Star-Lord

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Star-Lord, whose full name is Peter Jason Quill, made his debut in Marvel Preview #4 in January 1976. That magazine was printed in black and white, not in the color comic format most readers knew. The character was created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Steve Gan. Almost everything that later made him a name in comics came from other hands. Over the decades Quill has been a space pirate, a prisoner, a rebel leader, a fugitive, a bartender, and a ruler. He has also been given two separate histories, and Marvel has officially filed one of them under an alternate reality. How did a character who began in a niche magazine collect so many lives? What was his first creator trying to build? And why does a hero billed as an interplanetary policeman keep ending up on thrones, in prisons, and at the center of other people's wars?

  131278

• 2. A Journey Cut Short

  ›

  On his own website, Steve Englehart looked back at the character and called his plan "something very large." His hero would begin as "an unpleasant, introverted jerk" and become "the most cosmic being in the universe." Englehart tied the arc to his then-new interest in astrology. The hero's mind would open step by step as he moved outward through the solar system. Mercury would bring a fast-action story, Venus a love story, and Mars a war story. The pattern would continue to the edge of the solar system and then beyond. Englehart added that the Jupiter story would have been about government.

  None of it reached the page. Having set up the earthbound, unpleasant version of the character, Englehart left Marvel, and in his words no one ever saw what the hero was meant to become. He also said his Star-Lord stood apart from the Marvel universe and was "completely standalone."

  The next writer to take the character on was Chris Claremont, who revamped him in the pages of Marvel Preview. Claremont drew on science fiction adventure stories, especially the Heinlein juveniles. That debt nearly caused trouble. The cover of Marvel Preview #11 carried a blurb promising "a novel-length science fiction spectacular in the tradition of Robert A. Heinlein." Heinlein's lawyers threatened legal action. The issue was pulled and reprinted.

  The story inside marked the first teamwork of Claremont, penciller John Byrne, and inker Terry Austin, who would later become a celebrated creative trio on X-Men. Star-Lord then appeared only now and then in Marvel Super Special, Marvel Spotlight, and Marvel Premiere. The Marvel Spotlight installments were his first stories in a traditional comic book format. They also gathered the two origin accounts from Marvel Preview into one coherent picture, and that origin is where the story turns next.

  146710

• 3. Two Origins

  ›

  In the earliest stories, Peter Quill is born while many of the planets line up in the sky. The man who believes he is Quill's father sees no family resemblance. He accuses his wife Meredith of cheating and tries to kill the baby, but dies of a sudden heart attack. Peter grows up with his single mother until Ariguans kill her when he is eleven. He is sent to an orphanage, runs away, and eventually becomes a trainee astronaut at NASA.

  An alien entity called the Master of the Sun visits the space station where Quill is living. The entity offers the mantle of Star-Lord, an interplanetary policeman, to a worthy candidate. Quill volunteers but is passed over for a colleague he once treated badly. Furious, he earns a discharge order from NASA for his conduct. Instead of obeying the order to return to Earth, he steals a scout ship, flies back, and takes his colleague's place.

  The Master of the Sun then builds an illusion in which Quill can hunt down and kill the aliens who murdered his mother, freeing him from his past. Quill receives a sentient vessel called Ship. Years later he helps stop a group of slavers who are destroying worlds. That mission uncovers a plot to replace the emperor of the Spartoi empire. On the throneworld Sparta he kills the alien who murdered his mother, then meets Emperor Jason, who says he is Peter's father. Jason had crashed on Earth decades earlier and been rescued by Meredith. They fell in love during the year he spent repairing his ship. When he left, he placed a mindlock on her memories, so she recalled that year as a dream.

  Later revisions rewrote the account, and the older version was officially placed in an alternate past. In the revised telling, the Spartax prince J'son crashes in Colorado and is taken in by a farmer named Meredith Quill. War breaks out among his people and he leaves without knowing she is pregnant. Ten years later, two Badoon soldiers come to end J'son's bloodline and kill Meredith. Peter fights back with her shotgun, picks up a weapon his father accidentally left behind, and flees before the Badoon ship destroys the house. The Badoon assume he is dead.

  An orphan, Peter grows up to be a NASA astronaut. A later explanation says he was raised by his mother's best friend, Lisa Chang, a NASA commander. During one mission his ship malfunctions and leaves him stranded in space, where somebody finds him.

  3671278

• 4. From Pirate Crew to Guardian

  ›

  The Ravagers, a band of space pirates led by a captain named Yondu, rescue the stranded astronaut. Peter repays them by trying to steal their ship. He outsmarts the pirates, humiliates them, and even knocks Yondu out and captures him. When Yondu wakes, he frees himself, attacks Peter, and offers a choice between death and marooning. Peter asks to join the crew instead. Yondu realizes the two share a background as "kids without homes," and he lets Peter stay as the cleaning boy. Peter slowly rises through the ranks and picks up skills and weapons from his new crew.

  The Fallen One, a former Herald of Galactus, nearly kills him. Peter defeats the entity but his ship is destroyed and the Ravagers leave him for dead. The Nova Corps lock Peter and the Fallen One away in an intergalactic prison called the Kyln. Doctors there graft cybernetic implants onto the badly injured Peter. One implant is an eye that sees every energy spectrum. Another is a memory chip that gives him total recall. His element gun, suit, and Ship were all destroyed in the fight.

  During the Annihilation War, the hero Nova frees Peter, and he helps the Corps against the forces of Annihilus. He is then appointed military adviser to the Kree general Ronan the Accuser. On the Kree world of Aladon Prime his implants are removed. He receives a Kree-issued heat-dampening battle suit, a helmet, and a universal translator. The suit became the hallmark look of the Guardians of the Galaxy. His helmet can analyze strategy data, sharpen his vision, and regulate oxygen in space. He favors two Kree sub-machine guns with varied ammunition, including explosives. His older element gun was a pistol that projects one of the four elements: air, earth, fire, or water.

  When the Phalanx conquers the Kree homeworld of Hala, Peter takes the name Star-Lord and leads a rebel band until the war ends. Hoping to stop such atrocities before they spread, he forms a new Guardians of the Galaxy that tries to end emerging threats early. The team fails to prevent a war between the Kree and the Shi'ar. In a war against an invading universe, Star-Lord and Nova are ready to sacrifice themselves to defeat Thanos, but only Nova dies.

  These events played out across Marvel's publishing line. Star-Lord returned in Thanos #8-12 in 2004 and in Annihilation #1-6 in 2006. A four-issue solo title followed in 2007 and led into Annihilation: Conquest, where he played a central role. A second volume of Guardians of the Galaxy then ran for 25 issues under his leadership, and The Thanos Imperative miniseries closed its plot lines.

  2935394024

• 5. Kitty and the Black Vortex

  ›

  In July 2014, Star-Lord received his own ongoing series, Legendary Star-Lord, and a new costume that matched the one in the Marvel Studios film. The story began with a threat from home. Peter learns that his father plans a law forbidding any contact between Earth and anything of extraterrestrial or space origin. He sees that such a law would invite invasion. He reforms the Guardians with six members: Gamora, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Drax the Destroyer, Bug, and himself. The team helps the Avengers against a returned Thanos and fights the Badoon.

  The Spartax army captures Peter, but he escapes and broadcasts a video exposing the unfairness of his father's reign. During the war of the builders, he infiltrates S.W.O.R.D. facilities and rescues Abigail Brand, along with Rocket and a new member, Angela. He also declares war on the Shi'ar empire after stepping into one of their trials to save the kidnapped young Jean Grey, working alongside the X-Men.

  On that mission he meets Kitty Pryde, and the two begin a romance. After another capture and another escape, Peter learns that the Spartax people have elected him their new emperor. He ignores the news and hunts a gangster called Mr. Knife, who has put a bounty on his head. Captured by Knife, he discovers that Knife is really J'son. Kitty helps him escape, and he persuades her to stay in space with him. As payback, he decides to steal an important artifact from his father.

  The artifact is the Black Vortex. Peter and Kitty seize it but find themselves outnumbered by J'son's killing squad, so they call the X-Men and the remaining Guardians. Peter wants everyone to submit to the Vortex to gain cosmic powers. Kitty objects, but some friends submit anyway. J'son destroys Hala in retaliation, and Thane covers Spartax in amber, Kitty included. Kitty escapes thanks to her phasing powers. When Peter finally tries to submit, he sees the power would push Kitty away and refuses. Kitty submits instead and saves Spartax. Afterward, Peter proposes, and she accepts.

  1314585963

• 6. The End of the Universe and After

  ›

  Marvel's 2015 Secret Wars storyline ended both his solo series and his Guardians title. Star-Lord was a main character in the core miniseries and in a tie-in called Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde. Inside the story, the universe faces its end, and the Guardians join the world's final battle against the Children of Tomorrow. Groot and Rocket Raccoon are killed. Reed Richards teleports Star-Lord to his ship, and Peter becomes one of the few survivors aboard the Fantastic Four's life raft. After the apocalypse, Doctor Doom builds a patchwork world from the remains of dead universes. The life raft lies in cryostasis for eight years before Doctor Strange, a new Thor, and Miles Morales wake its passengers. Doom ambushes them, and Strange scatters the survivors across the world by wind.

  Star-Lord lands in the domain of Manhattan. There he works as a singer in a club called the Quiet Room, performing Disney songs, because Disney films never existed in Battleworld. He hides from Doom under the alias Steve Rogers. He meets an alternate version of Kitty Pryde from the Age of Apocalypse universe and accidentally ruins her deal with Gambit. A version of Drax, who had hired Peter at the club, rescues them from a trap. The artifact they seized turns out to be Rocket Raccoon's tail. Kitty lets Peter keep it as the last thing left of his old universe, and he plans to use it to clone his friend, possibly many times over. In the final stand against God Doom, Peter pilots a ship carrying the two Reed Richardses to Castle Doom. He also keeps Black Swan busy with the last twig of Groot, which he had carried in his pocket since the Incursions.

  After reality is restored, Peter takes the throne of Spartax. Rocket leads the Guardians, with Kitty, now called Star-Lady, and the Thing among the members. A Sam Humphries series within the All-New, All-Different Marvel initiative lasted eight issues. A Chip Zdarsky series that began in December 2017 ran for six issues and one annual.

  During Civil War II, the Guardians help Captain Marvel against Iron Man, and their ship is destroyed, leaving them stranded on Earth. Gamora overhears Peter and Kitty and learns that Peter knew Thanos was on Earth the entire time. Gamora stops short of storming the Triskelion and the Guardians leave Peter over his secrecy. He and Kitty also break off their engagement.

  The fallout leads to a series called Grounded. Living alone in an apartment given to him by Abigail Brand, Peter tries to call Howard the Duck, who hangs up on him. At a bar he drinks with Old Man Logan and fights hitmen, and the police arrive. Logan flees and Peter is captured. Matt Murdock prosecutes him as a reckless hero who endangered civilians and caused substantial property damage. Brand gets his sentence reduced to community service. Alpha Flight gives him a new skin-tight costume, and he is assigned to a retired super-criminal named Edmund Allen, who goes by Silver Bandit. After a day of bonding, Peter takes a job as a bartender at a bar for supervillains owned by Edmund's son.

  6063646667

• 7. Master of the Sun

  ›

  In November 2020, Peter Quill gained the title and powers of Master of the Sun, which his early appearances had also given him. His story has the Master bestowing it through what Peter believed was a false memory of a past that never happened. The gift left him with alien capabilities that remain largely unexplored. He channels them through his Element Gun, and signs include a glowing, regrown left eye and a sun-shaped mark on his right palm.

  The trouble started when the reborn Olympians began ravaging the universe. Richard Rider interrupted a Guardians party to ask for help. The others wanted rest, but Peter could not ignore the deaths, and recurring visions of the Master of the Sun asking whether his life felt lacking pushed him further. He and Rocket joined Nova and other cosmic heroes. While Nova and Captain Marvel distracted some gods, Star-Lord, Rocket, and Moondragon slipped aboard the Olympians' interdimensional ship to blow it up. Hermes and Artemis found them. Hephaestus captured Star-Lord, who killed him, then stayed behind to detonate the bomb and destroy New Olympus. He seemed to die in the blast.

  He did not. He was thrown into another universe and taken in by two travelers, Mors and Aradia. They became friends, family, and eventually lovers, and he spent more than one hundred and eighty seven years with them. He noticed that his Element Gun no longer ran down. Using it to siphon the divine energy of the Olympian pantheon had changed it. The gods then reappeared and explained that each shot had loosened their bonds and freed them. They wanted their stolen power back. Feeling responsible, Quill took a portal home to lead them away from his new world. There the Master told him he had passed the test of his new life and would make him the one true Star-Lord.

  He arrived on Spartax as a symbiote dragon was devastating it. With Nova's help he dove into the beast and faced Knull, the dark god of the symbiotes. Knull tried to infect the Guardians with living abyss to make them soldiers. Quill used his Olympian power to kill the dragon and render the abyss inert. He still refused to go to Earth and confront Knull, and prepared for the Olympians' return instead.

  The next arc, Imperial, brought tragedy at home. A conspiracy against galactic leaders killed J'son and poisoned Peter's half-sister Victoria, who was placed in stasis. She was later revealed to have survived with a stabilized condition. Peter took the throne of Spartax until she could recover.

  2167686970

• 8. Other Quills, Other Screens

  ›

  Twelve years after the original Star-Lord disappeared, a man named Sinjin Quarrel took up the identity in a three-issue limited series called Starlord. It ran from December 1996 to February 1997 and was written by Timothy Zahn with art by Dan Lawlis. Other versions appeared too. In the 2013 Age of Ultron storyline, an altered timeline makes Star-Lord a member of the Defenders, who replace the vanished Avengers as the top hero team. Lord Starkill debuted in Captain Marvel #126 in 2018, an evil version who holds the Reality Stone and allies with Thanos. An Ultimate Universe version is a 61st-century Guardian and Master of the Solar System. In the crossover Predator Kills the Marvel Universe, Star-Lord and the Guardians are the first heroes killed by Kraven the Hunter and the Yautja.

  The bleakest alternate is the one from the Wastelands universe. In April 2019, Marvel released a 12-issue miniseries called Old Man Quill, written by Ethan Sacks and drawn by Robert Gill. Its Quill becomes emperor of Spartax, leaves the Guardians and Gamora, marries L'ssa, and fathers two children. The Universal Church of Truth lures him into a firefight and then destroys his homeworld and everyone he loves. An aged version of the Guardians recruits him for a final trip to Earth for revenge. The Church is now led by Galactus. Quill discovers the other Guardians were hallucinations and that the real ones were killed by Galactus. With the Ultimate Nullifier destroyed, he defeats Galactus by shooting him in the head with the Time Stone. Most of the Church were brainwashed thralls and break away. Peter then forms a new team including Beta Ray Bill, Moondragon, Phyla-Vell, Nebula, and Groot.

  On screen, Steve Downes voiced Star-Lord in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and Will Friedle voiced him in several later cartoons. In Marvel Cinematic Universe films, Chris Pratt plays the role, beginning with Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014 and ending with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2023. Wyatt Oleff plays young Peter Quill in the first two films. This version is the son of Ego the Living Planet and half-brother of Mantis, and he inherited Celestial abilities from Ego before losing them after Ego's death. He also appeared in the animated series What If...? in 2021.

  He has been playable in many games, from Marvel Contest of Champions to Marvel Rivals, and appears as a purchasable outfit in Fortnite. Scott Porter voices him in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 and in Marvel Rivals. Toys include a Hot Toys figure in 1:6 scale and role-play Nerf pieces based on his mask and weapons. Critics have ranked him on lists: GameSpot placed him 43rd among 50 important superheroes in 2018, The A.V. Club placed him 41st among 100 Marvel characters in 2022, and CBR.com ranked him 7th among cosmic heroes in 2022. A fighting game, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, is set to add him, with Scott Porter reprising the voice in English and Koichi Yamadera speaking for him in Japanese.

  7620777981