Marvel casts Will Poulter as Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Ever since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was released in 2017, fans have been anxiously wondering if and when the Marvel Comics character Adam Warlock would make his debut in the MCU. It seemed like he was gearing up to appear in the follow-up Guardians movie, and now that has been officially confirmed.

Deadline first reported that Will Poulter has been cast in the MCU as Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. And as the story began to gain traction, director James Gunn himself confirmed it on Twitter. Gunn called Poulter an “amazing” actor — some of his more noteworthy roles have been in films like The Maze Runner, Detroit, We’re the Millers and the Netflix special Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.

Who is Adam Warlock?

Adam Warlock is a superhero who first made his appearance in Marvel Comics in the 1960s. He is designed to be a perfect being, and was initially just called “Him,” but eventually rebelled against his creators. He has superhuman strength, speed and durability, and can manipulate cosmic energy to fly and shield himself from attacks. Plus he’s immortal, so he’s pretty formidable.

The post-credits scene from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is what tipped fans off that Adam Warlock was on the way. At the beginning of the film, the Guardians were commissioned by the Sovereigns, the race of gold-skinned people, to protect the highly valuable Anulax Batteries. But the golden race was soon in hot pursuit of the Guardians because not only had Rocket insulted their people, but he had also stolen some of their powerful batteries.

The Guardians were able to shake them off. And it wasn’t until the very end of the movie that we returned to see the Sovereigns’ leader, Ayesha. She was displeased that the Guardians had evaded them, but revealed that she had been working on creating a new being who would be powerful enough to stop them, and she would name him “Adam.”

Since that 2017 reveal, the speculation has gone on and on about whether or not it was actually Adam Warlock that she was creating. So it’s nice to finally have that confirmed after all these years. We don’t know what the plot of Guardians 3 will be. But we can assume the Sovereigns’ attack against the team will probably be a huge plot point in the story.

We still have a ways to go before Guardians 3 comes out, though. The film has an expected release date of  May 5, 2023. So we’ll have plenty of time between now and then for more to be revealed about the movie.

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