Adam Warlock

Adam Warlock, originally known as Him, is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Fantastic Four #66 (cover-dated Sept. 1967) (in cocoon form) and #67 (Oct. 1967) (in humanoid form), and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Debuting in the Silver Age of comic books, the character has appeared in over four decades of Marvel publications, and starred in the popular titles Marvel Premiere and Strange Tales as well as five self-titled volumes and several related limited series.

Character biography
Him is an artificial human created in a facility called the Beehive by scientists calling themselves the Enclave. He is birthed in a cocoon-like structure, created to be the perfect human with enhanced abilities, as part of a scheme for the Enclave to rule the Earth. After meeting Alicia Masters, Him rebels against the Enclave and escapes. Later, the newborn Him decides to take Sif of Asgard as his mate, leading to a battle with her comrade Thor.Following this encounter, Him journeys into outer space, cocooning his form again.

Him's cocoon is recovered by the High Evolutionary, who befriends him and gives him the name "Warlock." The High Evolutionary reveals that he created a version of Earth without evil, calling it Counter-Earth. But another of his creations called the Man Beast introduced corruption into this world and now the Evolutionary wants Warlock's help to save Counter-Earth from the villain's evil. The High Evolutionary gives Warlock the green Soul Gem (also referred to as the "Soul Jewel") to help him in this fight. When he arrives on Counter-Earth, Warlock suffers amnesia and only recalls his name. Four teenagers find him and befriend him. Thinking "Warlock" sounds like a surname, they give him the first name of "Adam." Adam Warlock faces the Man Beast and dies in the process, but then resurrects thanks to forming another regeneration cocoon around himself. After the Man Beast's defeat, Warlock leaves Counter-Earth to find a new purpose.

In his travels through space, Warlock encounters the Universal Church of Truth, an intergalactic religious organization that is building into an empire by controlling different worlds and indoctrinating the populations to their religion. The church is led by a man called the Magus. Warlock opposes the Magus and he soon recruits allies in his fight against the Universal Church of Truth: Pip the Troll, the assassin Gamora, and Gamora's employer and adoptive father, Thanos of Titan. Eventually, Warlock discovers that the Magus is a future version of himself who traveled back in time after being driven insane by the use of his Soul Gem and imprisonment by the cosmic being known as the In-Betweener. Warlock chooses to alter his timeline by visiting himself a few months into the future and stealing his own soul before he is imprisoned, essentially committing suicide to prevent the Magus from ever existing (later stories showed that the Universal Church of Truth still came into being, but less powerful). Warlock then continues his journeys, knowing he has seen his own death but not knowing exactly when it will happen.

While fighting off the Stranger's attempt to steal the Soul Gem, Warlock discovers the existence of five other related gems. Thanos gains possession of these gems (later known as the Infinity Gems) and plans to use them to blow up Earth's sun. Warlock finds that Thanos has destroyed Pip's mind and left Gamora mortally wounded. To end their suffering and give them a chance at continued existence, Warlock takes Pip and Gamora's souls into the world within his Soul Gem. Warlock then enlists the aid of the Avengers, Captain Marvel, and Moondragon to battle Thanos. When Thanos mortally wounds Warlock and leaves him for dead, Warlock's younger self appears and takes the dying version's soul at last. In the Soul World of the gem, Adam is reunited with Pip, Gamora and others. The other gathered heroes continue their fight against Thanos but are losing. The cosmic entities Lord Chaosand Master Order intervene, influencing Spider-Man to temporarily release Warlock's soul from the Soul Gem. Warlock, now a spiritual being of new power, ends the battle by turning Thanos to stone, returning to the Soul Gem immediately afterward. For a while, Warlock finds a peaceful life in the Soul World with Pip, Gamora, and others

Years after his defeat at Warlock's hands, Thanos is reverted from stone back to living flesh and becomes the consort of Death. Seeking to equal Death in power, he once again collects the Infinity Gems, forming them into the Infinity Gauntlet. When the Silver Surfer confronts Thanos, the villain sends the Surfer into the Soul Gem. In the world of the Soul Gem, the Surfer meets Adam Warlock and convinces him that his help is needed again to defeat Thanos. Warlock agrees and Pip and Gamora decided to accompany him. Warlock transmits himself and his two friends into the bodies of three Earth people who recently died in a car accident, then uses his power to rebuild these human bodies into copies of their original forms. To stop Thanos, Warlock leads a group of Earth's superheroes against him.

Thanos is defeated and Warlock obtains the Gauntlet, becoming a near-supreme being of the universe. Warlock allows Earth's heroes to believe that Thanos is dead, but in truth the villain starts a new life of seclusion, deciding he no longer wishes power and will no longer involve himself in the affairs of others. Following this, a hearing attended by the various cosmic beings of the universe such as Eternity and Galactus protest Adam's worthiness and argue that there is still the threat of him eventually becoming the Magus. The cosmic Living Tribunal, whose power and authority exceeds Warlock's, decides that Warlock cannot be trusted to keep the Infinity Gauntlet. The gems will be divided among other beings of Warlock's choosing. Warlock keeps the soul gem for himself and gives one gem each to Pip, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, Moondragon, and a reformed Thanos. Warlock dubs the group the Infinity Watch and suggests they go their separate ways but eventually they agree to live together as a team, except for Thanos whose identity as a gem-bearer is kept secret from the group for an extended period of time.

It is later revealed that during Warlock's temporary possession of the Gauntlet, he purged good and evil from his being, leaving him entirely a creature of logic. His good and evil aspects take on life as two new physical beings — the evil half becomes a new incarnation of the Magus, while the good half is a woman calling herself the Goddess. The Magus attempts to become the supreme being in the universe, unleashing an army of dopplegangers against Earth's heroes. He is defeated, partly thanks to the Goddess stealing some of his resources, which she in turn tries to use to eliminate all life in the universe so that it can be cleansed of sin. Warlock, aided by an army of superheroes, eventually defeats each in turn, and absorbs them into the Soul Gem, reuniting good and evil with his soul.

Later, the Infinity Watch battles to protect the soul gem from Count Abyss, a powerful entity who has no soul of his own. After finally defeating him, the infinity gems are stolen by Rune, a vampire from a parallel universel.[47] The Infinity Watch disbands  and Warlock tracks down Rune. Following the discovery of a seventh gem, Warlock and the gems are returned to the main Marvel Universe.

Later, several clones of Thanos go rogue. To defeat them, Thanos works alongside a group of superheroes and Adam Warlock, who is reborn from his cocoon yet again with a slightly altered appearance and nature. Events lead to Thanos obtaining the god-like power of the Heart of the Universe, but Warlock convinces him to relinquish it. Warlock later assists Thanos' in his quest to redeem himself at last

During the "Annihilation" war, so many beings are killed that Warlock is incapacitated by the backlash of souls. He reforms his cocoon around himself to recover properly. When the threat of the techno-organic Phalanx rises, Moondragon and her partner Quasar awaken Warlock so he can help. Once the Phalanx is defeated,  Warlock agrees to join Gamora as part of his newly formed Guardians of the Galaxy, formed and led by Peter Quill, the hero Star-Lord.

Warlock shares a few adventures with the Guardians. Later, Warlock attempts to repair damage done to the Spacetime continuum by patching in a piece of an alternate, stable timeline. This other timeline he draws from turns out to be the original future where he became the Magus. By "stitching" that event into his own timeline, Warlock immediately transforms into a third incarnation of the Magus.[58] He attempts to gain control of the Universal Church of Truth, leading to a battle against the Guardians of the Galaxy.[58] The Magus then allies himself with Lord Mar-Vell, but is killed when he fails a mission. The Universal Church of Truth resurrects the Magus as a child, but then the Annihilators imprison him inside his cocoon. His cocoon remains under the watch of the Annihilators.

​Powers and abilities
Adam Warlock possesses a number of superhuman properties and powers derived from his artificially determined genetic structure. His bone and muscle tissue is denser than human, endowing him with superhuman strength and resilience. Among his body's special adaptations are an enclave of cells able to tap and transform cosmic energy for personal use. Warlock could use this energy to enhance his physical strength, endurance, and powers of recuperation. He could also employ cosmic energy to negate the force of gravity beneath him, enabling him to fly. In an Earth-like atmosphere, Warlock was able to attain the speed of sound (770 miles per hour). He could use his cosmic energy to locate and enter natural space-warps (discontinuities in the fabric of space) in order to traverse interstellar space. He can also project cosmic energy from his hands as concussive force.Warlock's energy-manipulating powers waned at the time he was given the soul-gem by the High Evolutionary. No longer could he direct concussive force from his hands or enhance his strength. Whether this power limitation was caused by his symbiotic relationship with the soul-gem or some other factor is not yet known. When Warlock was summoned from the soul-gem to defeat Thanos, he seemed to possess these cosmic powers once more.He is is able to spin a cocoon around him at will in a matter of seconds. He did so infrequently during his short life, usually to protect himself from mortal harm, and usually he would emerge from the cocoon at a further level of physical or mental maturity. It is not known where the substance of the cocoon came from, or where it went after he emerged from it.