Between all of the animal cruelty around the origins of Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) and that final cathartic needle-drop that sends off its titular crew, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 gave fans a lot of feelings. So maybe it’s fitting that one of the film’s few guaranteed bouts of comic relief became a meme.
Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), the Sovereign soldier tasked with capturing Rocket and delivering him to the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), was designed to be the most powerful member of his species. But, as his mother, Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), explains, he was prematurely removed from his birthing pod, resulting in major side effects, including his dimwitted nature and the emotional capacity of a toddler. It puts him as one of Volume 3’s antagonists who doubles as its comic relief.
Adam Warlock also has something of a habit of bursting through walls to attack someone seemingly out of nowhere. Whether it’s his arrival in Knowhere to try taking Rocket by surprise or heading to Counter-Earth in another attempt to capture Rocket, he devotes everything to traveling with as much speed and power as possible. And, as framed by James Gunn, that means Adam Warlock is hurtling straight at the audience.
But his grand entrance is made out to be something of a moment. We’re deep in space as Adam’s face, devoid of emotion, slowly gets bigger. Golden light emerges around Adam’s body amid the blue-green backdrop of space, and naturally, Adam’s entrance is marked by a James Gunn needle drop, Heart’s “Crazy On You.”
With little else attached to Adam’s first scene than a song, it perfectly encapsulates a meme.
First showing up on YouTube before jumping over to TikTok, it simultaneously depicts two things that are true: Leisurely traveling when you should be going somewhere much faster, and speeding to get there.
For instance, one video uses the footage to depict trying to sneak home well after your curfew.
@justashelfthesecond Real. #guardiansofthegalaxyvol3 #guardiansofthegalaxy #gotg3 #gotg #relatable #marvel #viraltiktok #viralvideo #viral #trendingvideo #fyp #fypage #fypシ゚viral #foryourpage #foryoupage #adamwarlock #mum #me #literallyme ♬ original sound – Juhnny
And another depicts leaving for something much later than you intended.
@dankusama0.0 Right on time 😎 #fyp #fypシ #fypage #foryoupage #foryou #real #relatable #meme #memes #humour #haha #hehe #funnyvideo #gym #gymtok #gymrat #gymbro #gymmeme #gymmemes #guardiansofthegalaxy #adamwarlock #humour #gymlife #fitness #fittok #marvel ♬ original sound – Juhnny
The original audio clip has over 3,000 videos attached, many of them creating their version of Adam Warlock’s entrance that involves giving themselves golden eyes, a glowing stone on their head, and laying on their stomachs and arms behind their backs as if flying.
@jtbarden (i’m him) #guardiansofthegalaxy #adamwarlock #willpoulter #gotgvol3 #adamwarlockflying ♬ original sound – Juhnny
@gohangwannabeyourbf แซะแล้วแซะอยู่แซะต่อ🙌🏻#เจ๊ฮัง#เลือกตั้ง66 ♬ original sound – Juhnny
But it also went beyond the Volume 3 clip. All you need to do is include the “Crazy On You” guitar riff on any video and feature video with a chase or traveling, and it captures the same feeling.
@touchme2220 #adamwarlock #meme #orcas ♬ original sound – Juhnny
@care_wad bro is handsome #adamwarlock #guardiansofthegalaxy ♬ original sound – Juhnny
We’re all Adam Warlock.
