Adam Warlock I:
STATISTICS:
F: In/40
A: In/40
S: Rm/30
E: Am/50
R: Gd/10
I: Rm/30
P: In/40
Health: 160
Karma: 80
Resources: Gd/10
Popularity: 10
BACKGROUND
Real Name: Adam Warlock
Occupation: Avenger and Savior of Worlds, Sorcerer; formerly Battle Mage of the Guardians of the Galaxy, God, former guardian of Atlezca, priest of Soulworld, mystic, spiritual vampire
Legal Status: Technically stateless, with no criminal record.
Identity: No Dual Identity
Other Known Aliases: Him, Golden Gladiator, Master of all Souls, Mr. Smith, Subject X-31, Jake Miller, Ultimate Avenger, God Slayer, Demon, Avenging Hand of Light, Avatar of Life, Adam Magus
Place of Birth: The Beehive, Shard Island, Atlantic Ocean
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Enclave (creators); Ayesha (genetic "twin"); Gemini (genetic kin); Goddess (good self); Magus (evil self); High Evolutionary (foster father)
Base of Operations: Formerly Monster Island, Soulworld, Counter-Earth, Knowhere
Past Group Affiliations: Formerly Universal Church of Truth, Infinity Watch, Guardians of the Galaxy
Present Group Affiliation:
KNOWN POWERS:
Body Armor: Warlock possesses Good (10) body armor against physical and energy attacks.
Ability Enhancement: Once per day, Warlock could boost his Strength and Endurance by +2 CS for up to 5 turns. This gives him no increase in Health.
Flight: Warlock can fly at Monstrous (75) speeds in planetary atmospheres, or CL 1000 speeds in outer space. If Warlock makes a red Endurance FEAT roll, he can obtain CL3000 speeds for 2-20 turns.
Force Bolts: Warlock can generate Force or Energy bolts with Amazing (50) strength from his hands up to a range of 3 areas.
Life Support: Warlock can survive the rigors of deep space with CL 1000 ability.
Protective Cocoon: Warlock can spin a cocoon around himself in seconds at will. The cocoon was made of Incredible (40) Material Strength and gave him Monstrous (75) self-healing abilities.
EQUIPMENT:
Soul-Gem: Warlock uses the soul-gem, one of the Infinity Gems, to give himself the following abilities:
- Amazing (50) intensity devolution, that allows the gem to reverse the effects of advanced evolution (such as caused by the High Evolutionary), returning an individual or creature to its original state.
- Monstrous (75) Communications, which enables the gem to instantly translate any being's language.
- An Incredible Kinetic Force Bolt that can be fired up to four areas away.
- Unearthly (100) Soul Absorption, which means that the gem can literally absorb a victim's mind. The victim's mind becomes a resident of a pocket dimension where everything is peaceful and tranquil. Warlock can access the memories of any soul trapped within the gem. The gem is sentient and malevolent, with the following mental statistics:
- The gem can substitute its own mental attributes for Warlock's in a dire emergency. The soul-gem is made of Unearthly (100) Strength Material.
TALENTS: Leadership, Philosophy
CONTACTS: Infinifty Watch, Guardians of the Galaxy
HISTORY:
Warlock was created by the group of researchers who called themselves the "Beehive." The goal of the researchers there was to create the perfect human being, the pinnacle of future human evolution. Fortunately for the denizens of Earth, the new being was a creature beyond the control of his creators. The creature whom they had created, then known only as "Him," emerged--and immediately sensed, upon his emergence, that his creators sought to use him for evil ends. He lashed out, damaging the complex and injuring his "fathers," and promptly escaped.
Unfortunately for "Him," he was a being with no life experience due to his unique conception. He promptly encountered Thor, and attempted the abduction of the Lady Sif in order to mate with her. (This act would be repeated in a more benign, but no less infuriating, fashion by his gene-sister "Her," now known as Kismet.) Thor naturally took offense to this kidnapping, and promptly beat the young Godling near to death. "Him" promptly retreated to the safety of a regenerative cocoon and thus was later reborn.[13]
Upon his rebirth, "Him" was renamed as Warlock by the High Evolutionary, who became a guiding force in the life of the reborn Godling. The High Evolutionary gave Warlock purpose, direction, and the vampiric Soul Gem. Soon afterwards, Warlock journeyed to the planet called Counter-Earth, one of the High Evolutionary's experiments, that had recently been contaminated. Counter-Earth had been an attempt to create a Utopian society, and it had been so till the evil Man-Beast, a renegade creation of the High Evolutionary, had corrupted it; the Man-Beast was to become Warlock's greatest enemy. Warlock met four teenagers, David Carter, Jason Grey, Eddie Roberts, and Ellie Roberts. Ellie gave him the name "Adam," because she thought he needed two names instead of one, as it was on their planet. Following Warlock's arrival, Kohbra located him for the Man-Beast, and sent Rhodan after him. Warlock faced off against Rhodan, and ended up returning him to his original form. The group traveled to the city, and were tricked by the Man-Beast (disguised as a prophet) into finding his lair. Warlock was captured and was forced to join the Man-Beast's side or be killed. Warlock told the Man-Beast that he would never join his (the Man-Beast's) side, so the Man-Beast resorted to making Warlock think that his friends had betrayed him. But this backfired on the Man-Beast, for it enraged Warlock even more, and he ended up defeating the Man-Beast.
Warlock became the first superhero on Counter-Earth. He traveled that world with David, Jason, Eddie and Ellie, trying to rid Counter-Earth of the evil presence of the Man-Beast. Eddie's and Ellie's father, Col. Barney Roberts, asked Warlock to be present during the launching of a rocket. However, during the launch, onlookers were attacked by evil New-Man Triax. Triax grabbed Eddie and Ellie, and brought them atop a building. Warlock fought Triax, but it was the intervention of Col. Roberts's attack planes that made Triax throw Eddie off the building, to his death. Warlock was unable to save Eddie Roberts, and this angered him so much that he killed Triax.
After Eddie's funeral, Warlock went into hiding in the Mojave Desert, where he spun a cocoon around himself and slept in it for a few weeks. He was awakened when two geologists found that President Rex Carpenter was doing bomb tests near the San Andreas fault line, and by doing so would cause massive earthquakes. When the bomb went off, Warlock managed to contain most of the destruction, but the bomb also triggered the activation of the Deathbirds, bird-like robots that kill. Warlock, with the help of Victor von Doom of Counter-Earth, defeated the Deathbirds, and Warlock was praised as a hero by the people. However, his victory was short-lived, because a couple of hours later, the President aired a message on TV saying that Warlock was a menace and a threat to everyone.[18] After that, Warlock was attacked by the United States Army of Counter-Earth, and was forced to go into hiding. Astrella, whom he met earlier, met up with him, and told him where he could find his friends. However, this was a trap, and Warlock had to fight off the Brute and the military at the same time. He met up with Von Doom at the cabin he was going to earlier, where a beaten Jason Grey was there warning them that everyone was in trouble. Jason filled them in as they put him to sleep. He said that David and Ellie had been falsely arrested for supposedly having started a riot. Warlock went to go bail them out, and when he arrived at the police station, he stopped angry protesters even though they were on his side. Just as Warlock bailed David and Ellie out, Von Doom ran up to them saying that the Brute had returned and was draining away all of Counter-Earth's geothermal energy. Warlock and the others journeyed to Counter-Earth's core to stop him. Warlock fought the Brute, but ultimately, it was Von Doom's heroic sacrifice that saved everyone's lives. A few days later, a riot broke out in Washington, D.C. The riot was caused by two creatures, so Warlock, being the hero, went to save citizens. Though Warlock fought the beasts, they teleported him to the inside of the Oval Office in the White House and disappeared. President Carpenter, who was waiting for Warlock there, revealed that he had actually been the Man-Beast the entire time.
Two weeks later, having presumably lost the fight to the Man-Beast, Warlock was released from captivity by Recorder 211. Warlock gathered his army over the next few days in order to rebel against the Man-Beast. He even inducted the Hulk from the original Earth into his ranks. Seeking to stay evil and stay tyrannical, the Man-Beast used the Hulk as a Trojan Horse to infiltrate Warlock's ranks by implanting a chip in the Hulk's brain that would make him attack Warlock and his followers. Though Warlock was able to free the Hulk of the Man-Beast's control, that ended up getting him and his followers captured. Warlock was then to be killed in a public trial, but he retreated into his cocoon at the last minute. Thinking he was dead, Warlock's followers and the Hulk attacked the Man-Beast in an all-out endeavor. However, Warlock returned, now more powerful than ever, and de-evolved the Man-Beast and all the Evil New Men back to their original animal forms. He then left Counter-Earth and all his followers, saying that he was needed among the stars to help other worlds that needed his assistance.
Soon afterwards, Warlock came into contact with a malicious being known as the Magus, a twisted future incarnation of himself, totally insane and horribly powerful. As the head of the Universal Church of Truth, the Magus had ground billions of lifeforms across the cosmos under his heel. Warlock fought the Magus, but could not succeed on his own, for his future self possessed vast might. Eventually, with the help of Pip the Troll, Gamora, and the nefarious Thanos of Titan, Warlock succeeded in eliminating the Timeline from which the Magus sprang, thus canceling his existence retroactively throughout time. Then, in a brilliant, yet disturbing counter-move, Thanos projected Warlock two years into the future where he encountered his dying self, embittered, preparing to give birth anew to the Magus. Warlock then took the soul of his dying future self into the Soul Gem, thus ending the threat of his evil counterpart.
Following the defeat of his future self, Warlock encountered a being known as the Star Thief, a comatose man from Earth who had achieved cosmic awareness. The Star Thief revealed to Warlock his plans of exacting revenge on the human race by making the stars around them vanish in order for their planet to be destroyed. Warlock was forced to return to Earth, but upon his arrival he found that having been thousands of light years away from Earth he had grown at a quicker pace than Earth, thus being many times larger than the planet. Warlock then left to find himself a new home, however he met an alien calling himself the Ancient Traveler. The Ancient Traveler looked into Warlock's future, and told him that before he died, he would see many of his friends die, and would be the cause of the High Evolutionary's death as well. Now knowing this, Warlock left to find the answers he sought within the Soul Gem. The Gem revealed that it was one of the six. The Gem then tried to enslave Warlock, but Warlock overcame the Gem by threatening to commit suicide so that it would lose its host, leaving it alone on a deserted planet. Warlock then left the planet to travel the stars yet again.
After traveling the stars for quite some time, eventually returning to the Milky Way Galaxy, he noticed that he had shrunk back down to normal size. He then intercepted a rocket that was drifting away from Earth. Sensing a life form in that rocket, Warlock used his Soul Gem to transport himself and the rocket to the oxygen-rich Blue Area of the Moon. There he met Spider-Man, and while deciding on how to return him back to Earth, they were attacked by the Stranger, who was looking to claim Warlock's Soul Gem. With the help of Spider-Man and the Gardener(and his own Soul Gem), they managed to defeat the Stranger. In the aftermath of the battle, Warlock left a metallic egg behind on the Moon, waiting for the right time to be opened.
Thanos, who was insane and evil, had fallen so deeply in love with a female manifestation of Death that he planned to destroy the stars themselves, annihilating everything that lived as the greatest gift to "her" that "she" had ever received, and his ward, Gamora, found out about his plan. She attacked him and was struck down brutally. Warlock found her soon afterwards and took her soul into his Gem, learning the full extent of Thanos's plan in the process. Distraught and enraged, Warlock sought out allies to assist him in his gambit against the mad Titan. He journeyed to Earth, and to the mansion HQ of the mighty Avengers. There he told them, and the recently arrived Captain Marvel and Moondragon, of Thanos's plan to detonate all the stars. The Avengers then made immediate plans to attack Thanos's starship, the Sanctuary II. However, as he had in an earlier scheme to gain ultimate power, Thanos would sow the seeds of his own Destruction. Thanos purposely enraged Adam Warlock, by wiping the mind of Adam's companion Pip, and leaving him to be found. When Warlock found Pip's mindless form, he drew his friend's spirit into his Soul Gem. But before attacking Pip, Thanos had told him of his plan, and drawing Pip's soul into the Gem caused Warlock to learn of the plan. Warlock and Captain Marvel immediately attacked Thanos, destroying his projector. Mar-Vell was rendered unconscious, but Warlock savagely attacked Thanos, who promptly struck him down. Before Thanos could move his Star-Gem into another Projector, he was attacked by Thor and Iron Man, who followed behind Warlock and Mar-Vell. Thor attacked Thanos, while Iron Man shattered the Star-Gem. A few minutes later, Mar-Vell bore silent witness as the time-displaced past version of Warlock ended the suffering of his present self, drawing his restless spirit into the Soul gem where he at last found a measure of peace.
Immediately after, Thanos teleported away with Warlock's body, and led his crew to defeat the Avengers. With Warlock's gem, he possessed enough power, at least, to destroy Earth's primary, Sol. But before he could do so, a wild card was introduced in the form of the Thing and Spider-Man, who were compelled to find the battleground by Lord Chaos and Master Order, whose agent the In-Betweener is. Spider-Man freed the Avengers and in the melee that followed, he shattered the sphere holding the Soul Gem. Inside the gem, Warlock sensed that he had one final task to perform. The gem struck the floor and, in a flash of light, the soul of Adam Warlock appeared from within the gem. Now a being of pure energy, Warlock lunged for the panicked Thanos, and killed him, transmuting the Titan's body to solid granite. Afterwards, the spirit of Warlock retreated back into the blissful world inside the gem itself.
Warlock lived peacefully for several years in Soulworld, with Pip and Gamora, until Thanos again became a threat to all who lived. Encountering Drax the Destroyer and the noble Silver Surfer after Thanos abducted their souls, Warlock again made plans to thwart the Titan. To execute these plans, Warlock projected the souls of himself, Pip, and Gamora into three recently deceased humans. His powers reshaped their shattered bodies into new, more powerful versions of their old bodies. Then he went about gathering Earth's remaining Champions to attack Thanos on his space platform. However, the attack by Earth's heroes was a distraction designed to allow the Silver Surfer to snatch the almighty Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos's grasp. He failed. After ascending to the crux of all reality after defeating the Universe's mightiest cosmic beings, Thanos lost his divinity due to the machinations of his "granddaughter" Nebula. Thanos was then talked into assisting Warlock in Nebula's defeat, whereupon Warlock himself gained the Gauntlet and ascended to Godhood. Warlock was soon afterwards convinced by the Living Tribunal that he was unworthy to become supreme, and then divided the gems amongst Himself (Soul), Gamora (Time), Pip (Space), Drax (Power), Moondragon (Mind), and secretly Thanos (reality).
The newly formed Infinity Watch defended the Gems against the machinations of those who would misuse them. This included the return of Warlock's old foes, Triax and the Man-Beast, which lead them to set up a base on Monster Island, an island ruled by the Mole Man.
Not long after the Watch was formed, the Magus reappeared with five cosmic containment units and an army of doppelgängers of Earth's heroes to wage war in order to get his revenge on Warlock and Thanos. After investigation by the Watch and Thanos, it was revealed that when Warlock had ascended into godhood via the Infinity Gauntlet, he had expelled the good and evil aspects of his being to become a totally logical being, and by doing so, he had re-created his evil persona, the Magus. It took the combined efforts of the Watch, Thanos, and the majority of Earth's heroes to defeat the Magus, and in the end, Warlock banished the Magus into Soul World. However, doing so plunged Warlock into a comatose state.
Soon after, Eternity visited Warlock in his deep sleep to wake him up from his coma. With Warlock back in leadership, the Watch, using the powers of their Infinity Gems, faced off against enemies such as Mephisto, Count Abyss, and Maxam.
When a being known as the Goddess kidnapped many of Earth's heroes in order to eradicate the Universe of sin by means of killing off every living being, Warlock learned that his good side was just as dangerous to the Universe as his evil side was. Physically absent from most of the fighting, Warlock and Thanos once again teamed up to save the universe. While Earth's heroes were divided and fighting each other, Warlock and Thanos executed their complicated plan behind the scenes. The plan was a success and the Goddess was defeated, and also banished to Soul World along with the Magus.
Not long afterwards, Warlock found through his magical orb that a mentally insane Thor had attacked the Silver Surfer. Warlock formulated a plan that would help both Thor and the Silver Surfer, and that would put Thor in his debt. He asked Pip to teleport him to Thor's location, and for him to get the Watch ready to come in for backup. He fought Thor and barely escaped, but he did discover that he could control the Surfer's board due to them connecting during the Infinity Gauntlet crisis. The two fled to seek aid from Doctor Strange. After they explained the situation to Strange, and after he agreed to help, Pip and the Infinity Watch suddenly appeared in Strange's home. They explained that they had gone to fight Thor to find Warlock, but they had ended up failing and losing the Power Gem. Warlock, the Surfer, and Strange then decided that they would have go to Asgard to get help from Odin himself. When they traveled there, however, they were soon led into a Troll trap by Lady Sif and Beta Ray Bill. Warlock and the others were all locked in the Troll dungeon awaiting to be executed, but then Pip managed to get Warlock into a trial by combat, and so Warlock fought in the arena while Pip rescued everyone else. By the time they escaped, they had wasted so much time in the dungeon that Thor successfully caught up to them and fought them once again. Nearing defeat, the Silver Surfer teleported Thor and himself to another location while Warlock stayed behind to take care of those injured. Once everyone was up to it, they followed the Silver Surfer to Thanos's space station, the Sanctuary, where the Titan had imprisoned Thor for the time being. They debated on what to do with him, and when their plan of freeing him from his psychological state failed, they decided it was time to take him to Odin. Pip teleported them onto the Bifrost, where they were attacked by many Asgardian warriors, and even Odin himself. After a battle that destroyed a small portion of Asgard, they managed to convince Odin to settle and help Thor, and so he did and Asgard was indebted to Warlock and the Infinity Watch.
Warlock and his Watch returned to Monster Island, where he continued to work on Maxam getting his memory back. He, Moondragon and Drax combined the power of all their Infinity Gems to retrieve a single portion of Maxam's memory back. He seemed to have come from another reality, and was connected to the Badoon in some way. Warlock voted to keep this a secret from Gamora, since she had had a complicated history with the Badoon and it would only have instilled more distrust in Maxam. Later that day, the Infinity Watch were attacked by the Avengers. It was later revealed by the Vision that the Avengers had been brainwashed by Senator Kyle Munson, secretly Warlock's greatest enemy, the evil Man-Beast, in a plan to get Warlock marked as a villain. That plan had obviously failed, and so when Warlock, Captain America, and the Vision went to confront the Senator, it was revealed that he was actually Warlock's old foe, the Man-Beast. They fought, and Warlock (as per usual) won. Warlock delivered a speech in front of the United Nations, and managed to convince them never to bother either him or the Watch ever again.
During the Avengers's and the Infinity Watch's battle on Monster Island, a woman by the name of Maya had sneaked onto the island, but had been knocked unconscious by one of the Avengers. She awoke only to discover that Warlock and his Infinity Watch had nursed her back to health, but now they had questions. She explained to Warlock that she lived in a different dimension where she was part of an alliance against Count Abyss. She only came to Warlock to ask him for aid in the rebellion against Abyss, and that it would be mutually beneficial. Warlock agreed to this deal, against the decision of the rest of the Watch, and he drank the cup of wine that Maya had brought with her, only to find out that it was a love potion. The two ended up kissing and falling madly in artificial love. The Watch spent a few hours trying to cure him of the ailment, but nothing seemed to do the trick. Just then, a void opened up in Monster Island where many demons came out, and kidnapped Maya. Warlock soon realized that he had been deceived, and that Maya had been working for Count Abyss the entire time.
Warlock decided the next best course of action was to go to his orb for all known information on Count Abyss. He got the whole story of how Count Abyss came to be, and he was ready to fight him. He and the Watch travelled to Count Abyss's continuum, where he was reunited with old acquaintances, Darklore and Meer'lyn, two beings he had met during the Infinity Crusade who were indeed enemies of Count Abyss. He joined forces with them and went to fight Count Abyss, only to suffer a brutal defeat. Warlock then launched another plan, where he regretfully transferred one of the souls in his soul gem into Count Abyss's own soulless form. The plan worked, and he was able to defeat Count Abyss. The team celebrated victory, but Warlock was devastated when he found out that Darklore was to marry Maya, his first love. Though he would obviously never publicly show it, for the first time in his life, Warlock was heartbroken.
Division among the ranks of the Watch emerged when Moondragon was nearly killed in battle against Domitian. With Moondragon in a coma, and Drax not leaving her side, the Watch's active members consisted only of Warlock, Pip, Gamora and Maxam. Tensions escalated once more when Maxam made an off-the-cuff joke about Gamora's obvious "puppy love" for Warlock, which caused Gamora to get very angry. The two fought, and in the end, Gamora left the Watch due to Warlock's wholehearted trust in Maxam. Warlock then gave the Time Gem to Maxam. The next day, Maxam would attack Warlock, but Warlock managed to defeat him, with the aid of the still telepathically active Moondragon. Warlock concluded that due to Maxam coming from a different time period, the Time Gem most likely triggered the memories of his past (the future) to return to him.
Almost immediately, a threat arrived from a different Universe who managed to steal all of the gems from their guardians. The Infinity Watch then fell apart, having no gems to protect. Afterwards, Warlock promptly left to search for the Infinity Gems.
During his long search, Warlock was pulled into a gateway between our Universe, and the neighboring Ultraverse. He awoke, projected into the distant past, to discover a gathering of worshipers hailing him as their Messiah. In the weeks that followed he discovered that he was upon a vast construct called the Godwheel, and in the presence of Warrior Priests of the Dilhaabi race who needed a savior to help them defeat a vampiric Dark God called Rune. Soon, the hordes of Rune attacked, killing scores of the Warrior Priests, and turning the battle into a massacre. Rune and Warlock met on the field of battle and fought long into the night. Finally, Warlock fatigued, and Rune plunged his blade through Warlock's chest, wounding him mortally. As Warlock lay dying, Rune attempted to drain his soul, but failed due to Warlock's supreme astral control. Rune howled his frustration into the night, as Warlock died, and was promptly surrounded by his regenerative cocoon.
Sometime in the intervening centuries, Warlock's essence and genetic material were used to create a form of cosmic energy known as "Shu-Ji". In roughly the 1960s or '70s of the Ultraverse, a ship capable of harnessing Shu-Ji energy was uncovered on Earth by General Holden Rayder. An entire secret government agency known as Aladdin grew up around Rayder and this ship, as he attempted to harness its power for America. Working with the alien-derived A.I. called GENIE, Rayder and Aladdin reasoned Shu-Ji energies were best wielded in pairs, and so they genetically extrapolated twin boys named Erik Johnston and Noel Robinson, raising them in seclusion from each other until they were old enough to wield the Shu-Ji power for Aladdin. Unfortunately for Aladdin, Rune had also made his way from the Godwheel to Earth and interrupted their plans. Erik and Noel ended up fused into a single entity named Gemini, wielding the power of both Adam Warlock and Rune, and under the control of no one.
Adam's cocoon was eventually located adrift through space by Aladdin, and brought to Ultra-Earth. Although Adam was dead inside his cocoon, the reality-altering wave caused by Black September revived him. With new-found abilities and uncertain of his place in the Ultraverse, Adam Warlock left Aladdin to seek his destiny as a spiritual counselor of sorts. Adam soon became aware of Gemini, who had evolved into a kind of binary being, with Noel acting as a gold-skinned cosmic force by day and Erik becoming a duplicate of Rune by night. Meeting the composite boys restored Adam's memories of the Godwheel, and he used his new-found spiritual abilities to exorcise Erik's corrupted spirit from Noel's body. Making peace with Noel, Adam returned to space and located the wormhole nexus necessary for him to return to Earth-616.
Eventually he found the Soul Gem once more, but its effects on his personality became unpredictable, possibly because of their long separation. A short time later, Drax the Destroyer was accused of the murder of Elysius and several other individuals. Warlock, along with Gamora, Pip, and Genis, tracked Drax down and subdued him in time to find that the real culprit was the re-animated corpse of the original Captain Marvel. Using his Soul Gem, Warlock traced the being controlling the corpse, a creature within the Negative Zone known as Syphon who was using the Nega-Bands as a conduit. Felled by a backlash of psychic energy, Warlock was unable to stop the transfer of the Nega-Bands to the unconscious Drax, who flew off into space. Warlock then gathered his allies and pursued Drax, finding that Syphon was using Drax and the bands to rip a portal into the Negative Zone, a portal which threatened the structure of our Universe. Summoning all of his strength, Warlock yanked Drax free and removed the Nega-Bands, causing the portal to shrink. But, before the portal could completely close, Syphon yanked Warlock into the negative zone, and in front of the audience of Blastaar and Annihilus, Syphon took Warlock's gem, and used it to re-open the portal. Warlock recovered, and fought back, but without his Soul Gem he had little chance of subduing both Blastarr and Annihilus before Syphon was successful. Fortunately, Drax arrived with Pip, Gamora, and Genis (who was once more possessor of the Nega-Bands) in tow. As his friends fought on, Warlock went on to damage Syphon's conqueror wheel, thus re-closing the portal. Syphon attempted to use the Soul Gem to kill Warlock, but found his attack turned upon his own soul. He fought back long enough to flee his own body. Warlock again claimed the Soul Gem, feeling that it was his burden and his alone. That done, Warlock and his companions left the Negative Zone and returned to their Universe where they evidently again parted ways.
Some time later, Warlock's cosmic senses led him to believe that something was seriously amiss with the Universe that was causing reality to collapse, and this belief compelled him to visit Eternity and Infinity in order to fully discern what was happening. Once there, he found them unable to answer his questions in a satisfactory manner, and he instead managed to convince them to open a portal beyond time and space, through which he traveled in search of answers. He found them in the form of Atlez, a being who was charged with the awesome responsibility of "anchoring" his reality. Atlez went on to tell Warlock that his time was coming to an end, and that his successor, a young child named Atleza Langunn, would have to be be summoned to take his place. Warlock accepted this all-important mission, but was instead driven insane by the transfer of the information that Atleza would need to assume her duties. Lost to madness, Warlock drifted back to his actuality and finished up at the Corporation for Mental Stability on the planet Degaitor. His mind shattered, Warlock retreated into a protective cocoon, where he would remain for two more years.
With Warlock in need of time to recover, Atlez activated a backup plan that would take two years to unfold. First, he planted a single phrase inside the minds of Thanos's dormant Thanosi clones that read "Adam Warlock is the key to Oblivion." Then he directed a meteorite strike on Thanos's stronghold, designed to awaken the clone called Armour. Unfortunately, this move activated four more members of the Thanosi, and the plan began to derail. Nonetheless, the implanted message proved convincing, and the clone called X assumed the guise of the true Thanos, sending Pip the Troll to collect Warlock's cocoon. X then summoned Moondragon, who managed to awaken the dormant Warlock, who quickly found that he was unable to remember the events that led to his insanity. Pip helped Warlock retrace his steps, and soon Warlock returned to the pavilion of Atlez where he found missing pieces of his memory. He again accepted his now-dire mission, and managed this time to retain his sanity. But before Warlock could depart, he was suddenly attacked by the Thanosi known as Warrior and Mystic. Warlock's cause seemed doomed until the intervention of Doctor Strange, who quickly dispatched Mystic before being knocked unconscious by Warrior. The battered Warlock was left with no choice but to use the full-power of the Soul Gem to drain Warrior's soul, a move that would taint Warlock's mindset for a time, and make his mission that much more difficult.
Despite this new-found difficulty, Warlock managed to return to Earth and deliver the knowledge Atleza would need in order to take over for her predecessor. He then went on to aid Thanos in the battle against Omega, the mightiest of the Thanosi. While Moondragon used her powers to keep Atlez alive a little longer, Warlock fought the Omega alongside Gamora, Pip, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and Thanos himself, and the group eventually triumphed and ended the threat of the Thanosi. That done, Atleza assumed the mantle of the Reality Anchor, while Warlock and Gamora remained with her as protectors while she grew into the full measure of her abilities. Changed by his recent experiences, Warlock finally reciprocated the affection that Gamora had wished to show him for so long, and found that the keys to his happiness were not as complex and elusive as he once feared.
Driven by an irresistible urge, Warlock traveled through space until he found Thanos locked in contemplation on the now-dead world called Rigel III, and soon found that the Titan was feeling remorse over his part in what had happened to the planet, as well as many of his past misdeeds. Thanos went on to express a desire to start putting things right so that he could conquer his personal demons and find a measure of peace, and wished to start this journey with the Rigellians themselves. Warlock offered to accompany Thanos on his journey to New Rigel III, and Thanos accepted, referring to Warlock as his "conscience." Once there, Warlock was soon shocked into near-disbelief when Thanos promptly surrendered to the Rigellian troops, and offered his services to their people. Warlock went on to become something of an advocate for Thanos, but nonetheless warned the Rigellian High-Commissioner of the Titan's unpredictable nature. Warlock and Thanos soon found themselves in the midst of some political intrigue as the General in command of the Rigellian forces attempted a military coup. Warlock and Thanos soon disabused the them of this notion, and Thanos went on to help the Rigellians by improving their security safeguards, their planetary defenses, and even the quality of their Beta-Soy crops. The Grand Commissioner went on to tell the pair of a far greater peril that now endangered Rigel XVIII, and Thanos soon found out that the planet was threatened by none other than Galactus. Thanos stood by his pledge to aid the Rigellians, and decided to find out what the world-devourer's motives were.
The group acquired the help of Moondragon and Pip in a plan to find out Galactus's plan. They used Moondragon to attack Galactus telepathically as a diversion while Pip teleported into his ship to plant bugs. While Thanos searched Galactus's files for his plans, Warlock talked to Pip about the radical changes in his existence. He told Pip that he sensed that his next death would be his final one, and he was not happy about it because of his relationship with Gamora. For the first time in his lives, Warlock was dreading and worried about his mortality.
Thanos soon found that Galactus was gathering the all-powerful Infinity Gems in a plot to feed off their power and end his hunger, a move which made little sense considering that the assembled gems could be used to simply will his hunger away. This development made Thanos uneasy, and he feared that Galactus was actually being duped by some unknown agent. His findings were interrupted when his ship was invaded by Galactus's cyborg Punishers, who made off with Warlock's Soul Gem and destroyed Thanos's starship in the process. Undaunted, Thanos went on to directly confront the world-devourer himself, but was unsuccessful in stopping Galactus from activating the Focusing Crux containing the gems. With the Crux in operation the being who orchestrated these events, an inter-dimensional parasite called Hunger, gained egress into our reality, which it intended to consume. With the aid of Galactus and Pip, Thanos managed to defeat Hunger, and recover Warlock's gem. Restored to health, Warlock bid the Titan farewell, and actually referred to him as a friend. That said, Warlock returned to Gamora and Atleza's side.