Adam Warlock Not Confirmed For Guardians 3

Despite his appearance being teased in a post-credit scene for Vol. 2, it seems that Adam Warlock isn't a lock yet for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. It’s strange to look back on the original Guardians of the Galaxy and think the film was considered a risky move for Marvel Studios. The cosmic setting and relative obscurity of the film's comic source material made it seem like a gamble, but thanks to the energetic direction, great ensemble cast and killer soundtrack, it quickly became a big hit and is even considered one of the best Marvel Cinematic Universe outings.

While Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 received good reviews too, many felt that it lacked the freshness of the original film, and found its story lacking. Still, the sequel had enough humor and action to satisfy the fanbase, and series writer/director James Gunn left lots of easter eggs for people to find. One of the biggest was a post-credit teaser where Sovereign villainess Ayesha looks upon Adam Warlock’s cocoon, with plans to eventually unleash the character upon the Guardians.

This indicated Warlock would be a major villain in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but Gunn has now confirmed on his Twitter account there are no solid plans to use the character in any future movie. Gunn doesn’t rule out Warlock’s appearance, but he wants to keep fan expectations in check for the time being:

12 And despite so many people thinking Adam will show up in Vol 3 that is something that we have never confirmed. Who knows how long it will take him to bake in that cocoon. That said, I love Adam. But the time must be right.— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) November 21, 2017

Warlock appeared in early script drafts for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but despite his self-confessed love for the character, Gunn decided that the movie included too many characters and someone had to go. Gunn also revealed in an interview earlier this year that the cocoon post-credit scene was nearly cut from the film, as Marvel worried that fans would think the character was being set up to appear in Avengers: Infinity War:

“I had to fight for Adam in the post-credits sequence. Because I really thought that’s where that should go. And I thought one of the main reasons to have the Sovereign in the movie was to give audiences the hint that Adam Warlock is coming. That was one of the reasons for them to exist. And I wrote that post-credits sequence in the first draft of the script. And then there were a lot of questions about whether or not we should put that in there, because people were going to expect Adam Warlock in Infinity War. So one of the things I promised – which I do all of the time on Twitter – is letting everyone know that Adam Warlock is not going to be in Avengers 3 or Avengers 4. It’s just not going to happen. Because I didn’t want people to have false expectations of what they thought was going to happen with Adam.”

While some fans may be disappointed there are no definite plans for Warlock’s MCU future, they should at least take heart that Marvel is saving the character until the time is right. While Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 doesn’t currently have a release date set, Gun has indicated in the past that the Guardians' next adventure will hit theaters in 2020.