How Captain America: Brave New World’s Ending Sets The X-Men Up To Join The MCU
A brave new world... of adamantium.
If the central conflict of Captain America: Brave New World could be summed up with one word, it would be adamantium. The precious element, which is discovered all throughout the “Celestial Island” that rose from the Earth during the events of The Eternals, is the subject of an international treaty being negotiated by the newly-elected President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford), in an attempt to rehabilitate his reputation as a warmongering leader. But Ross’ dark past comes back to haunt him, threatening not only his legacy but the state of the whole world.
But this film is called Captain America, after all, so it’s up to Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), aka Captain America, to investigate who is trying to tear down Ross, what mind control has to do with it, and what we all really need to remember from 2008’s The Incredible Hulk.
Warning: Spoilers for Captain America: Brave New World follow!
What’s Hulk Got to Do With It
Captain America found himself facing off against Red Hulk after Samuel Sterns activated Ross’ latent gamma radiation.
The action kicks off when, at Ross’ unveiling of his plans for the adamantium treaty, several assassins attempt to murder the President, including Sam Wilson’s friend, the forgotten super soldier Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly). That leads to Sam conducting an off-the-books investigation that takes him to Camp Echo One, a black site in West Virginia filled with grungy lab equipment and the genetic data of dozens of American soldiers, including Isaiah Bradley and (gasp) Thaddeus Ross. It’s here the Big Bad of the movie reveals himself: Samuel Sterns, played by Tim Blake Nelson, reprising his role from The Incredible Hulk.
Sterns was a scientist helping Bruce Banner attempt to find a cure for his transformation, but had secretly stolen the samples of Banner’s gamma-radiated blood; samples he was then forced to use to transform Emil Blonsky into the Abomination. In the aftermath of Abomination’s carnage, Sterns was infected with the gamma-radiated blood and turned into a human mega-computer of sorts (complete with bulging brain) — a trait Ross sought to take advantage of.
Ross gave Sterns the Camp Echo One lab, and in return, Sterns used his big brain to help Ross win the presidency, while also treating Ross’ deteriorating heart condition. Secretly, however, Stern was also using these treatments to give Ross a dose of gamma radiation, and after Ross refused to let Stern go, Stern used his mind-controlled test subjects (plus a heist involving the Serpent Society) to frame Ross as a leader ready to betray Japan for adamantium, setting the stage for a violent conflict between the two countries. When the nations almost came to blows over Celestial Island, Captain America stopped the attack and thwarted Sterns’ plans... until Stern pulled out his ace: making Ross really, really angry at a White House press conference.
Captain America 4 Ending Explained: Adamantium Mania
Captain America prepares to fight Red Hulk.
The film ends with a face-off between Sam (who, at this point, was really regretting not taking the supersoldier serum) and Red Hulk in the streets of Washington, D.C. After a few close calls, Sam manages to appeal to Ross’ humanity by speaking about his daughter, Betty Ross (Liv Tyler), with whom Ross had been trying to make amends. Red Hulk transforms back into Ross, and he’s taken into custody.
Despite that kerfuffle, the treaty passes and adamantium becomes available to every country that signed it. To ensure it sticks, Ross resigns and is willfully taken to The Raft, where he once imprisoned Sam and the Avengers. There, Sam visits him with one final gift: Betty, ready to talk with her father again.
So where does that leave the MCU? Now that adamantium is out in the world, the obvious answer is Project X, aka the origins of Wolverine. It’s a connection that director Julius Onah himself drew, telling ScreenRant, “Adamantium, as we know, will eventually be a part of Project X. It will eventually be a part the story of Wolverine.”
Unlike the MCU’s other indestructible element, Wakanda’s fiercely guarded vibranium, adamantium is also now free for anyone to use. That opens the door for many uses beyond Wolverine’s indestructible skeleton, but this is still a clear indicator that the X-Men are coming to the MCU sooner rather than later. At the very least, Wolverine is out there, and his claws are about to get a whole lot sharper.
