It was “really difficult” working Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is out now in theaters, and it’s a hit both critically and commercially. We got to spend some quality time with beloved characters like Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), and also came to like new ones like Adam Warlock, the beautiful golden moron created by the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji).

Adam was teased at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, so Gunn felt “pressure” to include him in this new movie. Actually, he was originally supposed to appear in Vol. 2, but as Gunn told io9, “he seemed to fit better in this movie than he did in that movie.”

Still, apparently writing Adam into the story was tricky. “It was really difficult,” Gunn said. “It was the thing that was the most kind of separate that we put back into it.”

Chris Pratt gave Will Poulter advice about working with James Gunn

We meet Adam right at the top of the film, when he crashes into the Guardians’ headquarters at Knowhere looking for Rocket. “I thought it was really funny that Warlock flies in with this mission to accomplish with a certain level of expectation on his shoulders and then just gets his ass handed to him,” actor Will Poulter told GQ. “It’s typical of [director James Gunn] not doing the obvious one-dimensional thing, and instead subverting expectations and finding the funnier, more obtuse angle. I really appreciated that and it was cool that within the fight sequences I end up interacting with nearly all of the Guardians and it ending in a relatively humorous fashion.”

Mixing in humor with the action and drama is definitely Gunn’s style, something Poulter grew to appreciate. “I remember Chris Pratt said to me, ‘Sometimes James is going to throw things at you and you’re going to be like, ‘What are you talking about? You’ve lost your mind.’ Just trust him.’ I did that, and by the end I felt really confident in just doing whatever James said. Sometimes words like visionary get overused. But James is a visionary, there is no question. The way he’s able to visualise things and then bring them to life is second to none.”

"He said, “Really, your goal each day should be to fuck up.” That’s really scary, because I actively spend all my time trying to avoid fucking up as much as possible and I fail enough as it is when the memo is “don’t fuck up”. So when the memo is, like, “embrace the idea of fucking up”, that’s a wild one, but it was quite freeing by the end of it."

Will Poulter wishes James Gunn directed whatever is next for Adam Warlock

Adam is basically a new character in this movie, but he goes on a full arc. “[T]his was someone who was in his infancy and trying to discover his way in the world,” Poulter told Entertainment Weekly. “Even in a relatively limited period of time in this movie, I got to explore what his maturation looked like and how he started to sort of carve out his moral compass and decide the sort of being he wanted to be. How much he was going to align himself with the Sovereign, what his relationship to the Guardians was going to be. It was full of ambiguity and nuance, and James was down to explore it all. So, it was nice to find out that we were kind of on the same page in that regard, and we could get our teeth into that kind of material.”

All that and he got to play with a cute little CGI sidekick named Blurp, voiced by James Gunn himself. “Blurp, on the day, took the shape of a kind of gray stuffed animal with no face or features,” Poulter said. “But James showed me some pre-viz art to let me know what Blurp would look like. I knew he was going to be super cute and slobbery. Ugly-cute, if you will. I love that Adam had a pet. It was quite boyish of him, I suppose, and made sense for where the character is at this stage. And it was fun flying with Blurp. He’s my pride and joy.”

What’s next for Adam Warlock? Well, the mid-credits sequence makes it look like he’ll be back for any future Guardians movies. But Gunn, who’s now off managing the new DC Cinematic Universe, won’t be directing them. “Do I wish James was directing whatever the next installment of Adam Warlock is? Sure,” Poulter said. “If I had my pick I wouldn’t want anyone else – but I do genuinely trust that he’s done his best to set up the character in a way that feels like it best serves him.”

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