James Gunn Clarifies Adam Warlock's Status for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Since the closing moments of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, most fans of the lovable space pirates assumed Adam Warlock would be appearing in the threequel. After all, Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) name-dropped the character in one of the movie's many post-credits scenes. But, as filmmaker James Gunn says, that might not be the case. During a Q&A session with his Instagram followers, the fan-favorite filmmaker reminded fans he's never confirmed Warlock was a character that'd actually end up appearing. "I never said Adam Warlock was in the movie," Gunn clarified.

At one point, the team behind Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame wanted to add the character into the movie to to make it as comic-accurate as possible, but ultimately passed due to story reasons.

"...we didn't introduce Adam Warlock, because it's a massive backbend and you practically have to make an Adam Warlock movie to introduce him," scribe Christopher Markus previously revealed. "He just can't walk onscreen. So, there was a brief moment where we were like, Ehhh..., and then we were like-- [He points to the movie's poster.] We have that many characters already! And then there were others we couldn't use. Like, Silver Surfer would have been useful, but we can't touch him. Currently."

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has yet to set a release date.

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, Spider-Man 3 on July 16, 2021, What If…? in Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022. Marvel Studios Disney+ series without release dates include Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk.

Who do you think should play Adam Warlock? What other cosmic characters would you like to see join the franchise? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or by tweeting me at @AdamBarnhardt to chat all things MCU!