How Old Is Adam Warlock? (Comics & MCU)

Adam Warlock is one of the most prominent, powerful characters in Marvel Comics. And finally, in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’, he was introduced into the MCU. His creation is quite unique both in the comics and MCU, which makes it kind of hard to determine how old he is. So, just how old is Adam Warlock?

Physically, Adam Warlock is a grown man, both in the MCU and the comics – somewhere around 30 years old. However, he wasn’t born but rather artificially created and gestated in a cocoon. Hence, he is literally born a grown man, making his age quite hard to determine at points.

However, we can take all the information we have to provide some answers. For instance, how long did Adam spend in his cocoon? When did the character first appear? How long was he within the Soul Gem? And how old is the actor portraying Adam in the MCU? It’s time to find out all the answers about Adam Warlock’s age, both in the comics and the MCU.

How old is Adam Warlock in the comics?

As I’ve mentioned before, Adam Warlock wasn’t born but rather created as an experiment, eventually becoming an incredibly powerful cosmic being. The fact that he was created and ‘born’ as a grown man makes it quite difficult to determine his age in the comics, but we’ll try to do so, nevertheless.

Adam Warlock first appeared as Him in ‘Fantastic Four #66’ in 1967. Considering the character’s creation date as his age would make the character 56 years old. As for his age within the comic book storylines, that’s a harder question to answer. Let’s start from the beginning.

Him was created by the Enclave – a group of four brilliant scientists that experimented on creating the perfect human specimen – superhumanly strong, intelligent, fast – perfect in every way. Him was created out of artificial organic matter, and his creators intended to create a whole army of perfect humans to conquer the universe.

However, they miscalculated the strength of the body and the mind of Him. As soon as he got out of his cocoon, Him sensed the malevolent intentions behind his creators, so he attacked them and destroyed their lab base, known as the Beehive. 

He then propelled himself into space, where he again gestated in his cocoon. Every time that Adam Warlock is on the brink of death – or enters his cocoon state for any reason – he comes out as an even more advanced being.

After one of those cocoon states, the High Evolutionary found Him and named the being Warlock (later becoming Adam Warlock on Counter-Earth). He perfected Adam in some ways by implanting the Soul Gem into his forehead, which caused an odd but strong symbiotic relationship between Warlock and the gem.

Fast forward in the comics – there was a period of about a decade where Adam Warlock was imprisoned within the realm of the Soul Gem, and he got out being about the same physical age. He died numerous times and returned, most times by gestating and recovering in his cocoon state.

My point in telling you all this is that it’s basically impossible to determine his age. Adam Warlock doesn’t age like a normal human being – or any being, for that matter – as he is an artificially created cosmic entity. 

His numerous deaths and ‘rebirths’ can be viewed as ‘restarting’ his life while maintaining his knowledge and experience and improving in various aspects of his being. We know that he has lived for decades since the Enclave created him and died a handful of times along the way, but he always remains physically about the same age.

And that age should be around the peak-performance human age, as Adam was created as the ‘perfect human specimen.’ The age where a human being is physically and mentally at its peak, on average, is around the age of 30. Hence, Adam Warlock is physically around thirty years old, and he doesn’t seem to age – at least not in the traditional human sense.

How old is Adam Warlock in the MCU?

It’s a bit easier to answer Adam Warlock’s age in the MCU, as we know exactly when he was created and ‘born’ – or gestated in a cocoon, if you will. His origin is quite different than his comic book counterpart, but the gist of the character remains the same.

The first time we saw Adam Warlock appear was at the end of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.’ Well, we didn’t actually see Adam, but rather his cocoon in which he was gestating or being born. That happened in 2014-2015 in the MCU’s timeline.

Disregarding the 5-year snap, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ takes place somewhere in 2025-2026, meaning that Adam Warlock has been gestating in his cocoon as the perfect specimen of the Sovereign for around 10-12 years. And, we learn that he actually still wasn’t ready to be ‘born’ – or taken out of his cocoon.

The High Evolutionary – the main antagonist of the film and the creator of the Sovereign race – took him out of his cocoon way too early, as the Sovereign leader (and Adam’s mother) says in the movie. That caused Adam Warlock to remain a child mentally while having the physical body of a grown man.

Whatever the case may be, we have all the information needed to determine his age. If you consider the time in gestation as Adam’s life cycle, he’s between 10-12 years old by ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,’ where he first appears as a character. 

If you consider Adam’s age to count only from the moment he was taken out of gestation, he is no more than a few months old by the end of’ GotG 3.’ However, mentally, he’s like a pre-teen kid, and physically – well, he’s physically as old as the actor portraying him.

How old is Will Poulter?

Will Poulter is a talented young English actor who portrayed Adam Warlock in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.’ You might know Poulter from other awesome projects and roles, such as the ‘Chronicles of Narnia,’ ‘The Maze Runner,’ ‘We’re the Millers,’ etc.

I guess Poulter was the perfect choice to play Adam Warlock, as he is in that prime age of life that we discussed earlier. Will was born on January 28, 1993, making him 30 years old as of right now. The filming of ‘GotG 3’ took place from late 2021 to mid-2022, so he was 28-29 years old.

Ergo, we have the most precise answer about Adam Warlock’s age – at least physically – in the MCU. He is 28-29 years old in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Will Adam Warlock appear in the MCU again?

The ending of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ (SPOILER ALERT) had Adam Warlock become a hero and a rightful member of the new Guardians of the Galaxy team, consisting of Rocket, Groot, Kraglin, Adam, and Phyla-Vell, one of the kids rescued from High Evolutionary’s spaceship lab.

The movie was billed as the last ride for the Guardians, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see this new team reemerge. There’s a lot of Adam Warlock left to explore, as in the comics, he just got better, more experienced, more intelligent, and more powerful with time.

Still, there’s no official word about the character returning in any of the upcoming projects, and even the actor himself is unsure if and when Adam will return. Speaking to Screen Rant in an exclusive interview alongside Chukwudi Iwuji (High Evolutionary), Poulter revealed:

“I don’t know where he’s [Adam] headed. And if I did, I would tell you, honestly. But I don’t. I’m very honored that he’s a beloved character and that fans have been excited to see him. I’ve just been wanting to try and do justice to what James wrote. I’m excited to try and hopefully take him on and explore his evolution, but I don’t know exactly how that will look.”

I’d be super happy to see him in any of the upcoming projects, as Adam Warlock is a signature character in Marvel Comics and a powerhouse that could lead the new generation of superheroes in the MCU. I guess only time will give us the answers we’re looking for.

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