The after credits scene in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 served as a hint for fans that speculation about Vol. 1 wasn’t exactly right. The scene revealed a cocoon-like sarcophagus held by the Sovereign. Their leader, Ayesha, refers to the being inside as “Adam,” a reference to the powerful Marvel character Adam Warlock.
So who is Adam Warlock? Here’s five things you need to know.
1. A group of scientists manufactured Adam Warlock.
Originally created by a group of scientists called The Enclave, Adam was supposed to be the perfect evolutionary expression of humans. At the time referred to as “Him,” the new creature emerges and realizes The Enclave want to use him for evil. He quickly turned on them and massacred the group. Him remained pretty much a blank slate, since he was grown in full adult form rather than having life experiences. He attempts to abduct Asgardian warrior Lady Sif, hoping to mate with her, but was stopped by Thor. The God of Thunder fought Him, almost killing the new being. After the fight, Him retreated to a cocoon provided by The High Evolutionary to regenerate.
2. Most people thought he entered the MCU in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 1.
This scene from Volume 1 features something in The Collector’s shop that looks suspiciously like the cocoon Adam popped out of in the comics.
Theories started to abound when someone noticed the cocoon appeared to be broken open in the Volume 1 after-credits scene. But the new scene in Volume 2 proved those theories to be off-base. For now.
3. He played a pivotal in The Infinity War comics (and The Infinity Saga overall).
In the Infinity Gauntlet storyline, Adam defeats Thanos and wears the mega-glove into the sunset…though not for long. Some of the most powerful beings come together and decide they don’t exactly like one person having the glove, so Adam distributes the stones. But decisions he made while he possessed the gauntlet come back to bite Marvel-verse heroes in Infinity War.
4. For a while, he teamed up with Thanos.
In a cosmic buddy-cop kind of scenario, Adam and Thanos go exploring together, at one point even encountering an alternate universe. This universe’s Adam is killed, and the more powerful other universe Adam takes his place. But since (as Thanos points out), death never holds, the alternate-universe Adam accidentally destroys reality through the shock of waking from a coma. He manages to resurrect his Mad Titan sidekick, and they appeal to The One Above All to help bring reality back, since two guys going through blank pages would get pretty boring. The One Above All brings back reality and the old Adam Warlock, forcing alt-Adam to become the new Living Tribunal.
5. He likely won’t be in Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3 or Avengers: Infinity War.
On Twitter, GotG director James Gunn threw some cold water on Adam popping up in Starlord & crew’s next adventure, saying:
With that, Gunn essentially rules out Adam’s appearance in Avengers: Infinity War, due out in May, meaning no epic battle between him and the Mad Titan over the Infinity Gauntlet. But he could make a still-cocooned cameo in an Infinity War film, depending on when the battle ends. The Soul Stone rests in Adam’s forehead in the comic books, a-la-Vision. Coincidentally, the Soul Stone is the only Infinity Stone still not located in the MCU. Volume 3 is slated for 2020, so don’t hold your breath for an answer in the near future.
When will Adam show up & where is the Soul Stone? Tell us below!