WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy #9 by Donny Cates, Cory Smith, Victor Olazaba, David Curiel and Cory Petit, on sale now.
Guardians of the Galaxy #8 left fans with a massive question: who, or what, could possibly be in the Universal Church of Truth's Adam Warlock cocoons? In the issue, we learned that the Church, which actually comes from a dystopian future, is out to collect enough life energy from prisoners to hatch a legion of the kind regenerative cocoons that usually give birth to Adam Warlock.
However, the Patriarch, the leader of the Church and the mind-controlled father of Peter Quill, J'son of Spartax, has assured that Adam Warlock is not the one inside these cocoons. While he only offered a vague hint about whoever was in the cocoon helping the team defeat Death in the future, Guardians of the Galaxy #9 reveals who is inside the Adam Warlock cocoons, a particularly angry looking Drax the Destroyer.
Drax the Destroyer died at the end of 2018's Infinity Wars comic book event. In the series, thanks to the Soul Stone, Drax was split into the two halves that made him who he was: the human Arthur Douglas and the alien destroyer. When it came time to save the prime Marvel Universe and ensure the survival of the newly-created Warp World, Drax's two halves sacrificed themselves.
However, they didn't technically die. Instead, in Infinity Wars: Fallen Guardian #1, we learned that Arthur Douglas had been given a second chance at life in Warp World, while the Destroyer happily battled endless hordes of enemies in the Soul World.
However, Drax as we knew him was dead. But now, it looks like he is now back in Guardians of the Galaxy #9 -- or at least, a part of him. When the Adam Warlock cocoons crack, they reveal that Drax the Destroyer is inside. But he's not the one we know. This one is wearing his old purple costume from his earliest comic book appearances, and he appears to be fueled by rage.
Considering that Drax is wearing the same costume that the soul of the Destroyer was wearing in Fallen Guardian, it's possible the Universal Church of Truth has only brought back his Destroyer half. Of course, we don't yet know how the Church was able to bring the character back to life -- let alone an entire legion of him, so there are still a lot of questions that need to be answered.
All we can say for certain is that the Universal Church of Truth has just created an army of Destroyers, and that's certainly not a good thing. Hopefully, when all is said and done, there will at least be one of them left standing -- one who will be able to once again join the ranks of the team he once called family.