Marvel Confirms A New Power For Vibranium & Bucky’s Arm

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The Bucky Barnes footage from Marvel’s latest Thunderbolts* trailer confirms one new power for vibranium. Throughout the Infinity Saga, vibranium acted as one of the MCU’s strongest natural metals. Vibranium can notably absorb, store, and release large amounts of kinetic energy and is used in several of the Avengers’ equipment, such as Black Panther’s suit and Captain America’s shield. Because of the rarity of vibranium, it also became a topic of discussion among the MCU’s political powers and acted as a bargaining chip in some instances.
Vibranium will have a competitor in the MCU when adamantium is introduced in Captain America: Brave New World, but it is still staying relevant throughout the Multiverse Saga. With the new footage from the upcoming Thunderbolts* movie released recently, viewers were ecstatic to see fan-favorite Bucky Barnes back in action once again. Bucky’s original Winter Soldier prosthetic arm was notably replaced with a stronger vibranium model during his time in Wakanda. While The Falcon & The Winter Soldier did show off the arm’s strength, the Thunderbolts* trailer has already shown off a new ability that was never confirmed in the Infinity Saga.
Marvel Confirms Vibranium & Bucky's Arm Are Dishwasher Safe The Thunderbolts* trailer shows the group of anti-heroes teaming up for the first time. Though Bucky isn’t present at the initial team-up, he gets plenty of highlights in the trailer. From chasing down the team to shots of him brooding that are reminiscent of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it"s clear he"s an integral character in the movie. However, what may be the most memorable Bucky moment from the trailer is a shot of him pulling his cleaned vibranium arm fresh out of the dishwasher.
The question of whether vibranium is waterproof has never been an obvious one to ask, but the answer does say a lot about the capabilities of certain heroes. Although vibranium has gotten wet in a handful of past projects, Marvel never properly revealed whether water affects its functionality. Especially for equipment like Bucky’s prosthetic arm that relies on bionic engineering as well as vibranium, it would’ve been reasonable to assume that the arm may malfunction when wet. The Thunderbolts* trailer has now essentially confirmed that vibranium is waterproof with Bucky’s arm used as an example.
Why Marvel's New Reveal About Bucky's Vibranium Arm Is Significant Close Bucky taking his prosthetic arm out of the dishwasher was a welcome comedic break in a sequence of action shots, and it gave Bucky a light-hearted moment in a trailer where he looked quite serious otherwise. The shot is definitely silly at first glance, but the confirmation that Bucky’s vibranium arm is dishwasher safe subtly says a lot about Bucky and vibranium’s full strength. Vibranium was never outright confirmed as waterproof, but the fact that Bucky felt confident enough to run his arm through the dishwasher likely means that it can handle such direct contact.
Bucky’s arm being entirely waterproof emphasizes just how revolutionary the vibranium technology truly is. There are plenty of prosthetics out there that can’t get wet, and while some modern prosthetics can function with a bit of water, there are always some precautions that have to be taken with them. A bionic prosthetic like Bucky’s being entirely waterproof is a huge feat for the MCU’s disabled heroes. Though the dishwasher will likely be one of the sillier moments in Thunderbolts*, it has plenty more meaning than meets the eye.

Thunderbolts* (2025) Not Yet Rated
Director Jake Schreier Release Date May 2, 2025 Cast Florence Pugh , Sebastian Stan , David Harbour , Wyatt Russell , Olga Kurylenko , Hannah John-Kamen , Julia Louis-Dreyfus , Geraldine Viswanathan , Lewis Pullman , Joshua Mikel Upcoming MCU Movies