Eh, that’s pretty much pure speculation. They could still introduce Warlock in GotG 2, build him up in Infinity War part 1, and have him be the cosmic savior in Infinity War part 2.
Very unlikely. James Gunn referred to possibly using him, he’s rarely been tied to the Fantastic Four outside his first appearance, Ronan also debuted in Fantastic Four and Fox doesn’t have him, same with Klaw, and Black Panther, and the Inhumans, etc. There’s really no reason to think Fox has his rights. For existing characters, rights were clearly negotiated one-by-one, and any blanket permissions only applied to characters or stories introduced after the contracts were signed.
Gunn originally said it was, but he later walked it back and said it was a similar coccoon. The walking it back was why I think he may be Quill’s father; if he wasn’t planning on using the character, then there wasn’t really any reason to walk it back.
That link to warlock will also most likely explain why the stone didn’t incinerate Peter instantaneously on contact before the other guardians could intervene.
At Comic-Con i was told they were pondering over using Odin as his father (making Starlord a demi), which is why he could almost hold the stone, and looks quite a bit like Hemsworth, this gives them lee-way in the MCU to bring him in on other movies he would not normally be included in.
If they have the rights to Adam Warlock, they absolutely need to go that route though.
The main speculation on who Quill’s father is is usually Adam Warlock or Starfox. Gunn hasn’t really hinted. Starfox is going to be a little Star Warsy (Thanos: “No, I am your Uncle”), but Warlock, who will need a new origin anyway, makes a little more sense. At least to me.
Though if it turned out to be Odin or someone I wouldn’t be shocked. The problem with it being anyone like Starfox or Odin is that Nova Prime said it the father was one of the most ancient races in the universe, and if it was someone we’ve run across, like the Eternals (Starfox) or Asgardians (Odin), there’s really no reason not to say that.
maybe I’ll sound like a negative nancy, but… the problem with a potential movie version of Adam Warlock is that they would have a (very) hard time trying to transpose him, while keeping him interesting.
What made Warlock iconic is not his set of powers and/or his origin story, but the classic story-arc written by Starlin, which is not exactly among the lines of what can be expected from a marvel studios’ movie.
Without stuff like “the strange death of Adam Warlock”, the deep subtexts (at least, they were deep for the comic book format when the story-arc was written), and a psychedelic mise en scène, in my opinion, there is mot much left of Adam Warlock that is worth exploring on the big screen.