If you’ve been following the Marvel Cinematic Universe since its launch in 2008, Avengers: Endgame would’ve been an experience unlike any other. The film featured over 70 — yes, 70! — MCU characters in various capacities. From Iron Man to Maria Hill to Happy Hogan and M’Baku, everybody had a role to play. Well, everybody except Adam Warlock. To be fair, Adam Warlock has yet to make an official appearance in the MCU, but we did hear of him during the post-credits scene of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
After losing to Star-Lord and his ragtag crew of misfits, Ayesha, the High Priestess of the Sovereign uses an advanced birth pod to create what she calls “next step in our evolution. More powerful, more beautiful and more capable of destroying the guardians of the galaxy. I think I shall call him… Adam.” Since then fans have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of this popular comic book character. Many wondered if we would finally see him in Avengers: Endgame — there are iterations in the comics in which Adam Warlock defeats Thanos.
However, in an interview with Backstory Magazine, Avengers: Endgame writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely mentioned that they “never, never” considered Warlock for the film. The duo explained:
McFeely: The logic right here was to honor the MCU as how it had already existed and the characters you’d already fallen in love with. We did not want to give too much story space to introducing a whole new person. It would rob you from somebody.
Markus: We were doing the Black Panther thing with a brand-new cosmic character in the form of Captain Marvel. Her movie had not really even been conceived yet, so to bring her in as an even more cosmic character made sense.
While I would’ve loved to have seen Adam Warlock wreck shop in Avengers: Endgame, ultimately I believe the screenwriters made the right decision in leaving him out. Endgame was about looking backwards, celebrating the characters we had become familiar with over the course of 22 films and closing out the Infinity Saga. Don’t worry! I’m sure we’ll get to see Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy 3.
