Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is finally, finally in production, with the happy news being revealed with a cast photo shared online over the past week. Alongside the usual players like Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, and Dave Bautista, the pic featured two new additions to the franchise, namely Will Poulter and Chukwudi Iwuji, the latter of whom has just worked with director James Gunn on DC’s Peacemaker.
While we know that Poulter is playing Adam Warlock, Gunn is keeping the identity of Iwuji’s role under wraps, though he’s teased that it’s a part that some of the biggest names in Hollywood auditioned for. Obviously, fans have been pestering the filmmaker on social media for more information and, while he’s not giving much away, Gunn has ruled out at least one option.
One Twitter user ordered that the director “admit Chuk is Maxam”, referring to a fairly obscure character from Marvel comics lore. Gunn responded by saying, “I had to look up Maxam to remember who he was if that answers your question.”
So who is Maxam? He’s a time traveler from a dark future ruled over by Magus, Adam Warlock’s evil alter ego, who journeyed to the present and ended up joining Adam’s team, the Infinity Watch, which also included Gamora. Given his ties to these two Vol. 3 characters, it was a decent guess that he could be Iwuji’s mystery part, but clearly that’s not the case.
Whether this means we can also rule out Magus himself appearing in the threequel or not, however, it’s too early to say. It might be a little early to dive that deep into Adam’s mythos, though. Marvel could be saving that for his inevitable Disney Plus spinoff.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is shooting now ahead of its scheduled arrival in theaters on May 5, 2023.