Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has been hit by a series of delays, stemming from both COVID-19 and Disney's kneejerk reaction to some resurfaced Tweets from writer and director James Gunn.
Work has now finally begun on the movie, with Will Poulter set to suit up as Adam Warlock. He'll undoubtedly be taking aim at Star-Lord and his crew, but might not necessarily be the threequel's big bad. According to scooper KC Walsh (via Murphy's Multiverse), the High Evolutionary will be Vol. 3's lead villain.
The character is one with a long, convoluted comic book history, but there have previously been rumours that the High Evolutionary will be depicted as Rocket Raccoon's creator. That makes sense on a number of levels, and could also explain what we've heard about Rocket's comic book love interest, Lady Lylla, making an appearance (she's a ferret and Rocket's soulmate).
Gunn looks set to have a lot to handle in this movie between Warlock's introduction, a Gamora Variant the team is no doubt keen on finding, and now the High Evolutionary. It's easy to imagine the filmmaker being able to juggle these different elements, but how they all come together promises to be very interesting.
This is just a rumour, of course, so is best taken with a pinch of salt for now. It does line up with a lot of past reports, though, so fingers crossed for more news soon.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is set to be released in theaters on May 5, 2023.