Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s Adam Warlock has an incredibly rich history that includes possessing the Infinity Gauntlet and the Infinity Stones.
Although Adam Warlock is a being of cosmic importance, for the better part of his life he has known little about his true purpose. Nevertheless, Warlock has been an integral figure in the fate of the entire universe on many occasions, allying himself with the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and even The Mad Titan, Thanos. The incredible events leading to Warlock’s acquisition of one of the most powerful items in the universe began many decades prior to the groundbreaking Infinity Gauntlet story.
Despite having early appearances in 1967’s Fantastic Four #66 and 1969’s Thor #163-166, Adam Warlock was a mystery until 1972’s Marvel Premiere #1, by Roy Thomas and Gil kane. Warlock’s origin in the comics is radically different than that of his MCU counterpart. A group of scientists known as The Enclave created Warlock in the hopes of making the perfect human. Known only as “Him”, Warlock rebelled against his creators and killed them. Leaving Earth for the stars, Warlock met the High Evolutionary, a being of incredible power.
The High Evolutionary is a critical figure in Adam’s life for a number of reasons: first, the Evolutionary grants him the name “Warlock”; second, he commissions Adam to save Counter-Earth, a parallel planet to Earth orbiting on the opposite side of the sun; third, he gives Warlock a powerful artifact known as the Soul Jewel. Arriving on Counter-Earth, Warlock is then given his first name, “Adam”, and is successful in saving the mirror planet from the evil Man-Beast. It’s from this point that Warlock is thrust into a sequence of events that culminate with his acquiring the Infinity Gauntlet.
The Soul Jewel given to Warlock by the High Evolutionary would become known as the Soul Gem, a vampiric artifact capable of absorbing the souls of the living. Warlock’s journey into space leads him to The Church of Universal Truth, an evil cult led by The Magus, Warlock’s corrupted future self. With the aid of Pip the Troll, Gamora, and Thanos of Titan, Warlock is successful in defeating the Magus. In order to prevent himself from becoming The Magus, Warlock travels into the future to steal his own soul.
Warlock later learns of five other gems that are as powerful as the Soul Gem. Thanos also learns of the gems and manages to gather them all together in an effort to destroy Earth’s sun. It was during this battle that Warlock’s younger self appears and consumes his own soul; however, while in the dimension known as Soul World within the Soul Gem, Warlock is able to free himself and turn Thanos to stone, thus saving Earth.
Years later in Jim Starlin, Ron Lim and George Perez’s Infinity Gauntlet miniseries, the Silver Surfer is absorbed into the Soul Gem where he meets Warlock. Working with the other heroes, Warlock frees himself from the Soul Gem and claims the Infinity Gauntlet and all of its gems for himself. Even though he saved the universe from Thanos, The Living Tribunal deemed Warlock an unsafe possessor of the Infinity Gauntlet and ordered Warlock to divide the gems among those he saw fit. Warlock chose Pip, Gamora, Drax, Moondragon, and Thanos as the rightful possessors of the Infinity Gems. This collective became known as The Infinity Watch.
The Infinity Watch experienced its own number of perilous adventures as it fought to maintain order throughout the universe and to keep the Infinity Gems safe. Warlock’s existence in the MCU has been minor thus far, and as such, he was not present for the entire Infinity Gauntlet saga. With his arrival confirmed for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2023 it’ll be interesting to see what his new role will be in the MCU.
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