Adam Warlock's appearance in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 trailer is the most-watched moment, showing that the hype is strong for the character.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 trailer's most-watched moment is Adam Warlock's appearance. The upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film is set to conclude the popular Marvel Cinematic Universe trilogy helmed by James Gunn. Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, and Karen Gillan, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is set to introduce the extremely powerful comic character Adam Warlock, played by Will Poulter, into the franchise. Poulter's casting was announced in October 2021, and fans of the franchise have been eager for more news about the character's live-action debut ever since.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has been the topic of much speculation following its full-length trailer release, which revealed several key elements of the upcoming film such as hints of Rocket (Cooper)'s backstory, an updated look at the older Groot (Diesel), and a much-discussed glimpse of Poulter as Adam Warlock. Several days since Marvel released the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 trailer, YouTube's in-player metrics show that Warlock's appearance in the video is the most-watched moment. Specifically, the viewership within the video peaks initially at the first second and then sports its highest numbers at minute 1:26, which features in quick succession an appearance from a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 monster called an Abilisk, the shot of Warlock, and then a snippet of Nebula (Gillan) appearing to take a punch from Warlock. See the trailer below.
Warlock's MCU debut has been highly anticipated for years now, and the trailer metrics prove that viewers were eager for a glimpse of the character's debut. The Golden Gladiator's appearance in the MCU was teased as early as 2013 film Thor: The Dark World with a potential shot of the character's golden cocoon, though Gunn later clarified that the scene wasn't depicting Warlock specifically but a member of his species. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 saw a much more direct tease of the character's appearance, with a mid-credits sequence showcasing Warlock's Birth Pod and seeing Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), the Golden High Priestess of the Sovereign, name the creation Adam.
Ayesha's description of Warlock's power, intelligence, and abilities in the mid-credits scene paints him as a worthy adversary to the Guardians of the Galaxy, which Ayesha describe as the reason he was made. Warlock was created with the goal of achieving a perfect being in the comics as well, though his comics counterpart is a hero and became a member of the Guardians team. That detail means that Warlock could be facing a similar trajectory to Nebula in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, starting out as a villain and adversary to the team before eventually joining their family.