Adam Warlock Will Be Like A Malevolent Baby In Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3

We're closing in on the release of James Gunn's third and final "Guardians of the Galaxy" film, which is slated to officially enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe's canon later this year. It promises to be an emotional adventure, what with "The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" being Dave Bautista's last appearance as Drax the Destroyer. To make matters even more strenuous, the trailers have heavily featured Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) in a way that heavily implies we may be witnessing the demise of the tiniest Guardian. Add on all the actor contracts that are undoubtedly coming to an end (it's been almost a decade since the first "Guardians" film, after all) and what's left is a foreboding sense of confidence that Gunn will shake up the narrative in a very ... permanent way. 

One such change comes in the form of Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), whose introduction was guaranteed by one of the end credit scenes for "Vol. 2." His only other appearance in modern pop culture is in Square Enix's critically acclaimed video game, "Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy," so the character is still relatively unknown outside of comic centric circles. Because of this, it seems, Gunn relishes in dropping vague clues as to how the cosmic deity (yeah, the dude's pretty much a man-made god) will interface with the story of "Vol. 3." Gunn's latest comment? "He's basically a baby." Here's the story.

In an interview with Empire, James Gunn teased the narrative capacity that Adam Warlock will hold for his first appearance in the MCU. Will he immediately join the Guardians of the Galaxy? Or will he serve his creator, Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), and destroy them? "It's kind of more complicated than that but he's definitely not a good guy. What we're seeing is the infant form of Warlock, newly out of the cocoon, and he does not understand life very well. He's basically a baby," said Gunn.

We've covered this before but, in the comics, Adam Warlock is brought into the world as a full adult man with all the powers of a god and all the moral context of a bumblebee. His awareness grows with time and he eventually develops his own righteous compass but there's a window at the beginning where things are kind of dicey. Gunn's wording in that Empire quote is important because he never explicitly states that Adam Warlock is a bad guy, just that he isn't a "good" one, and that's because he's not currently capable of willful morality. 

Imagine if every screaming kid at your local Walmart was equipped with the means to annihilate the universe and you've pretty much got a solid idea of what the Guardians of the Galaxy will be up against. He's a walking, talking, nuclear device with the emotional maturity of an infant and his only source of parental care is a vindictive space tyrant. In a word? Oops. 

"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" hits theaters on May 5, 2023.