Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s James Gunn Confirms Will Poulter’s Role as Adam Warlock

Will Poulter is Adam Warlock. The Black Mirror star was rumored to be up for the role over the weekend, and Monday afternoon it was reported by the Hollywood trades. Now, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 helmer James Gunn has confirmed the actor’s new position in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, tweeting a welcome message to him.

“As you guys know I often strike down false rumors, so…um…,” Gunn said of the rumors popping up over the weekend. “Welcome to the Guardians family, Will Poulter. He’s an amazing actor and wonderful guys. See you in a couple weeks. #AdamWarlock #GotGVol3.”

Also of note is Gunn’s confirmation that filming will soon start. At one point last month, Karen Gillan said filming was expected to begin by the end of October. 

Since being introduced in a post-credits scene in Guardians, fans have long suspected Warlock to be involved in Vol. 3 in some shape, way, or form. Even then, Gunn still played coy about the character’s involvement in the movie.

At one point, there was speculation the character could pop up in Avengers: Infinity War, because of the character’s involvement with the MacGuffins in the Marvel source material. Joe Russo went on to say they didn’t want to introduce a new character in a movie packed to the brim with an existing ensemble, however.

“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.”

The first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies are now streaming on Disney+ while Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is due to hit theaters May 5, 2023. I Am Groot and the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special have yet to receive release dates.

What members of the Guardians would you like to see spin-off shows of? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!