Infinity War Directors Never Intended Adam Warlock to Appear

CBR

By Renaldo Matadeen

Published May 5, 2018

Despite his comics connection to the Soul Stone, Adam Warlock was never slated to appear in Avengers: Infinity War, according to co-director Joe Russo.

WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War, in theaters now.

Despite the Avengers: Infinity War screenwriters indicating they did have a draft that cut Adam Warlock from the script, co-director Joe Russo has revealed it was never really intended for the cosmic powerhouse to appear in the fight against Thanos.

James Gunn has always maintained that the character, whom he debuted in a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 post-credits scene, was being kept for his threequel and not for the Russos' story of Thanos and the Infinity Stones, as the comics have usually dictated. Now, Russo has more or less confirmed that he and his brother, Anthony, were always on the same page in terms of Warlock's Marvel Cinematic Universe debut with their fellow director.

"That’s a James Gunn thing -- we never intended to put Adam Warlock in Infinity War. We have so many heroes we have to service that you guys love and give them screen-time," he said in a Q&A session at an Iowa high school. Apart from the already-packed cast, he admitted that they would have been forcing the character in, and more so, there was no emotional connection to the villain at hand.

"[...] You want to see the hero and villain to have an emotional connection. You wouldn’t have a connection to him [Warlock] as he doesn’t have a connection with Thanos and a built-up story," the director affirmed.

However, given the recent confirmation that Thanos did visit Gamora inside the Soul Stone at the end of the movie -- after he killed her en route to wiping out half the galaxy of course -- and Warlock's connection as lord of this particular gem in the books, fans are speculating that the character could yet make a surprise entrance in Avengers 4.

Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War stars Robert Downey Jr., Josh Brolin, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Olsen, Sebastian Stan, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Bettany, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Benedict Wong, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Holland and Anthony Mackie. The film is in cinemas now.