Marvel had so many ideas for post-credits scenes in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 that the sequel had five scenes to keep you going through the credits. While most of these were jokes (Teenage Groot is amazing), one of them more overtly teased things to come, with Adam Warlock finally making his entrance into the MCU. What wasn't clear though, is what exactly is being set up. Is this for Avengers: Infinity War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 or something else? Thankfully, Kevin Feige is around to clear things up and he says that Adam Warlock is only Guardians-bound for now.
Not to tease anything in regard to Infinity War. Mainly to plant a flag for his involvement in future Guardians stories. Adam Warlock is a character that we all love very much. James [Gunn] in particular has come very close, as I think he's revealed recently, to including him in Vol 2, but when it was decided that that was one character too many, and the movie coalesced into the awesome form it is now he wanted to seed that appearance in future Guardians movies in the tag.
In a post-credits scene, Ayesha, the leader of the gold-skinned Sovereign, has just suffered some embarrassing losses to the Guardians. Not one to just let things slide, Ayesha reveals that she is artificially creating the perfect member of their race, their evolutionary superior who will be responsible for destroying the Guardians. This being, resting in a mechanical chamber (vaguely resembling a cocoon), will be named "Adam." Obviously, this means Adam Warlock, a big Marvel cosmic character with ties to Thanos within Marvel Comics. With Infinity War coming up, it's easy to think that this means Adam will show up in the big crossover, but Kevin Feige clarified to Collider that Adam will not be featured in that movie and that this tease is for future Guardians storylines.
Avengers: Infinity War is already an extremely crowded movie, so there isn't any space to also introduce Adam Warlock, even though the character plays a big part in Infinity Gauntlet, the comic inspiration for Infinity War. However, Adam also has ties to the Guardians, having served on the team as a member in the past. The character has always been right on the fringe of the Guardians movies but never making the cut. The character supposedly featured quite prominently in the early drafts for Vol. 2 but James Gunn cut him because he felt that there were too many characters and he couldn't do Adam justice.
Sounds like Adam Warlock will finally get this chance in the spotlight in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 -- assuming that's the movie he's making his debut. That one makes the most sense seeing as how he's created for the sole purpose of destroying the Guardians, which will be a drastically different lineup afterward. Then the future is wide open for Adam Warlock in any future movies!
You can see the first tease of Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which is in theaters right now.
