Cast This: Adam Warlock (Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3)

Cast This: Adam Warlock (Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3)

April 26th 2017, 10:27am

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Even with the Marvel Cinematic Universe expanding further into the far reaches of the galaxy, there's one major cosmic character (that Marvel has the rights to) who has yet to make the leap from the comic pages: Adam Warlock is still waiting for his big-screen introduction.

Writer-director James Gunn has stated that Warlock is one of his favorites, and had originally planned to include him in GUARDIANS OF GALAXY VOL. 2 (which would make sense, given the character's comic ties to the sequel's antagonist Ayesha, also known as Her).

Both Gunn and Marvel movie honcho Kevin Feige have stated that Adam Warlock also won't show up as part of the packed cast in AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (a decision that seems baffling to comic readers, who know of Warlock's importance to those related original stories). But now we know that Gunn is returning to write and direct a third GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY chapter, which makes it the most obvious place for the character to appear.

(Unless, of course, he pops up in AVENGERS 4 or CAPTAIN MARVEL first…)

So who is this guy?

Adam Warlock initially appeared in the late 1960s as "Him", the childlike gold-tinted creation of scientists seeking to make a perfect being. After losing a battle with Thor, "Him" regenerated inside the safety of a protective cocoon (fans speculated this object was seen in the Collector's warehouse in the first GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, and Gunn has fluctuated on confirming in various interviews).

Upon emerging from the cocoon, "Him" was reborn as Warlock and had the Soul Gem embedded in his forehead (given the importance of these stones in the MCU, it's easy to see why his omission from AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR seems suspicious). Warlock's capabilities include genius intelligence, superhuman strength and durability, energy manipulation, psionic powers, and other abilities imbued by the Soul Gem.

Throughout his comic appearances, Warlock traveled the cosmos and grappled with the power of the gem, all while encountering numerous Marvel heroes and villains (including the "Mad Titan" himself, Thanos). In addition to several Marvel series and cosmic crossover storylines, Warlock also had a major role in the more recent Guardians of the Galaxy comics, which served as a template for Gunn's movies.

Warlock also contended with the purple-skinned Magus, a futuristic evil version of himself who controls a galactic religious empire called the Universal Church of Truth. Considering that GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 will take place after AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (and its untitled sequel), it's possible that the Magus could be what Gunn is planning for the villain of his third movie.

Clearly it will be quite some time before we see a live-action Adam Warlock in the MCU, and we're assuming Gunn will have a hand in the casting of the character. And considering the filmmaker gave us John C. Reilly as a galactic cop, Benicio del Toro as an eccentric artifact connoisseur and Kurt Russell as a planet, we should probably prepare for an unexpected actor to get the role.

But that shouldn't stop us from speculating! Some guys who seem like they'd be a good fit to play the super-entity/space messiah include Alexander Skarsgard, Rodrigo Santoro and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

Let us know below who you think would make a stellar Adam Warlock!