Will Poulter's Body Transformation For Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Sounds Grueling

Will Poulter is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in James Gunn's upcoming 2023 movie "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," as a character teased in the post-credits scenes of the last "Guardians" movie — Adam Warlock.

In that much-discussed scene, Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) unveils the character as an artificial humanoid she wants to use to destroy Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and the rest of the Guardians. Deadline first reported that Poulter, known for film roles in "We're the Millers," "The Revenant," and "Midsommar" would portray Warlock in October 2021, and he's definitely a cosmic superhero that fans have been anticipating for a long time: per Slash Film, Gunn originally intended to include Warlock in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," but ultimately felt there were too many characters involved as is and decided to save him for later.

Little is known about "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" beyond Warlock's inclusion, likely as one of the main villains. That said, the Guardians have certainly meet their match in Warlock, who sounds like a formidable opponent based on how Poulter has been preparing to play the character.

In a recent interview with The Independent, Poulter said that he's taken on such a rigid diet and exercise routine to play Adam Warlock that he's had little time for a social life while preparing for and filming the movie. Poulter even said he would not recommend that anyone go through a similar path to his own in preparation for the movie.

"It's difficult talking about it because with Marvel it's all secret squirrel, but the most important thing is that your mental and physical health has to be number one," Poulter told the Independent.

Poulter did not dish on all the details of the numerous diets he's undertaken for the film, but he noted that he's gone through periods of ingesting large quantities of food at times and having to cut back on eating at others. He did take care to note that the level of physical work required to get in shape for this character — who, as noted by Marvel.com, was designed as the "perfect" human being — is not realistic or healthy for people who don't have major film studios paying for the nutrition and physical training necessary to hit that goal.

Fans will likely have to wait a while longer to get their first glimpse of Poulter as Warlock: the third "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie is not expected in movie theaters until May 2023.