MCU: 10 Fascinating Facts Behind Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

3. Gunn Chose To Keep Mantis Over Adam Warlock

While the final movie ended up being relatively streamlined, James Gunn had ambitious plans when it came to writing the sequel. Wanting to introduce more characters, planets and pay homage to the world of the source material, the original treatment featured way more material than the final shooting script, including popular comic character, Adam Warlock.

In the finished film, the villain isn't even glimpsed, but rather teased in a post-credit sequence. Originally though, he was set to appear in a pretty substantial role, but eventually had to be cut as Gunn said the script had "one character too many". Even more interesting though, is apparently this realisation resulted in a choice: either cut out Adam or cut out Mantis.

Gunn elaborated on the dilemma, and explained why he opted for the former option:

"I adored what we had done with him. I think we did something really creative and unique with Adam Warlock. But it was one character too many and I didn't want to lose Mantis and Mantis was more organically part of the movie anyway."

While Mantis is a great character, her being picked over Adam Warlock probably didn't sit right with a lot of the die-hard fans desperate to see his on-screen debut.