Will Poulter has been cast as Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - but the character's biggest story is impossible. The post-credits scene of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 set up the introduction of the MCU's Adam Warlock, so nobody was especially surprised when the cosmic superhero was cast for the threequel. Writer/director James Gunn has a reputation for adapting the comics as he sees fit - his version of Star-Lord was particularly different from the comics, and the comics have since been adapted to align with the MCU. He's clearly doing the same with Adam Warlock, because Will Poulter was a surprising choice.

The comic book version of Adam Warlock is one of Marvel's most powerful superheroes, a genetically-engineered being created by a group of scientists called the Enclave. A fateful meeting with the High Evolutionary led to his becoming bonded with the Soul Gem, and since then he's been a key player in countless stories featuring the Infinity Gems. It was Adam Warlock who orchestrated the battle against Thanos when the Mad Titan acquired the Infinity Gauntlet, and he formed the Infinity Watch to protect the precious stones, a group he's still connected with today.

Related: How Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 Set Up Vol. 3's Adam Warlock

Unfortunately, this means Adam Warlock's biggest stories and most important character arcs simply can't happen in the MCU. The first three phases of the MCU have been dubbed the "Infinity Saga" because of their focus on the Infinity Stones, the cinematic version of the Infinity Gems. This culminated in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, in which Thanos successfully acquired all the Infinity Stones and used them to fulfil his insane ambition of erasing half the living creatures in the universe. That story is well and truly over now, with Thanos destroying the Infinity Stones so they could be used to reverse his actions, and ultimately dying - twice, as a result of time travel. All this happened without any involvement from Adam Warlock.

Adam Warlock Soul Stone Marvel Comics

The MCU can never link Adam Warlock to the Soul Stone, because it does not exist anymore. That's a radical departure from the comics, where Adam Warlock is the Soul Stone's sworn guardian, drawn into cosmic events simply because so many villains wish to obtain it. Unless Marvel choose to resurrect Thanos, Adam Warlock's main rivalry with the Mad Titan, his usual nemesis, can never happen in the MCU, either. Marvel may be finally incorporating Adam Warlock into the MCU, but he can never play the role he plays in the comics.

Ironically, of course, the MCU's Adam Warlock may be the better for this. However much Marvel loves to honor the comics, the reality is that they deviate as much as they feel necessary for the purposes of the story; indeed, this is very much the secret to the MCU's success, because some of their biggest movies have been very different from the comics. The MCU's Thanos isn't really the comic book character at all, a madman who believes he serves life rather than death, while characterization of the Guardians of the Galaxy was remarkably dissimilar to the comics. Adam Warlock will presumably become another case in point when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is released.

More: How Adam Warlock's MCU Story Can Work Without Thanos Or Infinity Stones

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