All The Wolverine Setup We've Already Had In The MCU, Ahead Of The Mutant Saga

Published Nov 2, 2026, 12:45 PM EST

Once head of Screen Rant's Star Wars coverage, Tom's career began as a fan of the fantasy and sci-fi genres, and his love of major franchises has ultimately led to a decade-long career. He'd had the privilege of interviewing writers, authors, directors, actors, stunt coordinators, and VFX artists on a staggering number of his favorite franchises, including Star Wars, the MCU, Stranger Things, Halo, Foundation, and more. He's conducted set visits in the UK, attending major comic cons in New York and London, and reported at Star Wars Celebration 2023 as press. You can find him on Twitter @TomABacon, on LinkedIn @tabacon, or on Muckrack under tombacon.

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It's surely only a matter of time before the MCU introduces its own version of Wolverine. Avengers: Doomsday may be bringing back the X-Men of Fox's past films (including Sir Patrick Stewart, which will make this film heartbreaking after his recent passing). Looking beyond that, though, viewers are eagerly awaiting the MCU's own X-Men. Mutants are officially part of the MCU's 616 timeline, and Jake Schreier (fresh from Thunderbolts*) is heading up the first proper X-Men movie.

Marvel is in no rush to introduce Wolverine. Personally, I think that's a good idea; Wolverine has often tended to dominate, and that was particularly true on the big screen. As iconic as Hugh Jackman's Wolverine may be, he took the limelight away from the other mutants, and it made the Fox X-Men universe rather lopsided. Still, for all that's the case, Wolverine is still inevitable. What's more, Marvel has already set him up in the best possible way.

8 Mutants Are Now A Major Part Of The MCU

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Sadie Sink's Jean Grey was the first X-Man to appear in the MCU, in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. But mutants have actually been here since Ms. Marvel, which revealed Iman Vellani's Kamala Khan is actually a mutant (and even riffed on the classic X-Men theme tune to underline the point). She-Hulk: Attorney At Law then featured several mutant characters, establishing mutants as a major part of the MCU. Oddly, though, the subtlest setup was in VisionQuest.

VisionQuest introduced the mercenary Paladin, who apparently has a history taking down superhumans. Interestingly, this includes psychic training, which means Jean Grey wasn't the MCU's first Earthbound telepath; given telepathy has always been a common mutant power, it's a fascinating nod. The overarching point is that mutants are not only part of the MCU, they are also already being treated as pretty common.

7 Adamantium Is Part Of The MCU (& Is Already Ridiculously Commonplace)

The end of Eternals saw the Eternals save the Earth by transmutating a newborn Celestial into an unknown substance, and this gigantic creature was ultimately revealed to have become adamantium. As seen in Captain America: Brave New World, adamantium is viewed as very precious indeed. The first and only refined sample was stolen, recovered by Sam Wilson's Captain America and Joaquin Torres' Falcon. But more has been produced, and it's clearly flooding the black market.

VisionQuest's Paladin had obtained a stock of adamantium bullets from the Ten Rings, who'd evidently stolen another shipment. He wasn't the only one either, with more bounty hunters spraying adamantium bullets around Madripoor like they were going out of fashion. Adamantium is now almost as commonplace as mutants in the MCU, which means it's easy to imagine someone getting enough to graft it onto Wolverine's skeleton.

Interestingly, VisionQuest's use of adamantium has implied a major difference between the comic book version and the MCU. In the comics, Wolverine's adamantium claws are strong enough to do light damage to Captain America's shield. The MCU's version of that shield is about as strong as Vision's body—and Vision is vulnerable to adamantium bullets. When Wolverine makes his MCU debut, he'll be able to cut through that shield should he ever take on Sam Wilson.

6 We've Even Met The Man Who Discovered Wolverine's Adamantium Process

Daredevil Season 3 set up Wolverine's adamantium bonding process all the way back in 2018. It ended with Bullseye, his back broken, undergoing surgery. The surgeon was identified as Dr. Oyama, and that's a very familiar name from the comics; Dr. Oyama was the man who figured out how to graft adamantium to a human skeleton, essentially paving the way for the Weapon X Project. In fact, in the comics, Bullseye's back was actually repaired with adamantium as well.

5 The Weapon Plus Experiments Were Set Up In The Incredible Hulk

In the comics, the many Marvel super-soldiers were created by the Weapon Plus program. Steve Rogers was the first test subject created by the Weapon Plus program, and Wolverine was the tenth (hence the designation "Weapon X," from the Roman numeral). The Incredible Hulk likewise established that super-soldier experiments have been taking place in the MCU since World War II. In fact, there was even a notable "Plus" logo visible when Thunderbolt Ross injected Blonsky with the serum that created the Abomination.

This does, incidentally, mean that Thunderbolt Ross—who eventually became president of the United States by the time of Captain America: Brave New World—once worked for the Weapon Plus Program. It means Samuel Stern, who'd gone rogue, was probably a Weapon X test subject in the MCU as well. This version of Weapon Plus has already made its presence felt.

4 Department H Was Name-Dropped In Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.

As we can see, Wolverine's origin has been seeded pretty well in the MCU; so much so that he could be introduced without anyone blinking an eye. But other aspects of Wolverine's world have also been introduced, including Department H, a secret Canadian government agency Wolverine once worked for (they run the superhero team Alpha Flight). It was name-dropped in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 1 episode "The End of the Beginning," when Skye referred to "a secret Department H-type program."

3 WandaVision Mentioned Another Weapon X Character

WandaVision secretly set up another Weapon X test subject, when Darcy skimmed through top-secret files. One of these had the codename "Kestrel," the codename of a super-spy named John Wraith who worked alongside Wolverine and Sabretooth in their old Team X group. In the comics, Kestrel is a teleporter with a love of explosives.

Looking back, it's amusing to note that Kestrel was the first X-Men-related character to be mentioned in the MCU after Disney acquired the bulk of 20th Century Fox's film empire. Marvel really has been setting up Wolverine for quite some time.

2 The Princess Bar In Madripoor

The fictional country Madripoor made its MCU debut in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and it's another key part of Wolverine's world. In the comics, Logan lived in Madripoor under the alias "Patch," literally settling there for decades long before he joined the X-Men. He became a bartender at the Princess Bar—and that specific location has already been established in the MCU. Signs for the Princess Bar were visible in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and ScreenRant's Lewis Glazebrook spotted another on the Madripoor set for VisionQuest.

1 She-Hulk Had A Clear Wolverine Easter Egg

Finally, there's a pretty obvious Wolverine Easter egg in She-Hulk: Attorney At Law that could easily be seen as direct setup. In one scene, She-Hulk looks at headlines that are important to the MCU; "Why is there a giant statue of a man sticking out of the ocean," one headline reads, directly referencing Eternals. But the other is even more intriguing: "Man fights with metal claws in bar brawl."

It's an amusing reference to Wolverine's debut in the first X-Men film, where Logan popped his claws during a bar brawl. That said, I don't actually think this particular Easter egg could be retconned as Wolverine himself; the timeline doesn't quite match up. Adamantium isn't yet on the black market, meaning Logan shouldn't necessarily have his claws at this point in the MCU timeline. More likely, this is just an amusing in-joke for viewers, rather than real Wolverine setup.