Ever since the Infinity Stones were revealed to be scattered throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe, many Marvel fans have been waiting for the arrival of Adam Warlock, a character with ties to not just the Infinity Gems in the comics, but Thanso and the wider Marvel cosmic mythology. Some have speculated that Warlock might show up in Avengers: Infinity War given his importance in the Infinity Gauntlet storyline that's inspiring that movie. It turns out that won't be the case, as director James Gunn is aiming to introduce Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. According to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige:
He's a character that James [Gunn] has always talked about, has played with putting in some of the other Guardians films but not quite working. But he has a very specific and very cool idea for do with that character, but we won't see what that is until Guardians 3 at the earliest.
Our own Eric Eisenberg was in attendance at a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 junket, and at one point the topic of Adam Warlock's potential inclusion in the MCU came up. So now we know that rather than throw Warlock into the insanity that is Avengers: Infinity War or Avengers 4 the year after, the plan is for James Gunn to hopefully feature him in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, although that's not set in stone yet. While it's a shame we won't see his conflict with Thanos on the big screen, Warlock is an important player in Marvel cosmic stories, so throwing him into a Guardians of the Galaxy movie would be fitting.
In the comics, Adam Warlock was an artificial human named Him created by an organization called The Enclave to be the "perfect human." He eventually left his creators and ventured out into space, and for a while he was the owner of the Soul Gem, given to him by the High Evolutionary. Warlock was the one who lead Earth's heroes in the battle against Thanos in The Infinity Gauntlet, but years later, he obtained the Infinity Gauntlet and was temporarily split into two beings, the evil half being called The Magus. Outside of the comics, he's appeared in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and the Guardians of the Galaxy animated series, the latte of which is in a separate continuity from the movies. There was also a cocoon seen in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie at The Collector's museum that looked a lot like the one that belonged to Warlock in the comics.
While we continue to wait for Adam Warlock's live action introduction, the next chapter of the MCU will unfold when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is released on May 5.
