‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Directors Explain Why Adam Warlock Wasn’t in the Film

During the Infinity Gauntlet storyline, Adam Warlock played a pivotal role in defeating Thanos, which led many audiences to wonder if the character would have any involvement in Avengers: Infinity War. Co-director of the film Joe Russo revealed at a Q&A hosted by Collider that they didn’t want audiences to anticipate exactly how the film would play out had Warlock appeared.

“We had a lot of pre-established characters and sometimes characters from the books, again, being a comic book fan, I don’t want to see a literal interpretation of a comic book I’ve read a hundred times because I don’t wanna go to a theater and know exactly what’s going to happen,” Russo shared when asked why Warlock as omitted. “For me, it kind of ruins the experience of going to a movie. And sometimes we’ll take the arcs that have been assigned to different characters in the books and reassign them to other characters. Or we’re just taking inspiration from the books and really deviating from the storyline, in which case, the characters aren’t applicable to what we’re trying to do in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”

In The Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos collects all the Infinity Gems and kills half of the universe’s lifeforms. Nebula manages to get the Gauntlet off of her stepfather, only to go mad with power herself. Thanos helps take the Gauntlet from Nebula, with Warlock then using the weapon’s abilities to undo all of the damage created by Thanos.

Russo shared similar thoughts about not wanting audiences to be able to expect where the film and its follow-up, Avengers 4, would be going earlier this year.

“Our job as we said a million times is to tell the story of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, not to do direct adaptations of the comics because we’re comic book fans,” Russo admitted to ComicBook.com. “I have no interest as a director in telling a story that’s already been told or in seeing one that’s already been told. If I know all the events story as they’re going to happen then what’s the point of going to the film? We want to keep surprising audiences and continue the story that started with Iron Man […] a decade ago.”

This isn’t to say Warlock won’t appear anywhere in the MCU’s future, as he was teased during a mid-credits sequence in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Writer/director James Gunn was a major supporter of the character, though after Gunn’s firing from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as director, Warlock’s future is uncertain.

Avengers: Infinity War is currently available on Digital HD, Blu-ray, and DVD. Avengers 4 hits theaters on May 3, 2019.

Do you wish the filmmakers brought in Warlock? Let us know in the comments below!