Will Poulter is Marvel's new golden boy

• Will Poulter spoke to Insider about joining the MCU in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3."
• Poulter, who plays Adam Warlock, said his physical and mental health were prioritized during training. 
• The actor also said that his costars "couldn't have been more welcoming and friendly to me."

If the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a college, the Guardians of the Galaxy would be the house known for throwing the best parties on campus. Will Poulter, then, would be the freshman who stumbled in late one Friday night. 

But showing up at the 11th hour to a party where you don't know anybody could easily be an absolute trainwreck. Naturally, Poulter said he "was a little bit apprehensive" to join the well-established cast as Adam Warlock for "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3."

"I didn't know how it was gonna be and I was wary of the fact I was joining a group who were kind of 10 years deep and had formed these very, very deep and tight kind of connections," he told Insider.

But luckily his hosts immediately brought him into the fold: "They couldn't have been more welcoming and friendly to me, supportive and encouraging," he said of the cast and director James Gunn, adding that Chris Pratt warmed up to him on the very first day.

"Chris Pratt in particular, from day one, gave me his number and was like, 'If there's anything you need...' which I thought was a really classy thing to do," Poulter said. "I really admire his conduct on set and how he approaches his work and how he treats people. It's really lovely and he was nothing but supportive and encouraging to me from the jump."

"The resounding takeaway," Poulter said, "is that you can make movies at this level on this scale and people can still have fun and all enjoy each other's company. And that's really how it should be."

Poulter said that it was imperative to preserve his mental health in the process of getting into superhero shape

In the 10 years between starring in "We're the Millers" and making his Marvel debut, Poulter, now 30 years old, had a major glow-up that seemingly went unnoticed by the general public. That is until Poulter's casting in "Vol. 3" was made public in October 2021.

Suddenly, the internet became mystified by how the actor — who played Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston's gawky, naïve fake son in the aforementioned comedy and was later likened to the "Toy Story" bully named Sid — had transformed into a Hemsworthian heartthrob.

But that evolution didn't happen overnight for Poulter.

He had already been growing up on-screen through projects like "The Revenant," "Black Mirror: Bandersnatch," and "Midsommar," and working alongside Hollywood's heavy hitters, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. He even earned an Emmy nomination for his supporting role as a pharmaceutical-sales rep named Billy Cutler on Hulu's 2021 miniseries "Dopesick," costarring Michael Keaton.

He also told Insider he's auditioned for "an embarrassing number" of superhero movies over the years, but "whether I've been a serious consideration or not is a very different thing," he said with a laugh. 

So by the time Poulter landed his role in "Vol. 3," he was already in decent physical shape. 

"I was pretty lucky in the sense that I'd been working out and staying relatively fit through COVID, just because I didn't have anything else to do," he said, "and it was really, really good for my mental health to do that."

Starring in a Marvel movie pushed Poulter's fitness to new heights, as he worked with a team comprised of a nutritionist and trainers. His rigorous training regimen featured many hours in the gym and a restrictive diet that included multiple protein shakes a day.

But that training didn't stop when he got to set. Poulter quickly learned that fighting the Guardians of the Galaxy isn't anything like a traditional workout, but luckily stunt coordinator Heidi Moneymaker was on hand to make him a hero. 

"Heidi was incredibly patient with me," he explained. "I find stunt work really, really hard, fun as hell, but just humbling from a physical perspective because you can do all the training in a world and this, that, and the other, and then you get in that suit and you might not even be able to throw a punch correctly."

But throughout the "Guardians" press tour, he's avoided glamorizing the process of getting jacked and has instead emphasized the importance of achieving a superhero physique realistically, without negatively impacting his mental health — a topic that he's often been outspoken about. 

"It had to be done in a way that didn't compromise on any of those things, you know?" Poulter said. "And everyone on my team was very aware of that and Marvel never put me under any pressure to compromise in that respect."

"I was able to do it in a way that was safe and healthy and natural," he added, explaining that his "long-term physical and mental health" were both prioritized throughout the extensive process.

Translating Adam Warlock's look from the comics to the big screen required a team effort

Adam's arrival was first teased in the end-credits scene of 2017's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," as a powerful, beautiful, god-like being created in a cocoon with the intention of destroying the Guardians.

It's certainly a formidable reputation to live up to, but Poulter, ever-humble, takes none of the credit. 

Poulter's on-screen look, which took approximately two and a half hours, was the work of a "dream team" of hair and makeup artists. As part of the transformation, the actor's skin was painted gold and his hair was styled similarly to his comic-book counterpart.

"Our visual effects makeup team was just so talented," he said. 

"I was wearing contacts too for a lot of the scenes and an immense amount of research and artistry went into creating the character," the actor added, "and I just sat in the chair."

The attention to detail extended to the shimmering gem on Adam's head, which is the Soul Stone in the comics.

"We tried a lot of different colors of gems," Poulter said. "We had like, a chocolate box of all these different gems and we ended up choosing that one, which I think is quite a gold one. I think it's a matte gold."

Visually, the objective was to capture "the spirit of what Adam Warlock is in the comic books and how he best fits in, in the context of this film, in comparison to everybody else." 

"What you see on-screen is something that was made in a collaborative spirit," he said. 

It's currently unclear whether Poulter will graduate to a bigger role in the MCU, but for now, he's curious to see if the audience will embrace him the way his fellow "Guardians" family has.

"I hope they like him, if that's the right word for Adam Warlock," he said, adding, "When you see things that you make impact people in a positive way, those are career-affirming moments, right?"

"When someone says that something you did meant something to them — even if it's as simple as cheered them up, not necessarily drastically affected the way that they thought, it doesn't have to be anything that extreme — but any time it moves someone in one direction or another in a positive fashion, that that's always kind of life-affirming and I'm grateful for those moments," he explained.

Good thing then that he's well on his way to becoming the life of the party.

"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" is now playing in theaters. 

Watch: Take a behind-the-scenes look at how 8 Marvel movies were made

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