‘Infinity War’ Writer Unsure of Adam Warlock’s Future in the MCU

Jim Starlin, who created Thanos and heavily developed Stan Lee and Jack Kirby co-creation Adam Warlock in stories like The Infinity Gauntlet and The Infinity War, says he’s unsure of the character’s future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe following the firing of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 writer-director James Gunn.

“At the time we’re recording this, the third Guardians movie is on indefinite hold. I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Starlin told Chuck Load of Comics at ACE Comic Con. “I have my suspicions who they’re going to use for a director, but I’m not in that loop, so my guess is as good as anything you read online.”

Gunn teased the character in a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 mid-credits scene, which revealed Warlock’s golden cocoon as a creation of Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), High Priestess of golden-skinned alien race the Sovereign. Calling her creation “Adam,” Ayesha dubbed the unseen being “the next step in our evolution” who would be “more capable of destroying the Guardians the Galaxy.”

Though Warlock played a central role in Starlin’s Infinity trilogy of the comic books, Gunn, then the writer-director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, intended to include the character in future stories after Infinity War and Avengers 4 directors Anthony and Joe Russo had Warlock sit out both films.

Gunn, who was fired from Marvel Studios over the summer after inappropriate tweets resurfaced, was once tapped by chief Kevin Feige as the architect of the cosmic side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and would have overseen developments in that realm.

Because Gunn is out of the picture and Vol. 3 remains in limbo, Starlin is unsure but hopeful the character will eventually surface in the MCU.

“So how much of Gunn’s script remains, how much of the game plan using Warlock in this movie and maybe down the line, you know, Marvel has their own master plan that supersedes all the movies,” Starlin said.

“Feige is basically the captain of that ship, so I don’t know what he has planned, but I have high hopes that we’ll see old Adam coming to life.”

Joe Russo previously explained to ComicBook.com Warlock was not included because he was not yet introduced into the universe and the directing duo hoped to avoid a simple retelling of the comic book story.

“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 said.

“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.”

Avengers 4 opens May 3.