Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 star Will Poulter may have a new movie coming out imminently, but his recent interviews have all touched on his upcoming Marvel introduction as Adam Warlock. Having been teased in the second Guardians movie, Adam Warlock’s arrival in the MCU has been highly anticipated by many for the last five years. However, when it comes to auditioning for the role, Poulter recently revealed that he didn’t even know what role he was going to audition for at the time.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is being pitched as the end of an era for the cosmic team of superheroes, with James Gunn set to leave Marvel’s shores following the completion of the film and several cast members said to be making their last appearances in the movie as well. With some departures on the cards, Adam Warlock’s introduction is the latest in a long line of new faces to join the MCU in Phase 4, which was pitched by Kevin Feige as being all about new beginnings. For Will Poulter, that new beginning started with him being in the dark about his character when he first auditioned. He told The Playlist:
"I first auditioned in June of last year [2021], and that was the first time I auditioned, and then I kind of got the role in September, I think. And then started shooting in December…I didn’t know what character, initially, I was auditioning for. I kind of knew sort of closer to the time [of casting] who I was reading for. Although I wasn’t familiar with Adam Warlock beforehand, I was very familiar with Guardians of the Galaxy, and it was kind of my favorite ‘planet’ within the Marvel universe, if you like."
Marvel Studios Keeps Its Actors in the Dark to Prevent Spoilers Being Leaked
Over the last decade and beyond, Marvel Studios have become the epitome of secrecy and lies when it comes to both marketing their movies and, it seems, casting their new actors in highly anticipated roles. Will Poulter’s almost blind audition for the role of Adam Warlock was one that seems to have been pitched to him as simply being a part of James’ Gunn’s final MCU movie. Recently, actors working on Spider-Man: No Way Home and Moon Knight have spoken about Marvel purposely keeping them in the dark about plot specifics and often never delivering a full script to ensure that lips remain sealed.
Similar to Poulter’s experience, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness newcomer Xochitl Gomez spoke about not being explicitly told which character or movie she was auditioning for when first trying out for the role of America Chavez. The actress did, however, say in her case, a mention of a sorcerer in her script helped her work out whose movie she could be in. With so many new actors continuing to board the Marvel train, it is a case of doing small things to try and keep some of the mysteries of the future alive and out of the public domain for as long as possible. In the main, it seems to be working.