As revealed almost in passing during an exclusive clip from next year’s Captain America: Brave New World, President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) is in a bit of a mood when he complains about how an aborted Celestial Tiamut attempting to hatch out of the earth’s crust like an egg has created a geopolitical nightmare! According to Den of Geek editor Alec Bojalad, who was in Hall H, Ross discusses the Celestial Island Summit, in which the U.S. and Japan agree to share ownership of the giant hand still protruding from the ocean.

Why does the hand matter? Because of the “new element” it contains. Ross says in his address, “This new element belongs to all of us. Adamantium. It’s been recovered and is in a secure location.”

Unfortunately, it’s hard for anyone to trust Ross’ high-minded rhetoric, especially anyone who knows the history of adamantium in the comics. Unlike vibranium, the other fantastic element in the Marvel Universe which was established in the MCU way back in Captain America: The First Avenger, adamantium is almost never used for the good of everyone. Rather it’s almost always used for military purposes, and at the expense of some poor mutie bastard.

Most famously, adamantium becomes a key part of the U.S. government’s Weapon Plus program. Devoted to recreating the super soldier dubbed Weapon I, known to most of the world as Captain America, the Weapon Plus program incorporates adamantium into its experiments. That includes an experiment in association with Canada’s Department H to place adamantium into the body of a mutant with remarkable regenerative abilities.

That mutant is of course James Howlett III, aka Logan, aka Wolverine. Wolverine is certainly not the only adamantium user in the Marvel Universe, however. Everything from MODOK to USAgent’s pal Battlestar to Moon Knight have used adamantium gear. But given that almost all those guys have already died in the MCU (and let’s be honest, Moon Knight’s never coming back), the Captain America 4 easter egg is obviously all about the Wolverine.

It’s a bold revision, confirming once again that (somehow) mutants and the X-Men will be a relatively recent phenomenon in the MCU proper (or sacred timeline), and it will differ quite a bit from the Fox movies—such as revealing that unlike adamantium of the comics, or vibranium, Logan’s MCU skeleton will be made out of Celestial gunk. Given how unpopular the 2021 film is, it’s kind of daring. It also ties into what Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige told us last week when he said about Eternals: “Anything that we’ve done is part of the tapestry of the MCU, and I don’t think one should hide from that, but embrace it and—sometimes it may take 16 years [but we] find the right moment in time to bring it back.”