History: Warlock is an artificial being, created by researchers at a complex known as the "Beehive". The goal of the researchers there was to create the perfect human being, the pinnacle of future human evolution. Fortunately for the deziens of Earth, the new being was a creature beyond the control of his creators. The creature emerged, known only as "Him", and immediately sensed that his creators sought to use him for evil ends. He lashed out, damaging the complex and injuring his "fathers", and promptly escaped. Unfortunately, "Him" was a being with no life experience due to his unique conception. He promptly encountered Thor, and attempted the abduction of the Lady Sif in order to mate with her (an act that would be repeated in a more benign but no less infuriating fashion by his gene-sister "Her", now known as Kismet.). Thor naturally took offense to this kidnapping, and promptly beat the young Godling near to death. Warlock promptly retreated to the safety of a regenerative cocoon and thus was later reborn.

Upon his rebirth, Him was renamed as Adam Warlock by the High Evolutionary, who became a guiding force in the life of the reborn Godling. The High Evolutionary gave Warlock purpose, direction, and one more thing...the vampiric Soul Gem. Soon afterwards, Warlock journeyed to the planet called Counter-Earth, an experiment of the High-Evolutionary's that had recently gone awry. Counter-Earth had been an attempt to create a utopian society, and it had been so until it's recent contamination by the evil Man-Beast. Warlock battled the cunning creature to no avail, until he formed a somewhat unusual and narcissistic plan. Warlock set out to become the one, true God of Counter Earth. To do this he crucified himself and died, only to rise from his ressurrection cocoon 3 days later. His rash gamble worked, and Counter-Earth was saved (years later, the planet would fall to the influence of another.). Soon afterwards, Warlock would come into contact with a malicious being known as the Magus. Warlock soon found out to his horror that the Magus was in fact a twisted future incarnation of himself, totally insane and horribly powerful. As the head of the Universal Church of Truth, the Magus had ground billions of lifeforms across the cosmos under his heel. Warlock battled him, but could not succeed on his own for his future self posessed vast might. Eventually, with the help of Pip the Troll, Gamora, and the nefarious Thanos of Titan, Warlock succeeded in eliminating the Timeline from which the Magus sprang, thus cancelling his existance retroactively throughout time. Then, in a brilliant, yet disturbing counter-move, Thanos projected Warlock 2 years into the future where he encountered his dying self, embittered, preparing to give birth anew to the Magus. Warlock then took the soul of his dying future self into the Soul Gem, thus ending the threat of his evil counterpart.

However, as forseen, Warlock would meet his end two years later. Thanos planned to snuff out the stars themselves, and his ward, Gamora, found out about his plan. She attacked him and was struck down brutally. Warlock found her soon afterwards and took her soul into his Gem, learning the full extent of Thanos' plan in the process. Distraught and enraged, Warlock sought out allies to assist him in his gambit against the Mad Titan. He journeyed to earth, and to the mansion HQ of the mighty Avengers. There he told them, and the recently arrived Captain Marvel and Moondragon of Thanos' plan to blow all the stars from the heavens. The Avengers then made immediate plans to attack Thanos' starship, the Sanctuary II. However, as he had in an earlier scheme to gain ultimate power, Thanos would sow the seeds of his own Destruction. Thanos purposely enraged Adam Warlock, by wiping the mind of Adam's companion Pip, and leaving him to be found. When Warlock found Pip's mindless form, he drew his friend's spirit into his Soul Gem. But before Thanos had attacked Pip, he told him of his plan. And when Warlock drew Pip's soul into the Gem, he learned of the plan. Warlock and Captain Marvel immediately attacked Thanos, destoying his projector. Mar-Vell was rendered unconcious, but Warlock savagely attacked Thanos, who promptly struck him down. Before Thanos could move his Star-Gem into another Projector, he was attacked by Thor and Iron Man, who followed behind Warlock and Mar-Vell. Thor attacked Thanos, while Iron Man shattered the Star-Gem. A few minutes later, Mar-Vell bore silent witness as the time-displaced past version of Warlock ended the suffering of his present self, drawing his restless spirit into the Soul gem where he at last found a measure of peace. Soon after, Thanos teleported away with Warlock's body, and led his crew to defeat the Avengers. With Warlock's gem he possessed enough Power to at least destroy the Earth's Sun. But before he could do so, a wild card was introduced in the form of Ben Grimm (The Thing) and Spider Man, who was compelled to find the battleground by Lord Chaos and Master Order. Spider Man freed the Avengers and in the melee' that followed shattered the sphere holding the Soul Gem. Inside the gem, Warlock sensed that he had one final task to perform. The gem hit the floor and in a flash of light the Soul of Adam Warlock appeared from within the gem. Now a being of pure energy, Warlock lunged for the panicked Thanos, and killed him, turning the Titan's body into solid Granite. Afterwards, the spirit of Warlock retreated back into the blissful world inside the gem itself.

Warlock would live peacefully for several years in Soul World, with Pip and Gamora, until Thanos again became a threat to all who lived. Encountering Drax the Destroyer and the noble Silver Surfer after Thanos abducted their souls, Warlock made plans to thwart the Titan once more. Warlock projected the Souls of himself, Pip, and Gamora into three recently deceased humans. His powers reshaped their shattered bodies into new, more powerful versions of their old bodies. Then he went about gathering Earth's remaining Champions to attack Thanos on his space platform. However, the attack by Earth's heroes was a distraction designed to allow the Silver Surfer to snatch the allmighty Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos' grasp. He failed. After ascending to the crux of all reality after defeating the Universe's mightiest cosmic beings, Thanos lost his divinity due to the machinations of his "granddaughter" Nebula. Thanos was then talked into assisting Warlock in Nebula's defeat, whereupon Warlock himself gained the Gauntlet and ascended to Godhood. Warlock was soon afterwards convinced by the Living Tribunal that he was unworthy to become supreme, and then divided the gems amongst Himself (Soul), Gamora (Time), Pip (Space), Drax (Power), Moondragon (Mind), and secretly Thanos (reality). The newly formed Infinity Watch defended the Gems against the machinations of those who would misuse them. This included the reborn threat of the Magus (this version however, was merely Warlock's expelled evil nature, and was thus just a shade of Warlock himself.), Warlock's "good" side, the Goddess, and the evil extradimensional Count Abyss. (For more on these adventures, please read the Infinity Watch entry.)

However, a threat arrived from a different Universe. A threat called Rune, a vampiric Dark God who managed to steal all of the gems from their guardians. Before Rune could become fully aquainted with his newfound might, the heroic Silver Surfer attacked him, spurred on by the Living Tribunal. The Surfer shattered Rune's right hand, scattering all of the gems (save for the Soul Gem, which had alighted on Rune's forehead.) and causing them to be lost into the other Universe beyond. The Infinity Watch then fell apart, having no gems to protect. Afterwards Warlock promptly left, searching the Ultraverse for his Soul Gem, despite its' betrayal. During his long search, Warlock was pulled into a gateway between our Universe, and the neighboring Ultraverse. He awoke...projected into the distant past, to discover a gathering of worshippers hailing him as their Messiah. In the weeks that followed he discovered that he was upon a vast construct called the Godwheel, and in the presence of Warrior Priests of the Dilhaabi race who needed a savior to help them defeat a Dark God. This Dark God turned out to be the evil Rune himself. Soon, the hordes of Rune attacked, killing scores of the Warrior Priests, and turning the battle into a massacre. Rune and Warlock met on the field of battle and fought long into the night. Finally, Warlock fatigued, and Rune plunged his blade through Warlock's chest, wounding him mortally. As Warlock lay dying, Rune attempted to drain his soul, but failed due to Warlock's supreme astral control. Rune howled his frustration into the night, as Warlock died, and was promptly surrounded by his regenerative coccoon. He awoke...centuries later into the present of the Ultraverse, with newfound abilities that made up for the loss of his Soul Gem. After a few adventures in the Ultraverse (including an encounter with the dual-natured being called Gemini), Warlock soon found a gateway back into our Universe.

Eventually he found Soul Gem once more, but its effects on his personality became unpredictable, possibly because of their long separation. A short time later, Drax the Destroyer was accused of the murder of Elysius and several other individuals. Warlock, along with Gamora, Pip, and Genis, tracked Drax down and subdued him in time to find that the real culprit was the re-animated corpse of the original Captain Marvel. Using his Soul Gem, Warlock traced the being controlling the corpse...a creature within the Negative Zone known as Syphon who was using the Nega-Bands as a conduit. Felled by a backlash of psychic energy, Warlock was unable to stop the transfer of the Nega-Bands to the unconcious Drax, who flew off into space. Warlock then gathered his allies and pursued Drax, finding that Syphon was using Drax and the bands to rip a portal into the Negative Zone, a portal which threatened the structure of our Universe. Summoning all of his strength, Warlock yanked Drax free and removed the Nega-Bands, causing the portal to shrink. But, before the portal could completely close, Syphon yanked Warlock into the negative zone, and in front of the audience of Blastarr and Annihilus, Syphon took Warlocks gem, and used it to re-open the portal. Warlock recovered, and fought back, but without his Soul Gem he had little chance of subduing both Blastarr and Annihilus before Syphon was successful. Fortunately, Drax arrived with Pip, Gamora, and Genis (who was once more possessor of the Nega-Bands) in tow. As his friends fought on, Warlock went on to damage Syphon's conqueror wheel, thus closing the portal once more. Syphon attempted to use the Soul Gem to kill Warlock, but found his attack turned upon his own soul. He fought back long enough to flee his own body. Warlock again clamed the Soul Gem, feeling that it was his burden and his alone. That done, Warlock and his companions left the Negative Zone and returned to our Universe where they evidently parted ways once more.

Some time later, Warlock's cosmic senses led him to believe that something was seriously amiss with the universe that was causing reality to collapse, and this belief compelled him to visit Eternity and Infinity in order to fully discern what was happening. Once there, he found them unable to answer his questions in a satisfactory manner, and he instead managed to convince them to open a portal beyond time and space, through which he traveled in search of answers. He found them in the form of Atlez, a being who was charged with the awesome responsibility of "anchoring" our reality. Atlez went on to tell Warlock that his time was coming to an end, and that his successor, a young child named Atleza Langunn, must be summoned to take his place. Warlock accepted this all-important mission, but was instead driven insane by the transfer of the information that Atleza would need to assume her duties. Lost to madness, Warlock drifted back to our actuality and finished up at the Corporation for Mental Stability on the planet Degaitor. His mind shattered, Warlock retreated into a protective cocoon, where he would remain for 2 more years.

With Warlock in need of time to recover, Atlez activated a backup plan that would take 2 years to unfold. First, he planted a single phrase inside the minds of Thanos' dormant Thanosi clones that read "Adam Warlock is the key to Oblivion". Then, he directed a meteorite strike on Thanos' stronghold, designed to awaken the clone called Armor. Unfortunately, this move activated 4 more members of the Thanosi, and the plan began to derail. Nonetheless, the implanted message proved convincing, and the clone called X assumed the guise of the true Thanos, sending Pip the Troll to collect Warlock's cocoon. X then summoned Moondragon, who managed to awaken the dormant Warlock, who quickly finds that he cannot remember the events that led to his insanity. Pip helped Warlock retrace his steps, and soon Warlock returned to the pavilion of Atlez where he found missing pieces of his memory. He again accepted his now-dire mission, and managed to retain his sanity. But before Warlock could depart, he was suddenly attacked by the Thanosi known as Warrior and Mystic. Warlock's cause seemed doomed until the intervention of Doctor Strange, who quickly dispatched Mystic before being knocked unconcious by Warrior. The battered Warlock was left with no choice but to use the full-power of the Soul Gem to drain Warrior's soul, a move that would taint Warlock's mindset for a time, and make his mission that much harder.

Despite this newfound difficulty, Warlock managed to return to Earth and deliver the knowledge Atleza would need in order to take over for her predecessor. He then went on to aid Thanos in the battle against Omega, the mightiest of the Thanosi. While Moondragon used her powers to keep Atlez alive a little longer, Warlock fought the Omega alongside Gamora, Pip, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and Thanos himself, and the group eventually triumphed and ended the threat of the Thanosi. That done, Atleza assumed the mantle of the Reality Anchor, while Warlock and Gamora remained with her as protectors while she grew into the full measure of her abilities. Changed by his recent experiences, Warlock finally reciprocated the affection that Gamora had wished to show him for so long, and found that the keys to his happiness weren't as complex and elusive as he once feared.

Some time later, Thanos used the power of the "Heart of the Universe" to once again become all-powerful. Unfortunately, the Titan was duped into destroying the entire cosmos after finding that there was something terribly wrong with the fabric of reality, and Warlock emerged from Atleza's pavilion in order to discover what had transpired. In the void beyond, Warlock found a morose and humbled Thanos. Warlock went on to convince Thanos that the Titan had a grand purpose and that he and only he could restore the cosmos and finally repair the imbalance that had threatened it, but that the cost would seemingly be Thanos' own life. Thanos accepted this, and mused briefly over the irony that in the end, what he had done best was be a healer. The universe was subsequently restored to its proper state, and Warlock soon sensed that Thanos was not gone after all.

Driven by an irresistable urge, Warlock traveled through space until he found Thanos locked in contemplation on the now-dead world called Rigel-3, and soon found that the Titan was feeling remorse over his part in what had happened to the planet, as well as many of his past misdeeds. Thanos went on to express a desire to start putting things right so that he could conquer his personal demons and find a measure of peace, and wished to start this journey with the Rigellians themselves. Warlock offered to accompany Thanos on his journey to New Rigel-3, and Thanos accepted, referring to Warlock as his "conscience". Once there, Warlock was soon shocked into near-disbelief when Thanos promptly surrendered to the Rigellian troops, and offered his services to their people. Warlock went on to become something of an advocate for Thanos, but nonetheless warned the Rigellian High-Commissioner of the Titan's unpredictable nature. Warlock and Thanos soon found themselves in the midst of some political intrigue as the General in command of the Rigellian forces attempted a military coup. Warlock and Thanos soon disabused the them of this notion, and Thanos went on to help the Rigellians by improving their security safeguards, their planetary defenses, and even the quality of their Beta-Soy crops. The Grand Commissioner went on to tell the pair of a far greater peril that now endangered Rigel-18, and Thanos soon found out that the planet was threatened by none other than Galactus. Thanos stood by his pledge to aid the Rigellians, and decided to find out what the world-devourer's motives were.

Thanos soon found that Galactus was gathering the all-powerful Infinity Gems in a plot to feed off their power and end his hunger, a move which made little sense considering that the assembled gems could be used to simply will his hunger away. This development made Thanos uneasy, and he feared that Galactus was actually being duped by some unknown agent. His findings were interrrupted when his ship was invaded by Galactus' cyborg Punishers, who made off with Warlock's Soul Gem and destroyed Thanos' starship in the process. Undaunted, Thanos went on to directly confront the world-devouer himself, but was unsuccessful in stopping Galactus from activating the Focusing Crux containing the gems. With the Crux in operation the orchestrator of these events, an inter-dimensional parasite called Hunger, gained egress into our reality, which it intended to consume. With the aid of Galactus and Pip, Thanos managed to defeat Hunger, and recover Warlock's gem. Restored to health, Warlock bid the Titan farewell, and actually referred to him as a friend. That said, Warlock returned to Gamora and Atleza's side, where he currently remains.

Height: 6' 2"
Eyes: Red
Weight: 240 lbs.
Hair: Gold
Skin: Golden

Strength level: Warlock possesses superhuman strength, allowing him to lift (press) 10 tons. When further enhanced by cosmic energy, Warlock's strength increases to a degree that allows him to lift (press) 50 tons. It must be noted that Warlock made several modifications to the bodies that he gave to Gamora and Pip, and among these modifications was enhanced strength. It is possible that Warlock now has a higher peak level of strength than before, but this is pure conjecture with little concrete evidence.

Known superhuman powers: Warlock possesses the ability to fly under his own power at supersonic speeds inside an atmosphere. In space, Warlock can fly at sub-luminal speeds approaching the speed of light, and can even create space warps that enable him to travel at supra-luminal (faster than light-speed) velocities. It is unknown how he accomplishes this, however it is most likely done via the manipulation of the Cosmic Energies he naturally absorbs from his surroundings. He possesses an enhanced metabolism and durability, and also reflexes enhanced over normal human levels. Warlock also possesses several psionic abilities such as telepathy and a sense of cosmic awareness. Lastly, Warlock possesses the ability to draw upon sources of cosmic energy for a variety of effects including the projection of concussive blasts. However, when Warlock was in possession of the Soul Gem, it drew upon his life force so heavily that it severly hindered his abilities to absorb and manipulate cosmic energy. Perhaps Warlock's most interesting ability is his power of regeneration. When injured sufficently (either mentally or physically.), Warlock can create a cocoon around his body. After which he enters a state of deep hibernation, and then in that state he regenerates his body completely. Sometimes, in the past Warlock has shown that such a state can make him more or less powerful, depending on how long he remains in hibernation.

Skills and Abilities: Warlock is a natural martial artist having received no formal training. However, he gained a great deal of first-hand experience at hand-to-hand combat over the course of his life, and eventually became quite formidable. His style emphasizes his preternatural reflexes, high agility, intuitive fighting and knowledge of an opponent. He has a natural ability to analyze patterns and this is linked to a high order intelligence and extreme will power, making him a formidable opponent to all but the most powerful metahumans.

Warlock has a powerful intuitive sense and awareness of other realms of existance. This is due in part to having an existance outside the realm of the Universe due to an edict from Master Order and Lord Chaos. Because of this edict and from time spent as a near omnipotent being, Warlock is aware of the fundamental underpinnings of the Universe at a level far beyond the understandings of most mortal beings. Perhaps because of these talents, Warlock also is an accomplished self-taught philosopher.

Weapons: Warlock possesses the Soul Gem, one of the legendary Infinity Gems. This Gem allowed Warlock to drain and control the life essences (Or Spirits) of living (or dead) organisims. This gem possessed a conciousness of its own, and displayed a vampiric hunger for the life-essences of living beings. The Soul Gem possesses several powers, and will when it feels willing, contribute them to the host organism that wears it. Among these powers are: the awareness of nearby souls and their emotional states; the disruption of Karmic energies within a soul, causing unconsciousness, mental instability or even death; the projection of energy in powerful concussive bursts or as energy shields; the physical augmentation of a host's natural abilities; and the collection of an unwilling being's soul essence and placing it within its nexus. The Gem does drain spiritual essence from its host if it is not satisfied. This transfer of essence does cause personality shifts in the host organism, but it is not permanent. Since the Soul Gem was part of an all powerful being, it is possible that it is capable of other as yet undocumented feats. Ironically, the gem is a gateway into a pocket-universe, containing an idyllic, pastoral world where the souls of the beings upon which the gem has fed live on in peace and tranquility. Warlock became very accomplished at the gem's use, and was able to restrain its soul-draining properties with his own willpower.

In later incarnations, Warlock also employed a "Karmic Staff". This staff was said to be an extention of Warlock's own willpower and life-essence, and its properties made it seemingly unbreakable. the staff allowed Adam to project bolts of energy, perform minor telekinetic feats and deflect energies directed at him. It allowed him to focus mystical energies more effectively.

The Revolving Door of Death - Adam Warlock: Detailed discussion about Warlock's life and death.

The Passion of Adam Warlock: More in-depth Warlock discussion!

Warlock: The Magus Saga: A great article by Jim Kingman at Silver Bullet Comics.

Warlock, Adam: A well-done profile at the Marvel Directory.