Does anyone still work at Marvel Studios who has a personal passion for Adam Warlock, the big golden man played by Will Poulter? Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3There aren’t many indications that they will yet – and that will be an important issue for the character’s future.
in the meantime Guardian 3 Finally Adam Warlock — Savior, Avatar of Life, Head of the Church of Universal Truth — is shown on screen after many teasings ( beginning and the second Guardians movie), James Gunn is the only Marvel director to ever show interest in the character.Once Gunn moves to help run DC’s superhero movie slate, leaving behind his Guardians series to wrap up the story of the original team line-up, it’s possible we’ll have his entire slate of characters. That means someone else will have to decide who will be highlighted in future Marvel Cinematic Universe stories featuring the Guardians, and it’s up to them if Adam Warlock gets cut. It may be roll. 3‘s approach to the character looks like a smart and carefully calculated play on Marvel’s part.
From comical to cosmic
![Adam Warlock (played by Will Poulter) is a golden-skinned humanoid who wears gold-and-red armor and a red cape and appears in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ny_wQpNdsObAqpYfB3lfej31xhM=/0x0:6000x4000/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:6000x4000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24618128/HCM_32755_R.jpg)
Photo: Jessica Milio/Marvel Studios
The film introduces Adam Warlock as a young, unlucky, and mostly comic relief character. (That doesn’t mean he stands out among the rest of the Guardian line-up.)”, he’s malleable and a bit childlike. Adam has almost Superman-level powers: he can fly and doesn’t need special equipment to survive comfortably in the vacuum of space. He’s incredibly strong and fast. But in this first appearance, he’s huffy, naive, and an easily led dope.
The events of the film begin to push Adam away from that direction, while many other more established and more central characters get payoffs for the story arc and previous arcs. roll. 3 he doesn’t have much time He gets the impromptu shorthand equivalent of a standard traumatic superhero origin story and that’s it. Leave him where you can. Gunn and Marvel seem to have left those options completely open.
For fans of the golden-skinned space-wanderer, a Silver Age Marvel character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1967, how the MCU will explore elements that could lead to a storyline starring Adam Warlock. It was interesting to see how it was set up. It doesn’t actually promise anything specific. And that may be because there are many complicated decisions involved in translating a character’s comic book adventure into a blockbuster movie, as Marvel Studios usually does with its long-running legacy characters. .
Is Adam Warlock a villain?
![Adam Warlock, Gamora, Drax and Thanos discuss how they will work together, with Drax crushing Thanos in Infinity War #2 (1992).](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fZXLiJPm240-fssRAsO1SZs0vYc=/0x0:1750x1186/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1750x1186):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24636388/IMG_54E8A837BA28_1.jpeg)
Image: Jim Starlin, Ron Lim/Marvel Comics
Adam Warlock Guardian 3, but he has a long Marvel history as a hero. Sometimes he teams up with the Guardians of the Galaxy, sometimes with other characters. When he did, he had a long association with the Hulk.) More often than not, he works with his own team of traveling space misfits. He has had many minor adventures, including battling space pirates and the genetically modified wolf creature Man Beast from High Evolutionary. Related to a certain Thanos, either try to keep the Infinity Stones away from him or work with him to keep the Infinity Stones safe from other forces.
Adam Warlock’s longtime fanatical and thematic opposite, Thanos was one of the villains in the Marvel continuum that gave heroes the most purpose. , along with Marvel writer and editor Roy Thomas, was also one of Adam Warlock’s biggest supporters and developers in his early days. In their comics, Thanos is obsessed with (and romantically entwined with) death, while Adam his warlocks represent life, except in stories where they have to team up to save the universe. , the two frequently collided.
It’s hard to imagine the MCU bringing back either Thanos or the Infinity Stones, but in the franchise’s current time-hopping, multiverse-exploration environment, it would be easy to pull another Thanos into the storyline, and Infinity Stones. is by their side. eternal nature. But both are central parts of the MCU’s most beloved plot arcs, and going back to that well risks undermining the MCU’s most famous and successful storylines, and Marvel is already out of ideas. It looked like
Adam Warlock’s other greatest adventures include: Universal Church of Truthwas originally a galactic organization focused on eradicating planets that worshiped and refused to follow his other distinct villain, Magus. – Creates its own big problem with jibes with the Universe story.
Should Marvel Get Religious?
![In Incredible Hulk #177 (1974), Adam Warlock is shivering in pain on a burning cruciform platform surrounded by cosmic energy.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4VhrRkOpJWgAcoIFymkbe7PiNxk=/0x0:1613x1185/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1613x1185):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24636395/IMG_1125B2A12F10_1.jpeg)
As the MCU heads for a bigger, messier, and more cosmic direction in Phases 5 and 6, Marvel Studios is moving away from the at least slightly socially relevant plotlines that emerged in the Captain America movies. Whether you want to or not is an open question. , on current political debates about drone warfare, government surveillance of civilians, and overseas adventurism. Given America’s current political divide over faith-based politics, there are certainly many links to Adam Warlock’s story, which often revolves around faith and religion, both overtly and figuratively. It is possible. and then revived.) But Marvel has every reason to avoid religion. To have as much commentary and themes as possible, and keep Adam Warlock away from fighting oppressive churches and fanatical followers.
It doesn’t necessarily matter. Like his MCU version of the Marvel character, Adam Warlock has already been heavily updated and modified to fit the screen. Guardian 3his origin and creator have changed as much as his personality.
Also, that stone on his forehead appears to be purely decorative in the MCU. Give him the power to part. The whole idea may have been scrapped in the post-Infinity Saga MCU.
Adam Warlock’s future in the MCU may seem unlikely, but the way Marvel is releasing or introducing a longtime teammate is something someone at the company wants him to have a future in the MCU. at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 In particular, it frees some of the character’s traditional partners and gives him his first connection with them, but no normal Marvel teasing that anything is actually planned or scheduled.
[Ed. note: Some very broad end spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ahead.]
How the MCU is setting up Adam Warlock’s movies
![Adam Warlock tells Gamora and the troll Pip that he was saved from Thanos and brought to a peaceful world within the Soul Gem in Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 (1976).](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/SnM5VOPhtXZaUGdnuYFicBW_kzs=/0x0:1575x774/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1575x774):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24636403/IMG_A1809060B21D_1.jpeg)
Image: Jim Starlin, Joe Rubinstein/Marvel Comics
Like many long-running Marvel heroes, Adam Warlock’s comic book counterpart has had various teammates over the years, but in his core circle are two Guardians in the MCU’s original flavor. It contains. Drax the Destroyer and Gamora.Both are embroiled in unresolved issues by the finale of roll. 3, Drax seems to need direction and a set of new sprouts, and Gamora is at peace with her Ravager friends, but is apparently free to roam the galaxy and stand up for any nonsense she wants. ‘s longtime Adam Warlock companion, Pip the Troll, was recently introduced to the MCU in the post-credits scene of Eternals. Even ending Gamora’s relationship with Peter Quill could be part of that setup, as she eventually became Adam Warlock’s love interest.
Another long-time ally of the character, Moondragon, has never appeared in the MCU, but formally, she has a romantic relationship with Mantis. Guardians Vol. 3 Head into space to find yourself and decide what you want as a person. (If Disney wasn’t sick of any queer relationship, this would sound like an overt invitation to a romantic arc.) Part of the MCU — at least not yet.
Back on screen for Adam Warlock, we can speculate that he would be a pretty radical change from the Christ statue that repeatedly died and then resurrected repeatedly to save an entire planet in the Marvel Comics continuity. Whatever his MCU future may be, creators like Gunn, more Adam out of interest in the character’s Marvel history, are more willing to defend his Warlock about his place in the MCU. We need creators who have a meaningful vision. Or, given how minimalist his character and subplots are in this first outing, it’s unlikely that a noticeable sense of fan enthusiasm for Adam will be needed. In a complex series, another angry Superman trying to figure out who he wants to be and who he wants to be with doesn’t tip the scales too far.
At this point, Marvel seems to be paying attention to Adam Warlock, not wisely investing significant resources in a character associated with an out-of-space adventure like the one that was a sidebar to the MCU’s geocentric adventures. No, but didn’t write him… Completely off.his roll. 3 The arc moves from being a childish, easily guided, and approval-seeking servant of High Evolutionary to Guardians of the Galaxy, mirroring Rocket Raccoon’s story, but without the same level of detail or emotional commitment. . But it’s a full arc, leaving him with a completed story or ready to serve as a main character in his phase of future Marvel.Almost every element of Adam Warlock’s story is on board. It remains to be seen if anyone invested enough to get them.