Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Casts Will Poulter as Villain Adam Warlock

Will Poulter is your Adam Warlock. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has cast the 28-year-old English actor as the artificially created cosmic villain Adam, first introduced in one of the many post-credits scenes attached to its predecessor, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Poulter is best known for his roles in The Maze Runner and The Chronicles of Narnia franchises. He has also appeared in epic Western film The Revenant, crime drama Detroit, and sci-fi film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 writer-director James Gunn has confirmed his casting on Twitter.

“Welcome to the Guardians family, Will Poulter. He’s an amazing actor and wonderful guy. See you in a couple weeks,” Gunn tweeted on Monday afternoon in the US, quote-tweeting the Deadline report that first brought word of Poulter’s casting just minutes after it was posted. Deadline additionally notes that production on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is expected to start in November, which lines up with Gunn’s “see you in a couple weeks” message to Poulter.

In the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 post-credits scene, golden-coloured Sovereign race leader Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) unveiled an artificial being that she vowed would destroy the titular superhero group — the Guardians of the Galaxy — once and for all. She called him Adam, who along with his creation chamber’s design, was enough to send Marvel fans into overdrive. A search for Adam Warlock’s actor began at the end of August, Deadline says, with Bridgerton’s Regé-Jean Page and 1917‘s George MacKay also on the list, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Adam Warlock, created as “Him” by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, originally appeared in late 1967 in then-ongoing Fantastic Four comic book series. Him had a minor role though. It was Roy Thomas and Gil Kane who transformed Him into Adam Warlock, an allegory for the Messiah in 1972. Yes, Adam Warlock — named after the first man per Christianity — has parallels to Jesus Christ. And it was Jim Starlin who took Adam into cosmic waters in 1975. Adam has shared a long history with Thanos on the page, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe variant is now in a much different space.

Poulter joins a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 cast that includes Chris Pratt as Peter Quill / Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper as the voice of Groot and Rocket respectively, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Debicki as Ayesha, and Sean Gunn as Kraglin Obfonteri. Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, the Guardians are looking for Gamora’s variant from a different time. Behind the scenes, Gunn is directing, with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige serving as producer.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is slated to release May 5, 2023 in cinemas worldwide. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is due in late 2022, and will film along with the third movie.