Jim Starlin Says Live-Action Adam Warlock Needs to Be "Cosmic Batman"

11/09/2021 07:29 pm EST

Adam Warlock is finally coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After being teased in a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 post-credits scene back in 2017, the all-powerful cosmic entity will be making his live-action debut in 2023's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, with Maze Runner star Will Poulter filling the role. There's no telling how Guardians writer and director James Gunn will depict this iteration of Warlock, given that we've seen several versions throughout the comics, but the character's original creator has some thoughts on how he should be brought to life.

Jim Starlin created Adam Warlock, Thanos, and a horde of other beloved Marvel characters over the years. Wile speaking with ComicBook.com's Adam Barnhardt, Starlin talked a bit about his initial vision for the Warlock character, describing him as a "cosmic Batman" type.

"I imagine him dark. He's like the cosmic Batman," Starlin explained. "I would keep his dialogue down to a minimum, make him Clint Eastwood in space, or something like that. The Silver Surfer was done over at Fox, whole different sensibility. I mean, look at Galactus, what they did with Galactus. That's one character I'm hoping to see get remade again to more what he was supposed to be. It's good to depend on the story. It always depends on the story, how you present him, what he's going to be doing, where he's going. It's all going to come down to what the story is that they want to tell, and he will be adapted toward that. It sounds like they're going to start off with him probably as a villainous type of character, an antagonist, let's say, inside the Guardians movie. But we'll see where they go from there. They're putting Pip up, bringing Eros in, who knows what they're going to do. They might bring back the Infinity gems and start the Infinity Watch."

Like Starlin explained, early iterations of Warlock depicted the character as the strong and silent type. His dialogue was minimal, which kept a lot of the mystery surrounding him alive and allowed his actions to speak the loudest. Given the power that Warlock contains, that could absolutely be the case when he arrives in the MCU.

The bigger question surrounds Warlock's role in the franchise. Based on the Guardians 2 post-credits scene, Warlock might be an antagonist in Guardians 3, but that will likely change as his time in the MCU continues.

Are you looking forward to Adam Warlock's MCU debut? Let us know in the comments!

Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.