ADAM WARLOCK

 

ADAM WARLOCK

Real Name: Adam Warlock

First Appearance: Fantastic Four (Vol. 1) #66, September 1967 (as Him); Marvel Premiere #1, April 1972 (as Adam Warlock)

POWERS: Adam Warlock, originally known simply as Him, was an artificially engineered humanoid created with an affinity for cosmic energy. Adam's metabolism is bolstered by cosmic power in a process similar to, but not the equal of, Cosmic Eternals. Since the beginning, Adam has had the powers of self-healing and self-evolution thanks to his natural cocoon. This biological construct is used by Adam to shield himself from considerable harm or accelerate his healing powers in instances where his wounds are near-fatal and too serious for his natural healing abilities to deal with. He can weave it around his entire body in a matter of moments. Adam enters into a state of hibernation inside this cocoon, and often emerges from it having undergone some form of mental or spiritual transformation.

The power of Him was initially awe-inspiring, with superhuman strength enough to battle Thor, the power to project concussive force or completely obliterate entire mountainsides, and cast solar vortexes which allowed him instantaneous travel between space and dimensions. He also had certain psychic perceptions, could animate unliving matter to shape as he chose, and form reflective energy fields to repel all forms of attack. This rampant overuse of his own cosmic energies was costly, though, and upon another death-rebirth cycle within his cocoon, he tempered his various abilities to more reasonable levels. Him took the name Adam Warlock for the first time here, and accepted a gift from the High Evolutionary to help channel his powers: the Soul Gem, an emerald jewel placed upon his brow. The gem harnessed spiritual energy from Adam and the people around him, giving Warlock excess reverses of strength based upon the strength of his convictions, and the belief other people had in him. On the other hand, his stamina would quickly become depleted if he fell victim to self-doubt, or loss the faith of those who followed him. At this point, Warlock possessed a natural Class 4 strength, superhuman endurance, reaction time, durability, and recuperative powers. He was also capable of directed levitation, but little else on his own power. Instead, he allowed his excess cosmic energy to be funneled through the Soul Gem's ability to access his spiritual energy, using the jewel as a conduit for his own powers. Warlock could use the gem to boost his strength to Class 40 levels, and similarly increase all his other physical powers and boost his flight speed to faster than Mach One. The gem also sustained his natural ability to survive in the vacuum of space, and he could reach sub-light speeds once outside of atmosphere. Warlock can travel faster than the speed of light by locating naturally-forming wormholes and space warps, traveling down them to move across galaxies under his own power. He also was capable of molecular manipulation. By stimulating molecules he could generate intense heat, ignite or douse flames, project concussive pulses, liquefy or even totally atomize solid matter. While battling the Man-Beast and the New Men, he most often used his molecular power for controlled devolution, reverting the animal men back into mere animals. It was similarly useful for reversing the transformations of the Hulk-like Brute. Warlock could even perform advanced molecular reconfigurations, like sculpting sheer rock into a lifelike human statute, or reconstructing a suspension bridge that was broken in two.

Eventually, Warlock lost much of his power after realizing that the Soul Gem was like a karmic vampire, feeding endlessly off of the cosmic-spiritual energy he was channeling through it. It even became impossible for him to remove the gem from his brow, as it had coaxed enough of his soul into itself to render him near lifeless when separated from the jewel. Warlock's molecular powers were now completely gone, as he rededicated his natural energies to controlling the Soul Gem better. The Gem hungered for the souls of other beings, and could consume them in an instant, leaving his victims terminally incapacitated for all eternity. Warlock had to fight the Gem's attempts to influence him into using this power. Still, he gained new skills from probing the jewel's capabilities, such as the power to sense other people by their spiritual energy, and even temporarily revive the recently deceased so as to coax information out of them. Ultimately, Adam died and had his soul consumed by his own gem. Since being restored to the physical plane of existence, Adam Warlock has proven to have greater control over the Soul Gem than before. Using it since his resurrection, he has been able to focus cosmic energy as concussive bolts or protective shields, and can non-fatally manipulate the gem's own power to karmically disrupt the anima centers of other beings, causing madness or simple unconsciousness. Adam Warlock has purged all good and evil from his soul, and exists in a state of being that places him outside the realms of chaos and order. This gives him certain psychic senses and abilities, as well as a unique perspective on the universe which often surprises his opponents.

Warlock had later gone through another period of healing and resurrection through his cocooning, after his empathic senses responded to the death unleashed by the Annihilation War, forcing him into his recuperative state. He maintains his natural powers of superhuman strength, durability and flight, but mainly utilizes his newly discovered abilities as a quantum magician, able to manipulate energies that look and act like magic. The reason for a formerly science-based being would be suddenly manipulating arcane forces is unclear, although its uncertain if that is truly what Adam's power is. He can sense souls and spiritual energy, and his powers can be magnified dramatically based on the amount of spiritual energy he has to draw upon. He can also manipulate true magic as well, though, absorbing energy from spells cast around him, disrupting enchantments or turning them back on his attacker. His energies can be released as illumination, a concussive blast or "obliteration charm", create an immobilizing field to contain opponents, used to gather and return other forms of energy back at their source, or shaped around his fists to magnify the force of his blows. It can also be formed into a hollow sphere for protection and superluminal transport by jumping through subspace. He has also cast spells of healing or transmute matter, altering the elemental composition of large masses or performing simple tricks like conjuring up a uniform. Adam is sensitive to psychic and electromagnetic energy at this point. He was able to detect the presence of a nearby teleportation sequence the moment the Phalanx arrived, scan for the High Evolutionary's power trace to locate him, and analyze the energy manipulating properties of the quantum bands. He can also detect rifts in the fabric of space-time, the growing menace caused by the Fault and the breakdown of natural laws throughout the cosmos.