Back in 2022, Marvel Studios set up the perfect way to explain adamantium’s origin in the MCU, but it wasn’t until Captain America: Brave New World that the powerful resource actually made its debut. Adamantium is one of Marvel Comics’ most well-known materials, but until recently, it was not able to appear in the MCU given its former ownership by 20th Century Fox. This is no longer the case, and I was thrilled to see adamantium finally appear in the MCU’s main continuity in Captain America: Brave New World.

While I was glad to see adamantium appear in Captain America: Brave New World, and I think that Marvel’s new explanation for its origin makes sense, a previous MCU movie could have already teased the material’s introduction. In fact, in Marvel Comics, Hercules has an unusual connection to adamantium that means 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder might have made another origin story for the resource possible. This would have been closer to adamantium’s Marvel Comics backstory, but I now reckon Marvel Studios might make some adjustments of its own and change the MCU forever.

Thor: Love & Thunder’s Hercules Debut Made Another Adamantium Origin Story Possible For The MCU

Marvel Could Have Teased Adamantium In Thor: Love & Thunder

I thought it made sense that adamantium was introduced to the MCU as a resource housed in the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ body of the Celestial Tiamut from Eternals. This answered a four-year-old mystery by addressing Tiamut’s emergence, but also significantly changed adamantium, making it rather different from its Marvel Comics counterpart. Interestingly, Marvel created the perfect opportunity to adapt a comic-accurate origin story for adamantium back in 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder, as Brett Goldstein’s debut as Hercules also brought his iconic weapon into live-action.

First introduced to Marvel Comics in 1965’s Journey Into Mystery Annual #1, Hercules’ Golden Mace, his favored weapon, is made of a fictional material known as adamantine. This predated adamantium, which debuted four years later and was, in fact, named after adamantine and inspired by the material forming Hercules’ Golden Mace. This legendary weapon appeared alongside Brett Goldstein’s Olympian hero in Thor: Love and Thunder, which could have led to an exploration of adamantium’s Marvel Comics origin story, but the MCU has instead made many changes.

Adamantine Inspired Adamantium’s Creation In Marvel Comics

Adamantium Was Made By Mistake In Marvel Comics

In Marvel Comics, far removed from its cosmic MCU origins, adamantium is a metal alloy that was created on Earth by Dr. Myron MacLain, and was first seen in 1969’s Avengers #66. MacLain was inspired by Hercules’ fabled Golden Mace, a weapon of incredible power, to try and recreate adamantine for the United States military during World War II. While working late into the night, MacLain fell asleep at his work bench, causing several metals he’d been working with to fuse together to create a material stronger than any known which he subsequently named adamantium.

MacLain used steel, vibranium and an unknown catalyst for this first process, but since he fell asleep and was unaware of what had happened, he could never repeat it. This first adamantium, known as proto-adamantium, was forged into Captain America’s shield, while MacLain set to work trying to duplicate his experiment. He repeated the process without vibranium, which created “true adamantium,” which was slightly weaker but became more commonly used. Several other versions of adamantium have been created in the years since, but MacLain was never able to create an exact match to Hercules’ adamantine.

Adamantium’s New MCU Origin Means Hercules’ Weapon Could Easily Be Altered

Hercules’ Weapon In The MCU Might Not Be Adamantine

Marvel Studios completely changed the origin story of adamantium for the MCU, removing it from its roots with Myron MacLain entirely and making it an organic resource housed inside the body of the Celestial Tiamut. This gives adamantium cosmic roots, similar to the MCU’s vibranium, and this makes me think that Marvel could confirm other cosmic heroes might also be wielding adamantium. Most notably, Hercules’ Golden Mace could be retconned to be made of adamantium in the MCU, rather than adamantine.

We saw Celestials hanging out with the gods in Omnipotence City in Thor: Love and Thunder, so it’s very likely that Hercules has knowledge of adamantium, given his prominence in this society as Zeus’ son. This changed origin also means adamantium could have wildly different properties in the MCU than it does in Marvel Comics, perhaps more mystical and magical, along the same lines as adamantine in the comics. If Marvel doesn’t change the origin story of Hercules’ Golden Mace, however, I think debuting of adamantine would be a great way to strengthen a major MCU storyline.

How Adamantine’s Debut Would Change The MCU’s Resource Race Yet Again

Adamantine Would Develop 1 Major MCU Storyline

In recent years, Marvel Studios has been building up to an epic resource race between the global superpowers of the MCU’s Earth. This has been central to the development of the Black Panther franchise, but was put even more on display in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which saw CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine express her desire to acquire vibranium. Captain America: Brave New World made this storyline even more prevalent with the debut of adamantium, especially stressing the divide between the United States, Japan, France and India, each of whom own a stake in Celestial Island.

If the origin of Hercules’ Golden Mace is not changed, and is indeed kept as adamantine, we might see a new formidable material enter the MCU’s resource race. Adamantine is a remarkable resource in Marvel Comics, especially because of its magical properties, including the ability to resist telepathic attacks, disrupt and absorb different energies and even take possession of others. I think adamantine would be truly terrifying and world-changing in the wrong hands, so Thor: Love and Thunder and Captain America: Brave New World might have just changed the MCU forever.

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