It's been a long road to get to the third film of James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. Disney's decision to fire and rehire the director after a Twitter controversy led Gunn to take up the directing job of The Suicide Squad for DC, therefore pushing the film back to 2023 — when he will next be available.
Before then, the Guardians will be seen on-screen in Thor: Love and Thunder in March 2022, before going on to star in their own Holiday Special towards the end of next year.
Little is known about the upcoming trilogy-completing film, however, it seems Marvel has a major character lined up to appear as reports have confirmed a casting call has been released for Adam Warlock.
MARVEL STUDIOS CASTING ADAM WARLOCK FOR GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3
A scoop exclusively published by The Illumnerdi has revealed Marvel has put a casting call out for the role of Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
The casting call describes the role to be for a "thirty-year-old Caucasian man" who is a "Zac Effron-type" as well as a “super hero type."
James Gunn's Marvel film begins filming in London later this year and is due to release in 2023.
Update: Following the report, director James Gunn responded to The Illuminerdi's report on social media to seemingly debunk it, saying “there is no casting underway for Vol. 3” and asking “Where do you get this nonsense?” The full tweet can be seen below:
There is no casting underway for Vol. 3. And in what world would I only cast a “Caucasian” if the character has gold skin? And if I wanted a Zac Efron type wouldn’t I go to Zac Efron? Where do you get this nonsense? https://t.co/dxZJUMvtVs
ADAM WARLOCK JOINING THE MCU
Adam Warlock is a character that's been speculated to appear in the MCU for years now. Oddly, both Guardians of the Galaxy films contained different hints to how the cosmic hero would debut in the MCU.
The first installment showcased a cocoon in The Collector's collection that many believed to belong to Warlock. One of Adam's classic powers allows him to create a cocoon that restores him to health and has even been known to resurrect him from death.
During the post-credits scene of the sequel, Gunn included a more definitive set-up for the hero. The Golden High Priestess of the Sovereign Ayesha, having just lost numerous ships to a battle with the Guardians, introduces her creation which she names “Adam,” an obvious reference to Warlock.
Ayesha described Adam as “The next step in our evolution, more powerful, more beautiful, and capable of destroying the Guardians of the Galaxy.” This indicates that much like the comic version, Adam will be incredibly powerful in the MCU as the Sovereign likely sends him after the team.
While the character will likely initially be introduced as an antagonist, he will most likely join the team by the end of the film as he is traditionally a Guardian himself in many comic iterations of the team. However, it's unclear where the group of heroes will go next as the trilogy-completing film supposedly completes Gunn's plan for the characters.
The Guardians of the Galaxy will next appear alongside Chris Hemsworth's Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder, which will debut in theaters in March 2022.
