Adam Warlock is coming to the MCU. Four years after a post-credits scene in Guardians 2 confirmed he’d be appearing in the threequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has officially found its Adam. This week, Deadline reported that Will Poulter had been cast in the all-important role, something which writer/director James Gunn confirmed was 100% accurate, welcoming Poulter to the Marvel family on Twitter.
Poulter has now broken his own silence on the news by responding to Gunn’s welcome message on Twitter. “Thank you, James,” Poulter wrote. “It’s a genuine honor to play this role and to work with you. I’m very excited to get to work.”
Poulter’s enjoyed a healthy career in the industry over the past decade, appearing in the likes of The Revenant, The Maze Runner and Midsommar, but obviously landing a role in the MCU will launch his fame to another level. Especially as he’s playing Adam, a major character in the comics universe. Though the screen version will no doubt be very different – his main schtick of having the Soul Stone in his forehead was given to Vision in the MCU – it’s very possible that he could hang around for more projects after Guardians 3.
Adam’s arrival was teased in Guardians 2 when Ayesha, Priestess of the Sovereign, revealed that she had designed an artificial being to destroy the Guardians, a being she christened Adam. We only saw his cocoon, which left Gunn free to cast whoever he wanted for the next movie. And it seems the filmmaker saw a range of actors before hiring Poulter – Bridgerton‘s Rege-Jean Page and 1917‘s George Mackay were both in the running for the part.
Poulter is the first new cast member to join Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. With Gunn teasing that filming begins in just a couple of weeks, further announcements will hopefully follow very soon. The finale to the cosmic trilogy is set to hit theaters in May 2023.