Adam Warlock
Adam Warlock
Alter Ego: Adam Warlock
Notable Aliases: Warlock, Him, Golden Gladiator, Master of all Souls, Mr. Smith, Subject X-31, Jake Miller, Ultimate Avenger, God Slayer, Demon, Avenging Hand of Light, Avatar of Life, Adam Magus, Patient #6457987
Team Affiliations: Cosmic Avengers, Infinity Watch, Guardians of the Galaxy
First Appearance: Fantastic Four #66 (September, 1967) note ; Marvel Premiere #1 (April, 1972) note
Adam began life as "Him", an artificial lifeform intended by the cabal of Mad Scientists known as the Enclave to take over the world. Supremely powerful even before his actual birth, Adam turned against his creators and left to be his own man. An encounter with Thor ended with Him being reborn as Warlock, complete with crucifixion and resurrection! His task was to save an artificial parallel Earth (Counter-Earth) from a rebellious creation of its maker, The High Evolutionary.
Nevertheless, he never really took off until a new writer got his hands on him - Jim Starlin. It was under him that Adam became the philosopher-hero that he is best known to be today, as well as the Arch-Enemy of Thanos. Starlin also introduced the rest of his supporting cast including Pip the Troll (his best friend, a drunken space satyr) and Gamora, his love interest, Thanos' former personal assassin.
Adam's major storylines involve his Evil Future Self, The Magus, whom he eliminated from existence by killing himself in the future (both got better later) and the Infinity Gems, a collection of gemstones (said to be Pieces of God) that grant omnipotence if used all at the same time (Adam was given one, the Soul Gem, by the Evolutionary. He and his allies later took to guarding the rest, as a team known as The Infinity Watch.) Eventually, the Watch fell apart and they went their separate ways.
Adam would reappear in Annihilation: Conquest, having gone into seclusion following the events of Annihilation, resulting in a new set of powers for Adam. Adam would help found the modern version of the Guardians of the Galaxy, until during the War of Kings he was required to fix a Negative Space Wedgie by transforming himself into the Magus, effectively killing Adam. The Magus then got killed, and it was a few years before Adam was revived again.
Adam Warlock provides examples of the following tropes:
- A God Am I: Adam tends to have delusions of this from time to time, especially when he holds the Infinity Gauntlet.
- Amazing Technicolour Population: His skin is golden. It turns a pale purple when he becomes the Magus.
- Anti Anti Christ: He was created to help a team of scientists take over the world, but decided he didn't like the sound of that.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Adam, a genetically-engineered "quantum wizard" on a team with a talking tree-alien and a racoon, doesn't believe in werewolves. Which, it should be noted, do exist in the Marvel universe.
- Arch-Enemy: To Thanos, although with a dose of Friendly Enemy. Earlier in his career, he was one to the Universal Church of Truth, so you can imagine how awkward it was when it turned out their deity was a future version of Adam himself.
- Artificial Human: He was an experiment to create the perfect man, no natural birth for him.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: "Our" original Warlock, from Earth-616, was summarily replaced by the Warlock of a parallel and nearly identical universe, at the end of ''The Infinity Revelation'. What happened to the original Warlock is left ambiguous, but eventually this latest version of Warlock became the new Living Tribunal. Before doing so he brings the original Warlock back.
- Back from the Dead: Thanos revived him after the Magus was killed in The Thanos Imperative.
- Badass Longcoat: He often wears an impressive longcoat.
- Balance Between Good and Evil: Realized the hard way that this has to exist during Infinity War and Infinity Crusade, where his good and evil sides both went nuts without the other to rein the other in. Taking this lesson to heart, he chose Thanos to be his counter-balance; neither will allow the other to die, and Warlock makes a point of giving Thanos an Infinity Stone for as long as he has one.
- Came Back Strong: He often gets killed, but then he reincarnates within a cocoon and comes back with new powers.
- Creepy Good: Even without the Soul Gem making him a golden space vampire in-practice, Adam is still a rather eerie figure, not helped by the fact that he has a fondness for adorning his costumes with skull jewellery and blood-red fabrics.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Killing someone using the Soul Gem sends them into a paradisaical universe inside the Soul Gem. When Warlock himself is killed by the Soul Gem (he is killed by his past self) he finds that all his old enemies have now become his friends, since paradise made them Get Better.
- Deity of Human Origin: By the end of The Infinity Finale saga, Warlock has become the new Living Tribunal, the previous one having been killed by the Beyonders in the prelude to Secret Wars (2015). The catch is, this is the Warlock of an alternate universe who absorbed all of his universe's energies, cosmic abstracts included, then completely replaced "our" Earth-616 Warlock at the end of The Infinity Revelation. He brings the original back before he takes on his new role.
- The Dreaded: Warlock tends to inspire wariness among most people at the best of times, thanks to his raw power and well-earned reputation for manipulating people (The Infinity Gauntlet, for instance, was essentially a giant Xanatos Gambit to deprive Thanos of the titular artefact and claim it for himself, with a back-up Batman Gambit to deal with Thanos). The Magus, however, is a cosmic level nightmare, frightening both Thanos and Kang the Conqueror - and with very good reason.
- Enemy Without: In addition to The Magus, Adam also once accidentally spawned a female, 'good' version of himself, The Goddess, who was still a menace as she wanted to purify the universe... by destroying it.
- Evil Versus Evil: The forces of Order and Chaos tortured Adam into becoming the Magus so he could act as a Champion of Life brutal and powerful enough to overcome Thanos, the Champion of Death, as they believed his more heroic and noble self to be too soft-handed and weak for the task.
- Face–Heel Turn: Adam Warlock becomes the Magus in an alternate future and due to his actions containing the Fault in Guardians of the Galaxy, he becomes the Magus again.
- Friendly Enemy: His relationship with Thanos is...complicated.
- Fully Absorbed Finale: After Warlock's series was canceled, Starlin was invited to write and draw the Annuals for The Avengers and Marvel Two-in-One, where he wrapped up the storylines from Warlock and seemingly killed off most of his own characters.
- Future Me Scares Me: Adam Warlock was captured by his mad future self The Magus; after escaping, he soul-sucked a nearer-future self to make sure The Magus was definitely dead.
- He hates the thought of becoming the Magus again so much that he asked Peter to kill him when it was about to happen. Until it turned out he already was the Magus, and was just screwing with Peter's head.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: The original origin of the Magus.
- Goo-Goo-Godlike: As Him, Adam was so amazingly powerful no-one could look at him, as his power was beyond the Enclave's control. And this was before he was even properly born.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Usually, though he can be terse and blunt.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Against Thanos in Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2. He got better.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: His mysterious power and behavior, blunt mannerisms, and borderline friendship with Thanos makes it very difficult for other heroes to trust Adam. Having 2 villainous entities spawn from extensions of himself also did not help. After Infinity Crusade most of the heroes were actively hostile to him after he stopped the Goddess' plans.
- Immune to Fate: Other than his issue with the Magus, the entities Lord Order and Master Chaos declare that Adam Warlock is outside destiny. A side effect of this is he's impossible to scry.
- Interspecies Romance: With Gamora.
- Meaningful Name: The Evolutionary renamed him 'Adam' (for being the first of his kind) and 'Warlock' because "Men would fear his powers". note
- Messianic Archetype: Earned the fan nickname "Space Jesus". He didn't start out this way, but his third appearance had him stumble upon the High Evolutionary creating a new world, then saving it from being corrupted by one of the Evolutionary's fallen creations.
- One-Steve Limit: Don't confuse Warlock with the shapeshifting alien robot Warlock from the New Mutants. Or Adam Warlock's evil self, the Magus, with alien robot Warlock's evil father, the Magus.
- Pivotal Wake-up: When he awakens from the trace put upon him by the Soul Gem.
- Quantum Mechanics Can Do Anything: His magical abilities are vaguely described as based on quantum physics.
- Slasher Smile: This is The Magus's default expression, to the point of being near-permanent one. Adam starts wearing it when he begins to turn.
- The Smart Guy: The one who fixes the NegativeSpaceWedgies the Guardians encounter, and the most together male on the team. Yes, they're that dysfunctional.
- Soul Power: Held the Soul Stone for a good while, prolonged exposure left him with innate senses regarding it and the rest of the gems. Outside of that his soul itself is so powerful Death herself cannot claim it.
- Stable Time Loop: Broken by having Adam commit suicide so there would not be a Magus.
- Not that it seems to help as the Magus seems to always come back but that in itself maybe the Loop.
- The Stoic: Adam is not one of nature's warm and cuddly folk, which got even more pronounced when he split off his good and bad sides. That he momentarily acts astoundingly callous during War of Kings is a sign he's beginning to turn to the Magus.
- Superheroes in Space: He prefers to fight evil outside Earth.
- Superpowered Evil Side: Magus is Warlock's Mr. Hyde.
- Superpower Lottery: He's immortal, has cosmic and magical powers, a number of abilities that affect reality including being a reality anchor and hiding out from near-omniscient beings. Finally if he's still in trouble, he can cocoon and evolve further.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He quit the Guardians after learning Peter Quill had had Mantis futz with everyone's minds a little so they'd join up quicker. He only returns because the events of War of Kings because the situation requires it, and is still hostile towards Peter when not in front of the others.
- Tyke-Bomb: Gamora was raised from childhood by Thanos to kill the Magus. She eventually falls in love with Adam.
- Ultimate Life Form: Adam's intended purpose, along with 'Her', was to be this.
- Unexplained Recovery: Adam, Thanos, Gamora, and Pip - Death Is Cheap when you own the Soul Gem.
- Unwanted False Faith: The Church of Universal Truth consider him their god. He really hates this.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Warlock spent about half of Starlin's run on his title back in the 70s as this. Warlock killed his future self using his Soul Gem, so he knew it was only a matter of time before he met up with himself, which he did in the title's final issue.
Allies
Gamora
The last of the Zen-Whoberis race, Gamora is the adoptive child of Thanos, raised to defeat The Magus. It was during this time in her life that Gamora became known as "the deadliest woman in the whole galaxy", and exacted revenge on The Church of Universal Truth, who'd been responsible for the genocide of her people.
After working with Adam Warlock to stop his older version, Gamora realized the true evil of her adoptive father's ways, and teamed up with Captain Marvel, Warlock, and future Guardian Drax the Destroyer to take him down. When Thanos mortally wounds Gamora and her allies in battle, Warlock absorbed their souls into his Soul Gem, where they existed in a realm called Soulworld.
Gamora and her friends lived there in peace together for some time —until the events of The Infinity Gauntlet— in which Thanos finally completed his quest to form the titular object, using it to remove Gamora from existence. After Nebula restored her into being with the Gauntlet, Warlock soon gained its possession, starting to go mad with power because of it. For this reason, the Living Tribunal decided that each of the Infinity Gems must be spread among Gamora and some others, ultimately calling them the Infinity Watch. Gamora was given keep of the Time Gem — she couldn't consciously use the thing, but it did give her sporadic precognitive dreams and visions.
When Gamora left the Infinity Watch, she returned to being a mercenary. Her quasi-romantic relationship with Adam Warlock then became official, and they ran off together to a pocket dimension.
Gamora wouldn't return to prominence for many years after that, until Annihilation. Now possessing a sword called The Godslayer, Gamora had since left Warlock to be on her own, leading a group of female warriors called The Graces. She'd also entered a relationship with Richard Rider, better known as Nova at the time.
Soon afterward, Gamora becomes a member of the new Guardians of the Galaxy, working with characters like Drax the Destroyer and Star-Lord.
Gamora emerged as a major player of the Black Vortex story — a crossover with the X-Men— where she let herself submit to the titular artifact, gaining cosmically-enhanced powers in the process; she was one of the few who didn't relinquish their new powers at the story's end, though the powers soon wore off anyway.
Shortly before the incursion between Earth-616 and Earth-1610, Gamora left the Guardians when her cosmic abilities sensed impending doom. During Secret Wars, she starred in the limited series Guardians of Knowhere, in which Gamora served as a watcher of Knowhere, otherwise known as Battleworld's moon.
In the 2018 Crisis Crossover Infinity Wars she takes the codename Requiem and starts the series off by killing Thanos.
Counter-Earth
Enemies
- Big Bad: The main villain of the Counter-Earth saga.
- Brought Down to Normal: Warlock defeats him by using the Soul Gem to revert him back into a regular wolf.
- The Corrupter: He planned to turn Counter-Earth into a Crapsack World, as the High Evolutionary created it to be the perfect counterpart of Earth where humanity lived without wars and dictators. He halfway succeeded via corruption and politics before Warlock stopped him.
- Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Man-Beast was introduced as an enemy of the Mighty Thor before becoming Adam Warlock's antagonist.
- Satanic Archetype: Played the role of the Satan to Warlock's Jesus and the High Evolutionary's God on Counter-Earth, being the rebellious son of a powerful creator, wanting to bring ruin to the world created by his father figure out of spite and malice.
- Savage Wolves: He's an evil anthropomorphic wolf with psychic powers.
Alter Ego: Herbert Edgar Wyndham
Notable Aliases: Dr. Wyndham, God, HE, Lord High Evolutionary, Worldbuilder
First Appearance: Thor #134 (November, 1966)
Notable Aliases: The Madness Monster, Adam Magus
Originally an evil version of Adam from an alternate future, driven insane by a plot of Thanos', the Magus travelled back in time and founded the Universal Church of Truth. Via a convoluted scheme, Adam eventually managed to prevent the Magus from coming into existence for a time... until during the War of Kings, when he became the Magus to try and seal the Fault.
- Always Second Best: In Guardians of the Galaxy (2008), he's shown to be far beyond the power the team has, effortlessly curb-stomping their strongest. The Thanos Imperative begins with him being effortlessly disintegrated by his boss in one shot.
- Creepy Child: In the Annihilators: Earthfall mini, this is the form Magus is revived as. He possesses the bodies of other children to prevent the Avengers from attacking him.
- Death Is Cheap: Died in 2010, resurrected in Annihilators: Earthbound. Killed again in Infinity Countdown, but he was resurrected at the end of Infinity Wars.
- Depending on the Artist: Early on, Magus tended to be drawn as pretty buff. Since 2008, he's been somewhat scrawnier.
- The Dreaded: Adam being scared of this guy is understandable. But Thanos is scared of him too.
- Future Me Scares Me: On account of being evil and much stronger. Adam did everything he could to stop the Magus ever coming back.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: His original origin; Thanos dosed Adam with radiation that drew in Master Order and Lord Chaos, who whispered cosmic truths at him incessantly, until it drove him insane.
- Literal Split Personality: Since Adam's resurrection in 2018, he and the Magus have been separate.
- Practically Joker: As written by Abnett and Lanning, the Magus is a psychotically evil lunatic associated with purple, and a nasty sense of humor.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Initially decked out in a purple-silver outfit, but since 2008 the Magus has gone for wearing Adam's outfit from Annihilation: Conquest, which is red and black.
- Villain Respect: Begrudgingly gives the Guardians some dues, in that they spooked him.
- White Hair, Black Heart: His hair's turned purple-white, and he's totally evil and insane.
- The Worf Effect: Infinity Countdown has him effortlessly killed by a sneak attack from behind by Ultron.
A religion formed by the Magus in the past, the Universal Church of Truth believe in life itself, and believe everyone must be a member. Whether they want to be or not.
- Belief Makes You Stupid: The lower acolytes can be really stupid in their blind devotion, and will rush headlong to the nearest horrible beastie to worship it, even as it's biting their heads off.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Their troops and ships are fueled by their sheer faith in life itself.
- Elite Mooks: The Black Knights, who have the reputation of being able to take a planet in mere hours.
- Join or Die: Operational credo. With their armies, they're more than willing and able to back up the "or" part.
- Path of Inspiration: Have you heard the truth of life? No? Well, they'll be happy to show you.
- Religion of Evil: Sort of. The low level acolytes are just dupes. The higher-ups and their founder are trying to summon the Many-Angled Ones into reality, which is bad news for everyone.
- Stop Worshipping Me: Adam hates that they worship him, since it reminds him of the Magus.
