Magus is in INFINITY WAR!!

That’s right, kids, your favourite fuzzy-haired rockstar space villain is in Avengers: Infinity War!

I mean, come on – look at him. He is the epitome of 70’s-era punk-rock-sci-fi-niche-stuff characters, what with the purple skin and the lightning bolt and the afro. Granted, this is not Magus’ definitive look; he has undergone several redesigns over the years, but this is the incarnation which fans pull out from their ass when they want to try and make the case that he’s lame or stupid.

The Magus is a future, less nice version of Adam Warlock, a guy who is fairly important in Cosmic Marvel and an integral part of Thanos’ character. We saw his cocoon in Thor: The Dark World and Guardians of the Galaxy (James Gunn confirmed it), so the character officially exists in-universe. If you know absolutely nothing about any of the characters that I’m talking about then I’ll cut straight to the chase, that being a briefing on the news and a briefing on the characters (or rather, character).

Spoiler TV is reporting a casting call for the Magus issued by Marvel for Avengers: Infinity War Part I.

Auditions are now getting underway for the Marvel Studios feature film ‘Avengers: Infinity War – Part I’ lead and supporting roles. The auditions for new lead and supporting roles will be taking place in Los Angeles, CA. The film is the first in a two-part sequel in which Thanos plays a major role, along with the Magus. Adam Warlock’s bad side, the Magus, separates from his body and assembles the Infinity Gauntlet. Magus creates doppelgangers of Earth’s heroes as part of his plan to recreate a universe of evil. “Avengers: Infinity War – Part I” will be shot entirely on the IMAX/ARRI 2D digital camera.

Now, I’ve read Infinity Gauntlet and I know a lot about Adam Warlock’s history, but I haven’t heard about that particular story mentioned before. Is it possible that this is a plot detail from the upcoming movies? Who knows. It doesn’t sound like something which would be particularly necessary in a movie about Thanos fighting everyone so hopefully it’s just an error (like the note that Magus assembled the Infinity Gauntlet).

This is important because, unless Marvel are planning on doing a lot of jumping-through-hoops, you can’t have Magus without Adam Warlock. I like to think of him as yellow space Jesus, who plays a massive part in the original story and essentially leads the fight against Thanos. Also, when he dies he goes into a cocoon to regenerate. That’s basically all you need to know.

The Magus is Adam Warlock – or at least a future version of Him (ha!). He was created as the Avatar of Life to oppose Thanos (the Avatar of Death), however after getting stranded on a planet for quite a while he went a little crazy and started a religion led by him. It’s all quite interesting, and something I would have liked to see in Guardians of the Galaxy 2, but if the character is to show up then, then he wouldn’t be getting cast for Infinity War.

This opens up two fairly lame possibilities:

1. Adam Warlock does NOT appear until Infinity War
2. Adam Warlock DOES appear in GOTG2, and he and the Magus will be played by separate actors

For those annoying-logistical-reasons, it would make sense to have two different actors (they both look different after all). That also means paying two different people for a job that could be done by one, and while it may seem like money won’t be an issue given the films are guaranteed to make $10billion on their respective opening weekends, Marvel won’t want to splash out on unnecessary cash.

Regardless of all the nitty-gritty details, what this really tells us is that the two-parter is going to be a true cosmic epic. I remember just after the first Avengers movie had come out, people on forums were talking about how the Thanos post-credits sequence meant that the sequel would tell the story of his most famous appearance in a lackluster fashion with a team-up of Avengers and Guardians – and maybe throw in Falcon.

Thank Odin that didn’t happen.

By including important cosmic characters such as this, it shows that Marvel know that they have more time than usual to tell this story and can adapt it properly. Ten years ago, I don’t think any of us geeks ever really believed that we would one day see Adam Warlock and the Magus on screen in a two-part adaptation of Infinity Gauntlet. Just typing it makes me feel giddy. We over at Unleash The Fanboy are quite cynical and jaded bastards, but even we are friggin’ hyped for this one.