Marvel Studios didn't regain the rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four until 2019. That was the year Dark Phoenix came out and, thanks to delays caused by the pandemic, The New Mutants received its theatrical release the following year.
Rather than rush straight to rebooting the X-Men in the wake of those disasters, Marvel Studios has slowly teased the idea of characters like Ms. Marvel and Namor having the mutant gene. As for the Fantastic Four, when they debut this summer, it will be in another reality rather than as part of the Sacred Timeline.
While much has been said about a post-Avengers: Secret Wars "reboot," it's clear the groundwork is being laid for mutants to feel like an organic part of this world rather than them just magically appearing on Earth-616. That's evident from the introduction of Adamantium in Captain America: Brave New World.
Talking to Geek Culture, filmmaker Julius Onah teased the importance of the rare, indestructible metal alloy which will be discovered on Tiamut Island.
"It’s often about an emerging technology that can have really positive, but also sometimes unknown and scary implications in a world," he said. "And adamantium is this really powerful resource that, for anybody who’s a Marvel fan knows, plays an incredible role in the world."
Elaborating on how it's likely to be utilised beyond Captain America: Brave New World, Onah explained, "It’s the first step for a huge journey coming forward in the MCU, leading towards the next Avengers movies, and of course, adamantium and mutants are going to be a part of that."
This comes after he recently dropped some big teases about where Marvel Studios will showcase Adamantium in future projects:
"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 the story of Wolverine. So Adamantium now becomes this resource that could change the world in a way that's very different because Vibranium is something that is really under the purview of the Wakandans. This is why it becomes an amazing geopolitical football in our film."
Even if the MCU does include the X-Men following Doctor Doom's defeat, there's a very real chance Wolverine won't be part of the team. We could see his story play out from the start with a proper origin story that's more in line with the comics than what we saw in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
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In Captain America: Brave New World, after meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, played by Harrison Ford in his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, Sam Wilson finds himself in the middle of an international incident. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.
The movie stars Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Xosha Roquemore, Carl Lumbly, with Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, Tim Blake Nelson, and Harrison Ford. The movie is directed by Julius Onah and produced by Kevin Feige and Nate Moore. Louis D’Esposito and Charles Newirth serve as executive producers.
Captain America: Brave New World opens in U.S. theaters on February 14, 2025.