Marvel's Adam Warlock Has A Dark Similarity To Kang The Conqueror

Adam Warlock will be a new superhero for the MCU when he's introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but he has a long Marvel Comics history, including a dark parallel to the Multiverse Saga's villain, Kang the Conqueror. Adam's future appearance was teased in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, when the Sovereign race was introduced. During a mid-credits scene, Ayesha revealed his golden cocoon, said she had created him to destroy the Guardians, and named him Adam.

Meanwhile, Kang is the next big villain in the MCU. His variant, He Who Remains, was introduced in the Loki season 1 finale. He Who Remains explained to Loki and Sylvie that he founded the TVA to prevent several alternate versions of himself from conquering the multiverse. In the end, Sylvie killed him and Loki discovered that a (presumably) evil variant of Kang now runs the TVA. A Kang variant will be the villain in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and he will continue to be a thorn in the Avengers' side through at least Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.

Magus Is An Evil Version Of Adam Warlock From The Future

Just like He Who Remains, Adam Warlock has an evil alternate version of himself: Magus. In Marvel Comics, the first version of Magus is a powerful villain ruling over the religious empire, the Universal Church of Truth—a frequent enemy to the Guardians of the Galaxy. Magus travels back in time to ensure his younger self, Adam Warlock, goes down an evil path and becomes the future dictator. Adam breaks the timeline by ultimately killing Magus. However, through Adam's adventures with the Infinity Stones, more versions of Magus pop up to cause trouble.

What makes Kang the Conqueror a terrifying villain is that there are several versions of him. The Avengers could defeat one and then another variant could appear from somewhere else in time or reality. Being that he's from the future, he has access to advanced technology. Magus is a similar figure, who could haunt Adam, the Guardians, and the Avengers.

The Timing Of Adam Warlock's MCU Introduction Makes Magus More Likely

High Evolutionary, Adam Warlock, and Ayesha Queen of the Sovereign

In the comics, Adam Warlock's most famous story revolves around the Infinity Stones and his ongoing rivalry with Thanos. Now that Thanos is dead in the MCU and the Infinity Saga is over, Marvel will have to find something different to do with Adam if he continues to appear. His conflict with Magus is probably his second-biggest story arc, so it's a likely direction for the MCU to take the character.

If Marvel does use Magus, they may alter his origin story to avoid too many similarities between him and Kang the Conqueror. Otherwise, the movies could get too repetitive. This could be avoided if Magus's appearance is tied into Kang the Conqueror, perhaps with them teaming up or Magus using Kang's time-travel technology. With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 poised to be just the beginning of Adam Warlock's MCU story, there will be many opportunities to explore his evil future.

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