James Gunn may have recently spouted the old ‘never say never’ line when it comes to his involvement with the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise once Vol. 3 is released in the summer of 2023, but having previously shown no interest in sticking around, his time at the helm of the cosmic series is probably about to draw to a close.
At the very least, we can say with some degree of certainty that it marks the end of the road for Dave Bautista’s Drax, and with shooting set to kick off before the end of the year, we should find out who the new additions to the ensemble will be soon enough. Having been teased during one of Vol. 2‘s many post-credits sequences, Adam Warlock feels like a lock to join the series either as an antihero or a villain sponsored by Elizabeth Debicki’s Ayesha, with the actress more than happy to return as well.
Zac Efron has long been named as a frontrunner for the part, something Gunn and Seth Rogen shut down hilariously when rumors were making the rounds that the casting search was underway, and we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones who told us War Machine was getting his own Disney Plus show long before Armor Wars was announced – that Adam is set to be positioned as a major intergalactic villain for the entire franchise to deal with in the future.
Further details on what he’ll be getting up to remain unclear, but the cosmic side of the MCU is only set to keep expanding with the likes of Eternals, Secret Invasion, The Marvels, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Fantastic Four on the horizon, and infinite space needs some pretty serious obstacles for our intrepid band of heroes to overcome, with Adam Warlock certainly possessing the abilities to pose a major threat.
